HAMMERING AT THE DOOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15141, 4 November 1912, Page 7

HAMMERING AT THE DOOR.

ADRIANOPLE'S FATE. ALLIES DAMAGE THE FORTS. TURKS' DEFENCE BROKEN. (Received November 3, 5.5 p.m.) London, November 2. Sofia advices state that the Bulgarians invited the civilians to quit Adrianople. The Turkish commandant replied that he was willing to allow this if the garrison were likewise given a free passage. The Bulgarians have refused to accept this. All the villages between Adrianople and Lule Burgas are burning. The Moslems are firing their own villages before quitting them. The Bulgarian artillery, directed by a captive balloon and aeroplanes, greatly damaged the forts at Adrianople. : Nazim Pasha, the Turkish leader, states that the citadel of Adrianople is holding out well.

The trains captured by the . advanced Bulgarians are ' assisting in the rapid transit of troops and supplies to the south and east of Adrianople.

It appears that the Turks two or three years ago maintained a garrison of 15,000 at Mustapha Pasha, the first jErontiflK town to fall, but, acting

on the advice of Field-Marshal von der Golz, they reduced the garrison to a comparatively weak force. The Turkish authorities before the outbreak of the war warned Bulgarian residents that if the town were attacked the Turks would shoot all Bulgarians, but they retired without carrying the threat into effect. The Turks claim that they repulsed the Bulgarians at Visa. They also claim that they were successful at Adrianople.