We had much time for meditation, and pondered over the downfall of
Serbia. Why had the Serbian Government so resolutely refused to make any
territorial concessions to Bulgaria, when it was obvious that the entry
of Bulgaria into the conflict meant the ruin of Serbia? Why had they
permitted the Austrians to build their big gun emplacements on the
Danube without interruption? Why had they not withdrawn to the hills and
then built proper defences with barbed wire entanglements and
labyrinths? for properly entrenched they might have defied the
Austro-German forces for months. Some day, perhaps, these questions may
have to be answered.
One day a party came in. They had passed through Vrntze much later than
we, and we heard that Dr. Berry and an assistant had been seen hurriedly
nailing boards on to the slaughter-house roof. They, too, had come by
the Novi Bazar route. They said that the other routes were deep in snow
and that the sufferings of the army were terrible. That a great portion
had been hemmed in at Prizren, and that the Bulgars had shelled the
passes so that they could not escape.
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