SOLDIERS FORCED TO FIGHT KIN.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 82, 7 April 1915, Page 5

SOLDIERS FORCED TO FIGHT KIN.

(From Our Special Correspondent.) ' SAX FRANCISCO, March 18. Direct from the battlefields ol the Serbian and Montenegrin borders, there has just reached San Francisco, Carlo 3farinovieh, a soldier of the 37th Regiment Austro-Hungarian Infantry, by compulsion, and a warm.adherent of the Servian cause by blood and. sympathy.

; Aft«T. having faced death many times, lie -obtained a year's leave \of absence from the.front, a3 his health broke down completely owing to the rigours ot'the campaign, which he describes. Interviewed, Marindvich said at San Francisco: "Late in July "we Austrian subjects of Servian blood, living in. Ragusa, near Sarajevo, were out in the fields celebrating the national day": of Vidoc Dan, when suddenly late in the afternoon there appeared a detachment of Austrian gendarmerie', 'who ' surrounded lis. We were told ■to consider prisoners, on account of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and hie -wife having been..shot to death by a Servian. I , was at that time studying at the Ragusa, University, and, together with a-number of: leading citizens, including "doctors, lawyers; and. others, was interned; in a local, hotels ' ■ ■**-'-* r-'-'f ;-; ;;■■ - ;■:.. '•

; "After a time, some of my companions were hanged for no reason ■β-hatsoevcr, except that they somewhat freely gave their opinions, and two ship captains, who •were with, us, were shot for predicting the reunion of the Dalmatian, and Croatian provinces with their mother— Servia. - ■ "-. . . :

"On being sent to the Montenegrin front, our decided on what may be termed a policy of 'paesive resistance, , and we agreed that whenever we might be pitted against others of our blood m would shoot to the left, to the right, or in-the air, but never at them. The officers of our regiment, who were either Austrians or Hungarians, were not a little worried over the temper - of. the, men, which they noticed growing worse almoet hourly. The colonel pt my regiment thought he had to make an example, so, calling mc to the front 'of the regiment, he addressed my comrades, saying:" 1 want you to look at this fellow. . He is a Serb, and I promise you we will hang him yet for hie unpatriotic'airs.'

"On August 18 -we were opposed to .'the Montenegrins, who occupied a mountain in their territory,, called Mount Lis.ic, which is about 3,000 ft high. Well, pur Austro-Hungarian officers shelled the mountain, where the Montenegrins only had posted a few sharpshooters, and kept this up for a few hours. Then, thinking the enemy was dislodged, they ordered'a general advance, our 37th leading the ■way.. Coming close up to the trenche3, we were fired at, and, true to our compact not to fight the Montenegrins, we at once dispersed. The Austrians were furious, and a regiment of Hungarians, which was directly behind us, took our place. They went forward bravely enough. A retreat was ordered, and the colonel of the Hungarian regiment, which was annihilated, blew out his brains."