Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1913-01-03
BuIgar Plan of Advance Upset by
the Stubborn Defense of
AdrianopIe
PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT THE WAR
Uncensored Story by Frederick Palm
err Tells How Allies Met Their
Match When the Turks Finally
Were Aroused.
BY FREDERICK PALMER,
Staff Correspondent of the Chicago
Record-Herald in the Balkan War.

0u1ld4
Needle,like, have seen them rise
over the indistinct mass of Adriano-
pie from the distant hills, then as
substantial columns from the nearby
hills, and again so close from the
shellproof of an advanced infantry
position that l could make out the
things on the dome OF the great
mosque itself.
The simple grace of the minarets
dominated town, and landscape, and
siege. Weary drivers of the weary
oxen OF the transport and still wear
Ter artillerymen, bringing up addi-
tional guns through seas of mud, saw
them for the first time as token of
defiance, of work unfinished, of bat
ties yet to be fought, and of lives yet
to be lost
Infantrymen in the advanced
trenches saw them as the goal
against foe which had fallen back
without any adequate rear guard sec
ton, but which had begun to fight
desperately under their shadows.
That Turkish garrison, as it with
drew into the shelter of its forts,
seemed to find something of the spirit
of old Sultan Seiim the Magnificent,
for whom the mosque was named,
but with this difference: Sultan
Selim was not given to falling back
on forts and minarets. He stormed
forts; he went ahead to plant new
roinarets in the soil Of Christendom.
Rouses Old Turks Spirit
From the first in this war the Turk
took the defensive; from the first he
accepted 1t as his part and portion of
the campaign.
In Bulgaria, where many Turks still
1--we under Christian rule, we had
seen the Terrible Turk, the great
fighting man Of the past, whose soul
was supposed to be above lowly toll.
as newer of wood and a carrier of
water. He did odd Jobs in the, alb
sence OF the Bulgarian at the front.
The lion Of the past had been trained
to dog harness.
All the early victories of the Bull
garian army completed an impression
OF one-time lordly race demoralized
and enervated, who retained only the
fatalism Of ''Kismet," In it's lexocon.s
The warriors cry, For Allah!" was
lost forever. But at Adrianople For
Allah! For the Minarets! For the
Padisha!" rose again to the dignity
which abandoned bravery always com.
rlands.
The sheer. impetuous fearlessness
of the Bulgarian, well drilled and
coolly manipulated, was the first
great revelation of the campaign. and
the second was how. in the hour of
hOpelessness. his desperation arous-
ed the old qualities of the Turk.
Every situation, every DEVELOPMENT
In the war reverted to Adrianople n
was the nut to crack In the first plan
of strategy of the campaign. 1t how
cred over the first army before
Tchatal1a as a nightmare 1t stood
In the way of the prompt supplies of
bread and bullets for the first army !.
1t delayed the signing of the armis-
tice for ten days; 1t has been the
main subject of contention before
the London peace conference; it was
responsible for the treatment of the
military attaches, who saw nothing of
the war, and OF the CORRESPONDENTS
who saw little.
War Hinges on Adrianopie.
Even our phlegmatic little English
speaking censor assistant at Musta-
pha would lose his temper at the
very suggestion of any peace terms
with Adrianople still in Turkish nos.
session.
I'VE shall have revolution If we
don't get Adrianople." / have heard
many officers say.
We shall not go home without
Adrianople," the wounded soldiers
returning from the front kept repeat.
ing.
Such were the Instructions which
DR.. Daneff, the Elihu Root of the Bal
kans. took with him to London. Ad
rianop.e was craven on the minds OF
his countrymen. BY diplomacy he
must get fortress which was moi
yet taken by force Of arms.
Glance at a map and you will see
that the whole success of the allies
depended on bottling up the Turk or
the peninsula, so that all the othe,
turkish forces from Scutari to Adri
anople, from Kumanova to Hassona
should be cut off from eommunica
ton. The Greeks, Serbs. and Mon
tenegrins were the backs. The Bul
garians undertook to buck the line.
Bulgaria did not have to conside,
reserve army European publ,
opinion and the jealousies of the now
ers acted as efficient substitutes. fo,
the Bulgarian military statesmanshi,
understood that if Bulgaria were beat
en- the powers would never PERM
iufkey to take an ihoh of Bulgarian
soiL 1t was a case Of Heads I win
tails I dop't lose" -
The Turks knew this. too. II ws,