SERVIA'S SPLENDID WAR RECORD.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12541, 12 May 1915, Page 5

SERVIA'S SPLENDID WAR RECORD.

What Belgium has done and suft'eiedis known to all the world, writes W. .A. Stead in the "Daily Express." What Servia has suffered and accomplished is much less clearly understood. Examination proves easily the great value of the services rendered to, the Allies by the Serbians.

Not only have they successfully defended their own territory, but they have prevented the Austrian contact with Bulgaria and Turkey, evident]}' the prearranged plan ; they have prevented the passage of munitions of war and troops to Turkey; and., finally, they have forced Austria, to devote a very large proportion of her forces to the task of dealing with, her small neighbour. It is no exaggeration to say that the Serbia resistance has completely wrecked the German plans for co-operation between the Austrian, German and Turkish troops. ■ Extraordinary figures u;e available to prove that the Austrian concentration against Serbia absorbed a large proportion of her best troops. In the first invasion between 600,000 and 700,000 men took part, including picked army corps from Croatia, the Tyrol, Bosnia and Hungary: In the second invasion at least 300,000 men were engaged.

The first invasion coat Austria 175,000 men and the second 125,000 men and enormous stores. Thus Servia- has already inflicted losses on the enemy equivalent to the whole strength of the Serbian army at the. beginning of the war, arid she, still remains as strong in a'military.sense as she was then.

Serbia lias won two great pitched battles with decisive results, and twice she has hulled back the invaders; but to England, which hiiu no direct contact with the war with Austria, the effect appears to be remote. It suffices, however, to grasp file fact that the defeat of Austria has weakened, the German power of offensive, and must in the future" weaken her power of defence, to make us realise that, while we are fighting Germany, the defeat of Austria by Serbia must, have an enormous influence on the end of the two empires, the Austrian and the Turkish. " Probably no country was less welj equipped at the beginning of the war, and it is also probable that no country is so entirely and eo intensely national.

In Serbia one feels the whole atmosphere to be charged with an electric instinct making for heroism and universal sacrifice. In this country everyone is at war.. There is no one who is not directly a/fectcd. It is a-stupendons revelation of the power of a unanimous people, and an object lesson in the history of nations. It forces on one the conviction that may great nations, rich, arrogant and self-sufficient, have much to learn from such small States formerly ignored and despised.

What the Serbian army has done has been done alone. Xo allied forces have come to her aid as in Belgium. The heroism of Belgium's national sacrifice will probably never be equalled in the history of any country. She suffered more than any other country because she was not organised on a national basis to resist an invader.

Heroism loses nothing, however, because it is given to a foilorn hope. It shows, too, what resistance is possible if a nation is organised. The greatness of Belgium's sacrifice has been universally recognised, but the greatness of Serbia's effort and the marvel of her military achievements have been but inadequately appreciated. There, has been much news from the other fronts, but even Serbia's greatest battle have received no real attention. Serbia's national effort is worthy to compare with the finest pages in the history of the. liberation of Switzerland and Italy.