The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1916-03-30

} British torpedo-boat destroyer Louis
after It had stranded and had been
could continue to maintain this DELHI
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 TIN the Bulgars
made a final attempt to smash cur re-
sistance. They ~redoubled the force of
their bo~mbardment; 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
AGtA ~ lO Shd be W LhC Olllt
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 reinforce
ments was quickly felt on the enemy,
who az we continued our retirement
became more cautious, following us
only at a respectful distance.
Proved Their MettIe.
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 we'll 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 d.
visions, the whole of the first Bulgar
army and part of the second. BY the
end OF the first day the remainder Of
the second army had formed up so
that n division of British was op-
posed to four Bulgar divisions, but the
Tenth division had been thinned down,
and Ii Is no ~exaggeration to say that 1t
fought against odds Of eight to one.
"The Tenth division outlived the
horrors of Sulva; 1t outlived the days
and nights of biting cold on the Serb
ian frontier ranges. and 1t finished the
miracle, to quote the official phrase,
by sustaining violent attacks deliv-
cred by the enemy in overwhelming
numbers The slow, Furnishing, rear
guard action 1t fought allowed the
allies to withdraw all their u
lated stores and munitions and to fall
back without congestion into Greek
territory again.
"The Tenth division saved the situa-
ton by e display of courage and dog
| ged heroism hat cannot be too highly
praised. One Of these days we shall
be told what the general said to the
thinned units when he met them again
at Saloniki. At the moment all that
can be said Is that they we're high
words of praise.
They have brought the wounded
| Connaughts, MINISTER'S, Inniskillings,
| 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 1t was, won
through, and perhaps the most salts
factory thing to do is to fall back on
the explanation of q Munster Fanger,
whose only grumble Is that he was
kept twelve hours in those terrible
f~orty-eight hours fighting without
food: They beat US with numbers. We
couldn't hope to hold up against the
crowd they sent against us, q draft,
clumsy gang Of men. We gave 'em
hell, but their numbers beat US. But
two days wasn't much of q time to
give themselves to make US see we
were beaten, and so we got away with
them still coming after us. You'd got
to be there to see what happened II
sounds very much like an anti-climax,
but It is really what happened. The
Tenth dfyision escaped because It
hadn't time to know that by all the
suless44 was beaten -
N#HtU+W -M.. W