A GREAT SERBIAN SOLDIER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 37, 7 November 1917, Page 7

A GREAT SERBIAN SOLDIER

THE RECONQUEROR OF MONASTIB

(By "Miles," in. the "Daily Mail/! ■ The vastness of tho armies engaged and the dark veil of tho censorehip hav© done much to rnoko tho warfare of to* day seem impersonal, and oven uupicj turesque. This, however, is very fai* from being the case. Inoidents are 3ue fcp as striking and personalities just as dom-/ inant as when Homer was special cor-> respondent with tho Greek Expeditionary Force. Amongst tho Serbian eoldiers of to-day may bo found tho same material which gave us tho sagas and the Song of Roland. The warfare in tho Near fast; is not so much a question if mathematical formulae an it is in the West, and: with tho smaller forces engaged there is more room to remark individual energy and achievement. Consequently it i 3 greatly to our loss that wo know nothing, for instance, of how the old Sixth stood at Goutchovo, wo have never heard tho talo of Djoukitch's defence of Tsiganlia, of how Vasitch held the pass at Babuna and saved an army, or of how, when Popovitch tho Wolf died, only one hundred and twenty-six of his men remained at the end of that fight, while tho rest followed their old chief down tho road to whatever Valhalla he is gone. Wo know vaguely of Pield-lEarshal Mishitch, and that ho took Monastir, but little is convoyed to our minds by iho names. Yet, over and over Again, expert opinion has declared Mishitch to bo one of tho finest soldiers amongst tho Allies, and the taking of Monastir is not the least of his achievements. Mishitcii saw the impossibility of crossing tho plain to the south of the city, under tho cross-fire whioh the enomy would havo been able to bring to bear. On the other, hand, by driving them back from their, mountain positions ho would forco tha' Dulgars to evacuate Monastir. His' military genius has seldom been display-' ed bettor than in these operations. Exactly as a good billiard player nurses thoj balls, 60 Mishitch contrived that eu-ry position, as it fell in its turn, should ba| a key to tho positions behind it. They foil with olock-liko regularity, and the Bulbar retirement was,very near to be- . coming a rout. It is typical of the man that he refused to allow his men to; enter tho town, but concentrated erery. effort on the pursuit.

Tliis, perliapa, is ono of the most spec- 1 tacular of Mwhitoh's successes. At least,) to the general public it is, although j those who have beon privileged to watehj him in the field might possibly dwell! rather on his tenacious resistance to the enemy in the autumn of 1915, when hawas only overwhelmed at length by the weight and numbers of thoinvaidera and the non-appearance of the promised Allied help, or hi 6 great drive in Deoember, 1914, when the Serbian Army rcc.t.rered itself in the face of what seemed to l)e crushing defeat, and, under Mis- 1 hitch and other heroio leaders, 6wept the Austrian forces across the Danube. A still smaller number know the extent of hie responsibility for the Serbian successes in tho wars against Turkey and Bulgaria. But these are facts which are little known to the general public cutside Serbia, while the fall of Monasfcir attracted attention throughout tho whole of Europe, and secured an English decoration for tho victor—tho G.C.M.G. Hie capacity for individual detail is unbounded. Yet in the midst of tho thousand distractions which beset an army commander, Mishitch can turn his attention to tho feeding of dostituto peasants in tho war zone, tho anti-malarial innoculatio'n of children in the hill villages of Macedonia, or the family affairs of a soldier who comes from the nnijAbouring township to his own. SUch interest in detail implies tho disciplinarian. Such concentration of purpose implies the leader. Thceo two combined givo us tho groat general, and such is Mishitch.