Bulgars Win First Fight Of New War.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 1, 1913:
Attack Greeks and Servians Along Whole Line — Said to Have Captured Guevgheli.
THE GREEK ARMY RETIRES
Greeks Reported to Have Disarmed the Bulgarians at Salonika After Severe Fighting.
    LONDON, Tuesday, July 1.— The prolonged efforts of the powers to prevent a fratricidal war between the Balkan allies seem to have failed just at the moment when it appeared possible for the four Balkan Premiers to meet at St. Petersburg and submit their differences for Russian arbitration.
    Fighting began yesterday morning all along the lines where the Bulgarian forces are facing the Servians and Greeks. According to the Greek official account, the Bulgarian attacks extended over the Greek and Servian front of 340 miles.
    The first battle appears to have been won by the Bulgars, 36,000 of whom are reported to have attacked and captured Guevghelil.
    "This is manifestly war without a previous declaration of hostilities, and we accordingly are forced to order our division to advance," says the official Greek statement.
    An Athens dispatch to The Daily Telegraph, reports that fighting took place at Salonika between the Greeks and Bulgarians, beginning at 7 o'clock last evening. Finally the Bulgarian garrison surrendered and the town became quiet. A Salonika dispatch to The Times says that on the refusal of the Bulgarians to surrender the Greeks placed two machine guns on the White Tower and bombarded the Bulgarian quarters. After two hours' heavy firing the Bulgarians surrendered. Perfect order is being maintained in the town.
    The Times's Belgrade correspondent sends the following:
    "Nobody here doubts that war has broken out and that Montenegro and Greece, and probably Rumania also, will support Servia.
    "The Bulgarians have not omitted any act which usually accompanies a decisive rupture. Save for official protests communications have been severed between the two countries."
    The opposing armies accuse each other of initiating the offensive. The Bulgarian representatives at Athens and Belgrade respectively have presented notes protesting against Greek and Servian attacks. The Servian Government has replied by charging, that the Bulgarians are making attacks, and repudiating all responsibility.
    In Sofia the outbreak of hostilities is attributed to the machinations of the Servian Military League, which, it is contended, is determined to prevent Premier Pasitch from consenting to arbitration. From a strategic point of view, the Bulgarians declare, the Servian attack is aimed at dividing the Bulgarian army at its centre.

    SOFIA, June 30.—It is reported that the Bulgarians have occupied Guevgheli at the point of the bayonet. This is an important strategic position, where the Greek and Servian lines join.
    It is understood that Bulgarian strategy aims to hinder co-operation between the Greek and Servian forces and to prevent Servian communication with Salonika.

    SALONIKA. June 30.— The General Staff to-day issued orders to the Bulgarian troops here to surrender their arms and quit the town under Greek escort.
    Failing to comply within the stipulated hour, the Bulgarian camp was surrounded by Greek troops, the police in the meantime having stopped all traffic and taken other precautions to prevent an uprising of the Bulgarian population.

    [The above dispatch, which was filed at 10 o'clock at night, apparently has passed through the hands of the censor, as no further details were allowed to pass. The disarming of the Bulgarians took place in the afternoon, and the abrupt termination of the dispatch suggests that fighting may have occurred.]
    It is thought here that the Bulgarian policy was directed at gaining time to complete the concentration of forces and that a general attack commenced immediately this was achieved. Outpost affairs in the Panghaion district and on the River Glavo were undertaken by the Bulgarians to obtain important strategic and tactical positions.
    In accordance with instructions previously received, the Greeks, who were greatly outnumbered, fell back on the Struma River before the Bulgarian attack, and the whole Panghaion region, including the town of Elenteri, has fallen into Bulgarian hands.
    Thirty-six thousand Bulgarians attacked Guevgheli at 0 o'clock in the morning and defeated the Servians, thus cutting railroad communication, and it is reported that a strong Greek force is surrounded by Bulgarians and in a critical position at Nigrita.

    BELGRADE, June 30.— The Bulgarians this morning began an attack on the Servian troops along the whole line in Macedonia, according to dispatches from Servian headvquarters. The publication of the news created immense excitement of the Servian capital.
    The Bulgarian troops opened their attack at 2 o'clock this morning on the Servian advanced posts before Istib, and a couple of hours later their artillery was brought into action.
    The Bulgarian attack gradually spread, until fighting was proceeding at Retna, Boukva, Zletovo, Neogasi, and Valandovo.
    The Bulgarians appear intent upon seizing the railroad.
    According to a later message, the Bulgarians also attacked the Greek troops along their whole front. Large masses of troops participated in the fighting, which was of a very bloody nature.
    The Servian Government has ordered its troops everywhere to observe defensive tactics and to avoid talking the offensive.
    The Servian Premier, M. Pasitch, who was addressing the Servian Parliament in support of his policy of accepting the arbitration offered by the Russian Emperor when the news of the beginning of hostilities was brought in by an official of the Foreign Office, hurriedly left the Chamber and proceeded to his office.
    The excitement in the House was so great that the sitting had to be suspended till to-morrow. The fate of the Pasitch Cabinet remains undecided.
    The Opposition members demand guarantees that the territory in Macedonia now held by the Servian troops be annexed.

    ATHENS, June 30.— Without formally declaring war. the Greek Government has decided to address a vigorous protest to the Bulgarian Government.
    The Greek fleet was instructed to-day to sail forthwith to Tzagesi, a small port near the Gulf of Salonika.
    King Constantine started to-day for Salonika.