The Colorado statesman., 1913-01-11
PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT The WAR
uncensored Story by Frederick Palm
er 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.

Neeule-Hke, nave 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 | 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
ier artillerymen, bringing up add-
tional guns through seas of mud, saw
them for the first time as a token of
defiance. of work unfinished, of bat
ties yet to be fought, and of lives yet
TO be lost
lnfantrymen in the advanced
trenches saw them as the goal
against a foe which had fallen back
without any adequate rear guard sec
tion, 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 sorething of the spirit
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
minarets 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 it as his part and portion of
the campaign.
In Bulgaria, where many Turks still
live 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 carrier of
water He did odd Jobs in the abb
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 a one-time lordly race demoralized
and enervated. who retained only the
fatalism of "Kismet," in its lexocon.
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
mands.
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 1t
was the nut to crack in the first plan
of strategy of the campaign. 1t how
cred over the first army before
Tchatalja as nightmare. 1t stood
in the way of the prompt supplies of
bread and bullets for the first army;
It delayed the signing of the armis-
tice for ten days; It 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 DOS
session.
we shall have a revolution IL we
don't get Adrianople," | have heard
many officers say.
oh
Adrianople," the wounded soldiers
returning from the front kept repeat
ing.
Such were the instructions which
DIR. Daneff, the Elihu Root of the Bal
kans, took with him to London. Ad-
rianople was craven on the minds of
his countrymen. By diplomacy he
must get fortress which was not
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 on
the peninsula, so that all the other
Turkish forces from Scutari to Adri-
anople, from Kumanova to Hassona,
should be cut off from communica-
ton. The Greeks, Serbs, and Mon
tenegrins were the backs. The Bull
garians undertook to buck the line.
Bulgaria did not have to consider
a reserve army. European public
opinion and the jealousies of the pow
ers acted as efficient substitutes, for
the Bulgarian military craftsmanship
understood that IL Bulgaria were beat
EN- the powers would never permit
d. Turkey to take an inch of Bulgarian
soil. 1t was a case of Heads l win,
tails / don't lose"
The Turks knew this. too. 1t was