For a month past I have met hundreds of thousands of such refugees, who
wander on aimlessly from town to town, driving flocks and herds before
them, always trying to keep a couple of days march in advance of the
invader.
It goes without saying that they add enormously to the difficulties of
the military situation. They block the roads and overcrowd towns and
villages. When their food supplies run down they are face to face with
starvation. And when one remembers that a similar exodus is going on
from the south before the Bulgarian invader the horror of the situation
may be imagined....
The whole of Old Serbia, the Serbia of King Milan, is in the hands of
the Germans, while the Bulgarians are masters of nearly the whole of
Serbian Macedonia.
* * * * *
I had hardly been asleep half an hour when I was aroused by a
tremendous explosion, followed a quarter of an hour later by a
succession of minor explosions. These were caused by the blowing up of
the ammunition wagons. The crimson glare announced that the scores of
cars on the railway siding were ablaze.
At the same time an engine just opposite my windows began whistling
stridently. Downstairs in the courtyard I found the whole population,
male and female, old and young, busy looting the carriages and trucks
not yet a prey to the flames.
Half a dozen wagons filled with boots for the Rumanian army, which had
been lying in the siding for three months, were being plundered. Two
other wagons filled with 50,000 francs' worth of cigarette papers,
wagons filled with Serbian wine, French champagne, liqueurs and
perfumery, were also given over to plunder. Thousands of bags of flour,
boxes of biscuits, tinned meats and sardines covered the ground on all
sides, while the inhabitants of the village were loading carts and
handbarrows.
These people were not worrying much about the approach of the Germans.
As they had determined to be taken prisoners, they regarded the advance
of the invaders philosophically.
My chief worry was Varvarian, which I could see only four miles away.
It had been occupied at dawn by the German cavalry, and, of course,
they might risk a sudden dash for Chichivatz, and perhaps even Salatz,
down the line.
We therefore determined to return at once for Krusevatz. The press of
vehicles on the road was so great that we saw we could proceed quicker
on foot, so we left the carriage to follow and started to cover the
intervening twenty kilometres.
When we reached Krusevatz, late in the afternoon, we found the town
apparently in high festival. Everybody seemed in the best of humor and
gaiety reigned everywhere.
We soon discovered the cause. The whole town, men, women and children,
had been drinking unlimited quantities of French champagne, a trainful
of which was lying in the station. When the capture of the town was
seen to be inevitable orders were given there, as elsewhere, to let
the population plunder everything in sight, and the order had been
faithfully obeyed.
I doubt, however, if this had the effect of preventing the goods
falling into the hands of the Germans. The latter would not be long
in hearing of what had happened. They would simply post up a notice
to the inhabitants telling them to bring back all the plunder to the
"Kommandatur," twelve bullets being provided for any one who should
fail to do so. This, plus the threat of a house-to-house search
to discover those who had failed to obey, would probably rake in
nine-tenths of the goods.
The great retreat of the Serbian army across the mountains had now
begun. With their 300,000 bayonets, in spite of the fact that the
Teutons were, as far as physique went, the most miserable material it
was ever my lot to see, they continually outflanked the 150,000 men the
Serbians were able to oppose to them.
The Serbian armies, except the division which was opposing the
Bulgarians in the south, were forced back on the mountain range, which
at this point runs transversely across Serbia, and behind which lies
the old Turkish province, the Sandpak of Novi Bazar, and the Plain of
Kossovo.
The operation of conducting the retreat of the Serbian armies through
the mountain passes was like filtering a fifty-gallon cask through the
neck of a pint bottle. The transport of 20,000 ox-drawn army service
wagons, whose best gait is about two miles an hour, alone constituted a
formidable problem.
* * * * *
In view of the terrible nature of the roads, we had to add a third
horse to the team of our carriage. A mile from the town we found
ourselves in a mass of wagons, which every instant became more
congested. The passage of tens of thousands of guns and wagons had
churned the roads into a huge quagmire.