Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-11-04
Not an Army Alone, But an En-
tire People in Flight
Before Foe.
DISPUTE WITH INVADERS
EVERY FOOT OF ADVANCE
Women and Children Fighting in
the Trenches With Husbands
and Fathers.

LONDON, November A story of
the Serbian tragedy, received from
Nish by way of Milan, from the pen of
Luciano Megrini, an Italian war CORE
spondent, is printed by the Evening
News. The writer characterized the
clearance of northern Serbia as the
retreat of a people, not an army
In his account of the retreat the cor
respondent describes the scene on a
muddy road leading to the south, along
which was strung an amending process
sion of gun carriages, carts loaded with
war material, conveyances of all sorts
bearing women, children, old men, the
sick and the wounded, with at inter-
walls, fiocks of sheep and droves of pigs.
and of soldiers walking side by side
with peasants.
Waiting to Join Line.
At the sides of the road stood groups
Of peasants waiting until they were
able to take their places in the pro-
cession. The great stream is flowing
southwark says the writer, whittier
nobody knows"
The wounded were pitiable sight.
Some, swathed in bandages, were car
ried on stretchers, while others, also
stretchers were available for them.
Still others who had been wounded, but
whose hurts had not even been ban
daged, trod the road with the process
sion
At Topola, King Peter. ill and weak.
was waiting to retire with the rear
guard of his troops. Arriving at Nish,
the correspondent found the city bear
ing a squalid aspect. Almost all the
shops were closed, and many of the in-
habitantS had fed.
Looked in Vain for Help.
On the main street were still flying
the flags which had been hoisted in
honor of the allies, who had been ex-
pected, but who had never come The
price demanded for carriages for trans
porting refugees was enormous, Gao
being asked for the hire of carriage
for two to Pristina.
'Nish is isolated" continues the cor
respondent. IN. Youvanovich, the Ser
bian minister of justice, said to me:
1--WE lived through the tragic hour
when Bulgaria modified. In vain We
besought the entente to allow us to act
and attack Bulgaria before her mobil1-
zation was complete. The entente was
still under the delusion that Bulgaria
would march against Turkey. We
obeyed, and that was our ruin. The
situation now is terrible. If the allied
troops DO not come In time, you Will, On
your return, find Serbia no more. The
fate of Belgium will have been ours. !"
Women and Children Fight.
Fighting in Serbia has been far more
desperate than in any former Balkan
war. according to kilograms from the
Bulgarian front received at Budapest by
way of Sofia and forwarded by the cor
respondent of the Post. NJ. Momtchi-
low, president of the Sobranje, who
has just returned from the front, is
quoted as saying: In all Serbian
towns and even in the trenches our
soldiers found women, children and
other men who had been trained as
bomb throwers. and who generally were
quite expert. The civil population Is
taking a large share in the fighting and
& even more desperate than the SOL
diers.
There was not one Serbian village
which Bulgarian soldiers entered-ex-
cept in Macedonia-where they were
not received with bombs and hand
grenades from the hands of the civil
population. Great numbers of bombs
were found in almost every Serbian
house. In many cases the Bulgarians
were obliged to annihilate whole viii
lagos, the residents of which, after ap-
parently having surrendered, threw
bombs into the streets at the entering
soldiers. Even Serbian officers after
being taken prisoner frequently hurled
bombs into the faces of their captors.
In Macedonia the civil population has
not taken any part in the fighting"