The Elbert County tribune., 1913-01-17


some generations. to breed the defen-
sive instinct in any soldier.
The Turk must have his back
against the wall in order to fight well.
His attitude Is that of the mad bull
against the toreador: and very mad
bull. we know, sometimes gets horn
into the toreador's anatomy and toss
es him over the palings. This hap
pened In a way at Adrianople
Victory is to the heaviest bat
talions," Bonaparte said this, hut aft
er Caesar said II after some general
of Egypt, Babylon or Nineveh.
The allies knew that their success
depended on speed in fall campaigp
speed and the shock of masses pour
ing over the frontier. Theirs was a
neutrality-suspicious. chance.
The Serbs at Kumanova, their crit
ical battle, had odds of at least four TO
one
The Greeks never had less favor
able odds, usually much higher.
AS for the Montenegrins. who had
small show, what they did In one
way or another did not matter They
had work to keep them fully occu-
pied, as It developed In the siege OF
Scutari.
The only one OF the allies who dis
dained modern organization, their fail.
ure to make any headway again en-
phasizes the wide difference between
n body of men with rifles and an ac-
tual army.
6uIgars Bear Wars Brunt.
So the Bulgarians took the great
and telling work of the war on their
shoulders. You have only to know
the Bulgarians to understand that this
was inevitable.
There is stubborn and aggressive
character enough in Bulgaria to spare
for all southwestern Europe.
bulgaria made hundred-yard dash
with OK cart transportation. and made
1t around an Observation-Disclosures
The main railroad line and the great
Constantinople highway ran by Adri-
anople. 1t was on the direct line of
communication from the center of the
Bulgarian base to the center of its
objective.
In the center of Thrace, 1t was the
only real fortress on the way to Con-
stantinople. Kirk Killisseh, or Bosen-
grade. as the Bulgarians call It, de-
spite their willingness to allow an i'm
preston OF its formidalility to be
spread abroad, was not In any sense
well fortified.
Now, the first thing was to surround
Adrianople; that is. to strike at it
from all sides, as the key to the DO
eli h,-o, ol,
Constantinople railroad line runs to
Yamboli With this as its base, Deme-
trieff's. or the First, army swung
around Kirk-Kilisseh, which was tax
en- In the first splendid ardor of the
With its fall anyone can
see from a staff map that any battle
line of defense with Adrianople as a
part of 1t was impossible for a force
of the numbers of the Turkish main
army.
Two or three hundred thousand
men who were homogeneous might
have held on, but not half that num-
ber when badly organized. There
fore, Nazim Pasha had to fall back
to new line and leave Adrianople
to care for itself.
Reveals BuIgar Courage.
The next step was the decisive bat 1
tie on the line from Lule Burgas to
There. again, superiority of num-
bers. as well ne organization, count
ed; that superiority, which makes
heavy turning movement possible
while the enemy's front is engaged
In short, the Bulgarians had the
Turks going. They gave the Turks
no rest. and they had sufficient nu-
merical preponderance. in addition to
the dependable courage Of their In
fantry to guarantee success.
So there was nothing wonderful
about the strategy of the campaign,
nothing new, nothing startling. The
old principle Of the swift turning
had been applied to the sit
uation in hand.
BY the flank the Japanese kept put |
ting the Russians back from the Yalu |
to Mukden. BY the flank Grant put
Lee back TO Richmond.
There was Just one. and only one,
startling feature In this war-Bulgari-
an courage. That enabled Demetrieff |
10 gain at Kirk-Killisseh and Lule
Burgas in hurry what with most
armies would have required much
more time.
Demetriefr had willing flesh for a
necessary sacrifice. He thfs%% his In
antry against frontal positions in
loud, into shrapnel and automatic
gun fire, without waiting to silence
he enemy's batteries.
Expected to Take AdrlanopIe.
And after Lule Burgas the next step
would have seemed The s,orm,py of i,
When peace negotiations
should begin, 1t was a vital point in