THE BALKAN WAR

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 302, 14 May 1913, Page 5

THE BALKAN WAR

THE TRANSFER OF SCUTARI. . By Cable —iPSress Association^Copvright. ; Received 14, 12.40 a.m. Home, .May 13. ' International detachments have lanied at San Giovanni. The formal transfer,of Scutari is fixed for Thursday. PEACE IN SIGHT. AII.TIK ACCEPT TEEMS. London, -May! 12. The Allies' reply has been delivered. It finally anil unreservedly accepts the Powers" ihase iqr mediation. iThel Bulgarian Minister m London ihas been authorised .to 'sign the peace preliminar- , ies. THE (PRELIMINARY TREATY. fieoeived 14, 12.40 a.m. ILondon, May 13. - The newspapers declare that now that the reservations have been reduced to a pious wish, there is nothing to prevent the sgnature til a preliminary peace treaty «nrmediartie}y. A BIELOMATIC (COMPROMISE. THE ra«3AlIL)&3f FRONTS. Received 13, 9.40 p.m. Isondon, May 13. / The&lljeß' reply-takes note of the exclusion of -reservations relating to Albania and. the Aegean Islands. Nevertheless it eaamot believe that they will not be. allowed 'to discuss questions affecting their vital interests and arising out of a, victorious war of liberation. But tlie Allies agree that the difference of the two standpoints ought not to interrupt the ipeace negotiations. Constantinople, May 13. Turkish transports will embark Essa;d Pasha's, troops at Durazzo, and Djavid Paslia's at Valxma, totalling thirty thou-1 sand. The majority are destined for Asia Minor. Sofia, May 13. M. Seravoff, formerly Minister at Constantinople, is proceeding to Athens Eto negotiate in conjunction with the Bulgarian Minister an agreement for ■delimiting the frontier. I The recent encounters .were due to the Greeks attempting to .occupy strategic' points. Remonstrances on the subject 1 have been addressed'to Greece. A NEUTRAL ;ZONE. „ . % Salonika, May 12. The Bulgarian casualties at Leftera, • total three hundred; Both sides have j apologised, and a neutral zone has been ; established. , CYCLE OF FIVE CENTURIES CLOSED. ' A NEW ERA BEGUN. SOME AMAZING SCENES AT TH3 FALL OF ADRIANOPLE. A remarkably vivid picture of what the fall of Adrianople' means in the pageant of history has been drawn by Luigi Barzini in the Daily Telegraph. . He and another correspondent were the first foreigners to enter the fallen city with the Bulgarians. The city of' superb mOsques, bristling Krith soaring minarets, like certain landscapes of the legendary East, ceased a few hours ago to be Turkish. For the Turks it represented what Gramada was tp the Arabs; it was dear and sacred, because it alone bore some deep traces ' of the beauty and art bf"lslamic ■civilisation. And as with the fall o! f.ranada Mussulman power disappeared from the Western part of Europe, with the .fall of Adrianople Mohammedan domination, already condemned to death, vanishes froii Eastern Europe. SINGING THEIR BATTLE HYMSJS. "At ten o'clock on Wednesday morn'ing, when the first Bulgarian troops rode towards the city from the Kaik side, «inging their battle hymns in chorus, £he national flag waving proudly over their beads, a cycle of five centuries closed, and a new era began, amidst that clash jtnd clamor of soldiers and arms which is encountered at the beginning and the «nd of every empire. "How is it possible to describe this gretji historical event, the importance j of which is so much greater than its i outward appearance? I have within me a tumult of visions, impressions, emotions, that are still too vivid to permit j me to arrange my ideas in logical order." j SECRET PREPARATIONS.

Here are a series of pictures drawn by M. Barzini. First of the secret preparations of the Bulgarians: "The long and careful preparations lasted about twenty days. Cases of shells were slowly transported by night to the appointed positions, which were well hidden behind the heights. Conveying the ammunition across pathless fields occupied an enormous time. No waggon could carry more than six rounds for the heavy guns, and a good 50,000 rounds were amassed in the casemates of the big batteries. The country was' still covered with sno\y when, unseen by the enemy, the active preparations began.

"These preparations were concealed by the reverse slopes of the distant heights, where hundreds of men prepared emplacements for mortars, shelters and magazines. Immense convoys made a sweep of over seventy miles in transporting the material and projectiles. But meanwhile the siege continued day after day without any variation. "At three o'clock in the afternoon of March 24 the action began. It began with a general cannonade on all sectars, an intense bombardment from every side, bat less intense on the point which had to be taken by assault, for it was necessary to conceal the plan and mislead the defence. "But at four o'clock in the morning black masses of Bulgarian infantry who had rested on the grassy slope began > creeping slowly, in the profoundest silence, towards the Turkish advanced positions. "The Bulgarians arrived within 400 paces of the Turkish positions, and not a rifle-shot had been fired. One might have thought that the entrenchments had been abandoned if the small, black profiles of the motionless sentries had not been seen outlined on the moonlit sky. "It took the storming party more than an hour to traverse two kilometres. The first glimpse of dawn was beginning to clear the horizon. Suddenly, at the word of command, all the Bulgarians bounded to their feet, uttering their immense superhuman yell of assault, the terrible, prodigious roar of a people in fury. 'To the bayonet! To the bayonet! Hurrah!' the soldiers shouted, hurling themselves forward. It is curious that they crossed three wire entanglements without raising any alarm. In a few seconds the Bulgarians found themselves at the last barrier, and the Turks, taken by surprise, abandoned their positions, practically without offering any resistance. THE COMMANDER SURRENDERS. "When Chukri Pasha caused a sheet to be hoisted as a white flag on the wireless mast of the Haderlik fort of the north-west sector, 20,000 men were prisoners, and another 30,000, having cast their uniforms, were hiding in the HI/:. , WL±

city. Chukri was to be a prisoner witfh'OUt ; conditions. Colonel Markoleff approached to ask for his sword. He] found him on foot, perfectly calm, to-: gether with Colonel Aziz Bev, governor of the city. Aziz Bey unsheathed his sword and silently handed it to the Bulgarian officer. Chukri replied: 'You see, lam without arms,' and clapped his hand to his thigh, where there was no sword. But it was only a question of etiquette. I THE CHILDREN AND THE CHICKENS "At mid-day in the hall of the headquarters a profoundly moving and indescribably solemn scene was witnessed. Chukri Pasha, with dignified gesture, extending his gloved hand, offered his sword to Colonel Ivanoff, who restored it, and victor and vanquished gravely saluted each other.

"Descending from the tragic corpsestrewn heights, the victorious troops met with their first surprise. In ' the meadows close to the town great herds of cattle and flocks of sheep were feeding tranquilly, and the fields were cultivated. A few steps more brought them to the suburbs, and in the suburbs,'just as in any other Turkish town in the most prosperous period of its existence, were droves of chickens and turkeys, whose mortality ,d>id not seem- to "have been much above Jhe normal. ' "Perhaps it \vas' the population that suffered? Not at all. Amongst the first houses of the city poor children were.serenely playing, perfectly indifferent to the war jand . the dramas of the peoples. The sight of these children is reassuring. \ Two, Turkish . women, and two peasants with longf green tunics and ample trousers pass down the street. Others seated on the, threshold of -a house sift barley, while chickens peck up the scattered grains. These are commonplace pictures, which are important only because they are seen' in 'Adrianople at the end if a siege, arid they."give testimony to an incredible normality. The children, as is usual at their age when they are in perfect health, are more'frank; they run to the threshold' ip order to get a better view of the •new?^visitors." : PAINTING CROSSES.

Here are a few additional details df this historic siege, told by the Times correspondent:—

"King Ferdinand," he says, "who arrived in-a motor car, himself received 'Chukji Pasha's surrender, and returned his sword with a graceful and courteous .reference to his magnificent defence of 'the towir.

j "The native dignity of, the Ottoman in j'tragic circumstances has been iseen at its [very best, while the behaviour of the jorilooking crowd and the armed escorts was most admirable during the whole of | the march past. It was pleasant to ■watch the kindly relation between victors and -vanquished. It was curious 'during my stroll to watch people busily .engaged, in painting crosses, fashioned of any material gathered-haphazard, to nail to their 'doors as a pitif.nl protection, not against the soldiery,;whose behaviour is exemplary, but against tlie Christians of the lowest order, who Seized the opportunity for loot, but who are now dealt with in very summary manner by armed patrols'." _ "And yet;" says the Observer, "the lion's s'hare o"f honor -fairly goes to the indomitable Osmanlis and their heroic leader, who 'for five long months have kept the Crescent flying over the second capital of tlieir."Empire. As the Crescent sinks below the horizon of Europe there is a bright ray of glory left by the defence of Adrianople:"