Big Battle in Progress

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 140, 31 October 1912, Page 5

Big Battle in Progress

Turks Making a Stand The Allies' Forces Still Advancing Heavy Slaughter

NEW GRAND VIZIER.

VIOLATING THE MUTE FLAG.

OPTIMISTIC TURKISH REPORT]' By Cable —Press Associatnn—Copyright. Received 30, 2.5 p.m. Constantinople, October 29. It is officially announced that Ivainil Pasha, has been appointed Grand Vizier. Nazim Pasha announces important fighting all along the Turkish front, and states that his troops are gaining ground. VIOLENT BATTLE IN PROGRESS. ; BURKS ADVANCING.

THE BATTLE OF KOKIIANA,

FEROCIOUS FIGHTING,

Received 30, 10.30 p.m

BULGARIAN BATTALIONS CUT OFF. Received 30, 11 p.m. Constantinople, October 3C. Xazim Pasha reports that two Bulgarian battalions were cut off between Kirk Ivilissia and Visia, and sustained heavy loss. Nazim adds that the Bulgarians began the attack along the Ermene at noon. The Turks vigorously jrcpelftd the attack. The battle continues with great violence. The Turks aro advancing. The departure of foreign military attaches for the Turkish front has been postponed. GHASTLY SLAUGHTER.

THE ALLIES JUNCTIONING.

MERCILESS SHELL FIRE. HUMAN RAMPARTS. Received 31, 1 a.m. Belgrade, October 30.

During the pursuit of the Turks at Kumanovo towards Uskub, the Servians' j deadly battery fire mowed down whole I companies of Turks. Many threw away j their rifles and knapsacks, and climbed the hillsides and tried to hide in the depressions on the ground and behind trees. Everywhere the merciless shrapnel burst over their heads, strewing the hills and ' roads with corpses. Where it was possible to make a momentary stand, the Turks in search of cover piled up heaps of dead bodies, using the corpses of friends and foes alike. The Servians pumped lead upon these human ramparts. A hand-to-hand fight ensued. The Servians are paraffining and burning the corpses on the battle field, there being no time to bury them.

THE ATTACK ON SCUTARI.

TARABOSCH.

THE ATTACK ON ADRIANOPLE.

THE FORTIFICATIONS DOUBTED.

London, October 29.

The Turks are evacuating Kuprili, and arc abandoning the railway line. They retreated towards Monastic

The Turks at Adrianople made a night ittack on October 24. Next day a re'omiaisance showed that nearly one hunlred Turks had been killed hy their own ipople..

THE ALLIES' FORCES.

Bunarhissar forms a point in the outer line by which the Bulgarians are enveloping Adrianople. In the meantime, General Kovatcheff and the army of Rhodope, are advancing along the Mestakarasu Valley. The country around Adrianople is inundated by the Maritza, Tundarna and Arda rivers, which, as the result of the rains, are impeding the movements of the troops. Some foreign military authorities opine that Adrianople is possibly as vulnerable as Ivirk Kilissia, inasmuch as though Germans planned the fortifications, Turkish contractors constructed them; hence they are possibly of doubtful solidity for resisting artillery fire.

DESPERATE FIGHTING.

INVESTING ADRIANOPLE.

Received 31, 1 a.m. London, October 30. The Standard's Sofia correspondent says that the Bulgarians have decided to invest and starve Adrianople, and thus avoid heavy losses. It has been decided that 60.000 men will be detailed to carry out the investment.

SURRENDER OF THE TURKS,

Received 30, 10.30 p.m

THE BATTLE OF KUMANOVO.

TURKS DRIVEN BACK.

12,500 CASUALTIES. BRAVERY OF THE SERVIANS. Received 30, 10.30 p.m. London. October 30,

A SERVIAN SUCCESS.

Renter reports that the Turks' at Kumanovo numbered 80,000. The Turks lost 10.000 killed and wounded, and the Servians 500 killed and 2000 wounded. The latter include Colonel Bowinovitch, commander of the Danube division, and Lieutenant Milch, commanding a company of infantry, who suicided by shooting himself with a revolver, declining to obey an order to retire from an exposed position. Witnessing his example, the soldiers hurled themselves desperately against the Turkish positions, and annihilated them, their dash being equal to the bravery shown by the cavalry under King Peter's brother, Prince Abseno. while the Crown Prince was frequently in the firing line. The latter entered the town while the battle was in full swing.

EUROPEAN COMPLICATIONS OMINOUS SIGNS.

Sofia, October 30.

The Turks in North-East Adrianople repeatedly attempted to deceive the Bulgarians by using the white flag and then training their guns upon them, thus causing considerable losses to the Bulgarians; The Turks, retreating from a sortie, abandoned a battery with ammunition waggons. The Bulgarians seized two depots of arms and ammunition and medical stores between Adrianople and Kirk Kilissia. The battle of Kokhana was ferocious, lasting for three days and two nights. Tdie Bulgarians were greatly outnumbered. but by repeated bayonet charges they cleared the Turks from a strong position, despite the lattors' desperate resistance. The Turks at Salonikf are short of provisions. The shore batteries are stripped of tlieir guns and ammunition, which have been sent to the interior. The Turkish troops are being driven in by the Allies.

Sofia, October 29.

From Drama, the Bulgarians proceed to Seres, where they will effect a junction with the column from Nevrekop, and a third force coming down tlie Sturma Valley. The Bulgarians hope to effect a junction near Salonika with the Greeks from Vernia and the Servians, who are coming by railway from Kuprili. All the Rhodope passes leading to Salonika and tne Adrianople railway line are in Bulgarian hands. With the capture of Babaeski, the Bulgarians control the new railway from Babaeski to Kirk Kilissea.

MONTENEGRINS BOMBARDING

Cettinje, October 29.

Six thousand regulars and eighteen thousand Mohammedan Albanian volunteers form the garrison at Scutari, and 2500 regulars and 15,000 irregulars the garrison at Tarabosch.

The Montenegrins are bombarding Tarabosch from three steamers on the western side of the lake. They also routed the Albanians in the Maranaj Mountains, to the north of Scutari, killing several hundreds.

GREEKS ROLL UP THE TURKS.

London, October 2!).

The Greeks have captured the Tripotamos defiles, which command Vcrria. Received 30, 10.40 p.m. Athens, October 30.

The Allies have 106,000 more troops at the front than has hitherto been announced. The Turks killed Greek arch priests at Janina. The Greeks, after a three hours' fight, occupied Exaterini, the Greek left wing defeating the Turks, whom they pursued to Nalbankeny, and captured the standards of two Turkish battalions after desperate fighting.

THE TAKING OF KIRK KILISSIA,

Berlin, November 30.

A Red Cross assistant at Kirk Kilissia, describing the final scenes, states that the Christians among the defenders of the forts surrendered in troops, but the Moslems fought to the last.

London, October 2!).

The Servian headquarters are now at Uskub. The army surprised and routed the Turks at lvuprill, after a sharp fight, and secured much booty. The Servians are pursuing the Turks towards Monastir and Salonika.

Received 30, 11 p.m. London, October 30. Russia, Germany and Italy are buying large quantities of Cardiff coal.

The Daily Mail states that (n view of a possible Russian-Austro conflict, a Greek movement is spreading throughout Gallicia to compose the differences among the various Polish parties to unite all. There are twelve million Poles in Russia, six million in Austria, and , four million in Prussia.

GREECE'S WAR FUND.

Received 30, 10.30 p.m.

INFLAMMATORY CIRCULARS.

TURKISH ATROCITIES,

MUTILATING THE WOUNDED.

LOYALTY TO THE SERVIANS.

RUSSIAN HELP.

AN UNPOPULAR ORDER

BRITAIN AND TIIE WAR.

AN UNDERSTANDING BEACHED.

Received 30, 11 p.m. Berlin, October 30. The Foreign Office states that Russi# and Austria have reached an understanding concerning the further treatment oi Balkan questions. AUSTRIA'S PACIFIC POIICY. Received 31, 1 a.m. Vienna, October 30. The Austrian Premier, speaking in the Reichsrath and referring to the Balkans War, stated that Austria-Hungary's policy was consistently peaceful throughout all the negotiations with the interested Powers heretofore, which justified the greater hope that the peace of Europe would be preserved.

Brisbane, October W.

Local Greek residents have cabled the sum of £7OO to Greece, being the first instalment to the War Fund. Melbourne, October 30.

Greek residents have cabled £SOO to the War Fund. Seven Greeks have departed for the front.

.Cairo, October 20. Ten thousand circulars have been seized at Alexandria, summoning Syrian Roman Catholics to unite in an orthodox anti-Turkish struggle.

Berlin, October 29.

The German Red Cross assistant at Kirk Kilissia telegraphs that after the first Bulgarian reverse in the vineyards, the Bashi-Bazouks mutilated the wounded, in many instances gouging out their eyes, cutting off their ears and noses, and ripping up their stomachs.

INHABITANTS RESUMING WORK.

Received 30, 10.30 p.m. Belgrade, October 30.

The Anuiuts in the Ivossovo and Prishtina districts are resuming their occupations, whilst the Moslem members of the population are hastening to declare tlieir loyalty to the Servians. Hundreds of carts, decorated with the Servian colors. are filled witli women and children, who, with their flocks, are returning to their homes.

Received 30, 10.30 p.m. St. Petersburg, October 30.

The Prefect of Police has protested against the municipalities voting £IO,OOO for military hospitals in v the Balkans. A similar protest, in accordance with orders at St. Petersburg, was made in Moscow, whose municipality proposed to send medical detachments, each of fifty beds, to the seat of war. The newspaper Novoe Vremva. protests against the efforts to stifle Russian sympathy with their blood brothers.

POLICY OF MASTERLY INACTION.

Says the Sydney Sun, discussing the war:

Great Britain's action in the present war has been a policy of masterly inaction. Like the rest of the vocalists in the European concert, her song has, to continue the musical analogy, been extremely piano. Russia's inaction and Austria's inaction are both fairly understandable. Russia wants Constantinople, and she was hoping, it is to be presumed, that with the battles done her ambition would be realised. Stepping over the, dead bodies of the combatants she could have gained her objective without money and without price—comparatively speaking. Austria needs Salonika as a port, and a trade route south from Vienna and Buda Pcsth. Her thoughts were similar to Russia's. Germany sat tight for the simple reason that some day she is certain that Austria will be a part of tne great German Empire, and if Austria docs all the dirty work first there will be no need for her to do it afterwards.

Italy was just finishing up another little tussle with the Turks, and had very little money and a depleted army with which to stand up and ask for things or grab them. France is near and dear to England, and here lies the crux of the whole matter. It is only a surmise, but it may be near the mark, that what England said in the conclaves of the Powers, France agreed with, and backed up. England's ties with Russia in the Triple Entente are not of the strongest, and whatever British public opinion may have been during the last 30 or 40 years regarding the Porte, there has been little doubt that, officially, Britain has been on the side of Turkey more than on the side of any other party to the Balkan squabble. As matters stand to-day. the British Government was compelled to come to a decision as between Britain's naval strength in the North Sea aiul in the Mediterranean. Both are strategic positions, and both cannot, in the opinion of the highest expert authority, be commanded with absolute security. Five I years ago Britain stood sentinel in both regions with impregnable fleets, but the aggressive policy of Germany and Austria has changed this. The menace that would lie in Austria's possession of a port on the Mediterranean, to say nothing of Russia. comingfurther south, may have once more induced England to stand behind the Turk. There are more ways than one of giving support to a belligerent nation, and the knowledge that England was occupying the dual position of watch-dog and referee would mightily strengthen the arms of the Sultan and keep the Turkish people from the fear of outside interference. England has her warships in the Mediterranean —more than she has had there for many a day. France has been concentrating nearly the whole of her fleet cast of Gibraltar. These facts are pretty substantial ones. As far as the war has gone Turkey has had a little the worst of it. but then she bad not taken the aggressive, and she was beaten, in the greatest degree, on the border farthest away from her military centres and from her capital. The Montenegrin border saw nearly all the fighting of the early stages, and in that quarter Turkey's_ defences were not strong) nor her battalions many.