A curious situation developed in Greece during the fall and early winter of 1916.  The German sympathies of King Constantine had brought him into conflict with the considerable portion of the Greek people led by the former premier, Venizelos, and the latter had proclaimed a Greek republic and placed troops in the field in active co-operation with the Allies.  Diplomatic representatives of the Entente Powers who had remained in Athens were ordered to leave early in November, their presence being felt to be a menace to the interests of the Allies, whose warships commanded the Greek ports and whose troops were stationed at Saloniki in large numbers.  The ostensible neutrality of King Constantine’s government was regarded by the Allies as dangerous, the failure of Greece to respond to the call of Serbia, its treaty ally, having demonstrated the governmental inclination toward the cause of the Central Powers.  In order to minimize the danger, therefore, the French admiral, Du Fournet, in command of the Allied fleet, demanded the surrender to the Allies of certain guns and war material, and this demand being refused French and British marines were landed at the Piraeus on December 2, 1916, and took possession of the Acropolis.  This led to their being fired upon by Greek reservists who had been called out, and some bloodshed resulted, there being about 200 casualties before a compromise was reached between King Constantine and the Allied commanders and the Greek crisis passed for the time being.  The king submitted to part of the Allied demands, the others were waived, and the forces landed were withdrawn, after a day of fighting in which the Greek reservists engaged in many clashes with the armed followers of Venizelos.

On January 9 ministers of the Entente Powers handed to the Greek government an ultimatum giving Greece forty-eight hours to comply with the demands contained in the note drawn up by France, Great Britain and Russia on December 31.

Included in the ultimatum was a request by the Entente Powers that the Greek government fulfill at the earliest possible moment the agreement of December 14 regarding the transfer of Greek troops from Thessaly.

BRITISH ENTER GERMAN LINES.

During the night of January 14 a party of British troops entered the German lines east of Loos.  Many casualties were inflicted on the enemy, his dug-outs were bombed and some prisoners were secured.  North of the Ancre an enemy transport was successfully engaged.

In addition to the usual artillery activity the enemy’s positions were effectually bombarded southeast of Loos and opposite the Bois Grenier.

GERMANS DRIVEN BACK.

The official communication of the French war office January 15, 1917, announced that reciprocal bombardments took place on both banks of the Somme, the right bank of the Meuse and in Lorraine.

After a bombardment the night before between the Aisne and the Argonne the Germans attacked the French advanced posts; they were driven back after a spirited combat with grenades.