Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-20
pu WILLIAM G. SHEPHERD


eAr,oNICA, Dec. 1i.-Where the huge
french camp had been the night before.
=, was bare the following morning.
s-,okInr cinders here and there. showed
,,bere the 4 O'Clock coffee had been made,
M, the removal of the camp had begun
=, a o'clock in the morning, and by the
.,r,e the newspapermen arose from their
eo,s in the hospital tent and went out
aoors 10 wash their faces In pals OF cold
~stsr the French soldiers were several
,,,,es down the valley road with their
wagons loaded with camp equipment.
There we're explosions across the river,
-hsro n military road had been cut along
,he face of the river embankment.
"Artillery?" I asked captain.
rRlastIng." he explained. Blowing up
the wagon road
aThey take us to Kravilok today. don't
,hev7" a French reporter asked General
Bellaud's aide. .,.
SNo. they DON'T" he said significantly.
"But three days ago General Sarrall
said we were to be taken to Krivolak."
Eriyolak was UP the Vardar Valley
onIy 40 miles, and the railroad on which
ve were encamped led directly to 1t.
KRINObAk EVACUATED.
"But three days ago isn't today" said
,ho aide "See all these soldiers march
ing along the railroad? Well, they've
, come from Krivolak. I'm not supposed
to tell you, but the fact is we're evacu-
atlng Krivolak and the Bulgars are prob
ably In II by this time"
1; Later developments showed that his
r,ess was a good one. At the very time
{ we were talking of Krivolak the Bull
{, garian cavalry was marching into the
place.
We heard no more artillery fire around
Strumn!tza. The cannon had been
!, dragged down from the nearby hills and
we're being loaded on fiat cars while we
had breakfast in the railroad station.
IT was noon when our military guide
led us to n box car In freight train
and told us to climb in.
We were starting back to the Greek
border. Not a single venturesome news
paper man begged to remain. In our
train were box cars loaded with fugitive
Serbian soldiers; with Serbian civilians
who were carrying whatever of their
household effects they had been able to
transport ~ hand; with French soldiers
whose rect were wrapped in heavy sack
ing, victims of frost bite There were also
fiat cars carrying cannon, hay and wood,
and cars with high walls. above which
appeared the heads OF tightly packed
horses
We wore beating 1t, with the French.
from Serbia in a retreat that will per-
haps be considered one of the most dra-
matte events in the history of the war.
BRIDGE BLOWN UP.
The two engines snorted for a minute
or two and finally got the long string of
ears under way. We rolled slowly over
the Vardar bridge-which was blown up
two days later-and saw, amid tho
sirders the ends of the long fuses which
were to be lighted mt the last possible
moment.
The wagon road to the Greek border
ran parallel to the railroad for many
miles, and we overlook many wagon
trains. 4 French aeroplane scared above
US once heading toward Krivolak. In the
mountains we heard artillery booming.
an once or twice we saw the flash OF
big guns. There guns must keep talking
loudly al | busily to prevent the Bull
gars frori knowing that n retreat was
Under way. II was these few guns in the
mountains which the British communIque
referred to when 1t said:
I'VE lost eight cannon"
The British artillerymen stuck to them
TO the last minute.
BY h'ght time we were back in Salonica.