The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1916-02-19
FIGHTING TENTH
ADDS GLORY To
THE IRISH ARMS
Makes Most Remarkable Stand
Against Overwhelming Force
of BuIgars.
DIDN'T KNOW THEY HAD LOST
Allied Division Slowly Pushed Back
but Exacts Awful Toll in Slaugh-
ter for Every Yard-Maehine
Guns Fire Is Murderous.

Guns Fire Is Murderous.
London.-Although the government
! has repeatedly been pressed to give
the country the story of the stand OF
the Tenth Qrish) division against
overwhelming forces of the Bulgars in
| Macedonia before the retreat of the
allies to SalOniki, the United Kingdom,
and Ireland in particular, is still wait
ing for the official account of the &C
ton, which, though it ended adversely,
will rank among the finest exploits or
British arms.
The Weekly Dispatch publishes the
story of how the Irish regiments stood
their ground against wave upon wave
of Bulgars, moving them down with
rifle and machine guns to the accom-
paniment of shouts of stick il, jolly
boys; give 'em hell, Connaughts!
The account fills more than page OF
that newspaper, and the following are
the main points of the story.
Officers Were Warned.
ION December 3, which was Fri
day, the British outposts brought in
six Bulgar deserters, who had much
of interest to tell. They said that the
Bulgars not only had suffered very
heavily in their engagements with the
Serbians, but were losing men rapidly
owing to sickness and frostbite.
What is more to the point, they
warned the officers that big attack
against our line was impending, that
1t had been arranged to take place that
day, but that the severe snowstorm
had caused them to put 1t off to an
other day, which would not be long
delayed.
These opportune tidings, which, as
events proved. were thoroughly reli-
able, were communicated to headquar-
tiers and the necessary precautions for
battle taken. The outposts were drawn
in and finishing touches given to the
trenches.
Dawn had scarcely broken when
the enemy made his expected attack.
a fairly dense fog prevailed, and I'M
der it's cover the Bulgars were able
to get within 300 yards of parts Of our
line without being observed. The In
niskillings were the first to be at
tackled; about a. m. their outposts
were driven in and then a great mass
of the enemy swooped down on the
trenches, but were driven back by the
fire of our Maxim guns and by the
steady magazine fire that came from
the trenches.
Mad Rush to Slaughter.
Scarcely had the attack on the ex
IRENE right of our line had time to de
. veiop when the main body of Bulga
, rians were seen running down defile
; leading to the center of our front
They were perceived as long, inter
minable stretch Of men-a mass OF
shadowy figures revealed half dis
, tinctly in the mist. AS they reached
, the end of the defile they spread GU,
as from a bottle neck, and with wild
cheers flung themselves on our line
/ But before they had got so far oul
, guns smashed and battered the thicl
> procession of men leaping out of the
3 narrow gorge. 1t was impossible t
miss them. British artillery had never
had such a target since the first bat
tie of Ypres, when the guns literally
moved down the half-trained German
troops who attacked on the User.
1.-The slaughter of the guns was mag
nified by the slaughter of the rapid
!, magazine fire at short range. Wave
after wave of the enemy came on, eaci
broken as it swept out of the defile
but the Bulgars were not to be denied
Though their comrades fell thick ant
. fast they came on, and by sheer i'm
petus of numbers reached ou
: trenches, where awful work wa
wrought. It was hand to hand fight
ing then-terrible to witness, terribl,
:. to think of. The short bayonet of tn,
! Bulgar, however, was of little use il
these trench combats. and man TO
man the British won, but the Bulgar
, had the numbers and temporarily tn
!, first line of the Twelfth division wa
o overborne. The British were driver
4 out.
Wonderful Bayonet Charge.
THE British artillery had been dc
?, ing splendid work, but now the enem
/. artillery was in full blast, and the
n poured a devastating and witherin
It hail of fire on our positions, whic
through faulty ranging put out of az
ton more of the Bulgars than it di
u of US. The MINISTER'S and the Cor
naughts and the Dublins quickly ra
IL lied, and with n wonderful bayone
charge drove the enemy out of thei
trenches again. The enemy. masse
in close formation, swarmed in ono
e more, but against the deadly fir
II poured into them they could make n
Roadway for some time. The brav
Irish regiments were pouring lead int
:. them as fast as they could load thei
N rifles. They poured into the oncon
T. ing masses as much as IT'S rounds 9
q point blank range