The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1915-05-29
"There Can Be But One Outcom> 7
War;" Says 'Joffre of Serbia
Merely Question of Time.
GREAT ABILITY AS sTRATEG1sT
Record Remarkable Considering Lack
of Munitions During Two Months
of Trench Warfare.
BY HENRY WOOD.

Genefal headquarters or the Ser
bian army, Kraguyevats, Serbia
April 27.-(By mail to New York. y
There can be but one outcome to the
present war. The allies have almost
completely encircled the Austro-Ger-
man empires with a wall of steel
and fire. Against this impossible
barrier, the Austro-Germans are now
beating out their merchandising re-
sources. 1t is merely question of
time until they must be beaten"
His Longest Interview.
With this statement, the longest
interview he has ever granted-Field
Marshal Putnik, chief of staff and
the silent "Joffre" of the Serbian
army, received me at general head
quarters today. The Serbians call
him their "Joffre" and the Germans
might admit that he is the Serbian
lyon Hindenburg" for at the close
of the second Balkan war the Ger
man military attache with the Ser
bian army, in his official report to
the German government paid high
tribute to Gen. Putnik as the greatest
military strategist of modern times
Like the French generalissimo, Put
mix is taciturn in ordinary CONVEX
sation and speechless when it comes
to military operations. Brief as are
the communicates given out by the
Serbian government they are alto
gether too verbose with the COM
mander-in-chief. At the close of the
last great battle with the Austrians,
in December, when Putnik drove the
enemy out of Serbia and forced them
to leave behind 10000 dead and 49,
900 prisoners, he forcibly expressed
his disapproval of the text of the Of
fetal communique.
No Austrians Left.
This was Gen. Putnik's own idea
of how the communique should read:
"Following our operations of the
last three weeks there ara now no
Austrian soldiers on Serbian soil, ex-
cept prisoners
Putnik's great ability as a strate-
gist first brought him into promin-
ence in the last two Balkan wars
He crushed the Turks and by such
carefully planned strategy that the
Serbian losses were comparatively
very small. At the famous battle Of
Komanvo, the Turks left $4,000 dead
and wounded on the field and the
serbians only $1,000.
Ability Tested.
In the present war his remarkable
ability in handling armies was put
to still greater test, owing to the ex-
hausted resources of his forces, fol-
lowing the two previous wars. In
the first clash with the Austrians at
Sabatz and Losmitzia where early in
September the enemy suffered their
first crushing defeats at the hands
of the Serbians Gen. Putnik's army,
nevertheless, lost heavily. There fol-
lowed one of the most mastery re-
treats in history. 1t was until early
in November that the Austrians
gathered another army and started
against Serbia. They planned first
to take Kraguyevats, where the Ser
bian arsenal is located, then to march
on Nish, the temporary capitol and
then on even to Salonika, the Aegean
port at which Austria has cast long
ing eyes for half century.
Held Invaders Back.
Putnik's army had spent nearly all
of it's remaining munitions in two
months of trench warfare interven-
ing between the September and No.
vember campaigns. France promised
aid, but it was known it would be
weeks in arriving. It was during
these weeks that the Serbian "Joffre''
performed miracles of strategy. He
placed his troops at points in the
mountain passes where the Austrians
were forced to traverse and at mini
mum expenditure of ammunition held
back the invaders until the French
ships reached Salonika. When aid
came the Austrians were within 8
Continual IN IaSt Macy