The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-11-24
LONDON, Nov. IS.

LONDON. Nov. IS.
-HF spscial correspondent OF the
Daily Telegraph with the TURK
i ;sb a-my-E. Ashmead- Bartlett
las sen, to his paper a vivid descrip-
lion Of the Turkish disasters At hfrK
l<illisse and the flight of the ottoman
arnly. Mr.. Ash mead bartie't was
Cous,autinople before the great oaet!e.
When he finally reached the 'front.' ne
MAS fortunate enough not TO be hefoec
IS prisoner with the other CORE
.aondents so that his illness proved
blessing, in that he was eHaoieo 10 see
TIE great hight from beginning 10 emu
and 10 escape from Turkish territory
IN time to send his paper a complete
description Of the most amazing mill
,arv 6ebacie 90 modern history.
NJ Ashmead- Bartlett teiegraphs:
= do rot know a, this hour il the re-
.-eat was ordered by Abdullah Pasha,
Or i. the troops voluntarily abandoned
their positions and took to night PROD
ably an orderly retreat was arranged.
hut speedily developed into a sauve
GU! peut-
TIE scenes on the road bafne de-
scription from my pen. They recalled
10 mind q picture / have seen some
where of the fight OF the French army
after waterloo. or one Of Napoleon's
order remained Whole brigades and
divisions had broken up. The men
made 10 efforts to preserve their places
IN the ranks The strongest specify
60, to the front. and the weak. SICK
and wounded struggled painfully De-
hind. Thousands OF wounded maoe pa
tfetic efforts to keep up with their
comrades, but each had to shift for
himself, as not even the unwounded
were IL a condition TO lend 4 helping
hand. Many OF the unwounded were
70 weak that they fell by the roadside
and made no further effort to save
themselves
Three Days Without Food
FOR three days all these men bad osen
without a moreel OF food, and many for
even a longer period Only soldiers pos
sessing the wonderful constitution OF the
Turks could have stood the strain
The further we receded from tho bat
tIeaae,d the wores the scene became. be-
cause many OF the wounded. having drag
eed themselves thus Tar. could go No
further, and, crawling OF the track, Lay
down to die by the roadside without .
curse or rep.oach at the authors OF Hi
their miseries Sometimes when man
had died his comrades would stop mo-
mea, and dig 4 shallow grave. but the
majority Of the corpses were left Just
where they fell
AZ every village crowds OF s6aSS1ers
invaded the houses In search OF food. dig-
ring I'd roots in the gardens ana eagerly
devour.ng raw cabbaSes and turniDs-
anything edible they could ind
On the high ground halfway to Tchos-
u. We had q good view OF the whole OF
she countryside. which presented most
extraordinary sight Along every road
men horses guns ard OK wagons were
presssns forward al coDver8inG on the
fxo roads which lead into Tcsoriu- There
must have been forty or fifty thousand
s,rasRiers scattered over the plain Al
bel. on reaching tho town BEFORE nISnk-
fall. Many became SO exhausted from
want OF food tina: they simply could not
70 any further. and lay down to sleep
Xhere ,hey were. What became OF them
I DO not know
The majority Of the wounded left On
Gre bare plateau. swept by an Icy wind,
mus. have persisted during the night
Marching With Bare Feet
Many Of the f1gitives had abandoned
their kIts and equipment to Tighten fhe!E
burdens. A suJ larger number hung
away Their boots, preferr.ng TO march
Win bare feet, But 20 their credit Lot II
BE- SAID that very few abandoned tner
y.aes.
--r,~ moro / reject on ths amazing
seha1le o. the Turkish army OF Tarace
.ae more natural does It seem II q The
Greatest military disaster that any nation
has suffered since SEDAN II has utterly
A~,roved the ayny's power Of taking the
ensnstve again IN the present var, ara
q ia extremely doubtful II the Turks car
ho;s the ear-.ayned Ines OF Chats )a,
which are probably tug as big DIN
s-ery,hsrs else Turkish has proved ''ssii
% %.
7, 10 impossible for me 70 describe
severely enough the utter etate OF
chaos. % mess. muddIe aa AZ,
believe which exists throushout az
b,.,ch.s Of the army. Had the Turk
&c. .oI1i,r been supplied with even one
bt.cyI. a day he might have heto DIS
ground against TIE invader, ans u an
couvircec ,ha; he hss been esfeateo
nor. by sheer starvation uaa ey my
or er single factor.
9, 4. almost Impossible 20 understand
now The vre,ch~i private solcier ef-
is,es for three oays without a scrap OF
food withou- any shelter. ano yss COW
cred himself with glory Tue moss
,oisueif material has been sacrihced
on TIE altar - stupidity. cones's Ell
satisfaction ane the grosssst 'ssDu-
iSde-
the Turkish army haS No 9snessi
SAN capable % rur ming . country en-
.us TIE army has no generals whe
eee-1 ever 20 have graspe1 the mos
elementary principles Of modern war
fare The army he's no eomrtssarfas
.ral- - any so,s ana YET four army
corps were etsps.ctsf or q vass Of
s.rsi~e movement WITH o whole line
90 railway behfn5 them within dfty
--siIss of the capital the au,k orfSiea
.,si6 not feed brigade and. resiisins
sais fact. .s.y. vf:s true oriental ape-
sty, made no eSor- 20 feed four army
eerps. Hss left tten 90 etar~e, trusting
- Ana - Dso1ocs maena - sunn