Visit to 
Fiell 
Battery in 
camp. 
Distribution 
of army in 
Thsssaly, 
Tekke to 
Pha rsala. 
Pharsala. 
488 WITH THE TURKS. 
After our interview with the Pasha we examined the positions of 
the recent fight, on the scene of which we were encamped, some of the 
trees near our tent being scored with bullet marks. I had heie the 
privilege of seeing a Turkish Field Battery in camp, 1 armed with six 
Krupp 8*7 cm guns, with three ammunition wagons and was informed 
that the ammunition carried was 15 shrapnel and 15 common shell 
with three case shot per limber. Being hurried, I was unable to note 
any other points of interest; I was not able to see the horses, but on 
other occasions, when I met batteries of artillery on the road, they 
appeared to be of a sufficiently powerful stamp and in fair condition; 
they were, I believe, Hungarians for the most part. The harness 
seemed of the flimsiest description, but with plenty of spare rope, no 
doubt, serves its purpose. Pole draught is of course employed. 
I gathered the following particulars of the distribution of the 
Turkish force in Thessaly, which consisted of seven divisions as 
follows:— 
1st Div. commanded by Hayari Pasha at Tekke. 
2nd 
>> 
33 
33 
Neshat Pasha 
33 
Pharsala. 
3rd 
33 
33 
Memduh Pasha 
33 
Tatarli. 
4th 
33 
33 
33 
Haidar Pasha 
33 
fBde. Tekke. 
b ,, Elassona. 
5th 
>3 
33 
33 
Hakki Pasha 
33 
Velestino. 
6th 
33 
33 
33 
Hamdi Pasha 
33 
Pharsala. 
7th 
33 
33 
33 
Islam Pasha 
33 
Elassona and commit- 
nications. 
In Epirus two more divisions under the command of Hifsi Pasha. 
I understand that the advance was for a time delayed pending the 
arrival of supplies. The cavalry were said to be very short of horses 
and, from what I subsequently heard, I believe that not more than a 
squadron, about 50 strong, was available for reconnaissance duty with 
each division, and that no such thing as a cavalry division existed. 
About 600 were employed as orderlies and escorts to the staff, foreign 
attaches, correspondents, and others. 
In the afternoon we left Tekke for Pharsala, only five or six miles 
distant, passing on the way the shelter trenches thrown up by the 
Greeks during their retreat across the plain, and the little walls of 
clods used by the Turks in their advance. A sharp fight took place 
about the railway station and bridge over the river about a mile north 
of Pharsala, and it was here that the Turkish advance was checked at 
nightfall on the 6th. 
*At Pharsala we were accommodated in a large house which had been 
the Head-Quarters of the Crown Prince of Greece and seemed to have 
been somewhat luxuriously furnished, but in which the “Bashi Bazouk^ 
I I was told that this battery had especially distinguished itself at Pharsala, 
