SERVIAN ADVANCE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 105, 30 October 1912, Page 7

SERVIAN ADVANCE

FURTHER DETAILS. PANIC-STRICKEN TURKS. SANGUINARY FIGHT. BELGRADE, 29th October. Further details of the Servian advance southward from Kumanovo are now re* ported. During the pursuit of the Turke after the battle of Kumanovo the Servians captured an enormous amount of rolling stock and bridge material. The panic-stricken Turkish troops in their mad flight fought each other, and several were killed in frantic struggles for seats in trains and for possession of any sort of vehicle. A large section of the fugitives was overtaken on the Ovtchepolye plain, towards Kuprili, and was again defeated with heavy loos. Saint Nicola, midway betwen Ovchepolye and Ishtib, was next occupied. The inhabitants of Ishtib rose against the Turks and seized all their arms. Twenty-five Servians were killed and six wounded at Ferizovitch, and a thousand Arnauts were made prisoners. Wounded officefs describe the Kumanovo fight as most sanguinary and stubborn, eventually becoming a ehambles,

the combatants hacking each other in a ferocious majmer. The battlefield was littered with corpses still clutching daggers and bayonet*. Three cHvieione of Turkish regulars, strengthened by numerous irregulars, began the attack on Wednesday night. It was clear moonlight, and the Servians, with machine guns, waited till the Turks were at close rswige. Then they opened a withering fire, which, with infantry fire, mowed the Turks down in rowa as they advanced in dense masses and essayed a bayonet charge. Their numbers were co thinned that the effect of the charge was negligible, and the Servians scarcely suffered from the Turkish fire. BAYONET CHARGES. Then the Servians, charging with the bayonet into the valley and along wooded hillsides, repelled the attack with ghastly losses to the Turks. Thirteen Servian regiments forming the first line charged with m&gnificent courage and swept everything before them till the Turks were pressed back into the hills. At daylight the Servian artillery joined in the battle with great skill, and decimated the Turk* as they were retreating atong the narrow valleys. The Turkish artillery attempted to protect the infantry, but the guns were poorly served, and the range waa badly judged, while many of their shells did not explode. The battle lasted throughout Thursday. Servian cavalry made a long flank march and came round on the Turks' right rear, compelling them to evacuate a strong position, and the road to Uskub was thus opened.