SERBIANS' TERRIBLE PLIGHT

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XI, Issue 552, 21 December 1915, Page 2

SERBIANS' TERRIBLE PLIGHT

LONG TREK IN THE RAIN. 'TIMES'S* GRAPHIC STORY. The following cable, dated London, December 1, appeared m the Sydney 'Sun' last week : — The Special correspondent of ' The Times,' writing from Monastir, states that the journey from Salonika to Nifeh and Monastir, wliich usually takes eight hours, occupied a month. "The Serbian railway stations," he says, " were beflagged and festooned m honor of the Anglo-French for a fortnight. The school children were assembled daily, carrying bouquets. They said : "We are lost if they don't come. But hundreds of thousands are coming, aren't they?" "At Nish the authorities had arranged triumphal arches, but the armies everywhere retired before the floods of invaders, abandoning the richest territories. The scarcity of food was acute, and thousands were starving. But the calmness of the officials and fhe gay demeanor of the people showed the most buoyant and undefeatable national spirit. Their crushing reverses are not admitted. Everywhere they make the proud announcement- that the Entente will win." " The Serbian retreats were calm. There was no sign of undue hurry, and no trace of fear. Death was preferred to slavery. " I met two rustic wedding processions. The gaudiiy-adorned brides were enthroned on country carts as they wended their way to church. Then, trekking southward, I saw elderly peasanto and) boys with shouldered rifles m charge of prisoners whose guards had \ gone back to the front. The prisoners iv- ' eluded Cisechs, Croats, Germans, Magyars, and Hungarian gipsies. They were suffering from a day and a night m the rain, with no tobacco and little food. They were working leisurely on forced tasks. " I shall not forget the kindly and venerable figure of M. Pashitch, Premier of Serbia, m that terrible retreat of Ministers, their staffs, families, and' diplomatic corps. There were sad scenes, -which shifted from place to place. Pitifully disappointed, but still proud .they travelled for days through Macedonia. " The houses were mere blockhouses, the windows, being used for observation, and were pierced with holes for shooting. They were infested by lawless Bulgarians. The Macedonians hate the Bulgars. They ask whether, if they were governed by England or France, it would make theni wealthy. Nothing equals the misery of this trek of the Serbian people through the endless 5 rain."