The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-12-27
Poultry.
GREEK AND TURK
FACE CONFLICT
IN ASIA MINOR

London.-Greeks and Turks are
facing each other on a 120-mile
front of trenches and earthworlss
e.. in Asia Minor. These positions are
likely to remain stationary until
the spring, according to Brigadier
General Xenophon Stratigos of the
Greek general staff.
= The general, who has come to
London with Premier Gounaris and
Foreign Minister BaltazEi, describ-
ed the present Greek position as
purely defensive one. Twelve di-,
visions of 5000 combatants each
are holding line almost due north
to south between ESkishehr and
Alum Karahissar, at a distance of
about twenty miles east of the rail-
way connecting these two impor-
tant ategicaL~points, with adc>
quate protection on both ends.
Although no big fighting has oc-
Cured for about a month, it must
not be imagined that military actiy-
ity has entirely ceased" said the
general. "Skirmishes and minor
raids are of daily occurrence"
General Stratigos then described
the Greek dash for Angora by nine
divisions last August. The river
Sangaria, often mentioned in dis
patches, first runs west to east,
then turns northward and then
flows again westward, forming a.
kind of hollow square. 1t is in this
bend that the last big operations
took place.
The Greek forces launched their
stack crossing the upper course of
the Sangaria southwark, and then
made a semi-circular sweep north
eastward in the direction of An
gUra through the salt desert, driv-
ing back the Turks from position to
position, on most difficult terrain.
Although the capture of the en-
envy capital was not our immediate
object, we would have taken An
CORA If we had had another month
OF summer" the general explained.
But after "a days of hard fighting
and marching, the troops were
very much in need of a rest. We
were then only some forty miles
. from Angora; but if we had pushed
on after the necessary period of
rest, it would have meant starting
fresh offensive about the end of
September, when the bad season
sets in. Our forces therefore, re-
crossed the Sangaria; this time on
the south to north bend, in perfect
order and not In flight, as had been
enormously reported The Turks,
thinking that they had US beaten.
crossed after US, but we threw
them back across the river. That
WAS between Sept. Is and 20.
Meanwhile, we broke up the rail-
way running eastward from Eski-
shehr to Angora. We tore it up
rail by rail This again proves
that we were not in fight. No
fleeing army could do that. We did
the Job thoroughly; there is pracu-
eally nothing left of that railway
now.
Cavalry Dash.
We next set about to raze the
hoalow square, with a view to make
cur position quite secure. On one
occasion, Sept. %, the Kemalist
cavalry made a dash across the
Sangaria and got as far as Sivrt-
hissar, but we beat them back
again.
The general paid a general trib-
" me HSALiiS QUALITIES VI h.o
adversaries in the defense OF posi-
tons, but he considered them in
Terror to the Greeks in open war
fara The reason, he thought, was
that the Kemalist army is raised by
compulsion, and the bulk of the
population, are hostile to Turkish
rule. Captures of war material. he
added. revealed the fact that most
kemalist rifles were of Russian
manufacture, and some captured
neid guns bore the mark of the
Putiloff works of Petrograd. show
ing that they were made as recent
IL as last year