TURKEY. 



760 



did not begin until the last days of the month. 

 During the three weeks that intervened com- 

 parative quiet prevailed, but few engagements 

 occurring, and no movements of any account 

 taking place. 



In the latter part of July a combined action 

 of the Turks against the Timok line began. 

 The troops participating in this action were 

 the corps of Achmet Eyiib Pasha, from Nissa, 

 reinforced on its right wing by the newly-ar- 

 rived division of Suleiman Pasha and the strong 

 division of Osman Pasha from Widin. The 

 two principal points of the Servians on the 

 Timok line were Gurgussovatz and Saitchar, 

 with their surroundings. Eyub Pasha marched 

 against Gurgussovatz. On his right wing Sulei- 

 man Pasha advanced on the line Pirot-Pandi- 

 ralo, while on the left wing Hatiz Pasha led 

 the advanced guard on the line Gramada-Der- 

 went ; this was followed by the reserve under 

 Achmet Eyub himself. The entire force of 

 Eyub Pasha at this time was estimated at 

 88,000 men, of whom, however, at least 10,- 



000 remained in Nissa, while the mobile re- 

 serve, to an equal number, was posted along the 

 road from Nissa to Gramada; so that, for the 

 attack on Gurgussovatz, only 13,000 men were 

 at the disposal of the general, who was af- 

 terward but slightly reenforced from the re- 

 serve. Osman Pasha commanded the opera- 

 tions against Saitchar, having at his disposal 

 about 18,000 troops of the regular army. For 

 the attack on the Timok line the Turks had, at 

 the most, 85,000 men of the regular army, to 

 which were added thousands of Bashi-Bazouks. 

 On July 28th Osman Pasha attacked the ad- 

 vanced post of Lieshanin at Weliki Iswor, 

 forcing it to retreat to Saitchar. Large num- 

 bers of the inhabitants of this city now began 

 to leave, and, after a short engagement on 

 August 5th, General Lieshanin ordered the 

 city to be abandoned. The remainder of the 

 inhabitants then left, and in the evening Gen- 

 eral Lieshanin, with the garrison, retreated 

 toward Paratchin. He did not, however, go 

 as far as the valley of the Morava, but made a 



THE DARDANELLES 



halt in the defiles of Bolyevatz and Lukovo, 

 his rear guard even at Phminitza, only tliirty- 

 five kilometres west of the Timok. On the 

 6th the Turks entered Saitchar, and, as there 

 were no inhabitants on whom to practise cru- 

 elties, they contented themselves with burning 

 nearly the whole town. While these events 

 were occurring on the lower Timok, Ilafiz 

 Pasha, on July 29th, attacked the Servians 

 at Gramada. The latter defended themselves 

 bravely here, and at Derwent, on July 30th and 

 81st, but were forced to retire on Gurgusso- 

 vatz ; all the more so since Suleiman Pasha had 

 also entered Servian territory by way of Pan- 

 diralo, and could be prevented from marching 

 on by Horvatovitch only with the greatest diffi- 

 culty. On August 2d Horvatovitch was forced 

 to abandon all his advanced positions on the 

 border, and then assembled his entire forces, 

 about 6,000 men, in the position of Tresibaba, 

 south of Gurgussovatz. Ilatiz and Suleiman 

 Pasha now united their forces, and Achmet 



Eyub himself came on to assume the chief 

 command of the troops in the attack on Tresi- 

 baba. Horvatovitch continued to defend this 

 position on the 3d and 4th, but was forced on 

 the latter day to abandon it to the vastly-su- 

 perior enemy, as well as, on the 6th, Gurgusso- 

 vatz, where be would have been in danger of 

 being completely surrounded in case of longer 

 delay. He retreated to the defiles of Bania, 

 and left his rear-guard at Tchitluk and Zero- 

 vitza and entered into close communication 

 with the camps of Alexinatz and Deligrad. 

 During these events on the Timok, Tchernayeflf, 

 on August 5th, had dispatched a division of 

 the troops in Alexinatz against Mramor, and 

 into the Toplitza Valley. At Mramor this 

 division encountered the forces under AH Sa- 

 hib and the garrison of Nissa, and was forced 

 by them to retreat. The Turks, however, hav- 

 ing gained this advantage on the Timok line, 

 did not follow it up, but soon after abandoned 

 their positions again ; so that, on August 18th, 



