Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-02

the river and set out upon the path his enc
mics had made, toward his own base.
What Timur had done was amusingly SIM
ple When he had studied the hilly country
west of Sivas, and found 1t unsuitable for his
cavalry he had turned Off to the south and
marched along the valley of the Hays, keep
ing the river between himself and the Turks.
So he was moving around the outer bend OF
the river while Bayazd waited in the center
Tatar scouts learned that Bayazid's camp
was near Angora in their path. So Tmur
fastened his marches, covering the hundred
miles to Angora in three days.
Angora lay In the center of a wide plain and
Timur decided that the position Bayazid had
picked out was good as any other. So his
Tatars made their quarters in the tents of the
Turks. At the order OF their amir, they
damned up the small river that flows into
Angora, changing its course to run behind their
new position.
The only other water available to the oncom-
ing Turks was spring. and this Timur ordered
destroyed, and the water polluted.
THE Turks marched rapidly for week, with
little water and less grain, along the
devastated swath left by the Tatars; they were
weary and suffering from thirst and the heat
of the plain. They found the Tatars installed
in their own base, with ample supplies Worst
of ALL there was no water to be had anywhere
except behind the Tatar line. They had only
one alternative and that was to attack.
Bayazid was forced to do what he least de-
sired-to launch his inferior cavalry against
the masses of horsemen from Central Asia.
His men went into battle weakened by thirst
He had been outmaneuvered and finally led
back to Angora as if on string. And the battle
was lost before the first sword flashed in the
sun.
At ten O'Clock in the morning under burn
ing sun the Turks moved forward with the
stubborn courage that has so often proved in
vincible The front of the two armies extended
far more than Is miles over the plain, one wing
of the Tatars resting upon the small river, the
other-invisible in the distance-upon forti-
fed height. The chronicle adds that the Turks
came on with thunder of drums and clamor
Of cymbals while the squadrons of Tatars
waited in great silence.
T'IMUR did not mount his horse until the last
moment The battle for the present was
in the hands of his generals. He had with him
no more than 40 troops Of cavalry, upon a ridge,
with the infantry in the rear OF the massed
horsemen. Prince Muhammad his grandson.
commanded the center, with the host OF
Samarkand and 30 regiments with colonies
from most of Asia. Here too, were the elephants
in their armor of painted leather-more for
moral effect, it seems, than for any tactical
purpose.
Upon the far right of the Tatars suleiman,
Bayazid's son, launched q cavalry charge lead
ing himself the horsemen Of Asia Minor. They
were met by a devastating fire of arrows and
flaming naphtha-horses and men going down
in masses under the rising curtain of dust and
smoke.
While the Turks were in disorder, the first
line of the Tatar right charged, and Muir
ad-Dins the ablest of Thurs amirs, followed
with the main body Of that wing.
In the first hour the advance of the Turks
was checked, and the Tatars took the offensive.