New-York tribune., 1916-01-07
Trail of COrpSeS Tells
Rigors of Serb Retreat
French Airmen Gayly Burn Motors. Channg Chopin
Funeral March, but Heaps of Dead Bodies Are
NIlcsones on the Road from Przrcnd

nearly $50 feet. One after another the
huge motors were drcnched with pc
troll and set on FIRE The chauheur'
stccred straight for the procipice. jump
ing clear as the cars shot over. ne
immense lorries rolled crashing TO the
bottom where they formed blazing
pile.
Twelve hours later ! saw n crowd OF
500 wretched Austrian prisoners gath ,
cred around the ruins. They had
crawlcd down 10 warm Themselves ~
blaze that had cost the French Re
pubEc $4,000. The rest Of the land
scopc was hlotted out by the whirlinG
bl.zard through which fiery tongues OF
flame we're dartine. Every now ana
then the explosion Of benzine tank
would scatter the AuStrians. but the
temptation Of warmth proved too much
for them. and they soon returned.
Five minutes after the last car wa,
over tho precipice Major Nitra. formed
ND his men. the rear guards gave 'he
word march" and the columns swung
of through the driving snow on the
first leg of their long march. had
intended accompanying them TO Scutari =
but found that the bullock wagon with
nv baggage. which left Prizrend the
previous day, had failed TO arrive. IL
did not arrive until o'clock IN the
evening. and. as a snowstorm was rag
ING. did not care 70 tackle the noun
tain ascent in the dark 10 iind me
French bivounc There was nothing Tor
me to do but 10 join the Headquarters
staff
Noiyode Putnik Arrives.
The event OF the day was the ar
rival Of Noivode Putnik. The veteran
field marshal has been martyr 10
asthma for twelve months past. lie
practically had not left his room
which was always kept AT tempera-
ture of Sc degrees Fahrenheit. A
seven days mountain journey IN
sedan chair. carried by four soldiers
must have been a terrible experience
for him But the capture OF their De,
loved Voivode by the Germans would
have been regarded by the Seroians as
national disaster.
The next day IL was still showing
The start for Scutari was delayed an
other twenty-four hours. As two years
ago, during the Albanian campaign,
the Serbians had demolished all the
houses IN Llum hOu4d eNStP~ AOuA ~
commodation was limited. | found
lodgings in huge ammunition tent.
The gendarme in charge objected to
my smoking cigarettes, but said moth
ing about the score Of guttering can
dies burning on cartridge boxes, or the
spirit lamp on box labelled shells
over which the wife Of the colonel was
preparing tea. presume the. regula..
tions were silent on the subject OF
candles and spirit lamps. .,
All day and night the troops bound
for Elbasson poured through Lium
Koula. ! went out about five miles
along the road. Every five hundred
wards or 20 ! came on dead bodies OF
men who had succumbed to cold or
exhaustion. Coming back, met an
English officer in the Serbian army
whom ! had not seen since Prlstina'
when he was leaving 10 take part IN
the last desperate effort TO advance on
Uskub. When ! had last seen him his
machine gun section numbered about
eighty-four men. At Lium Roula II
had dwindled to twentysix. lie had
all his guns intact. however, and de
livered them. as | aftervard heard,
safely at Elbasson.