THE BALKAN WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 186, 24 December 1912, Page 8

THE BALKAN WAR.

TERRIBLE SCENES. RETREAT AND~ SUFFERING. Mr. Ashmead Bartlett thus describes the scenes he witnessed during the retreat of the Turks at Lula Burgas:— "The scenes on the road baffle description. There was not a vestige of the brigade and divisions, which had broken up. The men made no efforts to preserve their places in the ranks. The strongest speedily got to the front, and the weak, sick and wounded struggled painfully behind. Thousands of wounded made pathetic efforts to keep their comrades, but each had to shift for himself, as not even the unwounded were in a condition to lend a helpin" hand. Many of the unwounded men were so weak that they fell by the roadside and made no effort to save themselves. F.or three days all these men had been without a morsel of food, and many for even a longer period. Only soldiers possessing the wonderful constitution of the Turks could have stood the strain. As our waggon lumbered along amidst the ruts, at times threatening to collapse altogether, many a wounded man begged ,for a lift, hoIdW up their hands imploringly. It was awful having to refuse them, because ! once we had taken two inside the cart' it would not hold another person, and,! as it was, the worn-out harness could i hardly drag it along. At times we dis-, mounted and gave exhausted officers a mt on our horses, for which they were I profoundly thankful. We distributed! the remains of our food to the starving and amongst such a multitude our little store could only supply the wants of a! very few. I

'The further we receded from the battlefield, the worse the scene became, because many of the wounded, having dragged themselves thus far, could go n,o further, and crawling off the road lay down to die by the roadside, without a curse or a reproach at the authors of all their miseries.

Sometimes, when a man had died his comrades would stop and dig a shallow grave, but the majority of the corpses were left just where they fell. "'On the road, we were met by fresh bodies of troops coming from Tchorlu on their way to the front, and, ignorant of the great disaster, they too joined in the flight, and speedily deserted their ranks and dispersed. At every village crowds of stragglers invaded the houses m search of food, digging up roots in the gardens and eagerly devouring raw cabbages and turnips, and anythin" edible they could find. Every stream ot water was turned into a mud pool by the general rush of men. horses and oxen to be the first to obtain a drink. "On the high ground, half way to Tchorlu, we had a good view of the whole ol the countryside, which presented a most extraordinary sight. Along! every road, men, horses, guns and ox I waggons were pressing forward, and all' converging on the two roads which led! inl> Tch ° K ™ Thcre must havf! been 40,000 or 50,000 stragglers scattered over I the plain, all bent on reaching the town I before nightfall. Many became so exhausted from want of food that they I could not go any further, and lav down I to sleep where they were. What 'became , of them T do not know. I suppose a large number came in next day. Others, doubtless, were captured by the enemy, I

but the majority of the wounded, left on the bare piateii.ii. which was sw, jit by an icy wind, mii-a have perished du.' ; ing the night."

GREEKS' ENTRY INTO SALONIKA. CHRISTIANS WEEP Willi JOY. London, November 16. Dr. M. Ponptis, who accompanied the Greek army on its victorious march to Salonika, writes- to the Daily Chronicle as follows: "The fighting has been heavy, although the'poi't itself was entered without a shot being fired. Ki::g George made his triumphal entry on Monday. He was accompanied by ail his sons—the Crown Prince, Prince George, Prince. Nicholas, Prince Andrew, and Prince Christophus, as< well as the eldest son of the Crown | Prince, Prince George, who has received his baptism of fire in this war and has greatly distinguished himself. "In spite of the rainy weather the streets were crowded with people of all nationalities, eager to see a king who by Wreck tradition has been expected from year to year during close on live centimes. By invitation of the Greek ] Monarch, there, rode in the procession j the Bulgarian Crown Prince, with his' suite and detachments of Bulgarian and Servian soldiers, thus presenting a proof , of the solidarity of the Balkan Allies. "Many of the Christians in the strc;'. ' were weeping with joy to see their dream realised—a dream which has never been •relinquished toy Christians during Ave centuries of an unspeakable yoke. Ladies were throwing flowers and confetti from windows and balconies, and before long hundreds of Greek flags had been produced from secret hiding places, and were hung all over the town. Throngs of people began to gather in the central square, where Christians of all nationalities were embracing each other, and the air was rent with cries of 'Long live liberty,' 'Long live the Greek Army.' "The Turkish population ' looked on sadly and in dead silence as the Greek soldiers marched through the streets. The Turks are orderly, and I heard of no excesses committed by them before the Greeks took possession. It was a most pathetic sight to witness the captive Turkish army gathering with their guns outside Salonika, and marching silently to Caraburnou, where they have been ordered to wait until a place of deportation can be fixed upon." WAR ITEMS.

German airmen are being engaged by Bulgaria at £250 a month, with mechanics at £SO a month.

The Montenegrin army seems to have unlimited supplies of all sorts. Along the main road you meet depots every few j miles.—A correspondent with King Nic'h- j olas' forces. i "Shall we go tp the war or will the I war come to us?" is the lament of the war correspondents with the Turkishj headquarters at Chorlu. j An eighty-year-old Albanian, of vener-! able appearance and with a long beard, was taken prisoner. As he was unmanageable, he was bound hand and foot 1 to be taken to Vranje, the army head-1 quarters. When lifted from the railway truck there he seized the hand of a soidier with his teeth and held on like a i bulldog. It was impossible to force his mouth open until a large piece of*the soldier's hand had been bitten out.— Mail correspondent.

German military experts are greatly annoyed at the Turkish defeats. They are at a loss to explain, for there is no doubt (says the Express' Berlin correspondent), that the Turkish ailure is a terrible blow to the reputation of Marshal von der Goltz as a military trainer. The Socialist papers comment pitilessly on the embarrassed attitude of the military organs regarding the Turkish defeats. The Vorwaerts rejoices at the defeats, which, it says, are Germany's defeats, and it adds, "Germany's reputation as a military expert is shattered."