Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XII. Bulgaria attacks her allies
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
i9i3] SOLDIERS REFUSE OBEDIENCE
position of Bulair (near the Dardanelles) and to send
them to Macedonia, the soldiers of several regiments
refused to obey. They answered the reproofs and
threats of their officers with threats, and finally drove
the officers away. Then, to persuade them to obey,
some superior officers of the reserve were sent to them ;
among them was the colonel who told me all this, and
who formerly had been an artillery officer in Russia.1
When these officers began to persuade the mutinous
soldiers not to commit such a breach of discipline and
not to dishonour the name—illustrious all the world
over—of the Bulgarian soldier, the voiniks (soldiers)
replied, "But how can we retire from here? The
Turkish Army faces us; we know perfectly well that
it is not being disbanded: on the contrary, fresh
contingents are arriving daily. If we leave, the Turks will
promptly advance, will reoccupy all the territories and
all the towns which we have wrested from them with
our blood; then they will go to us, within our borders,
will burn and plunder our villages, violate our women
and butcher our children. And meanwhile we shall be
amusing ourselves by fighting our brothers and
coreligionists the Serbians! We will never consent to
this." The soldiers could only be persuaded to obey
and to consent to being led away when the reserve
officers gave their word of honour that by virtue of a
formal agreement recently concluded the Turks were
going to demobilise their Army. And this agreement
had not been invented by the reserve officers; they
themselves had received official assurance of it from
their superior officers!
1 The officers on the reserve were far more highly thought of among
Bulgarian soldiers than the officers on the active list. The common
people looked on the latter as janizaries and agents of Ferdinand’s that
were little liked and generally despised in the field. These officers had
become strangers to the people, whereas the officers on the reserve, who
had shown themselves to be quite as brave, if not braver, than those on
the active list during the Turkish war, belonged to classes of society
which the Bulgarian peasants generally esteemed: rich peasants, lawyers,
schoolmasters, former Russian officers, etc.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
