THE GRECO-TURKISH WAR 678 munications at Salonika,there wereotherpoints where it could have acted just as effectively and withevenlessrisk. Therailway fromAdrianople to Salonika in several places ran near the coast, and the fleet, with the help of strong landing parties,ought to have been able to destroy miles of it and thus seriously interrupt the supply of theTurkish army on the frontier. There was, it is true, an attempt made to cut the line, but it was ill directed, and the force employed was insufficient. On April 19th, a band of 150 irregulars were landed from a Greek gunboatin the Gulf of Kavala with orders to attack the railway. The place was badly chosen, as the line is here a considerable distance from the shore. The band,marching inland,was attacked next day by Turkish infantry and gendarmes, anddispersed, losing 42 killed and 28 prisoners.

After the retreat of the Greek army from Larissa,the fleet proceeded to Volo to assist in the defence of the town. Henceforth itdid not even attempt to intervene actively in the conflict. The Turks had expected that it would land troops on their flank and rear to spread insurrection in Macedonia, that it would try to cut their line of communications, and raise the Greek flag in the islands of the Ægean that were still subject to the Sultan. But, with complete command of the sea, its only exploits were the bombardmentof a few coastvillages in the first days of the war. The reason for this strangeinaction is still a mystery.

place was so far inland that little damage was done.

At day-break on Thursday, the 22nd, the fleet appeared off Katerina. The village had been used by the Turks as a place where they could easily land stores for their army, and there was a considerable accumulation of these in sheds near the shore. When the ships opened fire, the small Turkish garrison and the inhabitants retiredinland. The depot of stores was soon in flames, and a landing party from the fleet ensured its completedestruction. In the afternoon oneof theships and two torpedo boatsran down the coast to a point near Leptokarya, where they tried to land a party, but the boats were repulsedby the rifle fire of a Turkish company.

During the next few days the fleet cruised in the Gulf of Salonika and threw a few shells into the coast villages. It wasexpected thatit would have attackedSalonika, which wasonly defended by a single battery and some torpedoes, but it did not even closely approach the city, which was the point through which all supplies and reinforcements had to pass inorder to reach the Turkish armies. It was afterwards reported, perhaps correctly*, that the Greek Government had been warned that on account of international interests at Salonika no attack must be madeon the place, and that ifit wereattempted the warships of the Powers would intervene. But even if the fleet were thus debarred from an enterprise against the Turkish line of coman en r LAMIA: GREEK MILIl'ARY 11ASE NEAR THERMOPYLÆ,