THE SERBIAN ARMY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14053, 25 July 1916, Page 3

THE SERBIAN ARMY.

AGAIN IN THE FIELD. WONDERFUL RECOVERY. The way m which the Serbian Army has been reconstituted is one of the miracles of the war, writes a correspondent from Salonika. Six months ago it could hardly have been said to exist. It was worn out with fighting against enormous odds, and the retreat through Albania had reduced it to a disordered mass of famishing and- dispirited meta, without a chance, one would have said, of ever pulling themselves together and taking the field again. Yet to-day, when General Sarrail and General Milne wei*e the guests at a festival of one- of the most famous Serbian regiments, the burly, vigorous men that marched past them with even, swinging step, and afterwards sang their songs and danced their national dances were splendid examples of the peasant soldier at his best. Their discipline was excellent, thenhigh spirits undeniable; and these were the ( very men who came through Albania last winter, leaving thousands of their comrades dying of sheer exhaustion by the way. You need to see them now, full of heart and courage again and new-equipped and accoutred from bayonet to bootsole, to realise fully the wonder that has been wrought. The credit of it falls chiefly to the courage and resiliency of the Serbian character, but without the help brought by the French and British missions it would have been impossible for the Serbian Army to come into existence again as such. The Serbian camps, of which generals visited one recently, stretch for miles m a beautiful setting on a green plain flanked by a black mountain and shining sea. Here they are putting the last touches to their training, though they need little, for all are veterans. One regiment we saw, has lost more than 1000 killed and 3000 wounded, out of an original strength of 4000, since the war began, and there has not, been a single year m the last five m which they have not been engaged m some war or other. It is not only an army you see when you visit them, but a nation. That is the one melancholy fact about this Serbian foree — that it should be all that is left of the manhood and vigor, bodily and intellectual, of so gallant a people. But none of the things they have undergone can damp their ardor or quell their buoyant spirit. After a day's work m the field they will join hands to dance the "kolo,"' officers and men together, and sometimes, to guests from the Allied armies. I

Mr E. Balcombe-Biown, of Wellington, has received a cable mesage stating tha this son, Flight-Commander Rainsford Baleombe-Brown, has been awarded the Military Cross for destroying a German balloon. The message also mentions that Captain T. Kinder, of Auckland, is missing. Fhght-Oomman-der Balcombe-Brown' and Captain Kinder are two old Wanganui Collegians.