ADRIANOPLE FALLS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1709, 28 March 1913, Page 5

ADRIANOPLE FALLS.

■ , COMMANDER SDRBENDERS. BULGAEIANSENTERTHE . CITY. - ! ' CHATALJA TAKEN*. t; • By Telegraph—Press' Association-Copyright •Sofia, March 28. '. The siege of Adrianople, which began ( on October. 20 last, ended at 2'o'clock,' , when Turkish commander, GHazi 'Shulhi Pasha,: surrendered to General '.IvanoftV of the Bulgarian army. ■ 1 I 1 ho Bulgarians and Servians made & combined assault, and a Bulgarian division-' entered' ithe city. - _ There' was a flerco fight during tho - niglit,. {vnd the invaders took possession of Fort Tnkatbair,- 'in tie soutli, - and Papagtepß' in tlitf- west," and finally PortsDevekeiii, ICa'vkas; Yildiz, arid three others were captured. ■ . ' 1 V ■ The- Turks fired Hie depots at Ports : Uadil'iik,' Kaik, Bushlik, and Kemer, and! ; also' tlw : arsenate' of the northern'barracks.

1 The' Bulgarians occupied the; southern ' fortiiScations of Adrianople, capturing ' twenty cannon,- eight machine-guns, and eight hundred l prisoners. . The 'Bulgarians finally assaulted andcaptured thfr whole of the eastarh front of Adrianople, and their cavalry then entered tho city. ■. .'. • ' The' Turks: set fire l to. many buililings, • and the population became panic-stricken o'nd' fled; The ■ magazines, were also /' exploded by tlio Turks. Shukri. Pasha attempted to surrender to the 'Servians, but the' Bulgarians captured 1 him. ■ 1 j The Billgttrians aTe alldwiiig ' a) corre's- ' pondent from'each country to go to idria> i nople. ' .' . - '' i : A HEAP OF SMOKfNG- RUINS. ' ' SHUICRI FIBES THE CITY. ■ (Rec.-March 28, 0.15 a.m.) Vienna, March if. ' " The. general assault on Adrianople lieig'an on I ' .Monday soon after- midnight. A concehtrated'. fi're upon the" advance lasted, for three hours. The Turks' replied energetically, but evidently tkey.''do- : sired to spare their remaining ammunition.'■ . : The- infantry advanced by tho aid of searchlights, and attacked Maslak, tli? Turks : Retiring after a fierce defence. At dawn' the attack ceased'-to permit tho troops to rest. The Bulgarians lost euor'and the Turkish Artillery mads a brillia'ht defen'ce. . ~ . Shukiji Pasha telegraphed to 'Constantinople : "I shall, only leave the- enemy a i.heap; of. sm6kin£ mins," and.he-kept nis !word.- : - ■'

A FIERCE DEFENCE. : WHOLE COMPANIES MOWN DOWN, ' (Rec. March .28; 0.15 a.ta'.)'i Berlin, March 27. .-■ Telegrams from Sofia state that in the beginning of i com; parties of Bulgarians"' wei'e' "mown'' doWr ;an'd destroyed befo're they' reached th'a .ene'ihy's . position. ■: £ similarV;fato bef;l Turks when the Bulgarians, turned tho Turkish cannon upon them. . The explosions of' the magazinft f 'increased tho carnage, .aid when the military and public buildings, had been; ignited the city became, a sea of flame. Many - civilians wero : ; killed by falling masonry. ■ ■ - ; ' '■ ■ After two days' rest forty- thousand. Bulgarians;'will march for Chatalja.. FRANTIC ENTHUSIASM. REJOICING IN BULGAKK (Rec. March 2S, 0.15 a.m.) ' Sofia, Mar6h' 27.- , There is frantic enthusiasm .throughout; the 'Balkans the fall of AdViauopls. A-Requiem, for dead and- a To Demn for victory were celebrated tonlay. .. ..

" King Ferdinand oincl the Royal Princes ljave gone to',A<lrianople. • '!■ SCENE fN THE DUMA. BULGARIANS' CARRIED SHOULDER v -\ . HIGH.;, ' (Rec, March' 28, (i.15 a.m.) St. , Petersburg, March 27.' There' wore remarkable scenes irt {ho Duma over the fail of Adrianople, and Tepeated/cheering greeted the President's annoiihcement. ' ' . Dr. Daneff; President of the Bulgarian Sobranje, and M. Bolcheff, the 'Bulgarian Minister sto . Russia, were present in the Chamber, and the sitting was suspended, While the deputies carried them shoulder high to the Catherine Hall,, where- congratulatory speeches were delivered. The Duma' chaplains' afterwards celebrated aTe Deom. ' CHATALJA CAPTURED. Official notification. ' SUCCESS AFTER ,TWO DAIS'' • . ' FIGHTING. (Rec. March 2ii, 0.15 tt.m.) ', , London,. March 27. Tlie Bulga-inn Legation has been iiiftitmed: that Chatalja has heei\ captured after two days' desperate fighting'. . TUiiKS FLEE. PREdIPHUTELY.

(Rec. March 28, 0.15 a.m.) Constantinople, March 27. It is -reported that Chatalja has beeii etacuated, and that the Tiirks are retreating precipitately. THE SIEGE OF SCUTARI. NON-COMBATANTS REFUSED \ ' -EGRESS. • • Cetinjs, March 28. Essad Pasha has refused to allow hon.'conibatnnts to leave Scutari. ' Vienna, March 20. Italy, and Austria aro dispatching steamers to San Giovanni with provis ; oas and'medical necessaries for tho civilians at Scutari. AUSTRIA AND ALBANIA. ITALIANS RESENTFUL.

Rome, slal"jh 2iS. Some newspapers protest at Austria's pretensions to protect' Altaians and Catholics, in doing which Italy might claim an equal rights They describe (he demahd for a civilian exodus at fcntari as entirely indefensible and unprecedented in tho history of tho war. BRITISH ATTITUDE APPRECIATED. (Ilec. March 28, 0.15 a.m.) Berlin, March 27. Sir Edward Grey's specch on tile Balkan situation lias created an excellent impression. The "Cologne Gazette" says Europe owes him thanks for 'his servicts' to European poacc-.

' STOCK EXOH.ANGE BUOYANT. London, March "C. The Stock Exchange is buoyant at the . prospect of peace. * Consols are quoted at JJ7J, ss. ADRIANOPLE. A FORMIDABLE FORTRESS. ' THE' CITY AND ITS HISTORY. The triumph' of the- Bulgarian's restores , Christian dominion over Adrianople after , the lapse of fivo and a half centuries. Por nearly a hundred years after its enp.turo- by Murad I in 1361', the city was I the capital of the Sultans, until 145!!, ; when, upon- tho fail' of Constantinople, they transferred their residence •to tho Golden Horn. . From tlio technical-point of view Adrian, ople is--a formidable fortress. Under Izzefc Pasha's scheme of reorganisation* of I the Turkish Army three years ago a great effort was made to bring the existing ■ Works at) Adrianople up to date. .As early as 1908,. when Nazinv Pasba- commanded ! the-- then- Second Ordu,. the traco of the . permanent' works was improved, and. or-ders-given- for a .powerful fortress' arms-, ment. Hour'much of this armament ever reached tlie- Adrianople platforms is not , known. The perimeter of the fortress- is i about 22- miles.. There are said to be ' 20 main permanent works on the Adrian- , ople' side' of the- Maritza River and five • on- tho Karagatch front.- As the-perim'eter ■ of the fortress- lies 1 at the junction- of- the Mdritza,- Arda, and-.Tundja Rivers; .and ■ as in, winter these rivers- inundate nearly I a' tliird of tlie' approach' to' the- fortress, i they furnish- a; natural-, obstacle to in- : vestment. ■ .

Apart from its military importance as a I fortress and as Hie headquarters of tho 2nd Army Corps, Adrianople under Turkish rule, remarks .a writer in- the London "Times,'' has had, little either to distinguish or commend'.it. The- city has long since fallen from tlie'high' estate to which it had seemed destined when, some 1800' .years' ago, the heathen TTskudnma of the t Bessi was re'ehristened- Had'rianopolis by its second founder. Even in those far-off days it enjoyed unenviable favour as tho cockpit of the Efcst. It was- in theneighboufhood of Adrinnople that in 323- Constantino' the Great defoatedi his . rival Licinius and., tliat fivo years- later the 1 Tisigoths routed tlte Emperor Valens and : destroyed the city. There, too, in. 1205 Ba'ltTwin,- the Latin Emperor of Coni stantinople, was : defeated and made pris" oner by ; the Bulgarian Tsar Ealoya.u,. who afterwards, put hinr to deatlr. -In 1361 the city was besicged.and taken; by Murad I, and from 131i5' u-ntiJ the fall at Conr stantinople in .1453' the city remained the I capital .of t'mr Sultans.

Capital of the Sultans. 'Tho ruins- of the- Eski Serai; to 1 the north of the city, are' one of the' few' sur- ; viving. memorials, of this era. It Was not tintil the 16th; century th'at the great ■Mosque of Sultan Selirn 11, tho glory of the city and one of the masterpieces of 1 Turkish architecture,- was erected. Legend has it that when'the Sultan realised' that tlie mosque was likely, to' be the. finest building of its kind in the' Empire hoannounced his' intention of putting the' architect to death as soon as ho' had completed his tttsk,- so that he might not Be tempted to' build a rival' to it elsewhere. The architect,' a Bulgarian, Sinan' by i name, who: likewise' designed the Shahzadeli or' Prince's Mosque at Constantinople;. heard of the . Sultan's; resolution and determined' to outwit liis' .patron.-. When the; last minaret of tlie DiOsqufi had be<!it completed he. fitted to- his shoulders a pair of wings which he hadmade for thp; purpose, leaped out from 1 the,,tower,- and committed himself to' the airi in the hope' of escaping from the ;city. Unfortunately his movements were impeded by a carpenter's fool which )io 'liad disposed in'the fold of his garment, aud he shared the fato of many of- his 20th' century imitators. The, mosque itself, with its colonnade of .matble and granite riionolitlis, which, are believed to'be- the remains of Roman ' buildings; is croyned'by a'Cupola, .in its dimensions almost'equal to that of the Sa'ntii : Sophia at Constantinople,'/. and flanked,- by fo'ttr slender, fluted minarets nearly; 200 ft. high.''.Tho ciipola is sup: pojted by, fo'nr massive porphyry pillars, bnt the span of the dome is so' vast that its expanse scems' tb'lie suspended in rtiidair, The Utsh Sherilli' Djairii, another quadruple-minarettfld is used by tho Turks as- a depot for military; stores. Yet another riu'sqnc, the Mosquo of Miiriul IV, likewise with four minarets, the Bttyrtzid Mosque at 'Yilderim,; with a. fine cupola, and the Muradieli, built by Mrirad.l, 'go back to' the" palmy davs-of the city, The.old palace of the Sultans, also built by Murad I in, the litli century, in which Charles SII of Sweden was confihed for a;, time after the' battle of Pollava in 1709, was blown iip by the Turks 1878 be/ore the entry of tho Russians} who, wlxen Field-Marshal Die-bitch-Sabalkansky captured the city" in 182'9/ bad. done iiothißg to- provoke this breach of trust to posterity.* In coniiec j tion with the capture ,of the city by the Russians it may be recalled that'. the 'IVcaty of Adrianople in 1829 represents an important ltfridftark in the history of the Balkans: and it was there likewise Hist was': signed the arniistice which brought to a close the campaign'of 1878-. A Tunible-down City.

Tho picturesque dignity which tlieso historic buildings impart to the city when viewed lit a distance is belied at close Quarters, b,v its mean streets and tumbledown wooden houses. The greater part of the eastern quarter of the town was burned down in 1905, and had not been restored' before the war broke out. Viewed froni the railway station, the city lies, to' the .iibrth-east, witli the . great mosque rising in the background as its most prominent feature. Grouped about it are the, Greek cathedral, the colflnnaded bazaar of Ali Pasha, the palace of the local Governor, rind 1 other administrative buildings, the Imperial < Ottoman Bank, vafioiis colleges, and d'fire-tower. Tho cefitral fcity expands into five suburbs that in turn blend into a series of scattered •villages, interspersed with vast and irregular tracts of woodland, in which poplars, cypresses, and plane, trees predominate. Indeed, the wholo of Adriartople has been-likened to an immense overgrown village. The population, which is half Turkish and half Jewish, Greek, Bulgar, and Armenian, numbers some 85,000, but the.inhabited.area'is so extensive that it is at first difficult, to credit this estimate. After the insurrection in 1303,' niorebver,' several thousand Bhlgars, .especially from the rural districts, fled across the frontier. Mnhadjirs- were settled in- the deserted villages. The city nevertheless remained the see of two Bulgarian Bishops, as well as,of a.Greek Archbishop. Tho situation of Adrianople, in the most favoured portion of the plain of Thrace, made it for iiiany years the nafttral clearing house for the trade of the region. But the Rosso-Turkish war aiul Iliß disjunction, of Eastern Kumelia isolated Adrianople ami transferred to J'hilippopolis at least two-thirds of its foreign trade, which, as regards seaborne goods, is carried on through the port of Burgas. Agricultural products, raw silk, opium, attar of roses, and the dyo of the madder-root, known' as A<lriri.iiople or Turkey ted, are among its principal exports. Its wines, although they are inado by tho most primitive methods, are tim best in Turkey. The. weaving, carpet.' making, rind other manufacturing industries are not what they used to be. The rivers, which are spanned by a dozen bridges—one of them, the Michael's Bridge, dates back to the days of tho ■ Greek emperors—are no longer uniformly navigable, | except for shallow-draught barges. Adrianople, in noint of population and mercantile standing, ranks after ■Salonika. I'Mirneh, as the Turks hare called it, was the .first capital of tho Turkish dominion in the peninsula, and it was from this, great camp that snrang and spread the might of the O.smanli. Adrianople has retained the impress of its history and remained the most characteristically Turco-Tnrtnr oily in Kitrone. No destiny cnuld be better calculated to moko it. lose this character than the reunion of tile ilpnei- mid lower portions of (he Maritza Valley under Bulgarian dominion.

The Itirkisli ordre de bataiile was in such a hopeless state of confusion during tlio fevered mobilisation that it is hard to say what force was actually in the fortress when ft became invested. The garrison, over aild nbove the fortress troops, consisted of three divisions of first-class ralifs and two divisions of second-class redits. This would total about 30.000 bnyoiiefs. There were, however, other troops within the perimeter. The Turkish Field Army was caught b.v the Bulgarians in the process of concentration. Certain uillts from Oiinu- Tavcr Pasha's and Ahmed Alxml; J'nshn's commands were known to be in th.9 fortress.