HOW THE GREEK TROOPS WERE STARVED.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10648, 30 June 1897, Page 4

HOW THE GREEK TROOPS WERE STARVED.

A letter from a war correspondent with the Greek western army, dated Arta, April 25, shows how the weakness of the Greek commissariat and transport) service onased the complete failure af the campaign In Eplrne. On Friday last, he writes, the sixth regiment was at Pnllllplade, and early in the morniDg the men, had a meal of bread and water. They then left Phillpplade. and marobtd by eaßy stages to a spot near Pentoplgadla, whloh was reaobed about six lv the evening. No provisions of any kind were bronght up for the men that night. The nest morning there was still BOthlng for them to eat, and they were ordered to maroh baok to Pblllpplade. Tired ont, aud In a famished condition, the poor fellows commencod the retreat. Many of them were unable to keep their places in the racks, and the Bides of the road were lined with hundreds of men who had fallen out from hunger and fatigue, If the division of the Turkish army whioh was a tew miles behind had. advanced, it conld simply have annihilated the Greek force bb it crawled baok to Philippine, Arrived there, the soldiers still had no provisions served out, and when I left them on Saturday afternoon they were still waiting to be fed. They bad been 30 hours without food. It may be nrged that the difficulties of conveying provisions forward along a bad road in a mountainous dlariot are very great, but the name state of affairs actually exlßts In Arta itself, the bate of military operations ao tbia end of the frontier, Tbia afternoon, in the main street Of Arta, I fonnd a orowd of soldiers who were almost mad with hunger. They had assembled before a provision store, and were battering the door with the bnee ends of their rifles. When it was broken open a wild man was mado to seoure the spoil, when a colonel rode up and endeavored to disperse them. In a moment he was surrounded by a mob of starving men, who, utterly regardless of discipline, crowded round bis horse, seized the relne and stlrrupa, and loudly clamored for bread, Later in the day I witnessed a similar soene in the open space immediately opposite the Commander' In-Chief 'a headquarters. A small sack of tobacoo was lying in the middle of the square, and 200 or 360 men were fighting to obtain a portion wherewith to appease the pangs of hunger. Finally, the Commander In-Chief came down and made a speech, In whlob he appealed to the men to maintain order. This speech he repeated In another part of the town, where a mob of soldiers had assumed a threatening altitude. An army it in a bad way when its general has to resort to street-corner oratory to maintain disolpllne, and when hunger has driven its members to desperation. When, on the fourth day of war, the Turkish army retreated helter-skelter towards Janlna the Greeks had a grand opportunity, bat bad leadership sad disorganisation seem to have thrown that opportunity away again.