The fog of war envelopes the Servian and Hungarian frontiers.
It was supposed that as the Servians had evacuated Belgrade the Austro-Hungarian troops would have occupied it immediately on the declaration of war. Strange to say, however, the Austrians appear even now not to be in Belgrade. They have bombarded it with their monitors, destroyed a good many of the old fortifications, and set fire to portions of the city—part, we presume, of the punishment to be accorded to Servia—but there is no news of actual occupation. There have been rumours as to pene- tration into Servia to the east, and a battle is reported to have taken place at Semendria, on the Servian side of the Danube, but even this is unconfirmed, as is also the suggested attack upon Montenegro and the occupation of the hill above Cataro. On the whole, the most trust- worthy news appears to be that three large Austrian columns, estimated as nearly half a million in all, are slowly advancine,
into Servia and that the Servians are delaying their advance with small bodies of men which fall back when too hard pressed. Their object, no doubt, is to draw the Austrians into the difficult and hilly country, where they will find them- selves faced with carefully prepared positions against which they will be invited to hurl themselves. No doubt the forces are very unequal, but it is quite possible that by applying these tactics the Servians may keep off the Austrian army for many weeks, if not for months.
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