GREAT BATTLE IN PROGRESS

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1603, 21 November 1912, Page 5

GREAT BATTLE IN PROGRESS

ISSUE STILL IN DOUBT.

IIASWIFICEIT ARTILLERY FIRE BY THE TURKS.

AUSTRIAN ULTIMATUM EXPECTED.',

By Telegraph—Piees Assoclation-Oopyiisht

(Rec. November 20, 9.45 p.m.) Berlin, November 20. The "Lokal Anzeiger's" correspondent at Chatalja states that at dawn on .November 17 Turkish sharpshooters openedfire on the Bulgarians occupying the heights across a deep broad valley, with a small river flowing between them. The artillery began at intervals, but was'slow on .the left-wing, though more unbroken on the right, and rapid in the centre, where the main, attack was con ;i , centrated, and the Bulgarians were attempting to break through. \ At ten o'clock Turkish shrapnel was pitched into the village of Ezetan, to th© south of a high bluff of Otluk, where the Bulgarians lodged. . The ..village flared,, though it was raining, incessantly. , When a thousand Bulgarians advanced aoross the river, the Turkish gusts wero silent for a moment, and then concentrated on the .advances; Within, two minutes not a man was loft standing. .' Meanwhile the Bulgarian artillery was vainly trying to get the range, but its fire passed'over.the Turkish batteries. '.' Another. Bulgarian detachment encountered Turkish artillery • fire, and was dissolved.' The remnant sought cover without reaching the river;. ,'.■.: . . The Turkish.cruiser Hdmidien through-, out covered with her. fire a-narrow neck separating the Lake of' -Boynk-Chekmoje from the sea. ■ IN TURKEY'S FAV6UR. END OF THIRD DAY OF BATTLE. : MUKHTAR PASHA' WOUNDED. • ; ./(Rec. November'2o, 9.45 p.m,) :.: Constantinople,' November 20. ' Nazim Pasha, the Turkish Commander-in-Chief, reports that the' Bulgarians on. the: Turkish right; wing on..Monday lost 400 killed and wounded, including 20 officers. / The' Turks captured:two machine guns." . .'.•'.• . , A desperate artillery engagement began on Tuesday morning. The Bulgarian infantry' in the centre were repulsed and part of the. enemy's batteries ; silenced, ..while Turkish, infantry, attacked and .drove out. the Bulgarians' from their trenches. '-.[■ :.-., :.;.', ~,'-■ ; Numbers, of i-weTe ; «cap.tured, ; showing that , ~'Nazim: ; ,|tfsl^( ; .day's fighting 'ended in .the Turks'. fa.vour. ■ ■-■~ - : ' .Mukhtar .Pasha, while injecting;'advanced, .points 'in-the Buyan Lidehmyus district was approaching a'trench, which ought to have been occupied by Redifs,. when Bulgarians fusilladed and wounded him and'three' officers. They were conveyed to the German hospital, where a bullet was extracted from -Mukhtar Pasha's leg. General Abuk will replace Mukhtar Pasha.' ■';.'.; FEARFUL LOSSES'; ,; (Rec. November: 20, 9.45: p.m.) London, November 20. Mr. Dpnohoe; the "Daily Chronicle" correspondent, states that after two days' severe fighting at Chatalja, the issue is undecided. The battle is the; bloodiest of the present war, ■ and there have been fearful losses on both sides. ,-■ ~ The Turkish artillery is vigorous, and its attacks are followed by furious infantry assaults. When the Bulgarians captured. several redoubts, the Turks behaved with magnificent courage, the,officers exposing themselves in order, to act as an example to: the men. The Bulgarians lost four guns. ■■■ The extreme' Turkish right disputed, every inch desperately, and dying bravely held their own. ■ '-i BULGARIAN POST, TAKEN. . (Rec. November 20, 10.50 p.m.) Constantinople, November 20. The Turks have occupied Papaburgas, outside the Chatalja line, the Bulgarians hastily, evacuating the position. . Apparently, the Bulgarians are finding :it impossible to'break, through the Turkish left.

GHASTLY SCENES.

HORRORS OF TURKISH FLIGHT. ■ CHRISTIANS MASSACRED. (Rec. November 20, 10.55 p.m.) London,. November 20. Mr. Maxwell, the "Daily Mail" correspondent, states that the horrors of the road to Istranja bear evidence of tho demoralised .flight of the Turks after tho Bunarhissar defeat. Ox-wagons toiling in the heavy clay pass over the dead, whose bodies and faces are worked deep info the ruts. Southward, of . Visa, the road was churned into,,a quagmire by .shells. Scores of bodies are mixed with broken wagons half-buried in mud, and blood- . stained hands r and. livid faces are seen floating in' the morass, some of groybeardcd men, and others of mere boys. Amid these terrors women ond children roamed, seeking jwhat tho dead no longer needed. / The Turks, in retreat, fired the villages, and there is little doubt foully massacred tho Christians.' Eye-witnesses recount how women were cold-bloodedly murdered and infants slaughtered. A dispatch found on a wounded officer showed that Abdullah Pasha had appealed to the Grand Vizier to invoke Europe's aid.

APPALLING MISERY.

ALLIES AT VARIANCE.

20,000 TURKS TAKEN.

GRAECO-BUUGARIAN O.UARREL, DISPUTE AT SALONIKA. (Eec. November 21, 0.25 a.m.) Salonika, November 20. Friction occurred between the Greeks and Bulgarians when the Bulgarians, after disposing of the Turks at Aivali, marched on Salonika and found tho Greeks in possession! Tho latter refused to allow the Bulgarians to enter. The Bulgarians then sent an ultimatum that they would enter by force, and tho Greeks abandoned their opposition. 111-feelina.

however, was displayed in many' directions. AUSTRIA IRRITATED. ULTIMATUM TO SERVIA EXPECTED. OMINOUS OUTLOOK. (Bee. November 20,10.55 p.m.) Vienna, November 20.. ! . It is expected that. unless Servia gives a satisfactory reply within 24 hours respecting the position, of the Austrian Consuls, the Austrian Minister at Belgrade will demand that Servia shall comply within three days with Austria's request for means of communicating with. M. Proohaska, the Consul at Prizren in Albania. ALLIES WILL STAND FIRM. (Rec. November 20, 10.85 p.m.) Vienna, November 20. The mission of M. Daneff, President of the Bulgarian Sobranje, was to inform Austria that while Bulgaria was anxious for an Austro-Servian settlement, the allied armies would stand solidly in the event of Austria's barring the way to the Adriatic. ■, ' The Servians allege that Albanians fired on the Servians from the roof of I the Austrian Consulate at Prizren. As the Austrian Consul there, M. Proohaska, displayed inconvenient... curiosity, the military officers decided to isolate him until the operations had been concluded. PEACE, BUT NOT AT ANY-PRICE; Vienna, November, 19,' A newspaper published.at Prague, Bohemia, states that the Emperor Francis Joseph, during a conversation, remarked: ."We favour peace, but not at any price. We cannot stand everything." RUSSIAN TROOPS MOVING. London, November' 19. ; The "Daily Mail's" Odessa correspondent reports that Russia is actively "mobilising 100,000. time-expired troops, who are to be retained with' the colours for a further six months; also that there is a general'movement westward of Russian troops of all arms. . , M. PROCHASKA SAFE./' Vienna, November .19. , .'tThe newspaper "Die i'Zeit" stbtes'that the Austrian Government has received from M. Proohaska a postcard, stating that he is : perfectly well.- - '

STRICKEN TURKISH ARMY. DYING MEN IN EVERT DITCH. . " , Vienna, November 19. The; "Neuo Freio Presse" correspondent'on. Sunday, last rode, along the positions of the Turkish centre, at Hadeinkoi. The pictures of misery were such as he had never before Miles before he got to Hademkoi he saw dozens of dead horses in puddles and marshy streams, where soldiers, tortured with burning thirst, were drinking death draughts. ■ Battalions of the Fourth Army Corps landed at San Stefttno on Saturday ore going to the front, and already. are carrying dozens of cholera patients. Other cholera patients from the front are coming to Gakrikeui, and are poisoning every place they pass. The nearer one gets to Hademkoi the/more frequent are the heaps of corpses by the roadside. There are dead and dying in every wayside ditch. This is their end. "In the forts, where at first there were only fifteen deaths, an attempt was made to localise the epidemic, but the wagons containing chloride of. limo arrived.too late. Now the wells are dry and the men are drinking from a puddle. Outside the camp thousands are writhing and groaning, and piteous cries rend the air. Men with distorted features grovel in the streets, squares, gardens, and fields outside Chatalja. Going for our horses, which we left at Chatalja ten days ago, we find dying men dragging themselves to. the stables, but they are brutally driven off. They scream appealingly to Allah and their mothers, and many curse like madmen. We find our horses, and force our way forward." The officers, he says, disinfect themselves, and advise the men to do 60, but the soldiers, either from thirst, or fatalism, continue drinking the pestilential water in which corpses lie. The populatioa isffleeing from Cifatalja. The lines form an iron girdle of 1200 guns. The correspondent pars a high tribute to Turkish honesty. Except his hand luggage, he lost nothing during'tho tctreat.

SERVIAN PRISONERS AT MONASTIR. HEAVY. CASUALTIES. . ( Belgrade, November 19. There was three days' desperate fighting before the fall of Monastir. Ten thousand Turkish casualties are reported. Booty worth several million francs was secured by the Servians. The Servians before Monastir numbered 40,000. They captured 20,000 Turks and 17 guns. The Turks on tho Obkkbva and Kochista heights near the city maintained a galling fire; nevertheless the Morava division attacked with great daring, and the right wing, under Colonel Nediton, cut off the retreat to Ochrida, 28 miles west by north of Monastir. A further .20,000 Turks attempted to break General Nidoteh's lines and reach the Albanian hills, but woro repulsed, the killed and wounded numbering 2000. Tho Morava division finally captured Hib heights, at the bayonet point. DEATH ROLL OF 20,000. (Rec. November 21, 0.25 a.m.) Belgrade, November 20. Tho death roll on both sides at Monastir is estimated 'at 20,000. The- Turks had 17,000 dead and wounded. Semi-official reports state that tho stories of the persecution of Albanians at Prizren are unfounded. During the jiffhtißfr measures, jvhich may have been

severe, were used, owing to the Albanians' misuse of the white flag. PEACE TERMS. PLENIPOTENTIARIES APPOINTED. ' BULGARIA'S OFFER. Sofia, November 10. Bulgaria has informed the Porte that, after consulting her Allies, Bulgaria has appointed plenipotentiaries, who have been, commissioned to arrange the terms of an-armistice, and to subsequently conclude peace. London, November 19. Router's Sofia correspondent states that peace conditions have been sent to the Porte. They-permit Turkey to retain Constantinople and a strip of coast territory. ALBANIAN AUTONffMY. A RACE TO DURAZZO. Vienna, November 19. Eisrnail Kemal, the Albanian leader, has gone to Durazzo to proclaim Albanian independence before the arrival of the Servians. . ' New York, November 19. Albanians in America have cabled to the Pope, asking him to • intervene to secure Albanian autonomy. Constantinople, November 19. Albanian residents here have petitioned the foreign Embassies requesting the Powers to take steps to secure autonomy for the province. LOAN FOB BULGARIA. FRENCH MARKET AGREEABLE. St. Petersburg, (November 19. The French'market has consented to the'issue of a Bulgarian loan of a million and a half pounds. Herr von KiderlenWaechter (German Foreign-Minister) opposed a similar application; and asked M. Poincare (French Prime Minister), to do likewise. M. Poincare replied that he was powerless in the matter. RED CROSS AID. ". AUSTRIA SENDS CHOLERA FIGHTERS. ' (Reo. November 20, 10.55 p.m.) Vienna, November 20. Six bacteriologists and another Red Cross unit have been sent to Bulgaria to combat cholera.