The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1917-11-10
MARTYRED CITY
Of MONAST|R
French Officer Says that Not Even
yerdun was Subject to Such an
Inferno of Fire
ASSOCIATED Press)


Monastir, Serbia Correspondence.
This martyred city of the Serbs, un-
| der continuous bombardment from
the Bulgar batteries only two miles
away, was visited for the first time to-
| day by civilian, on orders issued by
General Grosetti, commander-in-
chief on the Monastir front of the
Army of the Orient. 1t is seldom that
a press dispatch goes from Serbia
these days, for practically the whole
country has been swept clean by the
Austro-Bulgar hordes, and only this
little corner in the southwest, retaken
last November, is holding out against
| the terrific bombardment.
'4It is worse than Verdun," said
Lieutenant Colonel Dosse of the staff,
who was on General Petain's staff at
Verdun during the>Worst days.
| Monastir lies in a cup-like hollow,
and by reason of its being on Serbian
i soil it is the center of the bitterest
strife between Serb and Bulgar. It
was one of the last points abandoned
by the Serbs in their exodus before
the rush of the Austrians in 1915.
The Bulgars held it last yer through
August. Then the new Serbian army,
reorganized, gave their first attention
to getting back this city. But their
newness was against them and they
were badly repulsed. But in October
the Serbs got their revenge, making
a mass attack with the French and
Russian divisions.
This fight of Serb against Bulgal
was one of the bloodiest of the war
The Serb took the strategic key of
Mount Kaisnatchkalon, which today
marks the burying place of 10000
Bulgars. Monastir was again taken,
but the -Bulgars still held on
only three miles north and west of
/ the city. General Grosetti cleared
them from the northern hills in a
brilliant attack last March, when the
famous hill 1248 was taken. But they
clung to the western hills, and there
they are today raining down their
shells on the old Serbian town. It used
to have $4,000 population; now it has
5000 living IN cellars.
| Entering the city, by the street
through the poor quarter, there were
isigns of life, despite the rumble of
The guns Little girls ran along the
street with jars of water on their
heads, carrying fresh water to the
people imprisoned in the cellars. Ali
the shops wkere closed or abandoned.
Many of the front walls were ripped
out, and the abandoned stock scat
/ tered about. Almost every third
house was down-a mass of debris.
Those between were askew, with a
cornice or wing blown off, or the up
per story torn out, or huge round
i hole in front showing where a shot
had cut through before exploding. A
tumbled down cafe showed several
men at the tables. "They take
chances" said Col. Dosse, "but when
AN explosion comes they scuttle to
the cellars"
i The business section had lost all
semblance to streets with houses. It
was one long stretch of blackened
heaps of debris, wit ha jagged wall
or chimney sticking up here and
i there.
Besides the destruction, the killed,
iscattered through the past summer,
runs into the hundreds. Shell-fire
land falling walls have not been alone
in running up the death list, for the
Bulgars send wave. of asphyxiating
gas every time the wind is favorable
/ The run from army headquarters
to Monastir gave the opportunity of
seeing the vast military preparation
on this front Four American ambu-
lance cars also were passed bringing
Esick and wounded from the Monastir
front.
/ The camp of equipment and engi-
neering supplies stretches for four
miles along the route, with vast
stores of munitions and stores, trench
and railway material. Soldiers, pris-
loners, horses, mules and camels were
sending up great clouds of dust, and
the nearby cornfelds had turned gray
with the dust of this legion of work
lers who keep pushing the supplies up
to the fighting front. The approach
lof winter is evident, for winter bar
racks are being constructed of wood
and corrugated iron, and great stacks
of fuel are being laid in.
| Everything on the Monastir front
indicates that the Entente forces
are here to stay. There is no evi-
dence of withdrawal, and every evi-
tdenee of holding what they already
have and pushing further forward
Monastir itself has been freed OF
Bulgars but the city is still under the
fire of their guns and the task still
remains of clearing them from this
outpost of the Serbs-the last they
left and the first they recovered.