Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-11-29

ly secure. The fact that in their rear
an enemy was destroying their one di-
rect line OF communication does not
seem to have troubled them much
Probably the thought that the road
through the Alt valley and to Xron-
stadt was open may be responsible for
this.
The original program had called for
general attack at o'clock in the
morning on the twenty sixth. The
thanking troops were in telephone
connection with headquarters. and so
learned that the attack from Hermann
stadt had been postponed. The situa-
ton of the alpine troops was far from
reassuring. A movement on their own
flank might be undertaken by the Ru-
manians at any hour. The twenty
sixth passed. The thanking body had
been divided into three columns, as
the pass was approached. The one
advancing close to the Rumanian Dor
der reached the pass close to Riul Va
tului, the Rumanian border point. The
central column neared the gorge three
miles coove. while the third body
squeezed itself through between the
Rumanians at Hermannstadt and the
central range.
September % passed without the
frontal attack occurring. 1t was learn
ed, however, that the Rumanians were
taking their artillery through the de-
file. On the following day the thanking
I bodies began to be pressed by the Ru-
manians. Reinforcements could not ne
brought into the mountains at short no.
/ tice, so that the prospects seemed not
the brightest.
TERRIBLE SLAUGHTER.
On September 20 a strong artillery
fire in the north announced that the
frontal attack was being made. The
alpine troops advanced to positions di-
rectly overlooking the road in the de-
file. Already the road was filled with
the van of the retreating Rumanians.
1t was caught in the machine gun and
rifle fire of the Germans at two points.
one south. the other Immediately north
Of the village of Veres Torony The
slaughter was terrific as the Associ-
ated Press correspondent is able to tes-
tify from a visit to the spot. In a few
minutes the narrow road was filled with
| dead men and animals.
| From Boicza the Rumanian retreat
| W 40 Pl Coolh6 uPOH liiOSt Ou lHt
who on their right had unscalable pre-
cipices upon which perched the enemy,
and on their left another precipice and
a deep river. Men, animals and wagons
plunged through the roads guard rail
into the surging torrent below, never
to come to the surface again. Their
bodies were still resting on the rock
lodges and sand banks when the cor
DEATHS AWFUL HARVEST.
At Veres Torony there is a stone
bridge across mountain stream
emptying into the Alt from the west
A German machine gun platoon reached
height nearby and took the bridge
under fire. SoLn the space between
the ramparts was filled with dead and
wounded men and animals Death
reaped it's fullest harvest here. Those
who were not cut down by the hail IF
bullets plunged over the bridge into the
water where wounded men and ami
mails formed a writing mass
The cry came. "sauve qui peut." An
entire army, or that part of it which
had been driven into the gorge melted
OF sudden into panicky. fleeing mob.
Again the river claimed hundreds Of
NlctiiHS, luOSc enough 10
reach the other side fell under the ma
chine gun fire of the Germans.
The pressure forcing the Rumanians
into Red Tower pass was exerted by
the frontal attack which Falkenhayn
engineered from the north. Had 1t been
possible to close the Alt valley east of
Hermannstadt the entire First Ruma-
MAN army would have been annihilated.
AS 1t was this route was in part open,
though to close 1t had been intended
and had been the cause of the delay Of
the frontal attack.
WHOLE ARMY DISPERSED.
With every stick abandoned the re-
mainder of the First army dispersed n
the foothills of the Fogaras mountains,
and later reached Kronstadt
At Boicza the remnants of the Ru-
manian train were seen by the Associ-
ated Press correspondent. The Impe-
rails had taken away whatever had
value. Over square mile of meadow
land and fields the wreckage of the
train spread. Imperial artillery had
wrought havoc with. the column The