THE BALKAN WAR

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 87, 7 December 1912, Page 5

THE BALKAN WAR

DRILLING IN RUSSIAN POLAND

(By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (United Press Association.) (Received 8.0 a.m.) Vienna, December G. Austrian Poland revolutionaries are drill ng in Russian I’oland, and 100,000 are preparing to oppose Russia in the event of war. Athens, December G. The Greeks defeated a band ol marauders and remnants or tlie Turkisa army, burning and pillaging villages in Macedonia. In Eperus 330 Turks were killev. ami wounded, and forty captured. Tne Greeks are bombarding the outer forts at Jauina.

TERRIBLE SCENES ON THE BATTLEFIELD.

An account telegraphed from Iremantle to the Sydney Daily Telegrap.. sa ys: After the repulse of the first attack on the vineyards in the afternoon, a Red Cross correspondent went over tlie field to help the wounded. He declares that tffe Bashi-bazouki and tffe Kurds, who followed the retreating Bulgarians, massacred and mutilated the wounded in an appallin;r way- Tffe lucky ones were those wno were killed outright by bullets, for the wav in which the Kurdish devils mangled the helpless wounded was awful. In most cases the victims’ eves were gouged out, and e.us. and noses were cut. off. Many had their stomachs ripped open. , During a pause a Red Cross Brigade cleared the field of wounded. Thei a third attack was decided on, as the Bulgarian commanders found that the Turkish ammunition was giving out. The sold ers were ordered to attack ruthlessly, and tlie assault ended in an awful hand-to-hand fight. Turks and Bulgarians, shouting wild cries fought desperately with almost even conceivable weapon, on the battlefick treacherously lined with explosives and mines, which killed many. Those who had no weapons used their lists and oven their teeth, and many Bulgarians found wounded had them throats bitten through by the wild Kurds.

AIISCELLANEOUS NEWS Afore than three hundred Turkisl officers and men have been shot ioi cowaelice at Kirk Kilisseh, and amonf them is Prince AH Aziz, first cousii of the Khedive of Egypt. Prince Azi; was in charge of cavalry, and was cons'deved to be, responsible for his troop: running away. He was summoned L Constantinople, court-martialled, found guilty of not complying with tlie military regulations, and shot. He was once a student at the German military school, and afterwards a foreign officer in a cavalry regiment. He was urged to leave the service owing to his debts. He was educated at Berlin and in England. 1 A war correspondent with the I ur.vf at Tchataldja contradicts the storiei of utter disorganisation in the ranks of the Ottoman army. He report* that he has failed to find evidences oi disruption. The insufficiently train ed reservists had fled before the Bui gariuns, hut the regulars were staunch. The roads loading from Constantinoph to the Turkish army are filled witl transports taking bread and ammunition to the front. . Tlie Servians now occupy Fiorina, south of Mon astir. Their wester; army has reached Aless.o, on the Ad riatic Sea, after a fearful and arduous march through, mountainous and uninhabited country. Heavy Tffins wore dragged through snow three feet deep and tlie temperature in places wai 15deg. below zero. Not one villag* was passed, and food was very scarce. An Englishman in Servia write: that the Servian authorities actual!) sent an army to carry out a policy o‘ extermination in Albania. The force was under a general who was a lead ing conspirator for the assassination o King Alexander. This officer issuer a command that any soldier bringing in a prisoner would be shot, and as i result thousands of Albanian Mosletm were massacred, including many wo men and clrldren. The “Italia” states that in an engagement at Lngocusar the AT onto negrins were compelled to retreat. The detachment included Prince Danilo the heir to the throne. They were surrounded by Turks, and the Monte negrins were unfurling the white fla; when an Albanian priest, at the head of 1500 Malissoris, fiercely charged the Turks and turned the tide of Rattle. Two leaders of Moslem faith re port’ng on tlie causes of the defeat o' the Turkish army declare that the re cent alterations in the personnel, the reduction in the number of officers and the defective organisation of the army were the chief reasons why the Turkish arms failed. The religion: sentiment of the army had weakened in the last four years. Formerly the bugle sounded each regiment to pray ora five t ines every day. and default, ors were punished, but when tlie con stitutional regime was inaugurated prayers were neglected and the religi ous(spirit of tlie army declined. From time immemorial the Ottoman arm) has been infused with the ideal.