The weekly Alaska citizen., 1917-12-24
ALLIED FORCES
 ARE ACTIVE IN
 BALKAN RECIOf.

COmmandcr-in-Ch of the west wing of the Army of the Orient, was at headquarters here a few days ago when his chief of staff, Colonel Ex- pert-Besancon, arrived with welcome news of a big success. Our party had just arrived from General Sarrail' $ headquarters at Saloniki, and this gave the opportunity of sharing in the good news and of observing its sequel when the French official ac- count was verified and the German account was proved to be incorrect.
 Colonel Besancon's good news was that the French forces. cooperating with the Albanian mountaineers, had caught an Austrian detachment in a packet and made short work of it The Austrians had stacked their arms and were about their camp duties with their coats off. Suddenly the French and Albanians burst on them from surrounding hills, sweeping the high cllfT. The fight was quick and awful The Austrians had no time to get their guns. They were literally annihilated Those who were not killed, surrendered. The counted dead numbered 300; the prisoners 45O. The French-Albanian loss was only three men killed and seven wounded.
 The French official communique duly recorded this incident, with the Killed and wounded. The German communique also referred j0 i}. hlt gave q different version. According to the Germans, the French made an attack. which was repulsed without loss. That night the American Am bulance section from Leland Stanford University arrived with some wound ed and with independent evidence based on talking with the captured prisoners, and counting them, that fh, French version had told the truth and the German version had conceal ed it
 Thn whole route from Salonikl to Florina ran through vast marshy plain, with 7cummy water and a foggy miasma hanging over 1t This was the deadly fever zone, which dragged the vitality out of troops The Vardar river. for which Serbs and Bulgars contended was crossed al o'clock. It is shallow, marshy stream. deadly with fever germs and breaks into three irregular branches crossed by a long steel bridge.
 From end to end of this low plague region Serb soldiers were giving an other evidence of their heroism and endurance They were at every bridge and Culyert, and formed the guard for the whole railway route, so vital Is moving troops and supplies Most of the Serb soldiers were old men Their tents were down in the marsh. and they were literally living in the scummy water. They looked yellow from this terrible work.
 West of the Vardar. Macedonia grows more fertile There are small farms, with water buffaloes dragging primitive wooden blows. This is the region which the Greek government hopes 10 reclaim into vast farming section
 Nearing army headquarters at Flo rina there were evidences of the heavy fighting which had been going on The splendid tive-span steel bridge at Eksisu had been blown up by the Bulgar-Austrians as they fell back after the last drive. The twist ed framework of the bridge was down in gulley with portions of the gir- ders hanging to the piers al either end The enemy was only few miles to the north, and was still showing its resentment for this drive,
 At the nearby British Red Cross hospital at Vertekop We saw where bombs had just been dropped in an air raid, killing a number of sick and several nurses. although huge red crosses, laid flat on the ground, plain ly showed this was a hospital entitl ed to protection.
 General Grosetti keeps hammerine away on this Monastir front, just as he did on the Marne and the Yser. He has had one of the most notable careers of the war IL was his di- vision of Fochs army which made the famous drive on Von kluck g flank at the battle of the Marne, which, in the judgment of military experts, turned the tide in that great battle Then he was in the big Champagne offensive. and the Ar gonne, and on the Yser, and now he is in chief command of the French, Serb, Russian, Italian and Greek di- visions which have cleared the enemy from Monastir, pressed him back forty miles. and has the ask of keeping him on the move to the rear