LAND AND W A T E R . 
December iS, 1915. 
a defile or gorge known as the Gorge of Demir 
Kapu. South ol ihat gorge the railway crossed the 
river on a bridge to the station of Gradetz. Further 
south again be\ond Strumitza Station it re- 
crossed the river, then proceeded down the \alley, 
crossing again much further to the south and so 
reaching Salonika. 
The French at the beginning of the movement 
held, not only the triangle of Kavadar, but posi- 
tions beyond the Vardar River, covering the 
Demir Kapu Gorge ; thence the line went on 
eastward, south of Strumitza town in Bulgarian 
territory and on to the south-east of that town, 
passing through and in front of Kosturino. All 
this right or eastern end of the line v. as held by the 
British. Behind the British was the frontier ridge 
of mountains, and behind that again the Lake 
Doiran. The state of affairs then, at the inception 
of the movement was that indicated upon the 
accompanying diagram III. The Allies lay, as does 
the thick dotted line on diagram III, in extension 
about fifty miles and on an average some eighty 
miles from their base at Salonika. The Bul- 
garians, in far superior number, were beginning to 
attack along the direction of the arrows, and their 
turning movement was developing by the right, 
that is along the arrows i i. 
Already, ten days ago, the French began 
evacuating their principal position in the triangle 
of Kavadar between the Czerna and Vardar Rivers, 
and were standing at the north end of the Demir 
Kapu Gorge by the railway through which they 
were evacuating their stores, an operation which 
they performed with success. 
It was upon Tuesday of last week that the 
main Bulgarian advance began, taking the form 
of a very violent attack upon the French positions 
at the head of the gorge and upon the eastern 
bank of the Vardar beyond it, while at the same 
time they were attacking the British lines in front 
of Strumitza and massing on the extreme right 
to turn the British flank by Kosturino. 
Upon the Wednesday, December 8th, the 
line had fallen back as far as Gradetz, having 
destroyed the tunnel in the Demir Kapu Gorge 
and the bridge over the river north of Gradetz 
station. That evening and night— that is, the 
night between Wednesday and Thursday— the 
French rearguard maintained itself in Gradetz 
with a good deal of street fighting, which appears 
to have been expensive in men. By the Thursday 
the French were standing north of Strumitza 
station. 
Meanwhile, further to the east, the attack 
was proceeding against the British line, and it was 
apparently upon that Thursday that its chief 
activity developed : Thursday, December the 9th. 
The lighting appears to have continued on into 
Friday the loth before the British fell back, but 
we have not full details of this at the moment of 
writing, Monday noon.* The weight of the 
attack came, of 'course, as we have said, upon the 
British flank along the arrows i i upon diagram III, 
the object of the enemy being to turn this flank 
with his superior numbers and to envelop the line. 
In this he seems to have failed, but this main 
attack taking place in a dense fog cost the force 
fifteen hundred casualties, and the loss of 8, or 
(according to the erngmy's account) 10 guns. At 
the end of it the .whole line was retired and 
*The printing of my article this week has to be advanced by more 
than 2j hours. 
ytks 
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SALONIKA 
