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1912]
WAR BREAKS OUT
111
Germany waited for this moment for exactly
twenty-two months.
I must confess that from the moment war broke
out I was entirely and whole-heartedly on the side of
the Serbians, the Bulgarians, and the Greeks. I was
witnessing the accomplishment of all that had been
prepared by the efforts, the blood, and the thought of
several generations of Russian statesmen, soldiers, and
thinkers. The three small nations—of a common origin
and Orthodox—had become strong enough to risk a
contest with their time-honoured foe, alone and without
outside help ; their victory would serve as a striking
justification of all our previous policy, of all the efforts,
all the sacrifices of the Russian people; hence any one
will realise the intense interest with which I followed
the military operations which had just begun.
I knew through private sources that the Bulgarian
Army would advance boldly in Thrace, and that the key
to its final success would be the taking of Lozengrad
(Kirk-kilisseh), whilst the Serbian Army had reserved
Macedonia as its scene of action in the direction of
Skoplie (Uskub) and beyond. I was overjoyed the
morning that Gueshov telephoned to tell me that
Lozengrad had been taken by two Bulgarian divisions which
crushed the Turks by a truly overwhelming advance.
From that moment the Bulgarians were threatening the
rear of the Turkish Army, which had to retreat hurriedly
before the principal forces of the Bulgarians. By the
afternoon all the town knew of the happy event, and
towards evening there was a procession of townspeople,
school children, Macedonians, and reservists marching
with torches through the principal streets, and stopping
to cheer lustily in front of the Palace and the houses of
Gueshov and Danev, and more lustily still in front of
the Russian Legation. This time I thought it my duty
to go out on to the corner balcony which overlooked
the Square, to listen to the excited speeches of the
leaders of the procession and to reply by a short but
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