THE CAUCASUS CAMPAIGN

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXXI, 22 February 1916, Page 5

THE CAUCASUS CAMPAIGN

RUSSIANS SWIFTLY OCCUPYING ARMENIA.

RETREATING TURKS BADLY SCATTERED.

FURTHER DETAILS OF THE ERZERUM VICTORY.

PETROGRAD, Feb. 21. Now that the key to Armenia has been taken, the Russians are swiftly occupying the stricken land. They hold the valley of Mush, 83 miles southward of Erzerum, where in September the Kurds and Turkish gendarmes drove Armenian women and children into barns and burnt them. Large bodies of beaten Turks are imported to be fleeing southwards, apparently making for Kharput and Diarbekir. The 11th Army Corps is retreating westward towards Erzingan, and cue regiment has already been captured. The Russians have apparently sue-1 ceeded in breaking the connection l.e-j tween the three army corps composing 1 the Third Turkish Army. Grand Duke Nicholas has transferred his headquarters to Erzerum. The surrender of the 34th-Division is explained by the fact that it was unaware of the fall of Erzerum ami vas j hastening to join the main body. The Turkish forces near the Black Sea have hastily abandoned their position* and are retreating coastwarris towards Trebizond. The Russians are pursuing them, and Tney are subjected to the constant fire of the Russian warships. The next strongly fortified • option behind Erzerum is at Sivas, but tl-e retreating columns are badly K^atterert. A division has, been ordered to Trebizond to resist the Russian attempt to seize this valuable port. Before the Germans ami Turks are able to reorganise their forces the Russians ought to be firmly established on the Armenian plateau. The Russians are making overy effort to save the vestiges of ancient Armenian civilisation. Only two monasteries are left standing in the province or Van, where thousands of valuable manuscripts have been destroyed. LONDON, Feb. L'J. The' fighting in the Erzerum c-.m- ---, paign has been utterly different to that j in Europe, for it is not in trenches. The j troops operate on roads, with the opposing forces a few miles apart, and they may be separated by a meirat&in range as completely as if they were in I different hemispheres. The Russians'success was largely due to manoeuvring, which mystified the enemy commanders to a fatal dispersion of the Turkish forces. Grand Duke Nicholas, when at Yudenitch, at first did not contemplate an assault on Erzerum, but with • the breaking of the Turkish centre there came the opportunity for a sudden stroke. Some heavy guns were laid on ?;edge;> and sweated by man-power over ihe mountains, which were deep in snow. In a night attack on Fort Tafina, without firearms the Russians, in the. starlight, crept silently over the snow and rushc-j the fort with the bayonet alone. The Siberians then attacked the greni fort of Tchabandede, the fall of which caused the disorderly Turkish rout. There was hand-to-hand fighting in the frozen marshes north of Erzerum y and the storming of the southern ridge pi oceeded simultaneously. The horrors of. the Turkish retreat were increased by the burning of the town and the merciless hail of Russian shells. The Siberians rushed fort after fort from the frontal positions, though eighty thousand Turks, under Achmet Pasha, were defending the town. j Kiamil Pasha vainly ordered two other army corps to hasten to Erzerum. The Russians, assisted by a blizzard, surrounded one division in a defile and compelled the men to surrender.