*Compiled by the editor from the daily press, articles in the Navy, one in the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution by Major H. A. L. H. Wade, and one in the United Service Magazine by Captain H. T. Russell. These books are available at the Institute, and members desiring a detailed account of the war are invited to consult them.
As the war has been mainly of interest to the army an account of the military operations in detail is considered too lengthy for the PROCEEDINGS, SO a brief chronological account only will be given.
The operations of the navies have furnished abundant additional evidence of the necessity to combatants of the "command of the sea."
A brief glance at the situation shows us the nations engaged to be as follows:
Turkey in Europe: area, 65,367 square miles, population of 6,130,000, with a war strength of 1,200,000 men; the infantry weapon is the Mauser 1890; the artillery, the Krupp Q. F. 75-mm. and the Krupp 12-cm. howitzer; and with an additional population of 9,089,000 in Asia Minor, having approximately 600,000 trained troops: is beset by
Bulgaria: area, 37,199 square miles; population, 4,035,623; an army, that from its peace establishment of 6o,000, becomes 400,000 as a maximum; infantry weapon, the Mannlicher, 1895, 8-mm. magazine rifle; the artillery, the Schneider-Canet field guns and Creusot 12-Cm. howitzers:
Greece: area, 24,973 square miles; population, 2,666,000; war strength of 120,000 men; infantry weapon, the Mannlicher 1903 rifle, and the artillery the Schneider-Creusot Q. F. field guns:
Servia: area, 18,649 square miles; population, 2,922,058; war strength, 215,000 ; infantry weapons the Mauser 1900, the Koka Mauser of 1880 and the Berdan rifle; the artillery weapon the Schneider 1908 Q. F. gun. The infantry training is based on German manuals, while the artillery is on the French: and
Montenegro: area, 3,486 square miles; population, 225,000 total war strength of 38,320; the infantry weapon, the 3-line Russian magazine of the pattern of 1898; the artillery weapons, Krupp. and not of a modern pattern.
These figures give in round numbers Turkey (Asia Minor not being considered) with an area of 65,000 square miles and population of 6,130,000, against nations having a total area of 84,000 square miles and a population of 9,850,000.
The naval forces of Greece and Turkey are fully described in the December issue of the PROCEEDINGS (Vol. 38, No. 144), on pages 1653 and 1662, and the value of "the command of the sea" in this war is shown in the same issue on page 1691.
The Turks should have an eventual superiority of numbers, and the great problems before them are time and communications. The importance of the bridges at Kuleli Burgas, across the Maritza River, below Adrianople, is very great to Turkey. Without "command of the sea" her troops from Salonica and Albania must be transported to Thrace by the coastal railway, a single track line. She can probably obtain reinforcements from Asia Minor, and can land .such troops on the Bulgarian coast, though this will be difficult, as Varna and Burgas, the two best landing places, are strongly fortified and defended by mines.
In general terms the terrain is as follows:
The borderlands of Montenegro, Servia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey in Europe, where the war is being fought, form a mountainous region in which there are few roads and only single track railway lines. The most open country is in eastern Thrace, between Adrianople and Constantinople, stretching down to the Aegean and the Sea of Marmora in either direction, while the most hilly country is in Albania, west of the Vardar River. The tract bordering on the Aegean is low-lying and marshy. The valleys of the Maritza and the Vardar divide this country into three principal sections. In general, due to the steep and rocky character of the mountain ranges, movement of troops is easiest from the north to the south.
The causes of the war were as follows, the complaints being of long standing: The Balkan States contend that the continued failure of the Turks to effect reforms in Macedonia, and the oppression to which the Christian inhabitants of that region are constantly subject, has produced an intolerable state of affairs. Until lately the mutual differences between the Balkan States have prevented joint action. The Turks allege that the anarchy existing in Macedonia is due to the Greek and Bulgarian insurgent bands who traverse the country provoking disturbances in the hope of forcing intervention by foreign powers.
The climax came when, on the 24th of September, 1912, the Turkish Government announced that it would hold some grand maneuvers near Adrianople, mobilizing some 200,000 troops for the purpose. The Bulgarians decided this was a threat. The Turks then changed the plan and ordered divisional exercises in eleven districts. Preparations for war were taken up and prosecuted in all the States, despite Russia's and Austria's warnings to Bulgaria and Servia that they need expect no support froth them in a war.
There was a general mobilization of the Turkish Army on 1 October, following a conference of ministers, and all Greek vessels in Ottoman parts were detained on the plea that they might be required for the transport of troops. Public feeling in Turkey appeared to be strongly in favor of the war.
On 8 October Montenegro declared war. Its forces were divided into three armies, of which the central and southern advanced north and south of Lake Scutari, and the northern army's duty was to capture Berna and form a junction with the Servian army.
On 9 October they engaged the Turkish troops at Mt. Planinitza, driving them back to the fortifications on Detchitch Mountain, which the Montenegrin troops captured on the loth. The latter then crossed into the province of Novibazar and, on the 13th, captured the town of Priepolye.
On the 13th, the Turkish Government detained all ammunition that was in transit for Servia and seized all the Bulgarian railway cars possible.
The army of Montenegro, on 16 October, took the town of Berna. This date is also that on which the treaty of peace was signed by Turkey and Italy. The Turkish fleet, having been mobilized, on the 12th appeared off the Bulgarian coast.
The formal declaration of war by Turkey against Bulgaria and Servia was made on 17 October, and on the next day the Greeks declared war against Turkey. The first contact between the Turkish troops and the Bulgarians took place on 18 October at Harmanli, the former being repulsed, and the latter on the following day capturing the town of Mustapha Pacha.
The four torpedo boats purchased in Argentina by Greece reached the Piraeus on 22 October.
The Turkish cruiser Hamidieh and six torpedo vessels which had been blockading the Bulgarian coast since the 19 October were joined on the 23d by the battleships Barbarossa, Messoudieh, and Assir-i-Tewfik. Being attacked by three Bulgarian torpedo boats supported by shore batteries, these Turkish vessels bombarded the towns of Varna and Kavarna, firing on the guard houses, customs offices, bridges and harbor buildings. They thus prevented intercourse by water with Roumanian or Russian ports.
On 21 October the Greek fleet, under Admiral Conduriottis, consisting of the Averoff, fourteen destroyers and six torpedo boats, with one submarine, seized the island of Lemnos, and following this occupied Thasos, Imbros. Strati, Samothrace and Psara, declaring a blockade of the Epirus coast. At Lemnos the landing took place at Kontari, south of Kastro, covered by the fire of the fleet, it being opposed by the Turkish garrison of 1800 men. The landing party consisted of three battalions and a field battery. The Turks retired to the heights of Mount Probaston.. Twenty Ottoman officials were captured.
A Turkish gunboat was sunk in the harbor of Airvali, in Asia Minor, on October 23.
24 October the Bulgarians captured Kirk-Kilisse, the Servians taking Pristina, Kumanova, Karatova, and Kot-chana ; and on the next day the Montenegrins surrounded Scutari and effected a junction with the Servian troops at Senitza. On 26 October the siege of Adrianople was begun by the Bulgarians, the town of Eski Baba in its rear being captured. The Servians entered Uskup on this same date, and the following day they captured Verisovitz with a large supply of war material, a Bulgarian army also capturing Istip, 45 miles to the southeast.
On 28 October the Turkish forces were driven out of Lule Burgas, and on 1 November Demotika was captured, thus cutting the lines of communication with Constantinople.
Sinking of Feth-i-Bulend:—Lieutenant Votsis, commanding the Greek torpedo boat No. 12—a vessel of 85 tons with two torpedo tubes and a crew of 20 men—reports that on the evening of the 31st of October he sailed from Scala Elefterochori at nine. "The searchlights of Karabournow kept their rayssteadily on the strait between Karavofanoro and the entrances of the Vardar. but I passed there steaming at full speed for the harbor of Salonica. I reached there at 11.20, finding the Turkish battleship at the left end of the breakwater, while at the right end there were several vessels and a Russian man-of-war. I steamed carefully, unseen, towards the midship portion of the Turkish ship; I fired the port torpedo, then I turned at full speed in order to be at some distance when the explosion should take place. Turning to port, I fired the starboard torpedo, which struck the breakwater and burst with such a noise that we thought a gun had been fired on shore. At the first explosion we saw lights and heard shouts on the battleship. The officers' quarters were lighted. This explosion took place just forward of the funnel. A large amount of smoke went up, the ship listed deeply and sank by the bows. I then left at full speed, passing before Karabournow, which, warned from the city, turned on all its searchlights; but we escaped their search. Passing before the fort I made good a promise given my crew and fired some 3-pdr. shell at the fort at 2500 meters by way of a salute."
The name Feth-i-Bitlend means "Good Victory." She was built in 1871, and rebuilt in 1907, doing duty as a schoolship. Her displacement was 2800 tons, armor belt was 8 inches thick, her crew comprised 220 men and officers. It is believed that all escaped.
By 2 November the Turks had been forced back to Tchorlu, and he Sultan then requested the mediation of the Powers. The lines at Tchorlu were evacuated on the 6th and the Tchatalja lines of defense occupied by the Turks.
On 6 November the Greek squadron captured the island of Tenedos, while its army operating in Macedonia captured Salonica.
In considering the remarkable quickness with which Turkey has thus been driven into such very constricted lines, we should remember that the simultaneous attacks in so many widely different quarters at once by numerically important armies form a remarkable and unparalleled incident in history. Even if the Turkish mobilization plans had been perfect these attacks could hardly have been met successfully, and the failure to do so should not have been unexpected.
Another fact is that the authorities in Constantinople assumed the fatal r3le of outside control of the field operations. All the great disasters in Thrace are said to be due in great measure to this, one instance being the superseding of Abdulla Pasha because he stated his force was unfit to make a forward movement from Kirk Kilisse—now held to be correct strategically—because his army mobilization was so imperfect. Still another cause is said to be the impossibility of making Turkish troops deliver an aimed rifle fire when fighting outside of entrenched positions.
Cholera broke out on II November in the Turkish army, and it is said that, in order to prevent the fulfillment of the Bulgarian boasts that the allies would celebrate their entry into Constantinople by a triumphal celebration of Mass in St. Sophia, the Turkish authorities have turned their famous mosque into a pest house.
After attacks on the Tchatalja forts on the 12 November Nazim Pasha, commander of the Turkish army, asked an armistice to discuss peace terms.
The Bulgarians demanded the following:
(1) Withdrawal of the Turkish army from Tchatalja.
(2) Evacuation of Adrianople, Scutari, Yanina and Monastir.
(3) Payment of $140,000,000 war indemnity.
(4) Surrender of conquered territory.
(5) Internationalization of Constantinople.
Monastir, after its evacuation by the Turkish troops, was occupied by the Greeks on 19 November.
The Turkish battleship Torpid Reis, on the 15 November, reported shelling the enemy's forces before Djebelkeni, causing heavy losses. The fleet thus assisted in the defense of the Tchatalja lines by shelling the wings of the Bulgarian army.
On 21 November the Greeks landed from the fleet a force at Mytilene—opportunity being allowed the foreign consuls and people to retire into the interior. The Turkish force of 1800 men retired also and made their stand in the mountains, and only surrendered on 22 December.
The Greek fleet has "command of the sea "and, a most important operation, has prevented the Turkish army operating in Thrace from receiving any reinforcements from Asia Minor or from Syria.
A Bulgarian repulse at Tchatalja was reported on 19 November. On the 20th a cessation of fighting took place, but as no agreement on terms could be made, fighting was resumed.
On the night of 22 November, off Varna, an attack on the Turkish cruiser Hamidieh was made by four Bulgarian torpedo boats, Schneider vessels of 100 tons displacement and 26 knots speed, which were completed in 19o8. Each boat has three x8-inch torpedo tubes, but no guns except 3-pdrs. The Turks say that the meeting of the Hamidieh with the flotilla was a chance one, the cruiser cutting through their lines in the darkness, and if this is so, it is more creditable to the Bulgarians, whose boats must have been handled pretty smartly, while the same can hardly be said for the Turkish officers and men, who must have had an easy opportunity of sinking two or three of the torpedo boats with the 6-inch or 4.7-inch guns of the Hamidieh, if only they had utilized it. After firing their first torpedoes, the Bulgarian boats continued to attack the cruiser singly for about three hours, but at much greater range. Her crew acted with commendable courage and absence of panic, and the water-tight bulkheads kept her afloat, so that she was able to be towed back to the Golden Horn, arriving with her bows almost flush with the water.
Austria, to intimidate Servia and stop her efforts to obtain a seaport on the Adriatic coast, now massed 300,000 troops on the frontier of Servia, while Germany and Russia called out their reservists.
After the capture of Uskup-26 October—the 4th Servian army marched upon the Albanian coast, surmounting great difficulties in the deep snow on the mountains and hardships incident to lack of supplies. Alessio was occupied on 17 November. On 28 November the column entered Durazzo. The Albanian nobles then proclaimed the provisional independence of Albania, forming a new government.
New peace terms were offered Turkey by Bulgaria on 23 November, Albania proclaiming its independence on the same date.
Severe fighting took place about Adrianople on the 27 November, bombs from aeroplanes starting fires in the city, the Turks making unsuccessful and desperate efforts to break the besieging lines at Dudzaras, being repulsed with heavy losses.
On 29 November the Bulgarians captured two Turkish divisions near the village of Marhamli, between the port of Dedeagh and Demotika.
The Sultan, on 30 November, agreed to sign a protocol, the belligerent armies to retain their positions pending the outcome of the peace negotiations. This was signed at Tchatalja on 4 December by the Turkish, Bulgarian, Servian and Montenegrin delegates, and it is as follows:
(1) The belligerent armies shall remain in the position they at present occupy.
(2) The besieged Turkish fortresses shall not be revictualed.
(3) The revictualing of the Bulgarian army in the field shall be carried out by way of the Black Sea and Adrianople, commencing ten days after the signature of the armistice.
(4) The negotiations for peace shall begin in London on December 13.
Greece refused to sign this protocol, and continued her naval operations. Her reason for not signing was the fact that her demand that Turkey recognize her sovereignty over the islands she had captured during the war was not recognized, and she did not wish to suspend her operations against Yanina, which was occupied by a Turkish garrison of 35,000, part of which had retreated from Monastir on its capture.
The first meeting of the Balkan Peace Conference took place at St. James' Palace, London, on December 16th. The Greeks sent a representative, Venezelos, even while continuing the war, and he proved to be the dominating mind of the conference, insisting on no autonomy for Albania which, if granted, would deprive Greece of considerable territory fought for, and that the islands captured be ceded to Greece.
Early in December a bombardment of Valona and occupation of the Island of Sasseno by the Greek fleet evoked a protest from the new Albanian Government.
Just prior to the signing of this protocol the Bulgarians made a general assault on the Adrianople defenses on the east and west fronts from the direction of Marash. The fighting began at 9 p. m., and lasted six hours, the assailants being repulsed.
The Greeks occupied Koritza on 20 December. Fighting in the neighborhood of Dodona and Kirtovo, a few miles southwest of Yanina, took place on 24 and 25 December.
The Turkish public opinion demanded that a blow be struck at the Greek fleet blockading the Dardanelles, and so on the morning of December 16th an engagement took place, the account of which is from the Times of January 3 :
At 9.30 a. m. the Turkish fleet, consisting of four battleships or cruisers, nine torpedo-boat destroyers, and six torpedo boats, appeared at the entrance to the straits. The small craft remained there and the four larger ships came out of the straits and, keeping close to the land, turned towards the north. The Greek fleet, also consisting of four armored ships coming from the Island of Imbros, steered in a northeasterly direction so as to cut across the course of the Turks. The Averoff, having superior speed, went on ahead and the remaining three ships formed line abreast and waited for the enemy to come up. At 9.50 a. m. the Turkish ships opened fire at a range of about 15,000 yards. At 10 a. m. the Greek fleet opened fire at a range of about 85oo yards. At 10.04 a. m. the Turkish fleet altei ed course 16 points and returned as fast as possible, and in broken formation, to the straits, which they entered at about 10.30 a. m. Thus the total time during which either fleet was under fire did not exceed half an hour. The torpedo craft took no part in the action, which merely resolved itself into a skirmish. The following damage was sustained by the Turkish ships during the brief period of fire:
1. Barbarossa had one turret put out of action.
2. Barbarossa's bridge was totally wrecked by the enemy's fire.
3. Barbarossa had her boilers damaged, and a fire started in one of her coal bunkers.
4. Messoudich arid Torgud showed marks of shell hits in the after part, but no accurate details of the results of these hits are known.
5. The total casualties in the Turkish fleet were 58. The casualties in the Greek fleet were one killed and seven wounded, all on board the Averoff, and all were men who were stationed on the bridges.
The Averoff received two shell hits on the superstructure near the foremost funnel. None of her guns was damaged or put out of action.
None of the Greek ships was compelled to return to harbor for repairs and the fleet continued to cruise at sea, while the Turkish fleet returned to Nagara for repairs.
From the above facts it will be seen that the Greek fleet continues to hold the command of the sea in the Aegean, and that the blockade of the Dardanelles is as effective as before. The effect of the action has been to cripple the Turkish fleet and, by leaving the Greek fleet undamaged, to render the latter's command of the sea more secure.
On 2 January the garrison of Chios, 1700 men, surrendered after some fighting to the Greek troops.
A very similar skirmish took place on January 4. The official Greek version states that at 7.30 a. m. destroyers cruising off the Dardanelles reported sighting two Turkish cruisers and six destroyers at the entrance to the straits, and the Greek fleet at once steamed to engage them. The Medjidieh at 10.30 a. m. left the main body, steaming to the west of Tenedos, firing shells into the destroyers, but retiring on arrival of other destroyers. About noon both the Medjidieh. and Harnidieh advanced to west of Tenedos. exchanging shots with destroyers, and returning to the straits on the appearance of the Greek squadron.
During the night of January 15, the Turkish cruiser Medjidieh stole through Grecian lines and appeared off the Island of Syra. She bombarded powder magazines and coal depots. The Medjidieh also fired on the Greek auxiliary cruiser Macedonia, which was undergoing repairs in Syra Harbor. The commander of the Macedonia, after landing his crew, sank his vessel in the harbor to prevent her destruction.
On January 18 another naval skirmish took place:
The Turkish squadron, after steaming towards Imbros, proceeded towards the south of Lemnos, and stopped twelve miles from that island. The Greek squadron, composed of one armored cruiser, three ironclads of the Psara type, and seven destroyers, steamed towards the Turks at noon. The first shots were exchanged at a range of about 7500 yards. Towards 12.20 p. m. the firing became heavy. The Turkish vessels, which were heading to the westward, altered their course and proceeded towards Tenedos, the Greeks in pursuit. At 1:10 p. m. the Greek vessels increased their speed and got within 5500 yards of the enemy. The firing from the Medjidieh and Messoudieh ceased. At 1.40 p. m. the belligerents were distant from each other by 4000 meters. During the pursuit the firing of the Barbarossa and Torgud slackened. These vessels were enveloped in steam or smoke, and had a list to starboard. The Turkish line of battle was in great disorder; the ships were steaming ahead at full speed: tongues of flame were seen shooting from their funnels. The Greeks, having chased the enemy almost to within range of the forts at the entrance of the Dardanelles, and having made sure that the Turkish squadron had actually re-entered the straits, retired to the south and continued the blockade.
Throughout January, the Greeks made but little headway in Albania and Monastir, the Turks holding their ground.
During the cessation of hostilities Nazim Pasha was murdered in Constantinople. This has caused a great unrest among the Turkish troops.
The Greek Government, on 31 January, notified foreign powers that coal shipped by way of Dardanelles to Black Sea ports will be subject to seizure unless certified for local consumption at neutral ports.
In January Turkey had 210,000 men between Constantinople and Tchatalja; 50,000 on the banks of the Dardanelles; 10,000 in the Ismid district; 8000 around Panderma ; and about 12,000 at Smyrna. Of this force of 290,000 soldiers about 90,000 are trained Nizam (1st line) or Redif (reserve) troops; the remainder are untrained or partially trained Redifs of the second class, Mustahfiz, and irregular Bashi-Bazouks, Kurds. The army is said to be short of horses, field guns, and transports.
The Turkish battleship Assir-i-Tewfik ran aground at Karaburnu on the Black Sea during January and being badly damaged by the rocks is reported a total loss.
The Bulgarian official list of killed and wounded in the war gives the following figures: Officers: dead, 284; sick and wounded, 876; total, 116o. Men: dead, 21,018; sick and wounded, 51,000 ; total, 72,018; grand total, 73,178. It is stated that 70 per cent of the wounded have either recovered or are nearly well again. Many have rejoined their regiments. General Dimitreff, commanding the 3d Army Corps, states that 35,000 of his men became infected with cholera at Tchatalja, but that only 3000 died of the disease. This low percentage (less than 12 per cent) of deaths reflects great credit on the sanitation and hygiene of the Bulgarian troops in the field.
The Peace Conference broke up at 7 p. m. 3 February, all delegates but the Ottoman leaving London, no agreement having been reached. At that hour fighting at Adrianople and Tchatalja was resumed. Scutari, which had lain invested by Montenegrin troops since 25 October, was assaulted. Yanina was attacked by the Greeks. The Bulgarians, on 6 February, commenced a general attack on Gallipoli, supported by the Greek fleet, and advanced to Bulair.
Tarabosch, on 9 February, was invested by Montenegrin troops.
On 10 February the Montenegrins captured Bardanjoli Hill, which dominates Scutari from the eastern side.
On 14 February the Albanians t.00k the offensive against the allies advancing from Dajakova to Dibra.
On 16 February the Turkish flag and those of the protecting powers on the island of Crete were hauled down and the Greek flag took their place.
A dispute arose between Roumania and Bulgaria as to boundaries, threatening hostilities, but it has been settled by arbitration.
The Turkish troops in Macedonia advanced to recapture Monastir in February.
On 27 February, 1913, Turkey signified her willingness to negotiate for peace with Bulgaria on the basis of the cession of Adrianople.