The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-03-06
Turkish Fortress SurrenderS to
Greeks.
Defense Was One of Brilliant
Episodes of War.
GARRISON HAD $4,000 men.
Fierce BOmbardment Preceded
the CapitulatiOn.
Greek Commanders Execute Re-
markabIe Military Feat.

| Athens, Greece, March 6.-The Turk
ish fortress of Janina, the key. to the
| possession of the province of Epirus,
with its garrison of $4,000 men, sur
! rendered to the Greek army today af-
ter a defense which forms one of the
most brilliant episodes of the Balkan
| war.
| The surrender was preceded by
| fierce bombardment lasting without
cessation for two days and two nights.
| Every available gun, including a num-
ber of heavy howitzers lent by the
Servian artillery, was brought to bear
on the forts defending the beleaguered
| city. No fewer than 10000 shells were
| fired by the Greek guns during the
/ first DAYS cannonade.
| Gradually the Turkish batteries al
Bizani, Manoliara, Eakni and else
where were silenced.
Greeks Make Feint
| The Greek commanders by a feint
| led the Turks to believe their attack
would be made from the right. AS
soon as the attention of the defenders
| had been distracted, the Greeks hurled
large bodies of infantry onto the Turk
| ish left. The Ottoman troops, utterly
surprised, fell back in disorder. The
batteries on the heights of Bizani, the
mainstay of the defense, had been un-
able to stand the peIting of the shells
and were reduced to complete silence
at IL o'clock yesterday morning.
The Greeks pushed their forward
movement during the afternoon and
occupied the Turkish batteries the
! Sakni and Elias hills, capturing all the
guns and 10 artilIerymen. Then the
/ Greek battalions gradually deployed
/ on to the plain in front of the city
itself. The. Turkish flight Immediate
ly became general. despite all the eff
forts of the Ottoman officers to rally
their men. Whole detachments sue
cumbed to panic and Joined in a mad
race into the city. The Greek troops
followed in hot pursuit almost to the
walls.
Flag of Truce.
/ With all the defending batteries in
the hands of the attackers and the
Hellenic soldiers at the very gates of
the city, Essaad Pasha, the Turkish
commander, at o'clock this morning
sent messenger under a flag of truce
to Crown Prince Constantine of Greece
announcing the surrender of the city
and all the troops under his command.
The fall of Janina was announced
by the crown prince to the Greek war
office in the following dispatch:
"Enimaga, (Greek headquarters)
a. m.-The Greek army having oc-
cupied the entire left front of the city
of Janina and also Bizani and Cas-
tritza having been surrounded by our
| troops, Essaad Pasha has just inform
ed me that his troops surrender as
prisoners of war.
''I will send you shortly details of
the great victory of our gallant army
Greeks Are Jubilant.
Wild enthusiasm reigned in the
streets of Athens on the announce
ments of the news and all the houses
were decorated with flags. Excited peo-
pie thronged the thoroughfares singing
the Greek national anthem, while
J joyous peals rang out from every
church steeple in the capital The
/ Greek advance on Janina began late
: in October. The Turks retired rapidly
/ before their opponents and operations
round the fortress opened about the be-
/ ginning of December. The advance
continued with much success even dur
: ing the period of the armistice, with
! which the Greek never formally agreed
/ Several of the outlying forts fell be-
/ fore the Greek assaults and the attack
on the principal Notifications was grad
ualIy pressed home
| The Turkish garrison possessed $50
guns. distributed among the forts at
| Bizani. to the south, Buruti, to the
southwest, Sadovitz. to the west, and
| Gardinki. to the northwest.
1t was not known until today how
many Turkish troops were in the city.
$4,000 to 10000. The population
numbered % 1000. mostly Greeks.
| The Notifications which had at one
/ time been considered strong, were
antiquated and could not resist mod
| ern cannon.
| Provisions throughout the siege had
! been plentiful, as Janina is a center
| of the grain trade.
! Sink Three Ships
Vienna. March 6.-The Turkish crui-
ser Hamidieh today sunk three Greek
| transports loaded with Servian troops
| on the way to Scutari according to a
| Constantinople dispatch to the Neue
Freie Presse
The attack on the transports oc-
| Cured it is said, near the peninsula
| of Hagion Oros, in the Aegean sea From
! this it would appear that transports
were proceeding not to Scutari but to
| Gallipon, where it was proposed some
| time ago by the Balkan allies to make
| a flank attack on the Turkish troops
| defending the Dardanelles. The con-
voy of Greek transports was a large
one. consisting of "a vessels, which
by the Har-idieh shortly after they
had left the coast.
Suffer From Cold.
London, March GA Constantinop1e
dispatch to the Daily Mail says thar
suffering among the troops at
Tchatalja Fifty or more outpost men
have been frozen to death and others
SO frost bitten that it was necessary
! to resort to amputation.
Strange.-"It's strange. isn't it?"
.eWhat?'' That nobody ever discovers an