ut finally numbers began to show the advantage, and the Serbians were
obliged to retire from ridge to ridge. Village after village was taken
and burned.

In Macedonia, Todoroff, though his force was much smaller, was having
comparatively easy work. A large part of the vital railroad line
passed through this section and it was Todoroff's first aim to throw
himself astride of it, thus effectually breaking off communication
between the vanguard of the French army and the Serbians. It was this
portion of the country that the Greeks would have defended, had they
joined the Allies.

The first thing that Todoroff did was to detach a strong force from
his main body, with which he struck at the railroad between Vranya and
Zibeftcha and succeeded in cutting it. The detachment of the Southern
Morava was driven back at the first encounter and on October 17, 1915,
the Bulgarians entered Vranya. On the same day the main body of the
Bulgarians advanced down the slopes from Kustendil and took Egri
Palanka, on the road toward Kumanova and Uskub. Farther south they
penetrated the Valley of the Bregalnitza, the scene of the Bulgarian
defeat in the Second Balkan War, where they captured the important
strategic point, Sultan Tepe, and the town of Katshana, taking twelve
field pieces. Passing rapidly on through Ishtip, they occupied that
part of Veles lying east of the Vardar River, where, on October 20,
1915, they again cut the railroad line and so made any further advance
on the part of the French almost impossible. The next day the
Bulgarians captured Kumanova and then, on the day following, drove the
Serbians on through Uskub. The Serbians retired fighting to Katshanik
Pass, north of Uskub, where they made a stand that became one of the
notable achievements, on their part, of the whole campaign. For by the
defense of this pass they made the Bulgarian effort to cut Serbia in
two for some time fruitless.

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE TEUTONIC INVASION ROLLS ON

Meanwhile, Bulgaria having plunged into the fighting, the Teutonic
allies in the north resumed their efforts to advance southward. But
for some time they had all they could do to maintain themselves on the
banks of the rivers. Before them rose the rock-ribbed hills skirting
the mountains of the interior, and along these hills the Serbians had,
during the previous ten months, built up line after line of strong
intrenchments, one behind the other. To carry one line was only to
g