The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-21
SERV|A HAS MADE HER FULL SHARE OF SACRIFICES 0F WAR Suffering Is Intense, But Spirit of Army Is
 Undaunted
IS NOT DIFFICULT
 TO REACH COUNTRY
Belgrade Is Impossible, But Salonika InvitesAPure Serbs Among Pris- oners Serve as Orderlies in
 Hospitals for Servians


 skopyle. Serbia. February l.-(corre- spondence of the Associated Press9 Servia, once the focal point of the Euro nean war, but later almost lost to view In the maelstrom which swept the great CT powers into the struggle, gives ample evidence of having borne her just pro portion of the sacrifices of the nations. Suffering on all sides is intense. but the spirit of the troops is undaunted.
 Since the recent defeat of the Austrians freed Servian soil of invaders, plans have rapidly gone forward for the next move in the great game of wsr-the offensive. Hundreds of wounded soldiers in the hos ptals have told the correspondent of the Associated Press that they feel their sec- ond life purpose will be lost If they are unab1e to help in the deliverance of their kinsmen on Austio- Hungarian territory. The Servian offensive will be shared by the Russians. and the hope is expressed here and at Nish that Roumanian troops also will be in the column hurled across the Hungarian frontier.
 The motto of the Servian army is Something to defend something to re- claim." The something to defend was the independence of their Kingdom. The melting to reclaim is that part of the ancient Servian empire which even after the victories over the Turks and Bulgars, still lies outside the limits of the Servian Kingdom.
 Serbs From Austria
 The traveller in Servia Is somewhat dazed at first to discover among the pris- xAners of war a large percentage of Serbs Athe purest race and tongue. Living in Austrian territory they were forced 10 serve in that army until a surrender gave them the opportunity to serve their own country. Some are helping in the military hospitals while others are doing scout and picket duty along the Albanian bor- der
 Lying far beyond the European war center, Servia seemed a difficult destina- ton for journey beginning at New York, but experience proved easier than antic- patton. Belgrade the front door of the Balkans, was impossible indeed, but Sa- lonika, the back door, was found hos pitably open In wartime back doors and side alleys are apt to be safer and quicker means of getting about than guarded doors and forfeited frontiers.
 With Paris easily attained the rail journey from there to Brindisi, via Turin and Milan, differed little from what it might have been in ordinary times, The crowds of uniformed soldiers at the sta- tions and the remarkable number of wom- en in mourning, however. gave evidence of the changes of the past few months. Swift little Italian steamers make the journey from Brndisi to Salonika an en- Joyable one ending always with an in- spring view of Mount Olympus, upon which the Greek peasants still believe the ancient gods sit in judgment over the fate of Greece.
 Clean, comfortable, first-class cars take the traveller from Salonika to Djejeli. at the Servian frontier. change of trains at this point brings no deterioration in railroad facilities. These trains are daily crowded with Servians of the better class who left their homes in the interior dur Ing the Austrian invasion, but are return ing to them, assured it is safe to do so
 At Djejeli the chief of customs Mr Simtch, invited the correspondent of the Associated Press. together with other foreigners into his office where Turkish coffee and cigarettes were served. This courtesy was repeated by officials at nearly every station where the train stopped and is one with which the traveller meets in all parts of the Balkans.
 A splendid new municipal building at pJeJel1 was converted into hospital soon after the war began. As soon as the wounded were able to leave the over crowded hospitals at the front they were sent to such remote spots as this The hospital is scrupuously clean In mid December some 50 men were lying on lfsl bedsteads. all looking comfortable and well cared for, though there were no nurses. A number of Austrian pris- oners of Servian race were acting as or der1ies to the two doctors in charge. For prisoners of the enemy to be serving as nurses seemed vertically union of Inc lion and the lamb, until the situa- tlon was explained.
 First Contact With Actual War
 In one of the smaller rooms of this hospital, where the worst cases were con fined, iay a child, aoour years old bound in bandages almost from head to foot. The peasant mother sat by it's side. The child it seemed had been struck with the cross of an Austrian musxet and its shoulder had been pierced by a payo- net. The mother had escaped to the Woods with the wounded child in her arms and had wandered about for three or four days before coming within the Serviar lines. This same mother had lost husband, father and brother in the early fighting. Despite Servia's many wars, the present struggle brought for the first time an Invasion of Servian soil. It was the first time the women of the country had been brought in contact with actual warfare and many of them have been driven mad from fright and the terrible scenes they have witnessed. Along the railroad line from Djejeli to Skopyle formerly Uskuh) the station are crowded with refugees-women children and descrept old men, huddled together Many refugees in this part of the country are without shelter, most of the available buildings having been given over to thed wounded In the party of doctors and nurses taken out to Servia last November by Lady Page was an American, Mir. Markoe l whose father and grandfather were New York surgeons. This party arrived in time to care for the thousands of wounded Servians and Austrian prisoners went down from the front in the battles which | drove the Austrfans from Belgrade Ey- cry available space in the general hos | pital was filled with straw. As many as 1 three persons slept under one blanket | Lady Paget's party, which had taken charge of the general hospital here con- sisted of more than 50 persons, surgeons. l nurses, orderlies and servants. Their work is regarded by the Servians as in- l valuable. If it were not for the pitiable suffer- ings of the thousands of homeless people, | seen everywhere who do not beg, but sit around in wretched groups, mutely enduring their misery, it might be said that Skopyle wears gala air, so proud are the Servians of the recent victories of their army.
 
 Tuckv Evaminar Wac Man