730 



SERVIA. 



ments were marched out against the Bulga- 

 rian central position. The Servian soldiers 

 advanced intrepidly, under a murderous artil- 

 lery-fire. Every grenade burst in their ranks, 

 until they retired in good order with thinned 

 numbers. Toward evening Prince Alexander 

 ordered an assault upon a hill on the right, 

 to prevent the enemy from posting batteries 

 there. The Servians were driven out of the 

 position with a bayonet-charge. Before the 

 18th of November there was no adequate force 

 to withstand the Servian advance ; Maj. Gut- 

 cheff had only eight drushinas to defend the 

 extended line at Slivnitza. The 8,000 soldiers 

 were obliged to remain in the rifle-pits day 

 and night in cold and stormy weather. Re- 

 enforcements now came in rapidly, but they 

 were exhausted by their forced marches. One 

 regiment made sixty miles in thirty-two hours, 

 and lost only sixty-two stragglers out of 4,500 

 men. Another, unable to march on foot be- 

 yond Sofia, was forwarded to the front riding 

 double on cavalry-horses. The Bulgarian com- 

 mander invited attack upon his strong front 

 position, in the hope of delaying a flank attack 

 until re-enforcements arrived. General Jova- 

 novich, the Servian commander, knowing the 

 numerical weakness of his foes, threw his 

 troops against the Bulgarian front, and let 

 them be mowed down by a triple and quad- 

 ruple fire from the trenches and batteries, 

 until the two divisions were so reduced and 

 broken that they were only fit to be placed in 

 the reserves. When 'he undertook an attack 

 on the previously defenseless left flank of the 

 Bulgarians, it was vigorously resisted by the 

 newly arrived re-enforcements. The haste of 

 the Servian commander was in great measure 

 due to the condition of his soldiers. The com- 

 missariat was unable to supply them with suffi- 

 cient food, as transportation was difficult over 

 the mountain-roads. The Bulgarians had plen- 

 ty of food in their camp. A part of the Ser- 

 vian Landwehr was mobilized with the regular 

 army. A cavalry force was equipped for act- 

 ive service, but it was found necessary to ob- 

 tain stronger horses from abroad. 



On the 18th Gen. Jovanovich moved a large 

 body of troops to the south, in order to attack 

 the Bulgarian position on its weakest side, and 

 on the morning of the 19th began the battle 

 with an, attack on the Bulgarian right, which 

 was repelled. The Bulgarians then assumed 

 the offensive. The right wing followed up the 

 advantage it had won, and assailed the Servian 

 positions, carrying one hill after another at the 

 point of the bayonet. The front of the Bul- 

 garian fortified camp extended five or six miles. 

 In the center were three hills, with lower hills 

 on each side. A plain separated them from the 

 Servian positions. Opposite the left wing and 

 the center the Servians were intrenched on 

 heights in front of the Dragoman Pa'ss, three 

 miles distant. . The Bulgarian center advanced 

 against the elevated positions opposite, sup- 

 porting the attack of the right wing. Oppo- 



site the right wing, at a distance of three miles, 

 was the position captured on the evening of 

 the 18th, a plateau commanding the Bulgarian 

 position. While driven out of their intrench- 

 ments before Slivnitza, and forced to fall back 

 upon the heights at the entrance of the pass, 

 the Servians delivered their attack on the left 

 flank, which they opened with a heavy fire of 

 artillery and musketry. Prince Alexander had 

 prepared anxiously to resist this manoeuvre, 

 and the Bulgarian artillery, supported by the 

 prince's regiment of infantry, repelled the at- 

 tack. The Shumadia division came up from 

 Trn in the afternoon, and endeavored to regain 

 the heights on the left commanding the road, 

 but the Bulgarians had already turned the 

 Servian position, and held their ground. The 

 Morava division hastened on from Bresnik, 

 but arrived too late and too much wearied by 

 a severe march through the mountains to save 

 the day. The Morava and Shumadia divisions 

 were unable to accomplish their plan of falling 

 upon Sofia and Slivnitza from the south, be- 

 cause they passed through an exceedingly dif- 

 ficult country in bad weather, and had great 

 trouble in finding food. A part of the Drina 

 division, sent to the north to execute a flank 

 movement, was in like manner lost and useless 

 to affect the issue of the main action. The 

 Bulgarians captured twelve guns from the 

 Danube division. Not only the Bulgarian 

 troops that were recalled from Eastern Rou- 

 melia, but the Roumelian militia, were now in 

 the field. The Servian losses on the 17th alone 

 were reported as 500 killed and wounded, but 

 unofficial accounts made them three times as 

 many. The Bulgarians lost 400 men. On the 

 20th, a Bulgarian detachment reconnoitred in 

 the direction of Bresnik, and, finding the place 

 occupied by a small force, recaptured it. On 

 the 21st, Prince Alexander took up positions 

 that compelled the Servians to abandon the 

 road and withdraw to the positions on the 

 heights, fronting to the north. On the 22d 

 the Eastern Roumelian militia, under the com- 

 mand of Lieut. -Col. Nicolaieff, advanced along 

 the road to attack the Servian positions. The 

 Servians, fearing that their retreat through 

 the narrow defile would be cut off, retired as 

 rapidly as possible to Pi rot. The Bulgarian 

 prince did" not venture to attack them sooner, 

 or to advance with the main body of his forces, 

 because he was not certain that another attack 

 would not be made on his left flank. The Ser- 

 vians, demoralized by their defeat, were easily 

 dislodged from the steep heights (which were 

 less defensible than a gentle slope would be, 

 because they afforded to the storming ^ party 

 many sheltered spots), and retreated without 

 awaiting the bayonet-charges. The Morava 

 and Shumadia divisions retired simultaneously 

 with the main body in order to avoid a catas- 

 trophe. The Servian losses, in the battles from 

 the 17th to the 21st of November, were esti- 

 mated at 6,000 in killed and wounded. 

 Bulgarian loss was much lighter, owing to the 



