Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1916-02-26
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 siaush-
ter for Every Yard--Machine
Guns Fire Is Murderous.

mas repeatedly been pressed to give
the country the story of the stand OF
the Tenth Crish) division against
overwhelming forces of the Bulgars il
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 1t ended adversely
will rank among the finest exploits OF
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 it, jolly
boys; give em hell, Connaughts! F"
The account fills more than a page OF
that newspaper, and the following are
the main points of the story.
Officers Were Warned.
"On December 3, which was a 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-
.ers and the necessary precautions for
battle taken. The outposts were drawn
n and finishing touches given to the
Dawn had scarcely broken when
he enemy made his expected attack.
rhe conditions wholly favored him, for
! fairly dense fog prevailed, and I'M
Ter its cover the Bulgars were able |
o get within 300 yards of parts of our
inc without being observed The In
were the first to be at |
acked; about a. m. their outposts
we're driven in and then great mass
# the enemy swooped down on the |
renches, but were driven back by the
re Of our Maxim guns and by the
teady magazine fire that came from
he trenches.
Mad Rush to Slaughter.
Scarcely had the attack on the ex.
rene right OF our line had time to de.
elop when the main body of Bulga-
Ians were seen running down defile
sading to the center of our front
hey were perceived as long, inter-
Unable stretch of men--a mass of
hadowy figures revealed half dis
nctly In the mist AS they reached
lie end of the defile they spread out
s from a bottle neck, and with wild
leers flung themselves on our line.
ut before they had got so far our
lns smashed and battered the thick
recession of men leaping out of the
arrow gorge. 1t was impossible to
ISIS them. British artillery had never
Id such target since the first bat
3 of Ypres, when the guns literally
owed down the half.trained German
oops who attacked ON the User.
THE slaughter of the guns was mag
fled by the slaughter of the rapid
agazine fire at short range. Wave
ter wave of the enemy came on, each
oxen as 1t swept out of the defile,
It the Bulgars were not to be denied.
Tough their comrades fell thick and
st they came on, and by sheer i'm
tus Of numbers reached our !,
snches, where awful work was
ought. II was hand to hand fight
3 then-terrible to witness, terrible
think Of. The short bayonet of the :
llgar, however, was of little use in :
ese trench combats, and man for
IN the British won, but the Bulgars =
d the numbers and temporarily the !.
st line of the Twelfth division was :.
erborne. The British were driven :
t.
Wonderful 5ayonet Charge. :,
The British artillery had been do :
) splendid work, but now the enemy =
.illery was in full blast, and they =,
ured devastating and whitening !,
Il of fire on our positions, which ~
'ough faulty ranging put out of ac- -
n more of the Bulgars than It did
us. The MINISTER'S and the Con-
lights and the Dublins quickly raj
d, and with a wonderful bayonet q
arge drove the enemy out of their "
inches again. The enemy, massed >,
close formation, swarmed in once ~
re, but against the deadly fire u
lred into them they could make no "
ldway for some time. The brave q
III regiments were pouring lead into
IN as fast as they could load their pc
es. They poured into the oncom- m
masses as much as It's rounds at &C
mt blank range. al
But 1t was, for all our grim rssist- &C
AZ