ALL FOR THE LOVE OF HIS COUNTRY

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 253, 28 November 1914, Page 3

ALL FOR THE LOVE OF HIS COUNTRY

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By Richard G. Conovexv

HAT is likely to bo set <lo,wn t0 the . fi .s ] > tin s BaV7§ : credit of the Servian :-sol|jl|; yy in the great war r jnfl ledger recently opened in Europe? How has his filing account balanced in the past?' For the measure of liberty, independence and nationality he enjoys has he paid in full price with bravery, fortitude and patriotic persistence? Can he deliver the -"fighting- goods'* to the "rigorous limit?-...

luetic and ' annihilation. Can you conceive of any other nation always harking back to a beating it got in order to prove what a'mighty r fighteFit' is? This is what the Servian soldier does When he at the same time bojistfully-r-tells you of the great battle of Kossovo, fought June 15, 1389, as a coijsequence of which his country became a province of Turkey for more than five hundred years.

The answer "to this must occasion surprise to many, for until recent years the Servian soldier has remained militarily obscure. Probably not one person in a thousand has a comprehensive knowledge of liis past performance. In the minds of a great number he is vaguely fixed as a fighting man of the ready to revolt in a' minute type. Sort of semi-marauding, guerilla preferring';- officer saucing fellow, chafing under military discipline and ionging to break away (iiaour fashion' and; settle things after his individual method, . lieady to froth, simmer or settle withnj-thc rise or fall of the liaikan baroiiueie'r.

Then: is an entire literatin-e about this terrific battle of Kossovo—and this may surprise-many who have been or will be surprised to learn of the prowess of the Servian soldier. A distinct literature the possession of a.-country'the-size and sort of Servia stems unlikely, yet it exists and has been an inspiration for patriotism many generations. The bards have loved to '.ell how the fighting man of Servia behaved on this woful day for Servian independence.

Superficial leaders of Servian history mayf doubt that her soldier has demonstrated true battling form. They ' set dmvji the wars in which the little country has engaged as just a bunch of little Balkan bickering abetted by Russian and Austrian diplomatists. This opinion is based upon the many niu-stivunblu happenings in Servia during the last fifty to seventy-five years, especially the revolting murder of King Alexander and Queen, Draga in their palace on the night,of June 10, 1003, and the ready acquiescence of the army in that atrocious'crime. Hut this estimate of the Servian soldier would be unjust. No fighting man can be adequately judged within the area of the influence of the blackcoated politician's machinations. It is in tliic zone of the cannon roar, the infanti'.V volley, the bayonet charge, the. forced inarch and the night attack that his mettle is proved. How has he stood when powder burned? •

Duri: g . .ie early part of the year.l3B9 au Ottoman army that had invaded Servia was routed in the fastnesses of the lilack Mountains by a body of Albanians and Serbs, Sultan Amurath.l, was celebrating his marriage in Asia Elinor when ttie news readied him,-ainl 'he vowed vengeance. lie rushed back to Kurope, collected a migtv army and hurried toward, the. foe." The clash came on the plain of Kossovo, a great leyel spot shut in by a chaic of mountains. Lazar, the last of the Servian Tsars, commander, besides his own troops a force of Albanians and Bosniaks. 3ne of 'he oerb bards has thus written of the-Turu enemy the Servian soldier confronted •

"Amurath had so many men that a horseman could not ride from one wing of his army to -another in a fortnight. The plain of Kossovo was one mass of sf<;el, horse stqoo\ against horse, man against man, the spears formed a thick forest, the banners obscured the sun; there was no space for a drop of water to fall between them."

, Excusing much of this computation on the ground of usual poetic licon.se, it is nevertheless generally recorded that the Turks were in great force. All day, despite the odds against him, Laxar's .Servian soldier bore the brunt of the attack, and as evening approached it looked like a drawn battle. But Vouk Brankovie, the Benedict Arnold of Servia and execrated to this day, marched over to the enemy with the entire right wing, composed in the main of a composite body of troops. At a critical moment of the fatal day the loss of these 12,000 men brought victory to Amurath. Lazar's horse went down as he galloped about encouraging his men and he expired under the blow i of a hundred Turkish soldiers. But as Amurath walked over the battle field to better view his triumph he was approached by a fanatically patriotic Serb named Milosh Obilic, who, making a false obeisance to the conqueror, plunged a dagger into the Sultan's heart. The slayer is still hailed a hero in song and story.-

This occupation of two years ago was not achieved without hard battling by the fighting man of Servia. His advance into Old Servia was fiercely eontested by the Arnauts or Moslem Albanians planted there by the Turks. It culminated in the three day battle of Kumunovo. After the Turkish artillery had been silenced four desperate Servian assaults were made before two of the

It is chronicled that, man to man in the armed crash, the Servian soldier is without superior in spirit, determination and endurance. He has been tested often and in many ways. Always has he "stood the' gaff." Servia's population is'haif that of Belgium, with a territory twice a*: large as that of Belgium for the Servian to love and'to'defend. The plaudits of the world have been accorded Belgium for its recent valiant stand agaiuvst the overwhelming Herman attack, and the plaudits were deserved, but the fact is that the 4,000,000 of Servia have been battling as bravely as the f.400,000 of Belgium in defence of their ; liberties, and fully as often. And note; this:—Centuries before the little bantam of the west of Europe was more than the fief of a duke Servia's soldier was fighting for his own nation. This is where the record of the Servian soldier draws first interest. He was the defender of an actual empire more than one thousand years ago. And it was an empire of consequence. In his palmiest day the Serb in uniform did not hesitate to attack three kingdoms at once, and before his mighty arm the soldiers of Hungary, Bulgaria and of the Greek Empire bit the dust in combined rout. The fighting glory of the Servian soldier, strange to say, is most treasured and chronicled best where it circles about his greatest defeat. Imagiiu a nation taking a new birth of freedom from a defeat that led to centuries «f offa^o-

most important earthworks of the enemy were taken. Later, taking advantage of a brilliant moonlight, the Turks advanced iu a counter attack so .successful that the staff of the Crown Prince advised him to give the order to retire. He answered (hat he would give the situation ten .minutes' grace. Before that time hud elapsed the guns of an advancing corps were heard, ami the battle wjus decided in Servia's favor. The third day of battle the Servian cavalry covered itself with glory in a fight against artillery, sweeping the gunners away from point after point of vantage and entering Kuiuanovo neck and neck with the infantry.

On October 20, 1912, or 523 years after Turkey had annihilated its nationality, a Servian army commanded by the Crown Prince Alexander entered Usknb, the country's ancient capital, and took possession amid frantic joy of the Servian soldiers. Regardless of what peace treaties might try to stipulate at the close of this last war between the Turk and Servia, the name of the capital was at once changed to Skoplje, its mediaeval title, and preparations made to add •it to the Servian kingdom for all time.

Again at the pitched battle of Monastir in this last Turk-Servian or general Balkan war the Servian soldier proved himself a tried man of valor. The Turks were strongly intrenched on twin hill peaks, 0.000 feet high. Through raging water courses, ice cold to his knees, the Servian fighting man advanced in the face of a deadly shrapnel. On -up the heights he went, driving the enemy from position "to position until he secured a dominating point. The right wing, by a detour, fell upon the Turk at another spot, hemming him in. The Servians advanced step by step slowly, until within sixty yards of the Turkish trenches. There a fierce hand-to-hand fight took place until the Turk's entire wing broke and fled. The cavalry again played a valorous part in the pursuit and "capture of thousands of fugitives in the neighborhood of Lake Presba and Fiorina. The Crown Prince entered Monastic from a sick bed, where he had lain just before the battle opened. A courier brought the news to him there that Gcu-

THE BATTLING AVERAGE Of THE SERVIAN SOLDIER,

after hard fighting by the Servian soldier, with" Dusan retaining the country he had conquered. By the treaty of 1340 the Servian, monarch had increased his possessions so that his dominions reached from the Danube to the Gulf of Gbrinth and from the Adriatic to'within a short distance, of Constantinople. In addition to this huge tract of country Bulgaria was under Servian, control, so that he was master of the Balkan Peninsula from sea to sea. And it took the. arm of the fighting Serb to ijet it. and hold it together, 'lie took sides in the civil wars of the Greek Empire, Coming out about even as to victory and defeat.

The. .strategical plan for the invasion of Macedonia had been mapped out almost ten years before. As it was put on paper; so 'General Yankovitch carried it through to a dot. And he had never seen active service before!

Louis the Great of 'Hungary attacked' him about 1352. - D'.:san defeated liim and incorporated Belgrade, theretofore a part of Hungary, in Servian territory. Then he subjugated Bosnia. Seeing the Greek Empire tottering, he summoned his chieftains - from every ■ pa rt of his realm. Then, heading an army, of 80,000, he started for Constantinople. Thrace with Adrianople fell before the Servian

soldier, and his advance guard reached the outskirts of the great city on the Bosphorus. But on the night of December 18, 135G, he was seized with a violent fever at the village of Diavpli, forty miles from Constantinople, and expired in the arms of his faithful chiefs. After an interval of 415 years of submission to the Turk, Kara George arose to lead Servian soldiers to victory. lie had been in abortive'. uprisings, but in 1804, after massacres by the Janissaries in Servia, he led a successful although not a complete one. He whipped the Janissaries and then demanded that only native Serbians garrison Serbian fortresses. This refused, he defied, the Sultan, who sent three successive armies against him, only to be defeated each time. At Mischar, August 4, 1806, Kara George won an all day battle against the Turk after desperate fighting.. lie was now called the Supreme Chief. But after nine years more of fighting the revolution collapsed, principally through jealousies of the chief men. Kara George retired into Austria. lie had established a Legislature during the nine years, .'.ud because of thl; is hailed as the modern restorer of Servian nationality.

There are four great fighting characters of Servia by whom the Serb soldier may be judged, for the man in the ranks fully partook of the spirit of his leader in the glorious past. These four are Stephen Nemanja, the first out-and-out king; King Stephen, surnamed Dusan, the mightiest of Serviau rulers and most looked up to, despite the fact thatVhe had his father strangled; George Petrovic, better known ? . Kara George, the liero of modern Servian history, and Milosh Obrenovic, founder of a line that has kept Servia in turmoil for generations.

era! Yankovitch had penetrated to Alessio, altliough in many places along the route the Servian soldier had to march through snow four feet deep, with a thermometer registering 14 degrees below zero. In this war within five weeks the Servian army had overrun Macedonia and the Sandjak and had penetrated south to Salonika and west to Alessio. In these five weeks the sword conquests of five centuries were lost to the sword.

The historian of the Balkan war of 1912-13 may tell of brave deeds with much more positiveness than the ancient Servian bard. There is the ease of the remarkable Sophie Jovanovitch, who fought in three pitched battles of the war, claiming no favors or consideration or mercy because she was a woman. She can indeed be classed with the Servian soldier. On his deathbed her father compelled her to swear that in the event of a war against the Turkish oppressors of her nation she would take arms and fight as a man would. She received the permission of King Peter to become a member of the battling body called Comitadige. Her particular function was to throw bombs, a number' of which she carried about in her belt.

The accession of. Stephen Nemanja marks the beginning of Servian mediaeval power and prestige. Historians place it at 1143 or 1159. He united Bosnia to Servia—after fighting. In 1185 he sent word to the Greek Emperor that he would pay tribute no longer. War followed and the Servian soldier whipped the soldier of the Eastern Roman Empire. After be humbled all the riotous chieftains under him and gave his realm a good military sweeping up, Nemanja turned it over to his son in 1195 and retired to the monastery of Chilander, where he died as the monk' Simeon five years later. He had taken Servia out of vassalhood, founded a dynasty and rooted the glory of his country so hardily that it bloomed for nearly two hundred years. There is a Stephen Nemanja regiment in the Servian army, and its members are called upon like Napoleon's Old Guard to perform what seems to be the impossible when others fail. They have always "made good." Often they have gone into battle shouting the name of the 'mediaeval king, as at Mount Kujf.n in the last war, where they took the strongly intrenched Turks completely off their feet by the vigor of their assault.

Dnsan, the mightiest Servian Tsar of history, ascended the throne in 1336, after the strangling of his father in prison. His surname, Dasan, means "the throttler" in Servwm, and although he occupies a proud place in Serb history they always associate the name with him. Under him the Servian soldier was destined to reach the high water mark of his martial effectiveness. During centuries of woe for Servia his name has been the incentive to struggle on to another nationality. When King Milan declared war on Bulgaria in 1885 his soldiers set out from Belgrade with shouts of "Dusan!"'

At this juncture Milosb. Obrenovic came into notoriety. He was hailed Supreme Chief in 1815, and soon headed a guerilla warfare that caused havoc with the Turk. The Sultan made terms and a sort of legislature was allowed. Thus under Milosh a semi-independence had been gained. Kara George was asked back by leaders wiio did not fancy Milosh. He returned and was. assassinated through the connivance, it is said, of his rival. From this dates the great Servian family fued between the descendants of Kara George and the house of Obrenovic, which is still on. The Servian soldier has fought equally well under both. In 1839 the second founder of modern Servia was forced to flee and his son Milan reigned.

The war also brought into notice—the military notice of Europe General Boja Yankovitch, who commanded the Servian soldiers in the army of Macedonian invasiiui. The campaign was not twenty-four hours old when word came that he had gained the head of the defile in the Tenesdohl Pass after a stubborn resistance. This was the key to the objective point—Prishtina. That place was entered almost immediately.

In IS6O, under the rule of Michael Obrenvoc 111., the modern military organization of the Servian army was effected. Two hundred thousand rifles •were smuggled into the country despite Turkish protest. Drilling and conscription began. Step by step this led to the squeezing of Turkey out of the country's fortresses. In 1567 Belgrade, which had been besieged dozens of times, was for the first time in centuries entirely in Servian hands. A great outburst of triumph and rejoicing went up when the last Turkish soldier on guard marched out.

The new king or tsar, as he was interchangeably called, first headed an army into Macedonia. He wanted an outlet on the Aegean. He penetrated as far a» the Gulf of Volo and besieged the Emperor Adrouicus 111., of the Greek Empire, at Salonica, Peace was concluded

The beautiful, brave and bold."

' During the long centuries past when Servia hasn't been otherwise busy she has had a war on with Bulgaria. Back and forth these neighbors have tugged and pulled. They cannot seem to forget events of history that only tend to stir up animosities, and whenever foreign trouble doesn't keep things humaxliiu they fall back on settling some un-

settled affront of from five hundred to a thousand year&oigo. The Sertian soldier. obeyed command* with respect to fighting Bulgaria, and just as cheerfully has fought at the Bulgarian soldier's side when a new war game made them allies.

The Tim6k,-tiien as now the boundary between the countries, has always been the principal theatre of the ■war. , In the : ninth century Vlastimir, head of the Servian attacked by Presjitm, tuler ofthe "Bulgarians. Tlie Servian soldier won. Later, Boris, the Bulgarian national hero, tried to get rcvengtV'but thej Servian -fighting man won again. In §l7 Simeon, the Bulgarian, kidnapped the Servian ruler, Peter, and had him and; tUe-Servkn; people conquered. Simeon also defeated a ruler, Zacharia, whom he had set-Up over the Servians, but who had not done his bidding. Thus, while- the Bulgarian, empire was at its zenith, Servia was almost blotted off the map. Very shortly both countries succumbed to the Greek Emperor, following a successful fight of the Servian soldier under Ceslav against the Bulgarians. This consumed the time up to the famous Stephen Nemanja.

In ISS4 the Servians occupied an uninhabited tract of land along the Timok; for the avowed purpose of tilling. A Bulgarian regiment drove them out. The next year Servia and; Bulgaria "weuPto it" again, with a Servian reverse at Slivnitza. No territory changed hands, however. In the year 1912 the two countries fought the Tnrk side by side and the Servian soldier, if anything, outdid his neighbor in gallant and effective combatting.

An estimate of the sort .of a fighter the Servian soldier is likely to be may be gathered from his willingness to go to battle. There is no record that conscription is one-half so vigorous as,that of other nations carrying large armies. Yet this little nation of 4,000,000 was able to equip, put in the field and march to victory 250,000 effective troops during the 1912-1918 war! And it is plainly a harder job to assemble a large army in a small country than a large army iu a large country, keeping the percentage of soldiery to population the same, In the case of Servia she' put in the field one soldier to every sixteen of her population.

In a contrast made between the Servian and the Bulgarian soldier it has been said that the former gets all his fighting spirit from what has been achieved in the past and which he hopes to emulate, but perhaps never equal, while the latter is envious of the deeds of his ancestors and hopes to excel them beyond all cavil. There is a great deal of this suggestion that may be set down as correct insight into Servian character. A writer has it that the Servian soldier cannot get away from that awful Kossovo' defeat in which his ancester fought so furiously to no avail. He has been eternally chanting these lines by.a native bard, and no matter what his triumphant future may be he is likely to still keep up the chant:—

"There resteth to Servia a glory, A glory that shall not grow old; There remaineth to Servia a story, A tale to be chanted and told; They are gone to their graves grim and gory,

When the Servian soldier is placed in the fighting scales to weigh up his battle value alongside his fellows, either enemy or ally, it would be well to bear this in mind—he must be some "scrapper" who can keep up the fire and steam of revolt for 500 years. That's a pretty long time to battle. Try to match it and the most that history will yield is tale after tale of the peoples of the earth who submissively blended with their conquerors- or became conquerors themselves. The Servian did not blend; he was too busy fighting.