Another Great Battle

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 147, 8 November 1912, Page 5

Another Great Battle

Verdict Hangs in Balance The I'irks Eventually Defeated Heavier Losses than at Luleburgas Massacres, Outrages and Pillage

THt; TURKISH ARMY. ITS CONDITION DESPERATE. COWARDLY OFFICERS IN HIDING. APPALLING MISERY.' REFUGEES LAY DOWN AND DIE. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. Received 7, 9.10 p.m. Constantinople, November 7. Nazim Pasha's report' to the Ministry for War describes the condition of the army as desperate. The discipline, he says, is abominable. Fifty officers have been condemned to be shot for various offences. Nazim admits that he personally shot three for cowardice. Many positions were abandoned without the* slightest resistance and the artillery stores left to the enemy. Many officers refuse to go to the front, and are in hiding. The Minister for War has issued an order threatening all skulkers with death. It is reported that 25,000 Kurds from Asia Minor are inarching on Constantinople. There is appalling misery in many of the provinces. Thousands of families are flying to the towns. The mosques, schools and churches are crowded with refugees. Many children are succumbing to the bitter weather. Some of the refugees lay down on the wayside and die, whilst some are driven insane by privation. POSITION AT ADRIANOPLE. BULGARIANS WAITING FOR GENERAL ASSAULT. Received 7, 9.30 p.m. Mustapha Pasha, November G. The Turkish forts round Adrianople cannonade at intervals; otherwise, to the watchers outside, Adrianople might be a deserted city. From the mosque's minarets the Turks direct their gunfire, endeavoring to locate the Bulgarian encampments, which are hidden in the hills, but the shells fall harmlessly. The Bulgarians are strictly reserving their fire until the hour appointed for a general assault. Many of-the wounded have been lying on the plains since the last combat at Marasch, who nobody can succour. The Bulgarian Red Cross is fired at every time it attempts to rescue them. A well-known Sofia doctor was killed whilst assisting wounded Turks. Many skirmishes have occurred along the battle front. The rain lias converted the surrounding country into a quagmire. The Turks murdered Colonel Voniveit, a German, during the retreat from Kirk Kilissia. ANOTHER GREAT BATTLE. GREAT LOSSES. VERDICT LAYS IN BALANCE. TURKS EVENTUALLY FLEE. Sofia, November 0. There has been a great two days' fight between Serai and Chorlu. The Turkish rearguard fled. On both sides there have been heavy losses. Received 7, 10 p.m. For hours the verdict at Serai and Chorlu hung in the balance, the fortunes continually changing. The position of the Bulgarians at times was hazardous. Received 7, 11 p.m. Reports of the rearguard actions at Serai and Chorlu show that more severe losses were sustained by both sides than at Luleburgas. SCENE OP MASSACRE. OUTRAGE AND PILLAGE. MOSLEMS' EXASPERATION. FEARS OF GENERAL OUTBREAK. Received 7, 11.15 p.m. London, November 7. The Chronicle's Constantinople correspondent states that bands of famished Nizzami from Luleburgas converted Rodosto (a seaport town to the west of Constantinople) into a scene of massacre, outrage and pillage. The town was fired from seven points. Children were thrown into the flames. The happenings at Rodosto are unnerving Constantinople, where the arrival of foreign warships has increased the Moslems' exasperation. There are numerous murders of Greeks and Jews. Thirty-six Greeks, while unloading a steamer, were killed. The authorities are striving to repress disorders. Many European women and children are embarking on steamers. English residents are stocking their houses to withstand the siege. Twenty warships of various Powers are hastening to the Bosphorous. SALONIKA COMPLETELY INVESTED. SERVIANS' BRILLIANT VICTORY. Belgrade, November G. The Turks who were defeated at? Kumanovo assembled twenty battalions and many guns in the mountains between Kuprili and Prilep. As the roads had since become impassable, the Servians were unable to utilise their artillery, but tile infantry nevertheless obtained a brilliant victory in the face of a murderous artillery fire. They took position after position with j bayonet charges. _ | The Servians are now in the vicinity of Salonika, which is completely invested. ] THE TURKS RETREATING. j THE GREEKS PRESSING. Received 7, 11.30 p.m. Athens, November 7. The Turks are retreating on Salonika. They destroyed the bridge over the river Vardar." The Greek troops have begun the passage of the Vardar*

The Turkisii troops at Salonika number 15,000, exclusive of the remnants of the Yenidge army. The number of refugees there is estimated at 150,000, It is reported that Vali suicided in consequence of a divergence of views between the civil and military authorities in regard to surrender. During the confusion over the sinking of the Turkish cruiser Tethebuland, the Turks fired on a Turkish schooner, killing several. TURKISH ARMY WITHDRAWS. Received 8, 1 a.m. Athens, November 8. Commander Disdoque, telegraphing from Kirtzalar, states that the Turkisii army has withdrawn from Salonika, SERVIANS CAPTURE ANOTHER TOWN. Received 7, 11 p.m. Belgrade, November 7. The Servians captured Krushcvo after i a slight resistance. AUSTRIA READY TO ACT. TURKISH POSITION HOPELESS. KING NICHOLAS INTERVIEWED. Received 8, 12.25 a.m. Buda-Pesth, November 7. The Emperor Josef, addressing the Delegations, said that at a fitting moment the Government was ready to act with the Powers for the restoration of peace. The Foreign Affairs Committee, discussing the situation, suggested the possibility of an international arrangement to permit of the common use of the Balkan railways and harbors to meet the commercial needs of the various hin-, terlands. Vienna, November 7. Hilmi Pasha, in urging Austrian influence with the Powers for peace, states that the situation in Turkey is hopeless, heing due lo the unpreparedness for entering upon war. The mobilisation was badly carried out, and was hampered by the Tripolitan war. . The Tageblatt interviewed King Nicholas of Montenegro. He declared that the Allies would settle their affairs alone, but their victories would not make them forget to accommodate their wishes to the general European situation. THE TURKS STARVING AND MUTINOUS. London, November 0. The Turks at Salonika are reported to be starving and mutinous. Many insubordinates have been shot. BURGARIAN NIGHT ATTACKS. DESCRIBED AS MARVELLOUS. Constantinople, November (i. The Bulgarian night attacks on the camps are described as marvellous. Aided by powerful searchlights, they dropped shells witn the utmost accuracy into Nazim Pasha's headquarters at Hademkiny and inside the centre of the Salonika lines. PANIC IN ADRIANOPLE. FIGHTING FOR FOOD. Sofia, November G. The populace of Adrianople is panicstricken, and is lighting to obtain food. The Bulgarian Red Cross hospital has opened with two thousand beds at Triiiovo. GREECE CALLS OUT RESERVISTS. London, November G. Greece has called out the 1898 reservists. THE BRITISH FLEET. HURRYING TO THE SCENE OF OPERATIONS. Malta, November 0. The King Edward, Zoalandia, Hindustan and Africa, steaming at 18 knots, have passed eastward. The Hibernia, Britannia, Commonwealth and Dominion are coaling, in readiness to move. All colliers arriving are being dispatched eastwards. Gibraltar, November 6. After orders had been received to proceed to Portsmouth, the Black Prince was ordered to the East. Admiral Milne, commanding the Medi'terranean Station, in the cruiser Good Hope, is proceeding at full steam to Constantinople. He is arranging to land a large force of bluejackets. CHECKING SERVIA. AUSTRIA AND ITALY'S INTENTIONS. Vienna, November 6. Many newspapers are convinced that Austria and Italy will veto any attempt by Servia to obtain an outlet to the Albanian coast. VARIOUS ITEMS. Constantinople. November G. The Porte litis warned local Kurds that thev will be held responsible if they start trouble in the capital. It is reported that the Turkish right wing has revolted on account of lack of food. It is hoped that the trainloads of bread dispatched since Sunday will avert a panic. Three thousand six hundred wounded soldiers have arrived. The Renin, formerly the Fanin, says that, if beaten, Turkey must say "Goodbye" to Europe, and urges the Government to fight to the last cartridge and the last man. If Constantinople is occupied, it is expected that the Turkish Government will cross the Bosphorous and disclaim all responsibility for the situation, and avoid signing a treaty.

Oettinje, November G. An Austrian military attache, landed at Scutari, under the white flag,' to report the Turkish defeats in Thrace and Macedonia. The commandant de elined to believe him, and declared that Scutari could hold out for three months. Athens, November 6. The Greeks lost 160 killed and 770 wounded at Pendijee. The Greeks have occupied the island of Tenedos.

THE BULGARIAN SOLDIERS. English travellers in the Balkans have good words of praise for the Bulgarian soldiers. Mr. Harry de Windt, the well-known explorer, in the story of his travels through Bulgaria, published a few years ago, said that every military man in Sofia was convinced that the Macedonian questions must eventually be settled through force of arms, and that Bulgaria was the country to settle it. He goes on:— "At first I was inclined to smile at the confident tone in which our (Bulgarian) companies spoke of a possible war with the Turks. But when I had become acquainted with the practical methods of the Bulgarian army, its magnificent artillery and no less efficient cavalry and line, I smiled no longer. Bulgaria has already become an important factor in Eastern events."

According to Mr. de Windt, the Macedonian question will not be satisfactorily settled until a European Governor is appointed for Macedonia and Adrianople, acting independently of the Sultan, and responsible only to all the Great Powers of Europe. He based this view on the interviews he had with military men in Sofia, and, in view of the demand which the allies made to Turkey regarding the independence of Macedonia, prior to the declaration of war, this expression of opinions may be taken as illustrating the prize for which Bulgaria is fighting. Mr. de Windt's description of a Bulgarian review is interesting:— "My eyes were indeed opened by that imposing spectacle of several thousand men under arms, comprising a battalion of guards, several regiments of cavalry and infantry, and two batteries of artillery. This formidable force might have formed part of the Russian army, especially the line regiments, with their flat, with caps, high boots, and pea-soup colored overcoats. But the resemblance between the Bulgarian and Russian armies is confined to outward adornment. A French officer told me the Bulgarian artillery was equal in every respect to that of his own country. Twenty years ago the Bulgarians, after routing 100,000 Servians like dust before a gale, could have marched right on to Belgrade if the other Powers had not intervened. And 20 years make a considerable difference to even a small nation which during that time is straining every nerve and expending every available copper to increase the efficiency of her army. When I was at Sofia, France had just secured the whole of an order for new and formidable batteries of quick-firing guns, notwithstanding pertinacious bids from Germany. For these alone the Creusot works are to receive over a million sterling." And all was intended for use in the Macedonian argument.

A PARALLEL. In the vivid account given by Mr. Donohue, the Daily Chronicle's war correspondent, of the shattering of the Turkish forces at Luleburgas, mention is made of three previous decisive battles of the century—Moscow, where France again was humiliated; and Mukden, where the Orient triumphed in its first great clash with a Western Power. There is certainly a remarkable resemblance the campaign of which Sedan was the centre and the resistless onward march of the Bui gars from their frontier fortresses to the very gates oi Constantinople. Indeed, with few reservations, Mr. Gladstone's eloquent description of the Prussian invasion oi France in 1870 might have boon written of the present campaign in the Near East. "On August 22," he snvs, "in the insignificant affair of Saarbfnck. the Emperor of the French assumed a fenble offensive. On the 4th the Prussians replied energetically at Wissemburg. And then what a torrent, what a deluge of events! In twenty-eight days ten battles were fought. Three hundred thousand men were sent to the hospitals, to captivity or to the grave. The German enemy had penetrated into the interior of France, over a distance of 150 miles of territory, and had stretched forth everywhere as he went the strong hand of possession. The Emperor was a prisoner and had been deposed by general consent; his family wanderers none knew where; the embryo at least of a republic, born of the hour, had risen on the ruins of the empire, while proud ar.d gorgeous Paris was awaiting with divided mind the approach of the conquering monarch and his countless hosts." Constantinople must now be experiencing all the feelings which Paris felt in what Lord Morley calls that ''marvellous and shattering hour."—Palmcrston Standard.