THE BALKAN WAR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 2 April 1913, Page 5

THE BALKAN WAR.

SIEGE OF ADRIANOPLE.

CABLE NEWS

(UniUd Irett Auoeiation—EQ BRie> trie Ttlegrafh—CofKright.)

HISTORY OF THE BOMBARDMENT. A GRAPHIC STORY. (Reed, this morning, 1.45 o'clock.) LONDON, April 1. Correspondents entering Adrianople describe the decisive storming of the six farts, which were regarded as the most formidable, and crowning a great ridge three miles east of Adrianople, and from', •which, sixty guns had thundered foir months. •Genera] Ivanoff, during the armistice, had destroyed" a vulnerable point to the north-east, wliere ■Aivastafeia formed an apex which could be bombarded from the north and east. Eighty siege gun® were secretly placed in position, and cases of shells conveyed at night time to the appointed. positions, and hidden behind reserve slopes on the- distant heights. Eatih waggon load' taken across the pathless fields consisted of six rounds for the heavy guns, yet fifty thousand rounds were thus patiently amassed. THE GENERAL ATTACK. The general attack was ordered while General Ivianoff gathered' twenty-five thousand troops for a storming party, behind concealed batteries. At- the first glimpse of dawn the .Bulgarians founded to their feet utteiring superhuman yells, "To the bayonet!" and hurling themselves forward, crossed the three wire entanglements and thick spider-webs, and reacihed the last barrier. The Turks fled without resisting. The stormers captured the redoubts and trenches along a mile frontage. AN AVALANCHE OF SHELLS. Meanwhile mighty cannon threw ah avalanche of projectiles. uwUiing.it impossible for Aviastabia to teplyV w • A TERRIFIC FIRE. Upon the whole front, extending for. two or three raftes,' the fire of 160 guns was concentrated!. Each shell, containing twenty pounds of melinite, fell in flights of fifteen and twenty at a time. The 'bombarded heights were invisible in the smoke > ■and di liC t caused bv a tempest of t'.nrlf UxnienJifl shells. r' ' THE FORTS SILENCED. The forts were .silenced at five on Tuesday ' evening. The bombardment continued during the night, while the infantry crept up to Aviastabia, which -could only be stormed on the *<rat]iH?ai>t, and capture rendered possible, -while the eastern position was untenable. • i VAUNTED FORTRESSES. ANOTHER TURKISH MYTH. . Examination showed that Aviastabia was merely brickwork, and the much vaunted fortress of Adamnople miserable primitive works. The casements were of briok, with a slight surface of earth. The gun emplacements were hollowed in the soil and a cement wall. There were no protecting worlss, fosses, -scarps or counterscarps. The guns were fairly oW. Hence the modern fortification of Adrianople was another Turkish inyth. J . : MAINTAINING COURAGE OF TURKS. The inhabitants were in perfect' health, and tli? troops wetre well fed. Ghukri Pasha maintained the msr' courage by daily .bulletins of victories at the chief points in the Balkajis, of the Graeoo-Bulgarian war, and the general Tnrkisrh advance. A TERRIFIC .FIRE. Upon the whole front, extending for two or three miles, the five of 160 guns was concentrated. Each shell, containing twenty pounds of melimite, felt in flights of fifteen and twenty at a time. The bombarded heights were invisible in the smoke and dust caused: by a teinpest of thirty iiiousand sheik. THE FORTS SILENCED. The forts were silenced at 5 o'clock on Tuesday evening, anid the bombardment continued dairing the night, while the infantry crept up to Aivastalia, which could only be stormed on the south-east and capture rendered possible, while the eastern position was untenable.