Every road in Serbia was filled with the flowing tide of human misery.
Every town and village was overcrowded. In Kroljevo in ordinary times
there are 15,000. When I reached the town it contained 120,000. The
same held good of every other center.
The government issued a decree ordering all the male population
above fourteen to leave the invaded districts before the arrival
of the enemy. This added nearly a million to the number of people
the government had to support, and under the strain the civil
administration broke down completely. Soon the old Serbia of King Milas
was completely in the hands of the Germans, while the Bulgarians drove
out the population of Serbian Macedonia.
As a consequence the only refuge left was Novi Bazar. Into this
narrow space poured an endless tide of refugees. Gaunt, hollow-eyed
men, women and children dragged themselves wearily for hundreds of
kilometers, bound they knew not whither. Always behind them they heard
the inexorable thunder of the guns, warning them to press on and on.
Thousands fell by the wayside, succumbing to cold and hunger.
Probably not since the crossing of the Alps by Napoleon has such a
military expedition been undertaken as the traversing of the Albanian
Mountains by the headquarters staff and the remains of the Serbian army.
The sight presented by Lium Koula on the eve of departure was unique.
On the mountain side for miles nothing could be seen but endless fires.
They were made by thousands of ox wagons, unable to go further, as the
road for vehicles ceases there. Fortunately the snowstorm ended and was
followed by brilliant sunshine.
Next day at 9 o'clock the headquarters staff set out. It included
300 persons and 400 pack animals. The road wound along the banks of
the Drin, which had to be crossed twice by means of picturesque old
single-span Turkish bridges, since destroyed to impede the Bulgarian
advance.
The first mistake was that of transporting the sedan chair of Field
Marshal Putnik at the head of the procession. Every time it halted
to change bearers, which was every fifteen minutes, the whole
two-mile-long procession, following in single file, had to stop also.
As a result, instead of reaching Spas before sundown, we only reached
the base of the mountain after darkness had fallen.
Here a long council was held as to whether we should bivouac in
the village below or undertake the mountain climb in the dark. The
latter course was decided upon. It was one of the most extraordinary
adventures ever undertaken. A narrow path, about four feet across,
covered with ice and snow, winds corkscrew fashion up the face of the
cliff. On one hand is a rocky wall and on the other a sheer drop into
the Drin.