BULGARIA AND GREECE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 61, 10 November 1915, Page 5

BULGARIA AND GREECE.

RUMOURS OF AN AGREEMENT. (Received 8.40 a.m.) Rome, November n. Relations between Bulgaria and Greece are daily becoming more intimate. It is frequently reported that they have concluded an agreement to dismember Serbia and Albania. It is said that Bulgaria has renounced Kavala in exchange for Greece's .support in obtaining Durazzo. . ALLIES PUSHING NORTH. SERBIAN SUCCESS AT VRANIA. Salonika, November 9. The French General Staff announces that a fierce action continues northeast of Strumnitza. The French are pushing northward, the British closely co-operating on the right. An artillery duel is raging at Valandovo, the Serbians also participating. The French guns are causing frightful devastation. The Serbians have gained an advantage at Vrania. Splendid weather favors a continued considerable disembarkation of the Allies. Prisoners declare that serious trouble will break out in Bulgaria the moment the Allies gain a military success. Several Turkish divisions have crossed the Bulgarian frontier towards the Danube, and the troops travel at night, fearing a reaction of the population.

TERRIBLE SLAUGHTER. London, November 9. News has been received from the Near East of the fiercest actions on the front, The Serbians and Bulgarians at Bahuna slaughtered each other pitilessly, and the ground was covered with heaps of slain. The fight lasted three days, but the arrival of French artillery demoralised the Bulgarians, while the British cavalry accentuated the panic. Officers declared that though the Bulgarians obtained victories, one-third of their army was hors-de-conibat. There were great rejoicing in Sofia at the occupation of Xish and Krahevo, but these were followed by a wave of depression owing to the great number of wounded who were brought in to Sofia. Wounded officers speak of the incredible ferocity of the fighting. The Serbians defended Xish with unprecedented stubbornness, and few were taken prisoners. Women and children fought in the first line. USING THE DANUBE. SUPPLIES FOR TURKEY. Bucharest, November 9. The Austro-Germans are using the Danube to pass supplies to Bulgaria and Turkey. The first convoy reached Rustchuk, escorted by Austrian monitors, with troops, munitions, and motor-cars. '.. > ■ General von der Goltz's army and another convoy are passing down the Danube to other Bulgarian ports. The Germans are within thirty miles of Xish, and when this section is captured the direct railway to Constantinople will be cleared. RASHKA, THE NEW CAPITAL. BLOCKING THE ENEMY. Loudon, November 9. Latest Athens messages show that two-thirds of Serbia is occupied by the invaders. Rashka is the new capital. The Serbians blew up all the tunnels on the Belgrade-Nish railway. The Germans claim to have captured three thousand unwounded Serbians and ten guns at Kruchevatz and found fifteen hundred wounded men in the hospital. THE CREEK KING. London, November 8. Dr. Dillon, writing from Rome, says that King Constantine's nomination of General Yanakitsas as War Minister constitutes a bold challenge to M. Venizelos and a large section of the nation. It shows the length he is prepared to go in defence oi Gorman interests and the carrying out of his solemn resolve, made in July, 1914, of loyalty to the Kaiser, The Allies, says Dr. Dillon, made a mistake in assuming that King Constantino is a mere figure-head, airti that M. Venizelos is virtual master. lAnother mistake was the systematic attempt to encourage a brotherly union hetween Bulgaria and G recce which countries intensely bate each other. Whichever one we propitiated with promises of captured territories we inevitably drove the other into the enemy's arms. When we had out alluring prospects of a Serbian extension along the Adriatic we Uii-

wittingly threw fuel to the flames of Bulgaria's hatred. "I cannot," sa.vs Dr. Dillon, "ascertain the truth of the report that King Constantino sent an autograph letter to King Ferdinand, in response. to the Kaiser's exhortations, but it is curious that a military mission arrived at Athens a few days before .the crisis, consisting of German military attaches from Sofia and Bucharest. Also, the son of Prince Bulow, on arriving at Salonika, hesitated to take the sea journey, tearing Anglo-French warships, and finished his journey to Athens in a motor-car.

"The Entente must understand that King Constantino is Greece," J concludes Dr. Dillon. PRO-GERMAN INFLUENCE. Athens, November 9. Eleven out of the sixteen daily newspapers in Athens have been won over by German bribes and the influence of the Queen's entourage. Pro-German influences are pervading the army. I'Ya'hce is lending Greece 16UU thousand tons of flour. FRENCH v. BULGARS. THE STRUMNITZA FIGHT. Rome, November 9. Details have been received of the opening fight bewteon the French and the Bulgars on the east bank of the Vardar terrain, adjoining Stnunnitza railway station. The battle took place op a hillside, divided by ravines, and rain rendering it more difficult. Four Bulgarian regiments,. preceded by bomb-throwers and Macedonian irregulars, advanced to the attack in dense formation. The fiencli reserved their fire until the enemy were within a few hundred yards. Then the entire front burst into a devastating hurricane of fire. The attackers wavered and the French seventyfives opened with shrapnel, and ma-chine-guns also blazed. This completely surprised the Bulgarians. | Suddenly, as a forlorn hope, live , hundred Bulgars, supposed by two Krupp seventy-sevens, dashed forward with the bayonet, and in a hand- | to-hand struggle broke the French 'centre. General Builloud signalled tho Chasseurs to advance, and the struggle was renewed in the middle 'of the battlefield, tho artillery firing over the heads of the combatants. The forlorn hope was wiped out. 01 thirty prisoners taken., eighteen were wounded. The whole French line then advanced, forcing the Bulgarians to abandon their wounded and a quantity of ( munitions. The victory enabled the French left wing to be extended considerably. MESOPOTAMIA. OCCUPATION OF BAGHDAD. Rome, November D. La Tribuna, commenting on the report that the British have occupied Baghdad, 'says that such an event is perhaps tho most important of the ,war, and will produce an enormous impression amongst the Moslems. London, November B. The Daily Telegraph's report of the occupation' of Baghdad is unconfirmed.