THE MARVEL OF THE WAR.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14668, 17 May 1913, Page 2

THE MARVEL OF THE WAR.

ADRIAXOPLE HAPPY AM> WELLFED,"

STORY OF THE ASSAULT. FAT FLOCKS AND HERDS. (FKOU OUR OTTX CORRESrONDEXT.) LONDON, April 2. 31r Luigi Barzini, who did such good service for tho "Daily Telegraph" in the Tripoli campaign, and in tho early stages of tho present -war, gets through the first good account of tho siege an>l fall of Adrianople, sent from the city itself. It contains astonishing revelations as to tho comfortable and wellfed condition of the garrison, and tho normal life which . preTailed throughout tho siego. PREPARING FOR STORMING. The long and carefnl preparations for storming lasted about twenty days. Cases of shells woro slowly transported by night to the appointed positions, wliich wero woll-hidden behind the heights. Conveying tho ammunition across pathless Golds occupied an onormous time. No waggon could carry moro than six rounds for tho heavy guns, and a good 50,000 round* were amassed in the casemates of the big batteries. Tho country was still covered with snow when, unseen by tho enemy, the active preparations began. Hundreds of men prepared emplacements for mortars, shelters and ■ magazines. Immense convoys made a sweep of ovor seventy miles in transporting tho material and projectiles. At threeo'clock in tho afternoon of March 24th. tho action began, with a general cannonado from every side, but less intense on the point which had to be taken by assault, for it was necessary to conceal the plan and mislead tho defence. Iα n. thundering artillery duel the day passed into night, when tho lire slackened everywhere, and finally ceased altogether. At four o'clock m i tho morning, black masses of Bulgarian infantry who had rested on tho grassy slopo began creeping slowly, in the profoundest silence-, .towards the Turkish advanced positions, entrenchments and primitive redoubts provided with field and machine guns, and proudly denominated forts. Tho bombardment of tho other sec- j tors covered the slight noise of the cautious, creeping advance. Tho Bulgarians arrived within four hundred paces of tho Turkish positions, jind nob I A riflo shot Jiad been iired. It took i tho storming party more than an hour ! to traverse two kilometres. The first j glimpso of dawn was beginuing to i clear tho horizon when suddenly, at j the word of command, all the' Bui- j garians bounded to their feet, uttering their immense, superhuman yell of assault, the terrible, prodigious roar oi a people in fury. "To tlio bayonet! To the bayonet! Hurrah!" tho soldiers shouted, hurling themselves forward. They had crossed three wire entanglements without raising any alarm. In a few seconds the Bulgarians found themselves at tho last barrier, and tho Turks, tnken by surprise, abandoned their positions, practically without offering any .resistance.

The Bulgarians quickly -traced some artillery on the captured positions. Tho big guns of tho forta opened a torriblo fire. The 4th, sth, and ' Cth batteries of the Bth Bulgarian Regiment wero sorely tried, the gun carriages being completely shattered by tho heavy projectiles. But a telephonic order reached nil the batteries of position, which had been prepared with so much patience, and from that moment something terrible began—an informal spectacle. Upon n front of two or three miles, 160 guns, large and small, concentrated their fire. The common shell, each one containing twenty pounds of melinite, arrived in nights of fifteen and twenty at a time. That day, and on that single, sector alone, 30,000 shells wore- hurled. What a terrific chorus of lacerating, fabulous noises f

Picture to yourself tho ground torn by blows from a titanic pickaxe. The craters opened' by the explosions aro close to each other, enormous, deep, blackened, split by the pressure, and all around are shapeless masses of earth, burned and baked by the flashes, splinters of shells, and corpses. The casemates of the forts were beaten in by blow after blow of the projectiles. One sees m shadow of the magazines corpses lying on ammunition oases, groups of gunners who have died on their suns, and who lie in the strange attitudes of sudden death like dolls thrown away by some nowerful hand.

A MISERABLE AItMAMENT.

It is necessary to observe, however, that these famous fortresses of Adrianople, which have been so highly praised, were miserable, primitive works, with casemates of brfck covered with a littlo earth, with gun emplacements simplv hollowed out in the soil, as might bo done in a field of battle. There was not a cement wall, not any sort of a protecting work, no fosses, no scarps or counter scarps, and the gnus of the permanent armament were fairly old. If the Bulgarians had been awaro of the real state of affairs, they would hare made terribly short work of the first outpost of the Turkish Empire. They would lfave been ah:© three months ago to attempt an assault, and to capturo the famous entrenched camp at the point of the bayonet. Wo were surprised by the rapidity of the conquest, but, on the spot, wo quickly perceived the impossibility of greater resistance, fehukn Pasha did not even have all the guns with which he was credited. He cleverly multiplied his artillery by changing its position. As soon as an attack became pronounced at one spot, he reinforced the threatened point by migratory batteries, thus giving the lfcasion of formidable defensive" preparations. In all the other sectors but the one assailed, a demonstrative action q^w*™ B6 ! ,051 d ? v ? l °Ped J compelling Shukn Pasha to reinforce all points, and engaging a great part of the rei serves.

. "Thp artillery of the forts was unaVe efficaciously to fight the heavy But garian guns which wer 0 well hidden, fh^r . « °V ? ~n tra *7. to withstand Turk,sh reply was slow, and there were periods of silence; at five o'clock the shots were as rare aa the words of a tZlnf™*?' and ., at B, . inset Turkish artillery to use the picturesque expression of General fvanoff, was 'dead.' lne Bulgarian artillery meanwhile continued to harass the forts, which had been reduced to silence, so as to prevent the arrival of the reserves and the resumption of the fire

DURING THE NIGHT.

"The 23rd, 56th. 10th, and 53rd Bulgarian Infantry took part in the advance, and the attack was directed hv Oeneral Vassoff, who had thought out the plan. Companies,rare detached to opea a way across the -wire entanglements. It Li said that the Turks Sa<. placed around Adrianople enough wire to encircle the earth. It is certain, at any rate, that everywhere, as far as the eye- could reach, a minute grey forest of iron stakes, eolidly planted, upheld a lattice work of barbed wire—an immense spider's web which stretched on every side, tremulous, uncertain, and pearled with deir* Bat the wire was

loosely stretched,, atul did not offer an insurmountable barrier. In somo places tbo bursting of shells had already opened a road, and the \inprooted stakes lay scattered'in every direction, like tlio supports of vines after a cyclone. "Pioneers of the 23rd Regiment advanced, with bags full-of hand grenades and -pyroxylin© bombs. There wore still a fe\r gleams of moonlight to the "west, but heavy clouds brought long periods of darkness, by winch the storming party profited to move- themselves closer to their objective. Towards three o'clock in tue morning the Bulgarians reached the wire entanglement of the- enemy's fort. At thirty paces they were perceived, and an infernal lire began almost at pointblank. The flashes of the rifles revealed the faces of tho ..Turkish srfdiers resting on. the parapets. (At this point -i portion of the • message is missing, probably owing to telegraphic delays). Any parleying was useless. When Shukri Pasha caused a sheet to he hoisted as a white flag on the wireless mast of the Haderliko Fort of the north-west sector, 20,000 men were prisoners, and another 30,000 having cast away their uniforms, were hiding in the city. Shukri was to be a prisoner without conditions. Colonel Markoleff approached to ask for his eword. Ho found him on foot, perfectly calm, together with Colonel Aziz Bey, governor of the.city. Aziz Boy unsneathed his sword and silently handed it to the Bulgarian officer. Shukri replied: 'You see, I am without arms,' and clapped his hand to his thigh, where there was no sword. But it was only a question of etiquette. "At midday in the hall of the headquarters a profoundly moving and indescribably solemn scene was witnessed. Shukrf Pasha, with dignified gesture, extending his gloved hand, offered his sword to General IvanofF, who restored it, saying, 'Vous etes un brave. Tenez votre epeee, general,' and victor and vanquished gravely saluted each other. NO SIGNS OF STARVATION. , "Descending from the tragic-corpse-strewn heights, the victorious troops met with their first surprise. In the meadows close to the town great herds of cattle and flocks of sheep were feeding tranquilly, and the iielde were cultivated. A few steps more brought them to tho suburbs, and in the suburbs, just as in any other Turkish town in the mos't prosperous period of its existence, were droves of chickens and turkeys, whose mortality did not seem to have been much above tho normal. The reports which we had had of Adrianople, famished and bombarded, were such that I expected to enter a halfdestroyed city amidst tho ruins of which hornil spectral figures wandered, and not without some preoccupation and pity. I was laboriously carrying a few provisions and bread, including sufficient for my perianal safety. "Some prisoners I had seen standing near the forts were well clad and looked like people who ate enough every day. 'Their ftces bore no Fign of hunger. They were fine, muscular specimens of manhood, who found nothing to envy in their conquerors. Perhaps it was the population that suffered? Not at all. Among the first houses of the city poor children are serenely playing, perfectly indifferent to +l:e war and tho dramas of the peoples. The sight of these children is reassuring. Two Turkish women, and two peasants with lons green tunics and amplo trousers, passed down the street. Others seated on the threshold of a house sift barley, while chickens peck up tho scattered grains. These grains are commonplace pictures, which are important only because they are-seen in Adrianople fit the end of a sioge, and they give testimony to an incredible normality. "Must we, then, abandon with pleasure our description of horrors? No. Here is a crowd at tho door of a bakery, which is about to open. We hope thej will take ic by assault. The

i bakery' opens,■ crowd- files in 9 quietly, in perfect order, and takes its r bread on the presentation of official 1 docuriipents covered with hieroglyphics. , There is not a'shout, .not-an excessive i gesture. Tho Fathers of a French ; Mission explained that the Turks at tho . beginning of tho war were certain of 5 victory. During tho mobilisation and j concentration they prorisioned Adria- \ nople completely. Tho. Consuls had r given orders for enough food to be colj lected to last two months; enough for . six or seven months was obtained. All . tho crops and all the grain woro taken , from the evacuated region within a [ radius of twenty miles. Moreover, r Adriarpple is a very rich city, an important centre of commerce, and a great market for cattle and forage. Its ! warehouses are always full. \ SHTTKRI PASHA'S BULLETINS. '. t ■ "Amid all the military events the ! population lived serenely, normally, becoming accustomed to the roar of the ' artillery, and certain that everything would go well. How could they doubt \ it when every day Shukri posted up an- ( nouncements of great Turkish victories .on all tho . battlefields—victories at : Kumanoyo, at Monastir, at Salonica; ; the Allies were obstinate in getting : themselves beaten in every part of the Ottoman Empire. Finally, Shukri Pasha announced battles between \ Greeks and Bulpars, between Bulgars and Serhs. then the assassination of the i King of Greece by a Macedonian, a ' Greco-Biilr;arian war, and at last a general Turkish advance. He said of the besiegers: 'We hold them in a circle of steel; they do not go because they cannot move; they are Burrounded. Mflhnvud Muktnr holds them here, Abdnllnh there, Mahmud Shefket else- ■ where.' "