A GREEK SUCCESS. 683 they made a reconnaissance in force against Velestino, the ground that commanded the junction was heldby Smolenski's troops.

The force engaged in the reconnaissance was eleven squadrons of cavalry and a battery of horse artillery, the whole under the orders of Suleiman Pasha, the commander of the cavalry division. The squadrons werevery weak,having not more than fifty sabres each on an average, so that altogether Suleiman had between six andseven hundredmen with him. At the same vanceguard wasabout half a mile in front of the main body. There wereno patrols out in front or up on the hills on the flank of the column.

Suleiman was marching in careless security. Beyond the bridge there were some clumps of woodbetween the village and the high ground in front. These should have been searched at once by patrols from the vanguard. This obvious precautionappears to have beenneglected. The advanced squadron halted just outside the village while therest of the column crossed the bridge. Then the vanguard moved on, no longerby the Volo road, but by the cross road to Velestino railway station, near which Suleiman intendedto bivouac for the night.

time four battalions of infantry, or about 2,000 men. were sent on to Gherli to act as a support for the cavalry. The infantry were reservists from Asia Minor, and formed part of Nairn Pasha's brigade andHakki Pasha's division. About six o'clock the advanced squadron was suddenly fired upon by a battalion of infantry deployed north of the station. Suleiman reinforced his advanced guard with two more squadrons. Then the Greek artillery opened fire from a hill to the east of the station,and moreinfantry cameinto actionon the Volo road and on the slopeof Pilaf Tepe. Suleiman then pushed forward his cavalry in a long line of skirmishers both on the Volo and Velestino roads, andbrought his guns into action to the east of Rizomylon. At half-past six the Greeks on the Turkish right began to press forward towardsRizomylon,thus threatening the village through which lay Suleiman's line of retreat. The Pasha nowrealised that he was hopelessly outnumberedand in a dangerous position. He withdrew his guns across the bridge of Rizomylon, the cavalry covering the movement by threatening to charge the Greek left. The squadrons then followed the guns across the bridge, and the column trotted back to Gherli.

There wasnopursuit. Suleiman reported a loss of about fifty killedand wounded. The cavalry halted at Gherli,but at two in the morning an order arrived to withdraw to Kileler, where Suleiman arrived at daybreak and formed a campnear tlae village.

The road from Larissaby Gherli to Volo runs between the eastern slopes of the Kara Dagh and the shore of Lake Karla. The rocky spurs of Mount Pelion make the eastern side of the lake impracticable for any considerable force. Two and a half miles north of Velestino the roadcrosses a bridge at the village ofRizomylon (i.e.the "rice mill''). The village stands on the edge of a little ravine, down which the Rizomylon brook runs from the Kara Dagh to the lake. There was very little water in the stream in April, 1897, but its steep banks made it an effective barrier to the advance of guns and cavalry anywhere between the railway and the lake except at the village. Between tlae brook and Velestino junction a neck of high ground crossedby theroad andrailway joined the Kara Dagh to the Pilaf Tepe. These hills and the neck of high land between them closed the southern end of the long defile between Lake Karla and theKara Dagh, and formed an ideal defensiveposition covering the junction and the approachesto Volo. On the morning of April 27th Smolenski held this position with four battalions and a battery (about 1,800 men and sixguns).

Suleiman,with his column ofmounted troops, had marched from Larissa at half-past nine in the morning. He moved by the main road through Gherli, and at half-past five in the afternoon his advanced guard crossed the bridge ofRizomylon. So far no sign had been seen r:\ an enemy. The Greek villagers at Gherli had come out to meet the Pasha with white flags, to obtain assurance that their village would not be inany way molested, and they had repeatedthe current report that Velestino was not occupied exceptperhaps by a handful of fugitives.

This was the actionknown as the first battle of Velestino. It was a small affair, but the success of the Greeks came as a welcome encouragement after their recent defeats, and addedenormously tothepopularity ofSmolenski.

At noon on the 28th, General Nairn Pasha reached Kileler with a reinforcement of four more battalions and another battery, and took command of the whole force assembled there. In the afternoon he marched with it to Gherli, sending two squadrons to scout towards Velestino. The squadron that formed the Turkish ad-