PICTURES OF THE WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15168, 6 December 1912, Page 7

PICTURES OF THE WAR.

London, December 4. A single firm has taken 2,000,000 separate cinematograph pictures of scenes in the Balkan war. ITEMS OF INTEREST. The Chataldja lines, which tho Turks have so far successfully defended, form ii remarkable position, which is described by a military writer as tho oxact counterpart of tho famous lines of Torres Vedras. which tho Duko of Wellington set up against Marsha) ■""mm m Portugal. The writer says: — " Both flanks rest securely on an impassable barrier—tho sea. When a flank rests on artificial fortifications, as was the case with ■x?i Turks at Kirk Kilisse, it is always possible for tho ingenuity and heroism of man to torn it, and bend it back. But bow can

. the best army in the world swim out into tho eternal sea to turn flanks, especially when opposing warships are steadily shelling tho coast?" It was stated in a recent cablo that the Greeks have succeeded in restraining their auxiliary forces from committing deeds of violence. In view of this announcement, a statement made recently by the Athens correspondent of a London paper is of inI terest. He wrote:— Amid the rejoicings ! of victory a shudder of horror passed over ; Athens when the , news arrived that before , leaving Corfidje tho Turks had massacred the Greek inhabitants. The news of the massacre ; has created the most agonising anxiety ! among kinsmen here. Three million Greeks are' scattered throughout the Turkish dominions, and if massacres begin a holocaust of innocent victims will be offered on the altar of racial and religious strife. In that ©vent it will lie impossible to restrain the Greeks from avenging themselves. So terrible is tho indignation of the Greek army at finding that defenceless co-nationals, one | of whom _ was a priest, have fallen victims | to tho religious fanaticism of tho Turks, thai I for tho time it was feared that a terrible I revenge would be 'aken. Fortunately, the Crown Prince has issued orders safeguarding i tho prisoners of war, and ordering, under | the severest penalties, that the Grec}< soli diery shall maintain with tho utmost rigour. ' the laws of civilised warfare, and that no i Mahomodan living in 'the country through I which the army is passing shall bo subjected i to ill-treatmont or killed." j to ill-treatment or killed." [ Tho Turkish fortress of Adrianople, the i Metzof Thrace, lies about 23 miles from tho frontier. /It is of great strategic importance, ! as upon it converge three roads leading from Bulgaria, the first entering it from the west down tho vallev of tho Maritza, tho second from the north down tho valley of tho Tundra, and .third from the east by way of Kirk Kilisse. The railway from Sofia to Constantinople also passes through it. The place is protected by a girdle of 27 detached forts, constructed during tho last 30 years, on tho surrouncling hills, with a perimeter of about 20 miles. These works are armed with 6in and 4-.7 in guns as their heaviest weapons. The town, which contains £3,000 inhabitants, is composed of tortuous streets which are a mass of irregular wooden buildings, dotted here and there with a few better-class buildings. such as the Greek College, Ottoman Bank, theatre, Government buildings, and military hospital. The Mosque of Selim 11. (the escape of which from fire is reported in Wednesday's cablegrams) is one of the most magnificent specimens of Turkish architecture in existence.

A message sent to England by King Peter, of Servia, at tho time of the commencement of the war contains the following:—"Up to tho present we have done everything in order to improve by ordinary means, and in a peaceful manner, the difficult and unbearable- condition of tho Servians in Old Servia, which is tho traditional cradle of the whole of Serviandom. My efforts have remained without success: The reply was tho concentration of the Turkish troops on our frontiers and tho invasion of our territory. Our replytho order to my valiant army to advance—had to follow. And carrying for all, for Christians as well as Mussulmans, liberty and equality in rights, my army has in God's r.amq gone forward, not to destroy, but to help in creating and opening ways for Servia and the Servians."

The confidence with which Turkey entered upon the campaign which has proved so disastrous to the Ottoman Empire is well illustrated by some remarks made at the beginning of the war 'by Dijavid Boy, formerly Minister for Finance and leader of the Young Turk party. If© said: "Tho war has been expected in Turkey over since the beginning of the Constitutional era. Wo knew it must come sooner or later. It might have been postponed, but we foresaw it long ago, and were arming. The Bulgarians, who have so light-heartedly thrown down the gauntlet, do not know the Turkish army; they do not know how systematically we have been preparing for the inevitable settling of accounts with them. . . . As for the question whether we have sufficient money, I daresay that the war will not lastlonger than eight or ten weeks. Our finances are sufficient for many months. . . . Turkey wants to remain independent or die, but she has in her all the conditions conducive to long life."