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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3909, 8 May 1877, Page 3

The English telegrams to hand on Sunday inform us of the bombardment of Brailov or Ibrail, a fortified town on the Danube, a few miles lower down than Galatz. In reference to these operations of the Turkish gunboats on the Danube, the following clipping from a recent article in the Army and Navy Gazette is worth \ erusal : — " The Dobrudschen," it says, "forms a salient point from which a small body of men could inflict considerable damage on the Russian communications, and especially that portion of the railway which runs ; from Galatz for several miles parallel and close to the Danube. Mr Vincent (the writer whoso work is being reviewed) says that the Turks have no pontoons or other means of crossing the river ; but it is inconceivable that there should not be fishing boats, and materials for making rafts, or flying bridges. It is very possible that the Turks would be unable to pass over a large army. But a largo avmy would not be needed to cut the communications. Even half-a-dozen men could, during a few hours of the night, temporarily interrupt the railway traffic, and a hundred horsemen would hamper the passage of provision trains moving by road. Besides, there are seven Turkis:: gunboats in the Danube, and thieve is no reason to doubt that an enterprising naval officer could, in spite of torpedoes and batteries, run up with a flotilla of other gunboats and small steamers. Colonel Vincent says that the gunboats now in the river would be soon desti'o3'od by the Russian artillery, since there are absolutely no creeks in which vessels could be sheltered from guns placed on the northern banks. It is not, however, to bo imagined that the gunboats would remain stationary to be fired I at, and tho northern bank is in many places so marshy that guns could not be placed in position, even if we were to grant that the Russians could spare a sufficient number of batteries to line the entire length of the river. If the Turkish gunboats be properly handled, we believe that they will play an important part, both in obstructing the passage of the Danube by the Russians, and in facilitating the crossing of small bodies of Turks destined to operate against the invaders' communications."