Evening journal., 1916-01-12
PLAY and FUN MIX
With tragedy and
SORROW At SALONIKA
Continued From rage 1.)

No one in Salonika knows where.
People are speculating about the
possibility that the Allies may be
driven clear back and out Of Salonika
and forced to leave Greece It will
take at least three weeks to get away
from salonika OH ships There are
hundreds of tons Of wagons, cannon.
ammunition, foodstuffs, shovels, lum-
Der, horses. portable houses and camp
fittings to be loaded on to the boats.
as if ten thousand circuses. rolled
into one, were moving AMI there are
tens Of thousands of men-perhaps
twenty Of them-whO must be embark
/ ed If the Allies should dec'ce to with
draw.
( If this thing should happen. there
will be three weeks full of fighting,
/ the Bulgarians pressing against the
/ Ally lines trying to interfere with
/ the embarkation. SaloniKa must be
ringed with Ally trenches, nd Ally
soldiers must be fighting to hold back
the Bulgars while other Ally soldiers
work like bees at loading the ships
All this, if the Bulgars continue to
press on toward Salonika Just at the
I HltoNlA Ant Alltu ltAiEdA 10 III AuAl
tide. The Bulgars are nearing the
| borders of Grece, not much more
than 25 miles from Salonika.
To have a view of this sixty-mile
strip OF retreat; to hear the Bulgarian
guns booming and to stand beside the
French and British guns as they an
swer; to sit beside the temporary
campfire OF retreating French SOL
diers and talk to them of home and Of
what the future holds for them and
their country; to sleep in a tent be-
side a railroad where. throughout the
night. the thunder of trains carrying
supplies and wounded soldiers back
to the safety of Salonika, shook the
ground; to cross bridges which were
l"loaded" with dynamite and were to
be blown up within twenty-four
hours to chat with group after group
Of steel-casqued French Zouaves who
came, on foot, trudging slowly but
steadily toward Greece. with grim
faces. but affable greetings; to cha'
with British soldiers who knew that
the next day would see them moving
in that direction which a British sol
der hates-the direction away from
the enemy-nine days Of all this asso-
citation with the Ally withdrawal
leaves on my mind the impression
that have had some monstrous
dream. all on the same theme, but
full OF weird mixture of small de-
tail.
There is play and fun mixed up in
this story. as we'll as tragedy and sOr-
= row. When the communiques use the
simple word retreat" or retirement
they are covering vast field of human
activity and human emotions, and tC
see this activity and behold the emo
tions at work under such circum-
stances is an opportunity, which
believe few war reporters have ha'
in this war.
My experience began on an after
noon of December in the office OF Gen
p eral Sarrail, when he said; "Woule
you like to see the Allied front II
Serbia?"
When I answered in the affirmative
he put his hand on my shoulder anC
. pushed me to one side OF the room
where he had herded a few CORE
, spondents. After he had collected u'
into favored group, he said, rubbini
his right hand through his grey, curl!
hair:
"Please be at the railroad station
= at Z o'clock in the morning. An Off
Ger will be there to take charge o
. YOU. You shall see Krivolak, wher'
the French are fighting the Bulgar
ians and you shall also see the British
front. Good-day gentlemen, and boz
chance"
See the British front? The Britisl
had refused us permission. Britisl
= fronts in this war have been. hard Z
'c get to. Every British officer fron
e. Kitchener down has been against cor
respondents seeing the British from
De The fog OF war had hidden the Brit
&c ish front more than any other. An
ne now we were to see the British iron
with the permission OF a French ger
oral