THE WOES OF THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 196, 8 January 1913, Page 7

THE WOES OF THE WAR.

MISERY OF THE NON-FTC! TITERS. THE TERROR OF Tli" PEASANTS. thm i ntended woexded. A TERRIBLE AERIAL REARGUARD. London, November 22. No 1 dii :-ir and no ])cn will ever tell the full talc of woe which this Balkan War has caused to individuals. But day .liv day glimpses of the infernos in Thrace and Macedonia come slowly in, and some of these we give here.

THE TALE OF WOE. "It is not only that the war in the Balkans has many of the ancient cruelties with practically none of the modern alleviations." says the Telegraph, "it is not only that a spirit of revengeful hatred is unchained such as armed Eurone has not known for many generations; not only that the fate ol thousands of unti'iided wounded on both sides has been an unimaginable agony before death. We have io contemplate l)i« facts of mas-acre and pestilence We have also to remember that these Inutilities have involved more misery and ruin among the non-eomlmlant population than have been suffered in any war oi our times. The poverty of these half-civilised peasants, their fears and their helplessness have given to this cnnllict a special character: the fugitives bivouacked among the tombs oui side Constantinople arc only a part of this great army of homeless wretched ness." HORRORS OF THE ROADS. Here, is ail appalling picture drawn by a Times correspondent: '•[ntermingled with this motley throng of homeless fugitives wounded soldiers trudge painfullv along, wearv, sad. wan khaki-elad figures who have dragged their ruined bodies through the long and bitter night. One bare-footed, yel-low-faced soldier with a bullet in his shoulder leads an ass upon which is huddled his brother with a shattered thigh. The pitiable spectacle arrests me, and I oiler them a few piastres; they ask for bread, and devour the sparse repast of bread and cheese.

"I could write without end of such sights and repeat a hundred stories of woe and suffering; I could tell of the stiff, cold bodies of wounded soldiers who had succumbed to their injuries en route, and lay with the brown earth for a bier. Further along the highway are the corpses of two women who, driven from their sick beds, had breathed their last during the cold of the bitter November night; and anon I passed at a canter, for I dared not stay to look, the small frail body of a child, its lifeless eyes gazing wistfully up at the heavens. These, poor martyred creatures received but a shrug of the shoulders from the fugitive throng which passed by. But the very repetitio* of such incidents, more tragic than the batch of red bodies I have seen fresh from the battlefield. Jills me with horror, and I hesitate to give fuller particulars." MUTILATION AND TORTURE.

"Only those who have been brought into close, contact with the terrible realities of the war can estimate the extent of the sacrifices," says another Times correspondent at Sofia. "Here in Sofia the wounded are arriving literally in thousands; all the larger public buildings have been transformed into hospitals. as well as many private houses. In the Military School, which I visited today, beds cannot be provided for all the patients, and many are laid on the bare floors. I noticed that all Turkish patients have beds. The wounded from the last great battle, both Bulgarians and Turks, have yet to arrive, and how arrangements can be made to accommodate them it is hard to say. "There can be little doubt, however, that the path of the retreating Turkish armies is marked by murder, pillage and devastation. To-day two Servian officers arrived here from Egri Palanka and Kumanovo. They state that the roads by which the Turkish army retired were strewn with the corpses of Christian peasants. In many cases the bodies not only of men, but also oi women and children, had been mutilated, and bore evidence of torture. Charred corpses were found of persons who had been tied to trees and burnt alive or impaled, and then roasted."

A TERRIBLE AERIAL REARGUARD. "It is always pathetic to behind an army while fighting. Imt rarely have f teen so moved as 'by the groups of wounded painfully toilin" on their way back to the railway line," writes a Times correspondent after the battle of Luleßurgas. "Almost without intermission for nearly thirty miles we overtook these unfortunate victims of this struggle of nations. In some cases the vsounded were lying down, in others they werein bullock carts, and the agonies that these poor fellows suffered were readable in their lack-lustre eyes, for to lie in bullock-carts over Turkish roads must be one unending agony for those unfortunates nursing their shattered limbs."

TTore is a terrible picture by Mr. Donohoe. of the Daily Chronicle: "The broken army is crawling—it can no longer run. Days and nights of awful suffering have reduced its gait, to a mere totter. ''The track of the fleeing Turkish army is paved with dead and dying, and as an aerial rearguard great flocks of black crows, which caw a hideous requiem, ever hover near, marking down some weary soldier staggering to big end. "Pariah dogs of vulpine breed, scenting carrion, have gathered from afar, their dismal howling resounding throughout the night. The, and the crows are the only grave-diggers for the dead. '■' On the way from Cliorlu, while still daylight. I came across the half-devoured bodies of many hor>es which could not have succumbed more than two hours. T shuddered to think of the fate of hapmen who had fallen dying by the wa vside." ' A Bit; MAN" BREAKS DOWN.

lfere is a dilVcrent kind of story—a < pathetic incident in the surrender of Salonika. as described by the Morning Post's eorrcspoiideni: - ".lust before dark llalil Hey. comma miiiiji" I'a-ha.'s cavalry, oiinic riding up with a small escort, one of whom had a while flag furled. Before his arrival we were watching Muhyddim Hey. a great. big, lieree man. giving his orders for the night. his men simply j n 111]>inir to the -oiuid of his great, voice, ilalil Hey galloped up. stopped, spoke a few words to Muhyddim Bey. and galloped on. Muhyddim. instead of returning to speak to us. walked over to liis guns and -at down on a guntrail. I wondered what had happened, and went to enquire. This great, strong, brave man had completely broken down and was sobbing like a little child. Knowing the range of every blade of glass, every conspicuous object, and with nn--1 i i'; i l I ammunition, he bad received the lieu- i1i;«I li'c iV'u agreed !■> surrender not only tin town, but himself and twenly-fiyo thousand men. Lieutenant. \Ysi!• "M ami I were mvaily touched, and uiuii" Miihvililim (si'v a -ilent liand--hake we returned In Salonika. whieh v-e nri-ii'd after dark.