RUMANIA ENTERS THE WAR

After many months of hesitation, Rumania finally decided to enter the war on the side of the Allies and declared war on Austria, August 27.  The next day Germany declared war on Rumania, and the issue was squarely joined in the Balkans, which then became the scene of a mighty struggle for the possession of Germany’s road to Constantinople and the East.  Tremendous activity at once began on the Balkan front, with Rumania’s endeavor to aid Russia in cutting off Bulgaria and Turkey from the Central Powers.  In the event of the success of this move, it was expected that the Allies would start a gigantic drive toward Constantinople.

The most important gain for either side in the Balkans up to the middle of September was the capture by the Bulgarians and Germans, on September 7, of the great fortress of Turtukai, fifty miles to the southeast of Bucharest, the Rumanian capital, and chief defense of the capital on that side.  Russian troops were rushed to the aid of the Rumanians, and the loss of Turtukai was offset by Rumanian successes across the Hungarian border, where they captured a number of towns, driving the Austrian defenders before them as their invasion of Hungary progressed.

RUSSIAN ARMIES ACTIVE

By September 10, Russian troops were massed in great force in southeastern Rumania, and engaged the Bulgarians on the whole seventy-mile front from the Danube to the Black Sea, fighting fiercely to wrest the offensive from the enemy invading Rumania.  In Transylvania the Rumanians were advancing rapidly, having captured the important town of Orsova, on the Danube, which gave them a grip on the Austrian second line of defense behind the mountains dividing Transylvania from Hungary.  The entrance of Rumania into the war had increased the Austro-Hungarian front by about 380 miles, which military men regarded as altogether too long for the Teutonic armies to hold with any hope of success.

The Russians were also on September 10 winning ground in their campaign against Lemberg, the capital of Galicia.  They had advanced until they were within artillery range of Halicz, an important railway junction sixty miles south of Lemberg.  They had cut the railway line between Lemberg and Halicz, and the latter town was in flames.

ALLIED PROGRESS ON THE WESTERN FRONT

British and French successes on the Western front continued during the month of September, and the gains were encouraging to the Allies.  On September 15 the British took Flers, Martinpuich, the important position known as the High Wood, Courcelette, and almost all of the Bouleaux Wood, and also stormed the German positions from Combles north to the Pozieres-Bapaume road, arriving within four miles of Bapaume and capturing 2,300 prisoners.  A prominent feature of the attack was the use by the British of armored automobile trucks of unusual size and power, so constructed that they were able to cross trenches and shell-holes.  These “tanks,” as they were called, proved a genuine surprise to the enemy.  They were said to be developed from American tractors of the “caterpillar” variety, which lay their own tracks as they proceed.