Look at the railway line running from Uskub to Mitrovitza and find the pass of Katchanik. If the northern army was to get away safely into Montenegro, the Bulgarians must be prevented from pushing to their rear and swinging to the north to cut off the retreat. It was therefore necessary to hold the enemy at Katchanik Pass. Five thousand men, all that was left of the garrison at Uskub, along with three regiments from the north, now prepared to make a stand. Their guns were on the heights, and they had sufficient ammunition for a battle of several days. The Bulgarians advanced on a fifteen-mile front, but the Serbian guns drove them back. On the third day the Serbians attacked with bombs and the bayonet. All night the desperate struggle continued, and after twelve hours' fighting the Bulgarian line was pierced. But the enemy in overwhelming strength formed up behind the gap and began to enclose the little Serbian force. It fell back fighting and joined the retreating northern army. But it had done its work--the danger of disaster was over. Another stand was made at the Babuna Pass, which you will see on the map, about fifty miles south of Katchanik Pass. You will notice from the map that if the Bulgarians could get to Prilep no supplies could reach the Serbians from the south. If, too, the Allies could retake the town of Veles,[81] Uskub would be threatened, and the Bulgarians would not be able to follow up the northern army. In the first days of November some 5,000 Serbians actually held the crest of the Babuna Pass for more than a week. The Allies, however, could make no headway from the south, and the gallant rearguard, finding six divisions of the enemy before it, was forced to fall back into Albania. * * * * *