THE BALKAN WAR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10716, 29 October 1912, Page 5

THE BALKAN WAR.

] CABLE NEWS

(United Tress AtsookMcm—By Eler trie Tekgrapk--€opyriQht.)

FALL OF KLRK KILISSEH. 1 A MIRACULOUS VICTORY. THE PANIC-STRICKEN TXTRKS. , 500 LEFT DEAD IN THE FIELD. (Received Last Night, 10.30 o'clock.) LONDON, October 27. Tho Daily Telegraph's Sofia correspondent reports that the armament at Kirk Kilisseh consisted of. six and eleven inch guns, numbering altogether one hundred pieces. The fortress was reported to be impregnable except by mining, and for the greater part was surrounded by redoubts and [ entrenchments. 1 Tho Bulgarians did not possess a siege gun, and their victory was something miraculous. :, General Radko'Dimirieff's fourdivisione formed an immense flying column, and were provided with four, days' rations, and an extra supply of ammunition. .., i,-, ~(<.,, Assault followed assault, and the Turkish gunnery failed to dislodge any of the attackers from their positions Bayonet attacks were made at night time, the Bulgarians stealthily advancing to the redoubts, and they mu«t have filled the entanglements with their oorpses. They sacrificed everything to rapdity. The ladders swayed and tottered, until placed in a position enabling the men to scale the no. dern forts. Hand grenades were used. The forts were, without searchlights,, and the rain and darkness facilitated their approach.

A Bulgarian aviator in the daytime i perceived a Turkish division hurrying j from Adrianople, and subsequently, | on the strength of his report the? I Turks were ambushed and decimated, j Thev dispersed and abandoned thcfiM artillery. J The garrison consisted of 40.000 { before ling bayonet charge, two regiments ofl t'Kurdish cavalry" made ..a sortie to;wards,the* .Bulgarian . lin.esj. with. a., view to opening a road for the infantry. ■''■»&<£••to- withdrawal: y. The Bulgarian- cavalry caught; them '' on the flank, leading to ari inextric- j able and sanguinary enlacement of the. horses? and men. The Kurds >iled and the Bulgarians immediately • nhihilated the regiment of infantry in the vicinity. The Turks were seized with panic -and fled. Renter's Sofia correspondent reported that the Turks left 500 dead at Kirk Kilisseh. JUNCTION OF FORCES. TURNING MOVPirRXT DEVELOPING. ..!■_ • ' j REPORTED REVOLT IN TURKISH I ' TROOPS. i I (Received Last Night, 5.5 o'clock.) LONDON, October 27. The Montenegrins have effected al junction with the Servians at Sieni'f.na. I The Bulgarians occupied Tshtib | without opposition. ' An additional eighty thousand Bui- t garian reservists have been summoned.l to tho army. ; j Advices from Constantinople report i that a turning movement by tho Bui- J garians towards Buboeski is develop'-' ing. The Porte is preparing for a winter campaign. Mr Bennett Burleigh, tho war correspondent, wires that a revolt is reported in the army near Constantinople. TURKISH OFFICERS. EIGHTY PER. CENT. KILLED (>T>, wounded; i (Received Last Xkht, 10.30 o'clock.) J CONSTANTINOPLE, October 28. —Eighty per cent of the Turkish officers nt Kirk Kilissoh were killed or I wounded.

AN ALBANIAN THREAT. TURKS UNPREPARED FOR WAR. KTAMIL PASHA TO BE GRAND VTZTER. (Received Last Night, 10.30 o'clock.) LONDON. October 2S. The Daily Telegraph's Constantinople, correspondent states that the Albanians threatened the Poi'tc. that unless they were guaranteed peace and liberty they would seek Austria's help. The Turks at Kirk Kilisseh imajr'vsing the Bulgarians intended on mirely defensive tactics behind the Balkans, assumed the offensive with inadequate forcos.

Three army corps, while making a reconnaissance, were drawn into a general engagement, from which it was difficult to extricate the unitf. One impetuous division became separated from the third corps, nod suffered heavily. They were obliged io retire, compelling; the whole line to return. The Bulgarians followed up this success by a general onslaught on Kirk Kilisseh. Tt is reported that Kiamil Pasha lias been offered the position of Grand VY/ ier. The Sultan was urgently desired to | proceed to the front to encourage the troop*, hut the Porte dissuaded him. LOSSES AT KIRK TCTLTSSTCH. 20,000 BULGARIANS AND lft.ooo TURKS. (ReceiVed Last Night. 10.30 o'clock-.) LONDON, October 2* The Telegraph's Sofia correspondent mentions the terrible Bulgarian losv'es suffered in the taking of Kirk Kilisseh, and adds that according t« pri(Tat* aeeeimti tli«r« w»r« 20,000 r'o-

tima. Mr Bennett Burleigh mentions at one estimate that 16,000 Turks WOT© killed and wounded. Many Bulgarians were among the Turkish prisoners. They are donning the Bulgar cap and joining the King's forces.

GREAT POWERS AND THE BALKANS. WAR MAY BE STOPPED IN A FEW WEEKS. AWAITING DEVELOPMENTS. (Receiver October 28, 8 a.m.) LONDON, October 27. The newspaper Observer's St. Pet- ■ ersburg correspondent states that the war will be stopped within a few weeks by united Europe, and that all arrangements with that object are in progress. Thereafter Europe wiH speak concerning Balkan reforms. BERLIN ,Ootober 27. The -North German.Gazette says the Powers) are striving to act in unity as soon as the development of the w.nr. is ripe for action. , (Received October 28,-8.5 a.m.) LONDON, October 27. Reuter's Constantinople correspondent says that the appointment -of Hussein Hilmi Pasha as Ambassador to Vienna is ascribed to the Porte's desire to secure Austria-Hungary's support at the moment of final settlement. I (Hilmi Pasha was a member of"the' | present Turkish Ministry. He is in exGrand Vizier, and a man of much alility.) I (Received October 28, 8.10 am.) CONSTANTINOPLE, October 27. The mobilisation of the Turkish i Army is only half completed. Font hundred thousand men will shortly be concentrated near Constantinople, where a decisive battle will take pV.ce.

BULGARIAN SACRIFICES. j 1 HEAVY LOSSES. (Received October'2B, 8.20 a.m.) I VIENNA, October 27. | Despite messages showing the satis- ' factory development of Bulgarian tactics, the. Bulgarian sacrifices ;in A be *, vicinity" of * Marash and other points were heavy. Many corpses lie.on the battlefield east and ; west of ''bple^V"There was sanguinary fi i g*]t.jn'j^. A in. the woods around v and; so«iQ 'iiistarjces. of ' hand-to-haad . 'encounters with daggers only. ..'•', ■"'■'.!■ FLIGHT OF TURKS. j SORTIE REPULSED. j (Received October 28, 8.20 a.m..) ' SOFIA, October,-??. The spoil taken by the Bulgarians,at Kjrk Kilissoh included seven batteries of quickfirers .with ammunition , waggons, oighteon field puns, twelve howitzers, provisions, and tents.

1 Mukhtar Pasha's forces are fleeing, j Mukhtar abandoned a portion of his I private hntrgngo and twelve hundred i soldiers, who are prisoners at Kirk l Kilisseh.

General Ivanoff is steadily drawing a cordon round Adrian-jple, and strengthening his position by earthworks. There has been a heavy bombardment from north-west of th" town. A fresh sortie by the Turl■>• towards Arnautkolj was repulsed. The Turks suffered heavilv.

(The Bulgarians at Kirk Taali seived a million cartridges and many shells, also quantities of food, j The Bulgarians operating in the Bregalnitza Valley, about thirtv-*e\ on miles west of Usknb, had a snngirnary encounter with the Turks. They nptnred Kochana, together with ore 1 hundred prisoners, a battery of lokl artillery, a mounted battery, and quantities of ammunition. Professor Clairmont's Austrian ambulance section has arrived. It consists of, five well-known doctors, including two military, and , fourteen nurses. " , , I The population of tKe Djurnai T>.l la .district, five miles from the Bulgarian border, are in full revolt against ; the Turks. Bulgarian baiids have been greatly strengthened. They are well eqiiippod. The pesants have sent their c ; .itt!o to Bulgaria, and this, combined with the ruined corn crops, will prcvei't the Turks capturing the roving bands. BUKHAREST, October 27. Thousands of Bulgarian reservists, also Russian volunteers, have reached Bulgaria from Russia. NO MEN TO SPARE. (Received October 28. 0 a.m.) ATHENS, October 27. Nazim Pasha. Commander-in-Chief of the Turkish forces, iriterviewr..], said that Turkey was unable to wpan many men for the defence of Sknhin. TURKS RECAPTURE POSTTTOX3.

(Received October 28, 0 a .ui.) | CETTJNJE. October r-T. I The Turks havo reoccupied borera!! captured position iHjar Skutari. Torrential rain is falling. TREACHERY PUNT3HED. (Received October 28, 9 a.m.) LONDON, October i>7. The Servian Legation anTiotinorts that 000 Arnauts (Ally.nii.ins) and Turks at TCumanovo wore bayoneted for attacking a detachment sent t>, receive their surrender after th# white flag liad been hoisted. RRTTfSH NAVAL RESERVES. TO BE IN READINESS. (Received October 28, JMQ a.m.) LONDON. October iir. The newspapers state that Class A of the Fleet Reserve, numbering thirty thousand men has been warned to bi> in readiness for an immediate owb. Fifteen hundred frontier refugees, including children and aged and decrepit women, arrived by train at Stamboul, and Jbay* %«§■ spatially

housed and fed. An Ottoman soldier 'during a meeloe northwards of Kirk Kiliesek, ?ot mixed up with the Bulgarians. Ho seised a maxim gun, and carried iv to his comrades. How he escaped uoath was miraculous. j VIENNA, October 27. Slav associations in Bohemia are sending to Montenegro a field hospital of 130 beds, also fifteen medical students and twenty-fire nurses. GREEK LOSSES'. (Received October 28, 9.15 a.m.) ATHENS, October 27. Tile Greek losses in the Saraatoporos Pass prior to the fighting at Serfije was 18 officers and 169 men killed, and 40 officers and 1037 wounded. The Turkish losses were extremely heavy.

HOMEWARD BOUND. (Received October 28, 0.25 a.n..) . . ■ ■ SYDNEY, October -2?. ' Twenty Greeks sailed on Saturday to join their countrymen on the battlefield. One thousand '. pounds ha* been cabled te Athens for the war fund, and it is expected another thousand will be sent this week. i - HELP, FROM RUSSIA. £IOO,OOO VOTED. (Received This Morning, 12.45 o'clock.) ...ST. PETERSBURG, October '*. ..The Red Cross Society has voted £IOO,OOO for .the care of tbe sick iind wounded in the Balkans. QUEEN AS RED CROSS NURSE. (Received This Morning, 12.45 o'clock.) BELGRADE, October 28. Queen Eleonora, dressed, as a Rod Cross nurse, spends many hours daily at the military hospitals at'Philippopolis, and assists with the dressing of wounds.

FIENDISH CRUELTIES. . y COMMITTED.. BY: TUR^S. SHOOTING. QF,£PIES. ..(Received This Morning, 12.45 .^clotfe'/' ...The corpses of Bulgarian soldiers, captured by Turks, have been found With the noses and ears cut off by deep knife cuts. 'The 'Turks leave.'their own killed arid wounded on the battlefield. They are : now being treated at the Bulgarian hospitals which are overflowing with wounded Turkish officers and' men. , A Bulgarian officer's divorced wife was court-marshalled for espionage,' and shot with two Macedonian spies, proofs of her complicity. Fugitives from Vlahi, 28 miles southward of the.border, report that the' Turks before retiring when the Bulgarians approached, massacred a hundred inhabitants. FRANCE'S VIEWS. ENTENTE MUST BE MAINTAINED (Received This. Morning, 12.45 o'clock.) • i . .PARIS, October 28. M. Poineare,,; the French Premier, in a speech at Nantes, referred to unanimity of the Powers in assisting France in her efforts to maintain peace. France, he.said,''had remained closely attached to Russia and Britain, as firm maintenance of the Triple Entente was necessary for European equilibrium, on which lay the best hope for the localisation of the war, and that it would be stopped bv Europo on the first convenient opportunity. Perhaps the moment for madiation was near.