Omaha daily bee., 1914-12-15
AUSTRIAN BODROG
BADLY CRIPPLED
River Monitor is the Target for Hail
Of Shells from the Servian
Artillery Near Belgrade.
SMALL BOATS EFFECTIVE
since BeefRRine of the War They
Have PatrolIed Danube and
Frustrated Many Attempts
ny the Allies.

Correspondent Of The Associated Press)
PETERWARDEN. Hungary. Nov Ia
A shell from a Seryian gun hit the upper
deck OF the Austro- Hungarian river
monitor Bodrog, smashed up things con-
! siderably in tho galley. cut a steampipe
as II Il has been made OF cheese, then hit
the iron floor and exploded. IT'S contents
breaking up whatever had remained in
tact in the galley. Five other shells
came In rapid succession. One OF them
put a large dent In the armor well for
ward, three others did similarly negll-
gibla amount OF damage. but the firth
exploded. :, against the outside OF the
crows nest, broke the back OF the look
out and smashed one Of his legs.
Heedless OF the heavy fire two OF the
crew rushed up 70 the crows nest and
lowered the injured man with a rope
They were carrying him across the upper
deck to a place Of safety when servIan
infantry on the bank fired a volley.
Strange 70 say. the rescuers escaped UNI
hurt. while the wounded man received
two moro wounds. a bullet In the arms
and the legs, Meanwhile six others OF
the crew. which numbered about ninety.
had been wounded
All in Days work
The commander Of the Bodrog, Lieu
tenant Olaf Wolff. explained today this
was q mere incident IN a days work.
With others his vessel had been sent late
in september 10 Belgrade 10 give sub
stance 20 a sham demonstration which
was to prevent a massing OF the Servian
army against a small Austro- Hungarian
force west OF Belgrade along the Save
river.
To navigHts the Danube siong the Ser
Wan border was then, and Is at present
no small matter. according TO Lieutenant
Wolff. In spite OF the fact that the moni-
tors and othor craft OF the Austro-Hun-
Eerian Danube flotllla are painted a pc
euliar sort OF olive. which meles com
pleteiy into the vegetation along the banl
the ships were visible against the back
ground OF drabe Danube water and Offered
an easy target. To the fire which tins
Servian artillery concentrated invariably
upon the hated monitors the Austriani
can reply with but small effect. Tn,
Serbs mask the positions OF their guns II
a very thorough manner and before th'
crew ofsthe monitor has located a singh
position veritable hall OF shells comes.
Do effective work.
But vulnerable spots ON even a monte
are not many. and field artillery Is no
designed 10 cope with armor plates. 70
these reasons the Austro-Hungarian mon
itors have been able TO do much goo
work Not one OF them has been sunk b
servian artillery. The Temes. sister shi
OF the Bodrog. went down ON ootobe
q by hitting a mine In a field which
had traversed four times under less "a
vOrabie circumstances.
The. blocking OF the mouth OF the say
by the Serbs at the outbreak Of the wa
obliged four OF the AustrO-Hungaria
monitors 10 remain in that river. Betwee
The city OF Belgrade and the barrier. how
ever. lay a territory through which IN
serbs could easily effect an invasion
the empire. and Il seemed desirable
have these craft available in some Of
crations. occupying the greater part ,
October. |
Meet Toash Problems.
How 20 set monitors past Belgrade wa
a problem. The vessels not only woul
have 70 steam through a large mine fie
ami past the seryian artillery positions
hot they would also have 10 pass und,
the international bridge which connect
Belgrade with semlin. A bomb droppe
from the bridge upon the deck OF a mon
tor would have frustrated the plan.
On q dark night. September 49, pa
OF the Danube flotilla, the monitors Boz
rog and Tsmes and several other vessel
set out on the peFilous trip past BE
grade ana succeeded IN getting as n
as Gypsy island. The mines were ayoide
BY zigzagging through the field and. cor
trary 70 expectations the serbs threw n
l'onbs from the bridge. They had thougl
he enterprises OF the Austrian boats in
possible but discovered 60 their cost thi
they had taken too much for granted
few days later the flOtilia returned. aga