FOUR DAYS' FIERCE FIGHTING

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2611, 5 November 1915, Page 5

FOUR DAYS' FIERCE FIGHTING

GERMAN ASSAULT ON KRAGUJEVATZ TERRIBLE. LOSSES INFLICTED BY THE SERBIANS By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright ™ ' ' ~, A . : ■ . Bucharest, November 3. lucre was four days' fighting near Kragujevatz before the Germans were able to advance. When reinforced, they opened a general attack with fortyfive thousand men. Their casualties totalled twenty thousand, the Servians de fending work after work with the utmost valour. Tbe Germans exercised terrible reprisals on the population, making prisoner women and children •The Servian Government has been installed at Mitroufcsa (sixty 'miles south-west of Nish). . J ■ The copper mines at Bor, between the Danube and Tiinok, have been flooded to prevent the Germans working them.

HIGH COMMISSIONER'S REPORT,

The High Commissioner reports

,<m i, « r tt> i • ; i •*, x Lo " don i November 3, 4.50 p.m. ' Two battalions of Bulgarians, with two batteries, attacked the French at Knvolak on Saturday, but were easily repulsed. "On November 2 at Strumnitza, the French made progress on the southern slopes of the frontier." ■ 'GERMANS ASSERT THAT GREEKS FIRED ON THE FRENCH. (Reo. November 4, 9.10 p.m.) ■' .i ~, . , „ ~ Paris, November' 4. A wireless communique from Berlin states: "The Greek army excited fired on French troops who were retreating into Greek territory before the Bulgarians. "The Austro-Germans have reached Ushitza, fifty-Eve miles south-west of Kragujevatz The Serbians are offering a stubborn resistance on both sides of the Morava. '■,

THE LANDING AT KAVALLA,

(Reo: November 4, 8.55 p.m.)

m rim t » r it . ,• "'' London, November 3. The "Globe" commenting on the landing at Kavalla, says: "This is the only offensive strategy that the British have yet devised, except in the Persian Gulf. Kavalla is a wide bay, and the roadsteads offer an anchorage for the whole of the Allied fleets,, while it is a terminus for three good roads We should oblige the Bulgarians to mass a division at Skidio, another at Lissa and a third force at Denimir Hissar to protect the Struma Valley, otherwise the Bulgarians at btrummtz will find their easiest retreat cut off If the Bui garians at Demmir-Hissar violated.Greek neutrality thv>y could march to Doiran and cut the I< ranco-Bntish lino of communications with Salonika There.is only an antiquated quay at Kavalla, capable of handling four lighters simultaneously. ■ ■

REPORTED APPROACH OP THE RUSSIANS

(Rec. November. 4, 10.80 p.m.)

The ."Petit Paraien's" Salonika correspondent " Itata* o art%!* s ian trcops, with guns and munitions, have already crossed the Danube. Rumania is passive. .„ iT (Rec. November 4, 10.30 p.m.) , , ~ , ~ . Amsterdam, November 4. German newspapers stato that many Russian troop trains are arriving at Iteni, in Bessarabia. RUMANIA'S SEAT ON THE FENCE

WANTS TO INVEST ON A CERTAINTY.

The "Cornere dellaSera" says that M. Bratiano (the Rumanian Premier) will not move unless he is certain of success. 'lh o Allies must inspire thk <w tainty. Rumania believes that the side which conquers Constantinople will have won,

A TRAGIC PICTURE OF SERBIA'S PLIGHT

"IF THE ALLIES DO NOT COME IN TIME!"

T „t, „ . „ ~.,-,• -.r-i c- ' T • Loßt, °". November 4. In II Secolo, published in Milan, bignor Luciano Magrini, a well-known correspondent, draws a tragic picture- of Servia as tlie result of a twelve days' motor tour. He describes the anxiety of the Servian General Staff owing to the Allies' delay. General Pavlovich, Chief of tho Servjan Staff, said: "There is an impression still of hesitation on tho part of tho Allies. If efficient and prompt help fail's, wo will be obliged to abandon tho country in order to save the Servian people. If the population survives, the nation will not die." The Austro-Cerman Bluff. Signor Magrini continues that the Servians, unfortunately, are scattered from tho frontier, .and likely to bo beaten dai>iir<ita!.y. 'fliy , Aui>l.! , e»Clsfmiili!i U»iufEed tho Allies that they were without reserves to crush Berviij and so

collected troops from all tho fronts and pretended to have concentrated half a million. As a fact, there was only a small body of men, with an abundance of powerful artillery. The Germans kept up their artillery lire for four days without using their infantry. The Servians were swept off the ground by the hail of shrapnel, after vainly trying to reacli the enemy. The, Servians arc retreating through the llorava Valley in order to take up positions in the mountains between Kaplana and Topoln, where King Peter, ill and exhausted, is waiting to retire with the rearguard. Retreat of a People. "It is a retreat of a people, not an army. Tens f.f thousands of peoplo are streaming southward along the muddy roads, none know whither. There is an unending procession of soldiers mixed with peasants; gun-carriages, and carts loaded with war material, move alongside vehicles filled with children and old women, and men sick and wounded. Flocks of sheep and herds of pigs are intermixed with groups of wounded, some of whom aro being carried on stretchers, while others are attempting to walk because they lack stretchers. Many who had been wounded by shrapnel were not-, even bandaged. Mrs. Stcbart, head of the British hospital at Kmgejuvatz, who was previously with tho Red Cross in Brussels, did wonderful work in relieving their sufferings. Nisli is deserted. The Ambassadors have left, shops aro dosed, and tho majority of tho inhabitants fled. Many aro now barefooted on the muddy roads. The hire of a carriage for two days was £40. "Our Tragio Hour." M. Tovanovics (Minister of Justice) states: "We have lived through' a tragio hour. When Bulgaria mobilised, we vainly besought the Entente Towers to allow us to attack, but tho Entente was still under tho delusion that Bulgaria was to march towards Turkey. We_ obeyed. That was our ruin. If the Allied troops do not come in time, Servia will be no more. Tho fate of Belgium will be ours." \ THE CAMPAIGN IN THE DARDANELLES / SUBMARINE WAR IN THE SEA OF MARMORA, London, November 3. A Paris communique states: Between October 20 and November 1 in the Dardanelles, _ there were only mine explosions, all to our advantage. British monitors twice bombarded military establishments on Gallipoli. "Despite protective nets and mines many lines deep, British and French submarines passed through the Straits, and are cooperating in the Sea of Marmora, where they are making the movement of Turkish vessels and the reprovisioning of Turks on the Peninsula particularly difficult." FRENCH SUBMARINE SUNK BY GUNFIRE.

_,_,.._ . London, November 3. The French,submarine Turquoise was sunk by gunfire in the Sea c.f Marmora. Twenty-six of the crow were made prisoner.

BULGARIANS EN ROUTE TO GALLIPOLI

Athens, November 3. Two thousand Bulgarian 6oldiers traversed Constantinople on their way to Gallipoli.

BOMBARDMENT OF SMYRNA COAST,

Athens, November 3. Four of.tho Allies' destroyers bombarded Cliisnie, 44 miles west of Smyrna, destroying the forts, the customhouse, the old barracks, the Government residence, and a large part of tho Turkish quarter. Tho Turks burglarised tho English Consulate at Smyrna and removed the archives.