THE BALKANS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 July 1916, Page 5

THE BALKANS.

u ■ BULCARS ARE LEFT TO THEIR OWN RESOURCES. ATROCITIES BY BULGARIANS. SOLDIERS CARRY OFF ALL YOTOIG i WOMEN. , Rome, June 2. Germany and Austria, it •appears to observers" here, have practically left King Ferdinand of Bulgaria to shift for himself in the Balkans, and have allowed him complete liberty of lction in the operations against Salonika. King Ferdinand, it is- beieved, is powerless to resist an Anglo-French offensive, and as it would be useless to await *events, decided to invade Greece, a step which the Kaiser had heretofore prohibited out of deference for his brother-in-law, King Constantine. It is believed that King Ferdinand does not expect Greece to offer any resistance, and x i« believes the French and British will not defend Greece. His object is believed to be to create a complication with the Allies, who, he thinks, do not dare advance into Macedonia and Serbia if the Bulgarians are threatening a possible flanking movement. ■Meanwhile the Greeks blame the Allies for the Bulgarian invasion, but are not likely to join them since they are i unwilling to fight. From a diplomatic source, it is leßrned that King Ferdinand ot Bulgaria has decided on the occupation of Kavnlla, with the object of "advertising" his army and of reviving public opinion in Bulgaria, which is depressed. The Bulgarians are reported to be without artillery. The Greeks are tolerating the Bulgar advance, despatches say, hynotised by German promises of compensation in the form of the Albanian Epirus or other territory. Salonika, June 2. Gaston Richard, of the Petit Parisien, of Paris, writes: 1 have just returned from a visit to and Seres, wbeir 1 witnessed scenes of desolation eqim.i.nu in Horror the exodus from Bel••iiini and Northern France. " The roaas of Eastern Macedonia ?.re choked with panic-stricken Greeks, fleeing before the oncoming Bulgarians. The refugees are driving their sheep and cattle before them, pushing handcarts containing their belongings and carrying weeping children. Beneath the torrid sun the homeless people struggle along, concealed in a choking cloud of dust. Deinir-Hissar when I arrived was dense with refugees, rhey' had been 'warming into the little town since Sunday clamoring for protection and begging bread. But there were only forty sacks of flour for 30,01)0 people, and the majority of the refugees are starving to death. The same scenes occurred at Seres, where the authorities vainly endeavored to collect food. Everv one of those wretched people tells liarrowing stories of Bulgarian abominations. Led by pjro-Bulgarian Greeks the invading troops swarmed into the frontier villages and seizx'd all the available food, killing all the beasts and striking down with their rifle-butts the civilians who attempted to interfere. I saw a girl with a deep cut eight inches long around her neck, caused by a Bulgarian soldier who had brutally snatched a tawdry necklace from her. Another girl who had been wearing earrings had the lobes of both ears torn awuv. A majority of the young girls were carried off 'by the troops under the eyes of officers, who also allowed the most wanton pillage. When the population begged for mercy and asked to be allowed to leave their homes, the oflicers cried, "Where will you gol We shall take Seres, Errna, Kavalla and Salonika, and hurl the Allies into the lea." Men who returned to the villages to try to find their missing women folk never rejoined the refugees' columns. All stories agreed that Uhlans encouraged the Bulgarian pillage, although they did not participate in it .hemselves. The German officers made no effort to prevent Bulgarian orgies. When a young woman covered with blood threw herself at the feet of a German colone' and implored his protection he merely shrugged bis shoulders, remarking, "You knew we were coming. Why didn't you leave before J" Along the road from Demir-Hissar to Series, Bulgarian eomitadjis raided groups of fleeing Sreeks, iaking all their oelongmgs and even removing the clothes from their backs and leaving them nude. As soon as the miserable processions reached the Franco-British lines, the troops gave the famished people bread and soup until they had disposed of all their own rations. At -he frontier village of Beles, the Bulgarians expelled the population at the point of the bayonet, not allowing anything to be removed. At Youle, a Greek school .mistress who attempted to prevent the Bulgarian troops from raidin" her home wad dragged to the village square and publicly attacked, being stoned as she ran shrieking toward the country. At Youle also 500 sheep and 100 cows were seized. Thirty inhabitants of the region were arrested and four were shot on suspicion of spying.