The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-30
THE TURK INSPIRED FEAR.
WHY GREEKS FED AFTER
BRdVELY STANDING FIRE.

The Greek Army Weeds Moro wen Lake Major
Gen. ACCOMPLISHMENTS ward Chronicle
or Actual Warfare Compared with the Hy
sterics or the New journalism.
LONDON, May 19.--The war has ended Just n
the moment when It was becoming war in grin
earnest Tho fighting OF tho last week or ter
days was far moro desperate and sanguinary
than that Of tho earlier days of tho brief cam,
paign. Tho story OF the last bloody onslaught al
m has not yet come to hand, but the rec
ord OF tho few days which preceded It has been
received and II contains some interesting cpl
sodes and observations. Tho correspondent OF
the Manchester Guardian with tho Greek army
in Thessaly writes under date of the 9Th inst:
"The great impression ono receives from tho
fighting on this second line of the Greek defence
Is that 1t Is vastly different from the first fight.
ing upon the frontier. On this day, for example,
for nine hours the bursting Of shells and the rat
Ito of musketry wore incessant, At times, rs
when tho Greeks attempted a short advance, tho
roar was almost terrific. There is no doubt that
thousands OF Greek troops have stood admirably
under fro OF every sort And yet the very adj
mission makes it moro difficult 10 explain tho
feverish haste of their retreats. I am inclined
TO think that one must seriously take into &C
count as an important factor in the spirit with
which men fight the battles of southeastern
Europe the sheer horror that Is inspired by tho
1uTk. OHe secs IL III tno RlDUeTlDB lear " inc
fugitive population, and when the troops arc
once consciously face to face with defeat 1t
seems that at a single stroke they become q prey
70 the same paralyzing fear.
From Velestino. as from Reveni. Colonel
now Observation-Disclosures was the last to
retreat. This man is the typical cool, collected
soldier. / have seen him lie down on the
ground and snatch a brief sleep during an en-
gagement when he felt that he was not for the
moment needed. cannot say how significant I
found that act: the Greek army needs more men
Of this temperament, and one wishes that Smo-
lenski were vested with tho highest Office. 1t
was he who suggested that some Of the quick
firing Hotchkiss guns should be transferred
from the feet to the field, and. for all the use
the feet has been in tho protection Of Volo.
his suggestion might very well have
been adopted. 1t was not till . o'clock
on Thursday, May 6, that the Greek
lines between vclestino and Kynoskephale be-
gan seriously to break, but when they did so the
downfall came rapidly. Away to the west the
troops had fallen back long before. It did not
need the sudden rain Of shell and bullets in
places which had previously been under only a
very slight fire to prove to one the alertness of
the Turks to follow up their advantage; from
one ridge to another they climbed like cats.
When the great retreat had everywhere been or.
dered, I went, in company with a correspondent
Of the Times, to look for a man whom we had
stationed well in the rear with q horse and some
provisions. The man had already fed on the
horse. A~fterward we were to learn, indeed,
that it was he. as we could not but believe from
the accounts given to us by peasants on the road.
who had lit the fame of panic along our line of
retreat. A man, they said. had galloped along
the road on a white horse, calling upon people
to flee, because the lines had been broken and
the Turks were already upon them. Nothing
was really more untrue; the advance of the
Turks then. as in all their other successes, did
not extend beyond the actual field of battle; it
was in 10 sense a pursuit. 1t was bad enough to
be forced to walk to Pyrsouphli station without
food and water just when we needed them,
but there. we told ourselves, we should find
everything, dine, and probably even again sleep
for the night. But the man with the white horse
was capable de tout. We found our house bar
ricaded. but empty. Our dragomans and SER
wants had fled, together with the station master,
to the sea, taking all our food and water and the
only horse. We decided to follow them to the
sea at once; men in this mood were as likely as
not to seize and sail away with all haste in our
steam tug that was lying at Kokkino.
"On the road l was surprised to find how early
the retreat had set in further along the Greek
line. When we looked from the hills down
upon the plain between the mountains and the
sea we could see troops apparently already
almost at Almyro, and more troops were con-
tinually joining the road from the west. The
retreat was t~olerably orderly, but already there
was a vague uneasiness among the men; a few
had discarded part Of their kit; one saw
again symptoms of the disaster at Tur-
navo, and nothing would surprise me
less than to hear, when l returned to the
Front re3rssti mat rsd there Or - was as a panic r among the
civilians was more precipitate. On all sides one
was asked for ones synodia' or companionship.
presence Of a foreigner would temper in some
way the rage Of a Bashi.Bazo9ki but the English.
experience to have his escort demanded by a man
wreathed with a double bandolier of bullets and
would be sred of on h"oerr near ea9. the eI road eneae w TtnSs
At a whom. or for what reason I am unable to say.
Tbs e e. The tSs custom in Greees; Men nre OF their
might say, because they could not help 1t. Few
things could be more deplorable to the military
Glasses the firing of rifles is a familiar practice;
there 10 not. on the other hand. the wholesome
greater part Of our civil population in England,
NOR: on 81 t ne r 9fahe Ih; an appreciation, :, Of the stern
S Seidis or sns T Tleo e %s1'h hs GRe Gis Is tsrne d to an he em mSsEt
sinister ends in times of panic"
1t is a relief when searching through tho great
mass of matter sent by the large corps of writers
at the front to turn occasionally from the pic
sotOcdoo oob bupCiaSlhl "OEA u bOu6 OF tho
younger men to the serious, logical, straightfor-
ward chronicles of a veteran. old-school war
correspondent. Such an account is that given
by Charles Williams in tho Daily Chronicle of
the Greek defeat at Pharsala and the retreat to
Dhomoko. Writing from the latter point under
date Of the 9Th. M. Williams says.
"wednesday. May 8, new style. April %, old
style, was OF course the fete Of Greece and King
George. 1t was ordered that the men should
an easy day of II, and so there was no drill
Rnd there seemed to, BIO an extra issue Of meat
lamb. lamb. always lamb. But some Of those 1t
was cooked for: on long sDits made Of branches
eat It.. The Turks also knew it was ST.
Geerge's dsy-the day on which. in the other
key IN Europe and Asia twenty years ago,
manner: they took part In it, celebration
have before described . line Of low hills which
ton, and both myself and q Swedish stan officer
who has been with Greek headquarters as a cor
r;ssDpn nd "a. have predicted ever since our q,
DO chosen by tho Turks for attack, II attack they
did. The arst Of these was q bypass toward
the west of the line OF low hills, the ground In
front and by the side Of this being too much cut