to advance Greece a loan
to tide over her present financial difficulties.

For some days afterward large and enthusiastic pro-Venizelos
demonstrations took place in Athens and other Greek cities, in which
the labor unions and the soldiers were reported to take a very
prominent part. Meanwhile the demobilization of the Greek army was
begun in good faith.

During this period there had been no further aggression, or advance,
on the part of the Bulgarians. And while there had been a number of
German officers present at the demand for the evacuation of Fort Rupel
by the Greeks, as well as a small force of German engineers, all the
reports emanating from Bulgaria indicated, directly or indirectly,
that the German forces had been almost entirely drawn away from the
Balkans, to meet the gradually increasing pressure that both the
Russians on the eastern front and the English and French on the
western front were bringing to exert on the Teutonic forces. Being
practically left to themselves, for the Turks, too, had their hands
full in their Asiatic provinces, and considering the need of forces
for garrison duty in conquered territory, especially in Albania and
upper Serbia, as well as the army needed to watch the movements of the
Rumanians, it was doubtful if the Bulgarians had more than 300,000 men
to spare for their lines opposing those of the Allies at Saloniki.

The Allies, on the other hand, had been daily waxing stronger. At
least 100,000 Serbians had been added to their forces about Saloniki
before the beginning of August. There were, at this time, about
350,000 French and British soldiers in Saloniki, so that the total
force was not very far short of half a million. General Mahon, the
British commander, had gone to Egypt, to superintend the removal to
Saloniki of the British troops there, who had been provided as a
defending force when the danger of a German attack in that section
seemed imminent. These forces were estimated at another 200,000. Added
to this the favorable position of the Allies from a strategic point of
view, it was obvious, by the middle of August, that if active
hostilities were to break out on the Saloniki front very shortly, the
initiative would most likely come from the Allies.

PART V--AUSTRO-ITALIAN CAMPAIGN

CHAPTER XXXI

RESUMPTION OF OPERATIONS ON THE ITALIAN FRONT

Throughout the early part of March, 1916, military operations on the
Italian front were very restricted. At