The Last Battle

Today’s installment concludes Greco-Turkish War of 1897,
our selection from Battlefields of Thessaly by Sir Ellis Ashmead Bartlett published in 1897.

If you have journeyed through the installments of this series so far, just one more to go and you will have completed a selection from the great works of seven thousand words. Congratulations! For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in Greco-Turkish War of 1897.

Time: 1897
Place: Thessaly and Crete

The heat was terrific. I never have known a hotter sun than that of April 30th. The sufferings of the wounded soldiers on the bare and exposed slopes of Pilaf Tepe must have been terrible. I could hardly endure the fierce blaze of midday and tried to find shelter under an artillery-wagon. This attempt was not very successful. Three gunners were already there; so I came out and persuaded Mr. Montgomery to ask Naim Pacha if we might ride across and take shelter in the delightful-looking green wood that stretched forward on our right in the most inviting way. At first Naim seemed to object, but at last he consented. We passed the two squadrons of cavalry that were quiescent in the cornfields and also left on our right some infantry that were slowly picking their way forward.

There were plenty of Greeks lying concealed about the south western fringe of the wood; but fortunately these, being some distance from their main body in front of Kephalo, did not wish, by firing, to attract notice to their presence.

We soon found our position in the wood rather warm, being in the first line of Turkish skirmishers. As we were all very hungry, having left Elia and our luncheon behind in the Rizomylou belfry, we decided to return thither for food. On our return we passed through the supporting lines of Turkish infantry advancing to the wood, where a brisk fusillade was going on. The two squadrons of cavalry were also moving cautiously toward the trees, probably to find shelter from the Greek battery on the round hill opposite, which was just beginning to pay Naim Pacha and his staff the attention of a few shells. The fight went on without much change until four o’clock, the sound of tremendous volleys of musketry rolling down from Pelion, and, less in noise though not in quantity, also from Kephalo. The Greeks in the intrenchments in front of Kephalo must have fired an incredible number of cartridges, for they kept blazing away, volley after volley, at impossible distances. On Pilaf Tepe’ also the firing was very heavy and much more deadly, for the opposing forces were at close quarters.

Here — that is, on the Volo side — the attack was made up the steep and rocky face of a hill at least two thousand feet high. It was a difficult feat to scale such a hill at all, but in the face of heavy fire from breastworks at the top it was impossible. Probably no troops in the world but Turkish would have undertaken it. Naim’s two battalions, however, forced their way with indomitable courage up the precipitous ridge from rock to rock, but with heavy loss, until they reached the summit. There all cover failed them. Further advance became impossible, but tremendous firing went on from twelve o’clock to six. At 4.30 p.m. the Greeks, being largely reinforced, made desperate attempts to drive the Turks back on all sides, especially from Pilaf Tepe’ The volleys of rifle-firing were constant and overpowering.

The Greeks were evidently making a counter-attack. They had fresh troops and were pushing the Turks very hard. We could see the Greek skirmishers springing over the entrenchments, running down the reverse slope and up the opposite side to the next ridge. Others scrambled down the little depressions between the transverse ridges and made for the wood. The main body fired volley after volley in the direction of Suleiman’s squadrons, which must have been more than five thousand yards away and also against the Turkish infantry in Kephalo.

On Pilaf Tepe’ the firing was equally furious and far more murderous. A succession of fusillades, a roll of fire that crackled and volleyed, struck the ear, while we could see the Greeks rushing from the higher crests toward the edge of the summit, where the Turks were lying behind rocks and stones and replying with deliberation to the tremendous volleys. It was clear that the Turkish force was far too small for the task it had undertaken.

About 6 p.m. the Turks began to draw in their outlying skirmishers and to concentrate around the village. Bodies of infantry and a few cavalry, which had been visible on the far left around outlying spurs of the hills, began to move toward Rizomylou.

At 6.30 the Turks were retiring, though with most dignified and cool deliberation. They had suffered terribly from the heat and were short of ammunition. It was not until seven o’clock that the Turkish infantry fell back from Pilaf Tepe’ and Kephalo, and retired through Rizomylou deliberately and without any close pursuit upon Gherli. They fell back in a most leisurely and nonchalant way, as if they had been out for a little recreation instead of waging a bloody combat all day.

The following is from a letter by a correspondent with the Greeks :

QUOTE
“My estimate of the Greek losses in yesterday’s battle is as follows: The killed numbered fourteen, including one officer and one sergeant, while one hundred forty-two men were wounded. These losses were due mainly to the Turkish infantry fire and very few to the Turkish shells. As the enemy during the night retreated out of sight toward Larissa, I was able to ride over yesterday’s battlefield. The attempt to outflank our right must have proved disastrous, owing to the murderous musketry fire poured down from the slopes held by our infantry and Evzones. The long line of wheat-fields was strewn with corpses, many of which were clad in portions of Greek army uniforms, presumably from the depots abandoned at Larissa. The Turkish cavalry charge upon the Greek left, above Valestinos, seemed an act of sheer madness, as I viewed from below the long steep which the Turkish horsemen attempted to ascend in the face of two entrenchments of infantry — two hundred rifles in all. The Greeks speak with emotion of the gallantry of the enemy at this point. Yet very few of these horsemen succeeded in approaching within two hundred yards of the nearest Greek lines, and farther down the green wheat-fields were dotted with fallen men and horses.”

This ends our series of passages on Greco-Turkish War of 1897 by Sir Ellis Ashmead Bartlett from his book Battlefields of Thessaly published in 1897. This blog features short and lengthy pieces on all aspects of our shared past. Here are selections from the great historians who may be forgotten (and whose work have fallen into public domain) as well as links to the most up-to-date developments in the field of history and of course, original material from yours truly, Jack Le Moine. – A little bit of everything historical is here.

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