BATTLE OF LULE BURGAS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 174, 10 December 1912, Page 6

BATTLE OF LULE BURGAS.

GRAPHIC ACCOUNTS BY MAIL.

HOW THE TURKS WERE ROUTED. DESPERATE HAND-TO-HAND FIGHTING. A TEN DAYS' BATTLE. The following accounts of the great battle between the Bulgarians and Turks at Lule Burgas is taken from the New York Post, which arrived by last week's mail:— Sofia, November 1. Details thus far of the rout of the Turkish army at Lule Burgas by the Bulgarians show that the Bulgarian forces were numerically far inferior. The Turkish army is reported to have aggrogated 200.000 men. It included the garrison which had retreated from the captured fortress of Kirk-Killisse, as ■well as the main body of Turkish troops, which had advanced from Constantinople! It comprised practicality the whole of the Turkish troops remaining in Europe, apart from the garrisons of Adrianople, Salonika, Monastir, Jahina, Scutari and a few other towns.

; This great army was under the personal command of Nazim Pasha, Minister for Waf and Commander-in-Chief, who was assisted by some of the ablest Turkish generals serving in the army at the present moment.

! The fight opened with the discovery by the Turks of a.number-of Bulgarian-cav-jilry scouts. The Turks drew in their outposts and these were closely followed by lines of Bulgarian skirmishers, who were succeeded by the main Bulgarian army in fighting formation. The battle, which was destined to last several days, was soon in progress all along the line.

; The Bulgarian troops repeatedly delivered fierce attacks, sometimes at one point, sometimes at another, along the. Turkish line, extending from Lule Burgas Ito Serat. The. Turkish troops offered a istubborn resistance, but were unable to withstand the impetuous onslaught, of the Bulgarians, and finally they turned ;and fled in great disorder towards Tenormin in the south.

The losses of the Ottoman army are reported to have been enormous, in dead, wounded and prisoners, besides ammunition and. other supplies. Tho capture 01 a third Turkish military train near Lule Burgas, before the battle, was an immense advantage to the Bulgarians, as it furnished them. with more facilities for the transport of their troops and supplies to the district where the fightin-' took place. ° , FIGHTING TERRIBLY SEVERE.

■ London, November 2.—Bulgaria's Ks- , jsertions that the Turks have been over- ' whelmingly defcated-were-amply confirm- ; ,ed to-day. The defeat was a rout. ; The fighting on the left wing of the /Turkish Army, according to one of the ;correspondents, was'terribly severe, hi IS their attack on.Lnle JJurgas the-Bulgar-lian tr*oops found Tergut Shefket Pasha .with his-, troops m position on'the slopes jbehind " the town. The Bulgarians ibrought up six-batteries and .shelled the position on Monday evening' October 28. They then carried out an infantry attack,, which was unsuccessful. * On Tuesday the Bulgarian artillery settled down to a methodical preparatorv : bombardment, to which the Turkish artillery fepliqd vigorously,,.-.. In the artillerydfteV ho superiority, was shown 'by eithei-slde:' Nevertheless,, on Tuesday afternoon itbecame clear to the Turkish commander" that the;-Bulgarians wore • pushing ' lip'masses of reinforcements into tligfifirfiig' lipe to give weight io their attack. This meant that the position at Lule Burgas was becoming untenable. The : Turkish advance line fell-back in admirable order to Torgut, Shefket' Pasha's ;tnain position on the left, 1 guarding the; iron railway bridge across the river W-' kine. The tewn jtaelf Temained unoccupied my either side during Tuesday night and throughout Wednesday, wlien r ij;/was . set on fire "by the explosion of Bulgarian ■shells. b I DRIVEN BACK "BY" A SWEEPING :ITRE. .-.'.. .!;

Close battle was joined between the opposing forces ut dawn on Wednesday, and raged with equal fierceness along the whole front for a distance of twenty. miles. The Bulgarians began by a de-' termined effort : to take the railway, bridge, but the Turkish troops entrencli-' ed near the head of the bridge drove : them back' with a, sweeping .fire: To-. •wards noon the Bulgarian artillery cpn-r. centrated its : fire on the centre.; of the, Turkish position as a' prelude to an assault. The shrapnel fire, was perfectly timed, and the Turkish infantry suffered, heavily. Nevertheless, here as elsewhere on the field, the. losses were 'only- what, was to be expected from the severity of the battle.' Long columns of wounded were passed to the rear, after receivings first aid on the field.. ,

The Turkish troops offered a very obstinate resistance, .to. the Bulgarian attack, The conflicts; continued'tiiitil.kte■on Wednesday night, with wavering sue-' cess. Eventually, however, the:. Turks gave way all along the line, the Bulgarians capturing ■ the .railway. ; station at Muradli, and thus commanding the rail road line to Salonika. ANARCHY IN TURKEY. Berlin, November 2.—Anarchy prevails throughout Turkey, according to. despatches from the Balkans to,day. Order exists only where the invaders'. of the bultans dominions have established it Ihey have, not, been long enough established in the territories thevhave : seized to have accomplished much'as yet: TbV Turks, beaten everywhere, have lost 'ill control. ,-

The disgraceful character of the defeats, the Sultan's troops have sustained were just beginning to be learned fully to-day They were not the soldiers* fault, but that of the Government, which sent them into battle hopelessly disorganised and unprepared. When General Nazim Pasha saw the tide of the conflict turning against him at Lule Burgas, he appealed frantically again and again for reinforcements. Several train-loads of men were rushed forward from Tchorlu, but many of them were unarmed. Others were wounded who had previously been sent to the rear as incapable of further fighting. The raw levies whom the Government had insisted on placing at the front, started the rout. Throwing away guns and ammunition, they dashed madly for the rear, fairly overwhelming the older troops, who struggled to stand tlrir ground. Many officers who tried to check the panic were killed by their own men.

ARMY A HOWLING MOB. The Turkish army was transformed quickly into a howling, murderous mob, each man bent only on safety for himself. The fight resembled a fire-rush in a theatre. Soldiers trampled one another in their haste. Approximately 200,000 men swept back in a great wave before the Bulgarian advance. From their rear—which should have been their front—the Bulgarians poured a devastating artillery fire into the Turks' ranks. Whole companies were wiped out—the men shot in their backs.

As the flight began to slacken, a strong force of starving mutineers—practically uo provision had been made by the Government for fending the troops in the field—came upon and attacked a war correspondents' train. Their officers ,and the correspondents beat off the attack with their revolvers. Frantic as was their pursuit, the Bulgarians were literally outrun by the fugitives. It was not until the latter were

safely out of range of the enemy's fire that their officers began to restore a degree of order among them.

The few Turkish detachments at Lule Burgas which did fight fought like madmen. They neither gave nor accepted iiuarter. \Vhcn their ammunition was exhausted they continued to resist with bayonets, knives, and even with their lists and teeth. Some shot themselves rather than surrender. There were spots where dead Turks lay literally in heaps, with circles of Bulgarian corpses around them.

U'UiJM DAYS' BATTLE. Budapest, November 2.—A battle comparable with any in the world's history was drawing to its close before the gates of Constantinople to-day. On ooth sides—Bulgarian and Turkish—nearly 500,000 men have been engaged. Fighting began ten days ago, and has raged almost continuously ever since. The battle front was about thirty miles long at first. Then it stretched to nearly one hundred. To-day it had narrowed again to about thirty, as the sea hemmed the combatants in on either.side.

Of the loss in killed and wounded only the vaguest estimates could be made. Military men here surmised, however, from the little they have learned definitely, that on both sides the figure will approximate 75,000 men; ■ ■ " Ten days ago it would have been taken for granted here "that "the Turks, realising that their last line' of defences had been reached,,that .ttiQir capital'itself was besieged, and that one more defeat would be their last,, would fight to the last man. But this was not the opinion of the best judges to-day. The persistency with which they have been beaten has shattered the general faith in the Ottoman troops' prowess.

The Turkish War Office continued, it was true, to issue hopeful bulletins concerning what was progressing at the front. The army's, east wing, it was. asserted, was winning; ihe.west wing was holding its own. But no attention was ; paid to the,se. assertions here. The known facts, make it certain that they were false. ; : WAR ONE GREAT BATTLE. The TUrco-Bulgarian' Avar thus far has hot been exactly a war, but one great battle. Skirmishing'began as soon as the Bulgarians crossed the frontier. The skirmishing grew hotter as they approached Kirk Killisse and Adrianople. On Wednesday, October 23; the skirmishing had become a battle. The scene of the heaviest fighting was in the. vicinity ■of Kirk Killisse' arid' Adri'anople until .Saturday night'. Qrf Sunday'there was a lull in the main battle, though skirmishing still went on.' On Monday, October 28', the struggle was fiercer than everr- The Turks were .in strongest force near- Lule Burgas. Here the day's fighting favored the Buiigaria'ns, though there was: no decisive jadvantage. Further ; east' the. Turks ;drove the Bulgarians back.

! On Tuesday the Bulgarians attacked. ithe Turks' west-wing: with such fury 'that, by nightfall,'the latter were forced back upon Lule" Burgas'■ itself. : 'Reinforced the following morning; (.Wednesday) by detachments from Belgrade, the Bulgarians so violently- attacked the Turkish line"that,by,:afte.ijnppn,'.the Ottoman west wing crumpled under the assault, and began a retreat which quickly regenerated into a flight. \ By Thursday morning t,he Turkish .east wing, previously-, victorious, .-began' to 'give ground. The Bulgarians pursued :hotly, and this retreat) ioOj'was soon a , toi.it. All day long, the, Sulgariansdr6ve' their enemy farther,, aiid.'.farthqr doWri the narrowing" peninsula" toward Cbn"snntinopl.e,, , By nightfall' the Bulgarian 'line extended,''roughly,' from-Midiay'on the Black Sea coast, to Rodosto, on the Sea of 'Marmora'. '"' It was steadily ad-. : vancing. ' i ■■''■■■■ ■ ■ " i : MEN FOUGHT LIKE' ENGAGED ; 'BEAST'S.' -' ; " : -, : ''■'

j ! The manner, jn ,Wihjch the troops have fought, according ,to, men who Witnessed parts of the battle,, mqst of them, wounded, who .have. been.serit.-,tq,the. rear, was like nothing seen hitherto- in the history of modern war. The Bulgarians seemed maddened at' the sight of the' eiiehiy. Their officers .could not r control them. Tactics'were thrown'to'the winds. They rushed'the Turkish'positions, firing 1 their guns'as they ran, and howling;with, rage. ' i T/he Turks. stopped practically ■ ! single Bulgarian'.chaise'. '."Those wliic-li 'i ailed to. reach the Tiirk,ish "lines failed, simply because the 1 chargirig columns . were 'annihilated. Whole 1 lines : of ' running men disappeared in the face of 'the Turkish' fire, as''a' puff of : smoke is ,blown away by the wind. But more \ines- invariably 'followed. As iho Bulgarian attacking 'parties swarmed over' the ; Turkish'' fortifi'caiions .the soldiers .dropped their empty guns ,ahd,drew their knives. ■'.Thc'Tilfks; until rout, begali, nipt''their assailants more than half-way. '.Sta'bbing,' scratching and biting they fdughtlike- deirions. These encounters' end'ed .only 1 when one .party or the other Was completely w,iped .out." Few .prisoners 1 ; Were .taken until after : the Turkish flight, began.; . During •:thc fighting thought Of surrender. Tt,was kill or be killed'..' ..',...' .

;! The Bulgarians wOn by'superior slaying power, and this superiority was" mainly due to the superiority of the Bulgarian ' commissariat. ' Of provisions there was no scarcity'for the Bulgarian troopsj though they .hart toi be snatched on tluiTun. To the Turkish War-Office it < seemed never ! to; have: occurred .that •the soldiers would have. : to: be : fed on the field. - ■ > ■■■:■■■■' • - ■•■■■ :•

j "Wc have been ; starving for eight days," said one Turkish officer', ca'pturbd during the Ottoman troops 1 flight, r 'and it'was impossible for out and with empty stomachs, :to fight longer. Reports on Turkish atrocities.

1 Sofia, Bulgaria,. November 2.—Before evacuating Buriarhiss'ar;" the' Turkish troops shut up '2OO Bulgarians''in the barracks and set fire to the building, according to the newspaper Mir. All the Bulgarians perished. . . .The Turkish troops, according to the same newspaper, are also massacring Bulgarian' residents in the Struma valley. - Carload after carload of wounded rolled into Sofia to-day from the front. The ferocity of the fighting between the Bulgarians and Turks was easy to imagine from the nature of the victims' wounds. The bayonet and the knife had evidently figured extensively in the struggle. Gunshot wounds were to be expected, as a German surgeon who volunteered his services for hospital work here remarked, but the use of cold steel, he said, he had supposed was out of date. Bulgaria's population will bear the marks of its struggle with the Turks for a generation. Practically every man ol fighting age in the country is at the front, and an appalling proportion of them will be crippled for the rest of their lives.

The Turks are by no means fully armei with modern weapons. Many are using old-fashioned large-calibre guns. They are not very effective at long range, but much of the fighting in north-eastern Turkey lias been at close quarters, and fired at a distance sometimes of only a few tV"fc, the older weapons are' more deadly than the new. That this is the case was made plain by the huge holes which the heavy softnosed bullets have torn in the flesh of many of the wounded, by shattered, splintered bones and by profuse hemorrhages. Even worse than the bullet wounds are the bayonet stabs and knife slashes from which large numbers of the Bulgarians are suffering.