Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1913-08-15
BY FREDERICK PALMER,
star Correspondent Of the Chicago
Reeord-Herald In the Balkan War.

HSSOIO-ElSTdlu w tHC DdlNdU "@i'
Mustapha Pasha.-The minarets o
Sultan Selim!
Needle-like, | have seer them rise
over the irdistinct mass OF Adriano
pie from the distant hills, then as sub
stantial columns from the nearby
hills, and again so close from the
shellproof Of an advanced infantry pc
sition that | could make out the I'll
ings 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
ken Of the transport and still wearier
artillerymen, bringing up additional
guns through seas OF mud, saw them
for the first time as a token OF de
Nance, Of work unfinished, OF battles
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 section. but
which had begun to fight desperately
nnder 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 Sellm 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 minarets
in the soil of C%hristendom.
Rouses Old Turks Spirit.
From the first in this wal 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 live under Christian rule, we had
seen the Terrible Turk, the great
fghting mar of the past, whose soul
was supposed to be above lowly toll,
as a 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 a one-time lordly race d~emoralized
and enervated. who retained only the
fatalism Of "Kismet," in it's lexicon.
The warriors cry, For Allah" was
lost forever. But at Adrianople For
Allah! For the Minarets! For the
Padishah!" rose again to the dignity
which abandoned bravery always com.
mands.
The sheer. impetuous fearlessness
OF the bulgarian. we'll drilled and cool.
y manipulated. was the first great
revelation Of the campaign, and the
second was how, in the hour Of hope
lessness, his desperation aroused the
old qualities of the Turk.
Every situation. every development
In the war reverted to A%drianople. It
was the nut to crack in the first plan
OF strategy Of the campaign. It hov.
cred over the first army before Tcha.
fal1a as a nightmare, II stood in the
way OF the prompt supplies OF bread
and bullets for the first army; It de.
aayed the signing Of the armlstlce for
ten days; 1t has been the main sub.
0ect OF contention before the London
peace conference: It was responsible
for tho treatment Of the military at.
taches, who saw nothing of the war
and Of the correspondents-who saw
little.
War Hinges on Adrlanople.
Even our phlegmat!c 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 possession
I'VE shall have a revolution II We
don't get A~drianople," have heard
many officers say.
We shall not 60 home without
A~drianople," the wounded soldiers re
turning from the front kept repeating
Such were the instructions whjc,
Or. Daneh. the Elihu Root OF the Bal
rams took with him to London. Ad
r1anople was craven on the minds o.
his countrymen,
Hlance at a map and you will see
that the whole success OF the allies
depended on bottling up the Turk or
b peninsula, so that all the othe,
turkish forces from Scutari to Adr,
anople, from Kumanova to Elassona
should be cut Off from communication
The Greeks, Serbs, and Monteneer,n,
were the backs. The Bulgarians nm
dertook to buck the line.
Bulgaria did not have to consider ,
reserve army, European public on,n
ion and the ~Jealousies OF the mower,
acted as efficient substitutes, for the