Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1912-11-13


Turkish Empire.
London.-The rout of the great
Turkish army in Thrace. in which
10000 Turkish soldiers fell and IS
per cent OF their artillery was cap
tured, is told by Martin H. Donohue.
war correspondent for the Daily
Chronicle, who was with the Ottoman
troops in their panic-stricken fight.
Mr.. Donohue's thrilling story. which.
to escape the censor, was sent from
ThOrlu, the Turkish army headqIar-
tiers, to Constantinople, and thence by
boat to Constanza. Roumanfa. and
cahled from there to London. is as
follows:
"IrrevocabIe disaster has broken
the Turkish army. It has suffered an
appalling defeat This has been fol-
lowed by confusion and a rout for
which there is scarcely a parallel in
history--a rout which in its later
stages degenerated into wild panic,
stampede. which communicated it.
self to the whole fighting force.
"As l am writing this dispatch the
army corps forming Abdullah Pasha's
splendid army lie battered and deei
mated, and the defensive lines have
fed pell-mell before the advancing
Bulgarians
Defeat Is Like Sedan.
sit has been the most icomplpte mill
tary disaster since Mukden. the great
est debacle since Sedan. Forty thou
sand men. the flower of the Turkish
troops, have fallen. while Abduiiah
Fasha himself narrowly escaped their
fate. Seventy-fve per cent of his
artillery was captured. His men
seemed to melt away like snow before
the summer sun
After the disintegratiou began it
soon became general; bfgades dis
solved into regiments. regiments into
companies. and the companies be-
came small groups until all cohesion
disappeared and the decentralization
became complete. By handfuls the
remnants of the army have fcund
their way back to Tchorlu, the Bull
garian artillery cruelty harassing
them. moving them down in thou
sands
For like disaster one is com
PEELED to turn to Napoleon's memcr-
able retreat from Moscow.
The Bulgarians, advancing in large
numbers. strongly supported by their
artillery speedily drove back the
Turks, who retired in the direction of
Lule Burgas. Throughout the terri
Bile fighting the superiority of the Bull
garian artillery was pronounced The
Turks were unable to stand the muir
dercus fire and withdrew slowly
THE gunners being dead and a ma
jority Of the horses being killed. the
artillery was forced to abandon guns
to the enemy. The Bulgarians. who
displayed extraordinary energy. press
ed forward. determined to make the
most of their advantage.
Turks Die 5ravely.
by the afternoon the Bulgarians
had shelled the Turks out of Lule Bur.
gas
Fortunately the inhab tants had
fed and the loss of life among non.
combatants was small. Having eff
fectually silenced the fire of the Turks
the Bulgarians launched an infantry
attack. which stormed the town at the
point of the bayonet
THE greater part Of the Turkish
garrison had already withdrawn, but
the men of the rear guard were
caught like rats in trap. The sol
diers of the fourth corps, although
they had been without food for two
days. offered stubborn but unavail-
ing resistance. They died to g man
Sees Troops Slaughtered.
THE Turkish commander in chief
had watched the fight from the heights
near the village of Satikeui. due east
OF Lule Burgas. AS he observed the
Turkish artillery and infantry being
moved down his face grew grave
The Turkish artillery had from the
beginning been poorly supplied with
4nmunition What it had vas practic.
ally expended in the morning fight.
and now many gunners stood around
the empty limbers with folded arms.
Unable to reply to the Bulgarian
fire they awaited death, which came
swiftly. with true Ottoman courage
Along the whole Turkish front the
troops we're harrassed by terrible
fire As time went on it became sim
ply carnage, men falling in hundreds
The morale of the troops was com
pletely destroyed by the appalling
shell fire. When night closed in on
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