BIG GUNS ON TREK

Horowhenua Chronicle, 28 April 1916, Page 3

BIG GUNS ON TREK

GrKEAT SERBIAN RETREAT. (By ALFRED .STEAD.) For mouths British sailors audi ma rines were to bo seen in the streets o it is a proud record tha never onco was a mad urought up 03 the police for breach of any rule 01 regulation. The batteries were com mantled by Serbian officers and Seriiiai soldiers worked with the British gun layers. Hills rise behind Belgrade, and the task of hauling these five-ton gun; over them was 110 child's play. The m oxoll wero fresh, but the retreat had to\ be carried out under freavy shellfire. Two abandoned guns were destroyed. For the next two wwks trie gum; trekked with the retiring armies. The only long guns 111 Serbia, tliore was a tendency to misunderstand them and a desire to use them as howitzers hidden behind something. Even in this way-the guns did damage, the lyddite shells being especially deadly. Prisoners who had been under lire from our batteries hrtd very decided opiisi ;ns that it was not fair, the shooting was ton accurate, the sheila too murderous. Their nrrival at Nisli was the only enrollragement the southern armies re. ceived, the only sign of Allied aid. Unfortunately they arrived just before vho evacuation. To the west of the Morava on a rolling ridge the batteries •vvere placed' ,strung out over fifteen miles.. A 'fanciful artillery colonel had ordered 0110 to a hill top far from any road. From the l>attorie,s a magnificent view of the blowing up of the powder magazines of Nwlt was obtained, some eight miles away over the plain with mountains behind. The enemy dnd not advance nt once, and it wns only a day or two Irtter that the guns became active\ Good practice was made. This included the shelling of the station of Nisli witu lyddite, and, incidentally, the destruction of the house of the Serbian battery commander. One gun reached a record range or eight miles. Bulgarian encampments and columns were broken up. The guns remained in position until it became practically •impossible to work them owing to Che ■ heavy shrapnel fire of HlO enemy. Tno Bulgarians wore tiring Turkish shells for the first time. The order finally came for retirement The farthest battery was unable to bo extricated. and was destroyed in the mud. The other four guns went lo Proktilpie with the rearguard—again it seemed a curious way to treat heavy guns. Each gun was dragged by twelve oxen and there was a fairly Ion;; baggage train. From Prokuplie the retreat went 011 westward towards the only pass available. One batt'-ry did over thirty-two miles in twenty-four hours. As the puss was approached the congestion became appalling. l'he British guns rested not at all—day and night the march went on. "What a nightmare that passl The road was bad; it wound round and round. The tired oxen were goaded on by every possible method. DlO few hours' sleep was troubled by the monotonous repetition. "One, two, three, beat the oxen.'' And there were narrow escapes at every turn; the heavy, unwieldy gun would skid sometimes until it overhung the precipice. One night a quarter of an inch made the difference, or there would have gone over some twenty osen and two-score men, who like swarming bees "were \ hauling and pushing the gun. At last the summit was reached. Some of the teams finished on their knees; they would fall down on their foreknees, getting 011 only when +h» bullock behind bumped into their rump. The few motor cars which hart attempted the pass were bogged ana the gun oxen had to drag them out o ftho way. The men were spletulid, cheerful under all manner of hardships ; they used to sing during the trek. * The intensity ot the effort t.> save the guns might have led anyone to believe they weiv some now wonderful weapons, but they were old naval guns with the (Into of 1897. To Prishtma there was a good Turkish road, -uu progressi was difficult owing to a blizzard. All trace of the road was iost, only the heaps indicating dead horses, ox'en and men, mercifully hidden by tho snow gave a clue. Half-frozen, rnimbed and wholly miserable the batteries arrived in i'nslitiiia. Hero there was a sp<*l of a: tew days until news came through that no help was to be looked for from the Ai.irn. Heads westward to lpek there were none, and so the two batteries were ? dstroyed, after nil the heartbreaking trek. At lpek the carts were sawn in two, since only two-wheeled carts had a chance of passing the mountains. All emaciated, Jiaggard anu v rngged, Commander &.er finally l«ct them to te'eutari and to Aledua, where . under Admiral Troubridge, thgy cud yeoman work in supplying food tor the Serbian army. A* soon as pos- ; sible they were drafted home--their odyasuy over. But it is an adiventure that will live iii the memory of the Serbian anuy. Much lies been, forgiven to England s because the English oatteries, the big guns" shared the hardships of the retreat. MMM————