UNREMITTING PROGRESS

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 79, 30 September 1918, Page 7

UNREMITTING PROGRESS

SERBIANS' BOLD MOVE EAST FROM ISHTIP

(A/OSTBALIAN-NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION AND REtTTEK.)

■■.•■■• ■ LONDON, 28th September. A.French Eastern communique states : The Allies are unremittingly advancing northwards', and have, completely cleared the Vardar railway and the Monastir-Prilep-Gradsko road. The British have captured the town,of Str'umnitza. Serbian cavalry, by a bold push north-eastwards from Ishtip," captured the town of Kotchana (thirty-five miles east of Veles). The Serbian armies have reached Kerbintsi, north of Ishtip, and are now attacking the town of Veles, which is defended by a German Jaeger battalion, with the disorganised Bulgarian elements. The Allies advancing from Prilep flung hack the left s wing of the Eleventh Germano-Bulgarian Army. In the mountain region west of Krushevo the Italians have already reached the neighbourhood of Krushevo. : LONDON, 28th September. A Serbian communique issued on the evening of 27th September says: — Our troops on 26th September entered Veles, /where we took the garrison prisoners. Our advance towards TJskub continues. We have also progressed considerably (beyond Kotchana, taking an enormous additional number of prisoners, mostly Germans, also large quantities of material, including machine-guns. Three mountain guns were captured. t . ;

. : ■ • LONDON, 27th September.. • A Serbian communique issued on the evening of 26th September confirms the capture of Ishtip. Serbian cavalry pursued the enemy and entered* Kotcharia. A great number of additional Bulgarians and Germans have been taken prisoner. .\ Enormous quantities of war materials have been captured, including several military trains. Serbian cavalry have advanced 75 miles as the crow flies northward of the line whence the offensive was started. . , '-■"; .'.•'•-■ ' v ' '•'■■ LONDON, 28th September. The Serbians are trying to cut the Sofia-Drama railway.

■'.-. tThe maps do not show any Sofia-Drama railway,' except the roundabout route through Philippopolis to the Turkish frontier and back along the Aegean' coast. Apparently a new railway has been built alongthe Struma Valley, and the Serbian march past Kotchana aims at reaching this line. ?