The midland journal., 1915-11-12

the Intrenched Teutons, Column
OF $50 Men Slowly Retreat From
One Piateau To Another, Requiring
Germans To Fight For Every Inch
OF Ground.
Paris" There. monsieur, with that
you can go and see how Serbia is going
to die" exclaimed Ljouba Jovanovitcfl,
minister of the interior, handing let
ter of recommendation to the general
stair to Albert Londres, special corre-
spondent of the Petit Journal.
Armed with this letter NJ. Londres
made his way far beyond Palanka
through long lines of retreating OK
wagons and endless herds of sheep
plodding through the mud of the Mo
rava Valley, without panic, escaping
from the Teutons, whose voices were
heard in the distance.
"At a cross road" writes M. Lon
dres, "a Serbian captain who was wait
ing for me said, I was asked by
Colonel Terzitch, commanding our di-
vision, to take you to our last posi-
tion' We walked side by side in 81
lence and then came out on plateau.
THAT is our last position, mon
sieur,' said the Serbian officer. We
are on Ossietz Plateau. The two
others you see hundred yards away
over there are the plateaus Vaboratz
and Michavolatz, which we're just
taken from u.s.
II saw no soldiers and asked, where
Is your liner
There it comes replied the Off
Ger.
A Forelorn Hope.
II saw debouching from little
wood, one by one, with a dignity that
brought tears to my eyes, the $50 men
whom, on this great plateau, Serbia
had opposed embattled Germany.
".On retiring from Vaboratz an hour
ago. said the captain, those $50 hid in
the woods. Now they are coming out
to face the enemy
"The lieutenant in command took a
few steps into cornfield and shouted
a command to his men They lay
down on the edge of field without a
word or sidelong glance and delib-
erately raised their rifles
Look, Monsieur exclaimed the
Captain There are the mountains of
Hungary. Behind that pass is the vii
lage of Verscatte before which is Won
Mackensen. Do you see that blue line
little further on? That is the
Danube
For 16 days with their three, five,
six and ten-inch guns the Germans
had been blazing away on this front.
They never found on this line larger
number of men than those $50 brave
fellows before our eyes, but they had
not yet succeeded in preventing the
Serbians from seeing the blue line
of their Danube when they raised their
heads.
1.-TWO days ago it was quite dif-
ferent,' my guide informed me- so
many shells have fallen upon it that
its form is completely changed. Do
you see the movement below Va
boratz? Those are the advancing Ger
mans. There are about two hundred
of them. That is not many, but it is
the vanguard of INVASION
The Brave $50 Men,
ar ...4aLoa +pon. 7rn c<x11;a,r ~r,t,a
had not moved for half an hour, but
who were gazing steadfastly at the
iron curtain sweeping up to them with
nothing to pierce it but their rifles.
No, am wrongl They had also a
prcud consciousness of their heroism. F."
Saloniki-Serbian resistance to the
Austro-German drive is of the most
heroic character, according to travel
ers who have arrived here from the
front While the forces under Field
Marshal Won Mackensen number only
10000 they are supplied with such a
tremendous weight of artillery that
th@y are able to batter the very hills
into shapeiess masses with shells
from their 13.inch mortars and keep
up constant cloudburst of shrapnel
under which the Serbs are forced to
retire slowly without even seeing their
antagonists. The native troops. ex-
perts in mountain fighting, take ad-
vantage of every natural position OF
strength, however. forcing the Austro.
Germans to dislodge them and giving
no ground until compelled to do SO.
Their spirit is courageous. but des-
perate.
tMmlcaATtoN MEN REsToREDy