The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1916-02-25


could continue to maintain this delib
crate rate of retirement with our for.
nations still intact we could hope for
salvation, for we knew that REINFORCE
ments were due.
The night of the 9TH the Bulgars
made final attempt to smash our re-
sistance. They redoubed the force of
their bombardment; they increased
still more the momentum of their in.
fantry attacks. They came very near
TO achieving their purpose, and there
were hours when one would have
asked prayers for the Tenth division
but British bulldog courage and OBJ
stinacy withstood all the fury of the
enemy's onset, and our mountain ar.
tillery always found an easy target
BY the Sth the force of the Bulgar at.
tacks had spent itself They still
shelled our line and sent forward their
infantry to the charge, but the sting
had gone out of their efforts and we
were able with comparatively little
difficulty TO repel them, our machine
guns in particular doing bitter havoc
in their serried ranks. Later our hero.
ic Tenth division was placed in sec.
ond line. The effect of our re-enforce.
ments was quickly felt on the enemy,
who as we continued our retirement
became more cautious, following US
only at a respectful distance
Proved Their Mettle.
In the two days battle the Tenth
division inflicted on the enemy at least
four times their own number of cas-
ualties and, what is possibly equally
of importance, they taught him the
temper and morale of British infantry.
The Bulgars were fighting on ground
which they knew as well as the Innis
killings knew Ulster. They had the
advantage Of our men in artillery, and
beyond all question in numbers. When
they commenced their attack on Mon.
day they disposed of at least three di
visions, the whole of the first BulgaI
army and part of the second. BY the
end of the first day the remainder Of
AlA' ntNOllh al Al lnlu III ilCu up ~
that one division of British was op.
posed TO four Bulgar divisions, but the
Tenth division had been thinned down,
and it is no eXaggeration to say that ii
fought against odds of eight to one.
The Tenth division outlived the
horrors of Sulya; it outlived the days
and nights of biting cold on the Serb.
ian frontier ranges, and it finished the
miracle, to quote the official phrase
by sustaining violent attacks .deliv
cred by the enemy in overwhelming
The slow, furnishing, rear.
guard action it fought allowed the
allies to withdraw all their accumu.
lated stores and munitions and to fall
back without congestion into Greek
territory again,
The Tenth division saved the sitla
tion by a display of courage and dog.
ged herosm that cannot be too highly |.
praised One of these days we shall
be told what the general said to the
units when he met them again .
at Saloniki. At the moment all that /
can be said is that they were high .
words of praise.
They have brought the wounded !
MINISTERS, lnniskillings .
West Kents and the rest to Plymouth, .
and you will find them distributed over .
the various wards of the military hos
pital A CHEEKY, good-humored body
Of men they are, disposed to make
light of their experiences.
1T is hard to explain how the Tenth
division, encompassed as it was, won
through, and perhaps the most salts,
factory thing to do is to fall back on
the explanation Of a Munster Fanger,
whose only grumble is that he was
kept twelve hours in those terrible
hours fighting without
food. They beat us with numbers We
couldn't hope to hold up against the
crowd they sent against US, a draft,
clumsy gang Of men. We gave 'em
hell, but their numbers beat us. But
TWO days wasn't much of a time to
give themselves to make us see we
we're beaten, and so we got away with
hem still coming after US. You'd got
% be there to see what happened. 1t
sounds very much like an anti-climax,
out it is really what happened The
tenth division escaped because it
hadn't time to know that by all the
'ules it was beaten"