SERVIA. 



731 



strength of their position, and because the 

 Servian fire was mostly at long range. After 

 the failure of the Servian attack on Slivnitza, 

 Gen. Jovanovich was tried by court-martial 

 and dismissed from his command, for disobey- 

 ing orders in attempting to storm the Bulgarian 

 ! position instead of remaining on the defensive 

 ' in his intrenched position on the heights. He 

 afterward committed suicide. Gen. Meskovich 

 was censured for neglect of duty in not deliv- 

 ering the flank attack on Slivnitza in time. 

 Gen. Horvatovich, who was the diplomatic 

 representative of Servia at St. Petersburg, was 

 'called home to take command of the army. 

 j Col. Transovich was appointed Minister of 

 War. The retreating Servian forces attempt- 

 , ed to make a stand on the Trn and Tsaribrod 

 I line. On the 23d, Dragoman, Bresnik, Per- 

 nik, and Izvor were again in the hands of the 

 Bulgarians. On the 22d Prince Alexander re- 

 ceived a telegram from the Grand Vizier, pro- 

 posing an armistice, and saying that Servia had 

 agreed. He replied that he had not begun the 

 war, and that his military honor would not al- 

 low him to agree to a truce as long as a Servian 

 remained on Bulgarian soil. 



The united four divisions of the Servian 

 army took up a strong position along the 

 frontier, four miles beyond Tsaribrod, and the 

 headquarters were withdrawn to Nish. The 

 bridge over the Nishava was burned by the 

 Servians. On the 23d Prince Alexander re- 

 occupied Tsaribrod. There was firing at vari- 

 ous points along the Servian line of retreat, 

 and a severe fight on the right wing of the 

 Bulgarians, near Tsaribrod, in which the Bul- 

 garians captured several standards and guns, 

 and broke the Servian ranks with bayonet- 

 charges. Prince Alexander ordered an assault 

 upon a height commanding the vicinity of 

 Tsaribrod, occupied by the Shumadia division. 

 While one battalion of the Varna regiment ap- 

 proached on the flank and engaged the atten- 

 tion of the Servians, three other battalions 

 passed around at the rear and ascended the 

 hill, firing volleys and supported by a battery. 

 When half-way up they charged with the bay- 

 onet and forced the Servians to retreat in con- 

 fusion. The Bulgarians lost 120 men and capt- 

 ured 50 prisoners. 



On the afternoon of the 24th the Servians 

 attacked the Bulgarian center, but were re- 

 pelled, and retreated across the frontier. The 

 troops in Trn were simultaneously moved into 

 Servian territory. 



At Pirot the Servian reserves joined the 

 army, raising its strength to over 50,000 men. 

 From Tsaribrod the Bulgarian army advanced 

 upon Pirot and met with no resistance until 

 within three miles of the town. Supposing 

 they were ahead of the Servians in reaching 

 the place, the Bulgarians approached on the 

 afternoon of the 26th, in marching order. Sud- 

 denly a powerful field-battery, posted beyond 

 the town orftthe left, unmasked, and poured a 

 hail of shells into the Bulgarian center, where 



Prince Alexander and his staff, and the Minis- 

 ter of War, Zariott', rode at the head of the 

 column. A hot fire of shrapnel and rifle-vol- 

 leys was opened at the same instant from a 

 commanding position on the left flank. The 

 center fell back, and Prince Alexander sent 

 orders along the line not to attempt to take 

 the town, nor to be drawn into a general 

 engagement before the morrow. Maj. Gut- 

 cheif, with a large body of troops, had gone 

 before on the Knaievatch road with the de- 

 sign of cutting off the line of retreat. When 

 he found the enemy in force at Pirot, the Bul- 

 garian prince formed the plan of first clearing 

 the heights on the left, and then breaking 

 through the Servian center with the central 

 column under Col. Nikolaieff, and driving one 

 part back upon Nish, and the other along the 

 road toward Knaievatch into the arms of Maj. 

 Gutcheff's column. In the morning the heights 

 were found to be in the possession of Capt. 

 Popoff, who, hearing the cannonade, had come 

 up from Trn in the night and driven the Ser- 

 vians out of the position at the point of the 

 bayonet. The Servians were driven out of 

 Pirot in the evening of the 26th. In the morn- 

 ing the Servian left assumed the offensive and 

 recaptured the town, but evacuated it again in 

 two hours. The Bulgarian manoeuvres were 

 successfully carried out according to the plan. 

 Pirot was captured, and the heights behind it 

 were carried by irresistible bayonet-charges. 

 The right wing of the Servians retreated to 

 Nish, and the left was finally driven into the 

 Knaievatch road. Maj. Gutcheff, however, 

 was not there to intercept them the march 

 through the mountains had taken longer than 

 was expected, and he had been delayed by an 

 encounter with a detachment of the enemy. 

 The battle of Pirot lasted twenty-four hours. 



The Bulgarian losses during the entire war 

 were reported as 2,300 men killed and wounded, 

 and 500 taken prisoners. The number of Ser- 

 vian prisoners in the hands of the Bulgarians 

 at the close of hostilities was 1.100. 



After the retreat of the Bulgarians from all 

 their positions in the Widdin district into the 

 fortress, the panic was such that the place was 

 in danger of falling into the hands of the Ser- 

 vians without a struggle; but the Bulgarian 

 troops, who were undisciplined volunteers, 

 soon recovered their spirit, and were able to 

 withstand the siege and force the lines to open 

 communications. Several engagements were 

 fought with Gen. Leshjanin's troops, in which 

 both sides lost heavily. After the disasters of 

 Slivnitza and Dragoman a large part of Gen. 

 Leshjanin's force was withdrawn from the dis- 

 trict, and a continual bombardment of the town 

 was kept up to conceal the movement. 



When the Porte issued a proclamation in 

 Eastern Roumelia calling upon the people to 

 return to their allegiance, and sent two deputy 

 commissioners to Philippopolis, the Eastern 

 Roumelian soldiers with Prince Alexander de- 

 clared that, after they had poured out their 



