THE GRECO-TURKISH WAR 674 on April 24th. Four brigades of infantry and several batteries of artillery were to reinforce the Turkish armyof Epirus as soon as they couldbe mobilised. At the same time the Governor at Janina was ordered to put Mustapha Hilmi Pasha, the unfortunate commander of the ist Division, under arrest and send him to Constantinople to betried by court-martial.

Before the new Governor couldreach Janina, Ahmed Hifzi was able to report a complete change in the situation. Colonel Manos had conducted his operations in a most leisurely style, and had broken up his small force into several detachments for variouspurposes,instead of making a bold dash for Janina. Once the Turks had rallied, the Greek strategy- invited disaster.

On April 22nd,Manos hadhis headquartersat Philippiades, and the ist Brigade was in and about the village. A part of the 2nd Brigade held the bridge of Luros;a small detachment occupiedSalagora. The rest of thebrigade,with the help of some irregulars, was watching the passages over the Arta River, and seized the bridge of Plakka, the only bridge on its upper course. In the eveningof the 22nd the Greek cavalry found out that theTurkshad abandoned the fort (or fortified barrack) of Pentepigadia, which commands a narrow defile on theoldroad to Janina. Manos at once sent off a battalion -of the 10th Infantry, under Major Coumoundouros, to occupy the fort and hold the defile. The battalion reached the fort early on the morningof the 23rd and placed outposts on the hillsto the northward, towardsBuratsa.

On thesame day (April 23rd)Manos brokeup the small force he had at Philippiades into four detachments:— -(1) A column composed of the 6th Infantry (threebattalions), a field battery,half a squadron of cavalry, and a detachment of engineers, was to march to the support of Coumoundouros at Pentepigadia.

(2) A battalion of the 9th Infantry was sent off to the north-westward towards the Suliote country, on the report that the Suliote Albanians were in revolt.

(3) The two remaining battalions of the 9th Infantry and twelve guns were sent towards Prevesa" to cut off the retreat of thegarrison,' Manos believing that they were in extremities and might try to force their way out to avoid surrender to the Greek fleet.

(4) He retained as a reserve at Philippiades rstwo battalions of the 10th Infantry, a battalion Albanians. The Christians began to barricade themselves in their houses, or crowded the foreign consulates. Many of the wealthy Turks took refuge in the citadel. The Governor and Commander-in-Chief,Ahmed Hifzi Pasha, took steps to deal with the dangers of the situation. Two reliable battalions of the istDivision,which held NorthernEpirus, wereordered to hold the roadto Janina from thesouth at the village and pass of Kirmizi Kilisse,fivemiles from the city, and to barthe way against any disbanded troops coming from the south. The Governor, with a strong escort, and accompanied by a number of influential Albanianchiefs,rodeon toDavitschon Han, an inn and group of houses, three miles further south at thepoint where the roads from Arta and Prevesaunite in the single highway to Janina. Here he had ordered MustaphaHilmi to halt his division. Here therefore the two brigadesmet at the fork of theroads,Suleiman's coming from Imaret and Nazif's from Luros. The former had preserved fair order and discipline on its march; the latter, with the exception of one battalion, had lost all but the appearance of regular troops. The Albanian chiefs who accompanied Ahmed Hifzi now appealed to their fellow-countrymen to fight bravelyand loyally for the Sultan, the Caliph of Islam,against the Greek invaders. The Governor promised that their legitimate grievances should be remedied,and, in order to give them immediatesatisfaction,several of the officers in whom they had no confidence were removed, and Albanian chieftains given the command in their stead. Osman Pasha, who till then had been commanding the troops near Janina, was given the command of the reorganised 2nd Division, which was to oppose the further advance of the Greeks.

There hadbeen something like a panic in the palace at Constantinople when the news arrived thatthe Turkish defence had collapsedinEpirus, and that the Albanians were on the brink of revolt, and at the same time the news from Thessaly showed that after forcing the Meluna Pass the main Turkish army was making no further progress. A new mobilisation order called out some tens of thousands more of the reserves. The veteranGhazi Osman Pasha, the hero of Plevna, was ordered to proceed to the front and take over the chief command from EdhemPasha. Saad-ed-DinPasha,the secretary of the Military Council in the capital, was appointed to the command of the troops in Epirus to replace Ahmed Hifzi, and started for Japtjr