October 12, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
/^ ToPrilep,. 
9 Miles 
IV 
Zc/ze ofTfencAesr, 
' Present Allied 
'm^h 
Kayniakchalati 
i\V/-. 
cm CifFlonna ^\^ [English Mtles 
le- 
line between the mountains and the river Czerna was 
standing when the last despatch, upon which this article is 
based, reached London on Tuesday. 
The continuation of the line by the river Czerna had 
not the same good fortune. To understand what 
happened there we must go back a little to the capture 
a couple of weeks ago of the dominating peak of Kay- 
makchalan by the Serbian contingents. This great 
mountain stands above the level of the river more than 
six thousand feet, and completely overlooks all the high 
land to the north. The positions upon its slopes and 
lummit were violently contested, and it was the carrying 
jf that point which convinced the enemy of the necessity 
)f retiring upon the Czerna line, (i) 
The Bulgarians withdrew to beyond the Czerna, and 
sstablished themselves upon the left or northern further 
3ank of that stream, and apparently believed themselves 
:o be in sufficient strength here to hold the line thus 
idopted. The despatch sent out by the enemy and 
referring to the event of Friday and Saturday last de- 
scribed the Serbian attacks upon the Czerna line as having 
failed, but there soon came further news from the Allied 
Command showing that as a fact these attacks had suc- 
ceeded. Two Serbian columns at least forced the river. 
The one in front of Skochivir (the point marked 3 on Map 
IV) which village on the northern bank was stormed by the 
Serbians last Sunday or Saturday evening, and held and 
consolidated by them ; the other forcing the river some- 
where between Dobrovenir on the southern and Brod 
upon the northern bank. 
At the moment of writing, therefore, the original 
Bulgarian line is turned upon its left, but we have yet 
to see whether the enemy is in suflicicnt strength 
to entrench and hold a little further back, though 
he has lost the river. Should the enemy lose his 
(i) In my article oi that date describing the Serbian advance a false 
description led me into an error. The Serbians were at that moment 
crossing the line of the River Brod. I mistook this for the village and . 
bridge of tlie same name upon the Czerna ?i>c miles to the north. 
entrenched positions across the plain his next line would 
presumably pass through H eleven, shortened by the 
presence of marshy ground upon his left. The streams 
which cross the plain parallel to one another would seem 
not to be sufficient to form a line. They present apparentlv 
no serious obstacle. A second line thus defended through 
Holeven or just in front of it would, as I have pointed out, 
have the advantage of being shorter on account of the 
marsh to the left upon which it reposed. But it would 
suffer from this grave disadvantage : That the marshes, 
if the enemy should fall back so far, would cut his line 
into two, and his troops operating in the hills beyond 
the Czerna would be separated from those operating in 
the plain. It is not a very serious disadvantage. He has 
doubtless extended the road beyond Novak, and can; 
supply from Monastir his forces beyond the river, but- 
the effect of the marshes is still a point worth noting. 
While thus concentrating our attention upon the 
Monastir sector of the Salonika front we shall alwaj'S do 
well to recall the point which has been made with such 
insistence in these columns, which is the advantage 
Belgrade 
V 
ffflbConstantinopk 
Salonica 
lOOMiles 
