Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1913-08-15

ness, which might easily lead the Bull
g~arians to think that AdHanople would
not resist a brilliant onslaught.
Mustapha Pasha became the head
quarters of the second Bulgarian army.
under General %Ivanof, who was to
have the thankless task of the opera
tions around Adrianople. while easy
glory was to be the fortune Of Deme-
trieff, who commanded the FIRST army
until the first army had to take po-
sitions in front without any opportu-
nifty for fianking, which was the ma
ture of I~vanof's task from the start.
lvanoff Wakes Up.
It vas Papastepe and Kartaltepe
which awakened Ivanhoff from his
dream Of a final brilliant stroke in
keeping with the earlier ones of the
war, just as Tchatalja brought Deme-
trieff down from the clouds Of over
confidence. Papastepe is n Of many
hills in the narrowing rib Of the 203
Meter Hill Of the siege. With guns In
position there, Adrianople would be
under bombardment. The Bulgarians
took 1t by sending In the usual cloud
Of infantry and losing about a thous-
and men But the Turks took 1t back
again. Four times, l am told, 1t chang
ed hands in the course of those night
actions which we observed only by the
brilliant flashes In the sky above the
hills.
Far up the valley in the mist was
Kartaltepe, that other important hill
which commanded the river bottom
Of the Arda. We took Kartaltepe in
November and a month afterward, In
one Of their splendid %sorties. the
Turks, SO far as | could learn, had
taken 1t back; but 1t was as untenable
for them as Papastepe was for the
Bulgarians. Possibly because It was
again ours and very evidently ours
permanently, the Bulgarian censors
had found it worth while to confound
skepticism and persistent u~nfriendly
rumors by allowing the correspondents
to enter the promised land Of their
dreams. where for weeks, between the
batteries on the hills and the infantry
in the muddy river bottom of the Arda.
hell had ragged in the winter rains.
We did not know then, as we were
to know a few days later, that beyond
Kartaltepe in the direction Of Dele
Catch vas another force isolated from
the ~Adrianople garrison and the main
Turkish army, that Of Taver Pasha
with 10000 men, caught in the literal
flood of that 1OO-yard dash Of the
ready, informed, prepared aggressor
against the unready enemy taken un-
aware and Fastening re-enforcements
to the scattered garrisons and trying
to adjust itself for the blow to fall
with the crash Of a pile driver releas
ed from its clutch.
Discloses VA Secret.
But Taver Pasha's $1,000 were still
a force in being, with guns and full
equipments force In a box: a force
LIN desperation.
Do you see the Adrianople garrison
(which was In touch by wireless with
the Turkish main army striking out
to connect up with Taver Pasha? Do
you see Taver Pasha trying out lines
Of least resistance in a savage effort
to reach Adrianople or the main Tur.
kish army?
Something to stir the blood, this, in
the way of a war drama, while not a
single foreign correspondent or at
tache knew even Of the existence Of
Taver Pasha's command until its sur
render.
The news of this was conveyed with
the official assurance that now no 9TH
er Turkish force except that of Adri-
anople remained in Thrace, when we
had been under the impression for
over a month that 1t was the only one!
The censors did not smile as they
posted the bulletin, but some of the
correspondents smiled-at themselves.
No, after the first rainbow hope of
a successful general attack was over,
Ivanhoff was fully occupied in holding
Adrianople safely In siege. That bat
terry of old Krupps, which fired over
the advanced Servian infantry posi-.
ton, while a battery of Creusots In
turn fired over it, added their items
of evidence to the same end.
These Krupps were taken by the
Russians at Plevna IN the war of 1877
Is and given to the little army Of the
new nation of Bulgaria. Bulgarians re.
cruits had dragged them through the
muddy raods and over the pastures
and beautifully emplaced them, and
were working them against the enemy
with boyish pride. But the world was
thinking only Of the modern Creusots
and their brilliant showing.
The Bulgarians almost proved that
you can make bricks without straw,
They won the war by the bravery OF
their self-confdence as we'll as by
their courage.
Adrianople, which was about to
starve If it did not fall, had, l am con.
WINGED, two months supplies when the
armistice was signed, With the Is
and 2~0-year-old conscripts already on
the way to the front, with a casualty
list that is easily one-ffth of the whole
army, there was no sign of weakening
The square chin of the stoical Bull
nnrinn mns 90 firmly saf "a avAr