THE TRAGEDY OF BULGARIA.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 99, 22 October 1915, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE TRAGEDY OF BULGARIA.

German intrigue has been the undoing of Bulgaria. It was Germany who fanned the flames of the great Balkan War of 1913 and it was German intrigue which prompted Bulgaria to fight Greece and Servia, her erstwhile Allies. Bulgaria has all along been used as a tool by Germany and recent days have seen her once more driven into a war which is distinctly against her best interests. The spectacle of Bulgaria and her Turkish oppressors marching shoulder to shoulder is at once striking and pathetic and a tribute to the hypnotising effect of German intrigue. There are bad statesmen in the Balkan States. In 1913, Bulgaria was shorn of her territory, won by her courage and ability, primarily through the inability of her leaders, as well as the leaders of Servia and Greece, to see through the selfish intriguing of the powers of Europe. Narrow nationalism has been the undoing of Bulgaria, of Servia and of Greece. While Bulgaria is weaker territorially than she would have been had she conceded to Servia and Greece a little territory, which they had neither moral nor legal right, and so averted the second war, neither Servia nor Greece is appreciably stronger through the acquisition of additional territory. Bulgaria bad both Servia and Greece whipped Had Russia not permitted Roumania to advance into unprotected territory,

Servia and Greece were both dissatisfied with the arrogant claims of Bulgaria as a result of that country e successes in tho war. Servia desired a certain portion of Macedonia in return for Albania, which had been declared neutral by the Great Powers. This Bulgaria flatly declined to assent to, and Servurand Greece therefore concluded a secret treaty, according to the terms of which they mutually agreed to attack Bulgaria unless the latter country agreed to accede to the terms put forward by the two allies. As no satisfactory reply was received to their demands from their former ally, Servia and Greece commenced hostilities nlong tho whole lina from Zajetchar to Salonica. King Ferdinand, however, in a certain measure forestalled the advance and concent ration of the allies by asuming the offensive early in July at Salonica and in the Vardar valley.

THE FIRST BULGARIAN ATTACKING MOVEMENTS.

Bulgarian troops wore accordingly hurried towards Salonica to support the rather weak Bulgarian forces eiicaiuped near that town, and at the same time a large mobile column was despatched from Ishtin towards Gievgelu. It was hoped that this column would act as a wedge driven in be-

and forbidden the Bulgarian army to attack Pirot and Nisch when they were I within firing distance of these important cities, Servia would have l>een crushed. Had Venezelos not suddenly secured the signing of the Treaty of Bucharest when the Greek army of about 50,000 was entrapped by the Bulgarians in the Valley of the Struma and vicinity, Greece would have been minus any effective fighting force. The only reason for mentioning these facts is that Servia and Greece know them, and this knowledge has an important bearing upon their future relations with Bulgaria. In the last war, all the allies were the pawns of the Great Powers, which in turn were the playthings of the astute Turk*. In the Turkish War 30,014 Bulgarians were killed, 53,435 wounded. In j the war against the allies, Greece, Servia, Roumania and Turkey, 14,868 Bulgarians were killed, and 51,119 wounded. The maximum money cost of the war to Bulgaria was 600,000,000 francs, £24,000,000, in addition, of course, to the cost of preparation through many years. 1913 was an unlucky year for Bulgaria. It began gloriously and ended disastrously and Bulgaria has only her leaders —her diplomatic leaders—to thank for it. With her Allies Servia. Greece and Montenegro, she inflicted severe defeats on Turkey and her victorious troops came within sight of Constantinople. Peace was made with the Turks and then the Allies fought among themselves as to the partition of their spoils. Bulgaria is a bandit.

tween the Servian and Greek forces and so prevent their concentration which had been secretly decided on. THE ATTEMPT TO CUT THE SERVIAN LINES OF COMMUNICATION Meanwhile their main forces were rapidly massed near Kotchana with a view of advancing across tiie main line of the Servian communications, which extended from Kumanovo Ma Vrania to Belgrade. The scheme of the Bulgarian commander-in-chief would pro. bubly have been successful had not some important despatches fallen into the hands of the Greek troops at th<outbreak of hostilities. THE TURN OF THE TIDE. These disclosed the proposed plans ot King Ferdinand's headquarters staff and enabled the allied troops to* make a counter stroke in the north near Zletovo and in the south near Salonica. Both attacks proved successful as the the Bulgarians were taken quite unawares, having fallen into the fatal mistake of underrating their adversaries. THE POSITION AFTER THE FIRST REPULSE. After the first repulse of the Bui- [ gamn- the following was roughly the d : s|, >■ tion of the contending forces. ]'< the northern area the Bulgarians had two divisions massed at Bielogradchik. At Kuetcndil and extending as far as Sofia was the 3rd Bulgarian

STORY OF THE SECOND BALKAN WAR.

Spoils of a Victorious Campaign Lost in a Few Weeks.

Army under General Pctroff. The 4th Army continued their line further southwards through Strufitsa to Selo. The 2nd Army, under General Ivanoff, extended from Seres towards Yenikui. SERVIAN DISPOSITIONS. The Servian Army dispositions were as follows: Two divisions of the 2nd Army at Saitchar at the extreme north of their line; the remaining three divisions of the 2nd Army were posted to the east of Pirot. The Ist Army occupied the centre of the Servian line and their divisions extended from Kotchana to Kruvlak. GREEK DISPOSITIONS. The Greek forces carried on the allies' line southwards from Gievgelu to Salonica, having in all about twelve divisions between these two places under the command of the Greek Crown Prince. The desire of the Greek Prince's troops to come to dose quarters with their former ;.IJi< s was very difficult to restrain. BULGARIA ATTACKED ALSO ON THE NORTH. In the northern tlicatK of operations the troops of King LVrdinand at first met with some nivalino of suc-

cess as they advanced v.<-:!■'.'.a.rila and captured a "whole Sen'ian divi-u'on, in. eluding their artillery train.:, in the neighbourhood of Kruvlak The Servian troops, however, made ;> counter .stroke and captured Ishtip, whilst further to the north the 15th Bulgarian division was forced to evacuate Bielogradchik. The Servian Ist. Army then advanced from Ishtip against Kotchana, where a great battle was fought which ended in a great Servian victory. The 4th Bulgarian Army was foiled to retire hurriedly on Kreena and Petchovo. BULGARIANS FORGED BACK - " FROM GIEVGETTJ, In the southern theatre the operations also at first favoured the Bulgarians, who advanced westwards and seized Gievgelu. They were, however, { obliged to retire owing to the advance of the Greek Crown Prince from the south. The Greek forces at once assumed the offensive by defeatinj; the Bulgarians on the hills outnide Salonica, where they captured a whole infantry brigade and many guns. They continued their victorious advance through Doiran on to Kukush, where a battle was fought with a portion of General Ivanoff's army. After a stubborn tight the Greek troops were successful all I along the line and drove the Bulgarians out of their positions and captured sixty pieces of artillery. In this hght the Greeks outnumbered their adversaries by at least two to one owing to the fact that General Ivanoff had to despatch heavy reinforcement's

to the northern centre oi the operations. The Crown Prince continued his advance eastwards and in turn captured Nigrita, Demirhissar, and Seres. GREEK SUCCESSES IN SOUTHERN AREA OF OPERATIONS. King Constantino lepoits that grievous excesses were perpetrated by the Bulgarian troops in their hurried retirement through these towns. The Crown Prince then concentrated his forces for a movement northwards against Nevrekop in order to assist the Servian forces, who had had great difficulties in forcing their way eastwards through the mountains in the neighbourhood of Petzovo. The concentration of the Greek forces was skilfully arranged, and Nevrekop wa6 captured after an obstinate struggle. The Greek troops moved on to Kresna, occupied the defiles to the northwards, and joined hands with the Servian right wing near Petrovich. ROUMANIA ENTERS THE FRAY. Whilst Bulgaria's hands were thus so fully occupied Roumania on her side determined to strike a blow and to further hamper the poor Bulgar. As Bulgaria declined to cede the territory to the north of a line extending from Turtukai to Balchik Roumania nt once

mobilised and assumed the offensive by crowsing the River Danube at Rahova, Silistria, and other places. TURKEY SEIZES HER OPPORTUNITY. Had King Ferdinand's enemies even been confined to Roumania be might stll have struggle*! on and possibly come to some private agreement with the latter country, but the appearance of a Turkish army in Thrace makes hie case absolutely hopeless. The reason tor Turkey's sudden offensive | strategy is said to be the reports recently spread abroad of the Bulgarian massacres of Moslems at Kukush and other towns recently captured by the Greek troops. However this may be. Ibrabam Bey soon entered Adrianople at the bead of a flying column, and an imperial irade was published appointing Hadji By the Vali of Constantinople. KIRK KILJSSE TURKISH ONCE MORE. Turkish infantry and cavalry made forced advances to Kirk Kilisse and .Tamboli. Only a slight force was in Adrianople, and this retired before the advance of the Turks. ■ Surrounded on every side King Fer- ! dinand was obliged to sue for terms 1 and to accede to Roumanla'e demands ! as well as fo most of those of Servia | and Greecr.

WHEN MORGAN WAS SHOT. There is a lively demand for rifles, shells, picric, etc., but my sense of proportion is destroyed when, in ono week, by keeping tab on a single office, I find that expert liars declare that 14,000,000 rifles, 11,000,000 shells, 70,000 tons of picric acid were " bought and sold"! Everyone is now in tho game of chasing the rainbow or spurring hotly on toward the mirage which usually takes the shape of money made over-night, money with which to buy houses, estates, and yachts. The wildest propositions reach me. A youth gained entrance to my office by a strong letter. He assumed an air of assurance, and offered me 5,000,000 rifles at £5 each and demanded 4s. 2d. a rifle as hie commission! He swore he had two producing factories. My partner promptly offered to buy the lot. Next day the youth 'phoned in that he had been deceived by someone—and vanished. A woman offered us four billion cartridges at a low price, naming a bank as her reference. Inquiry showed that she was unknown at the bank. We taxed her with her decept ; on and she wept, declaring that a warhog had told her he would " see the bank and fix it up nicely." Our detectives tracked her home; she was the wife of a prosperous doctor at Flushing. This war game is breeding a new list of American millionaires. I am more modest. My gains are enough, and I propose to have some health left to devote to my family and friends. A man's nerves have their limits. It is a distinct shock to dean up £50.000 ; n a week.

; i>f us were surprised when Mr. Morgan was shot; newspaper attacks, street speakers' wild advice to crackbrained loafers, lurid posters, and the reckless words of the new pro-German weeklies were enough to inspire the deed. On the Saturday when we heard lie had been shot we all "ducked," and by Tuesday were composed and back on the job—to stay. The death of any of us or any banker will not cause an instant's hesitation in this grim activity. lam continually asked : "How long will the war last?" I don"t know; nobody knows, but I have contracts tna.ii extend to 1918. This war will go on for years until definite victory comes to one side. The pity of it is that it ever crashed into our comfortable, prosperous age. Ise no way to end it but to fight it out, cost what it may, take as long as it will. I verily believe that the world is reeling to-ward financial run. I feel that humanity will hereafter avoid war as a financial danger more than a physical one. Five years more of war, and gold will vanish and paper depreciate to a dangerously lew figure. _ MEN OUT "OX THE. MAKE.,:. I have read somewhere that the world will c merge from thi6 war and find itself facing an altered existence. Surely, if sudden fortunes and inflated ideas are a change, we will have that. It seems a pity that brave men must fight and die, .and true women weep and starve, and their efforts and pains serve only to create the "war game." It seems a hideous blunder on the part of somebody that permits the activities and caprices of irresponsible men. either to retard or to accelerate the. supplying of arms, munitions, and food for those gallant troops on far-away battle lines. I know a case where buyer and seller of rifles were kept apart over three months by a pack of scoundrels, one of them a subject of one of the Allies! His patriotism should be inqu'red into. In vain may Mr. Lloyd George call for munitions, for his voice can't move a New York warhog to produce the manufacturer —if he has one—until he is ready. Parliament, the Chamber ot Deputies, and the Duma wield no authority over our mud chaos of war orders. No Order-in-Council is effective to limit the profits of American manufacturers. The Defence of the Realm Act might as well be issued by the Akhoond of Swat against our swarms of war!;og6 and liars. They play no favourites and are more neutral than Bryan, for they are out for themselves only, hVt, last, and always. They alone in all the world want a long war, a. bigger and bloodier war. Tf America is drawn into the war. their practised hands will delve deep in the Treasury of the United tSates- perhaps! —"lSaturdav Journal.'