THE DANUBIAN FORTRESSES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LII, Issue 5804, 2 October 1879, Page 5

THE DANUBIAN FORTRESSES.

Tke Bucharest correspondent of the Times writes:—

In sailing down the Danube I passed Widin in the night, and was, therefore, unable to note personally the progress made in, the demolition of the fortifications at that place. Nothing has been done to the works around Nioopons, and at Rustchuk two small earthworks on the bluff near the landingplace for the steamers have been levelled, and the facings of the scarp, counter-scarp, and revetment walls of the old fortifications havebeen removed. The defences of all these Danubian towns show two systems of con-struction-ancient and modem. The former consists of permanent fortifications with flanking towers or bastions extending in a continuous line immediately around the town. These works have wide and deep ditches with glacis, the s:arps, counterscarps, and revetments being of rubble masonry laid in strong mortar, and with facing walls of cut stones in a single course. The parapets are of earth and turfed. This out stone facing is valuable for building purposes and has been removed, but the rubble wall remains, and therefore the ramparts are practically as strong as before. These old fortifications are, however, of little value in modem warfare. They are of too limited extent to contain the huge bodies of men now employed in military operations, and are not only commanded in every case on the Danube by surrounding heights, but their construction is such that they could not stand a bombirJmenb of ordinary 20-pounder field-guns. The modern system of defence consists of a chain of detached earthworks crowning the heights at some distance from the towns themselves. Now, as these earthworks, even if levelled, can be thrown up again in a few days, and the old fortifications are of little, if any, real value, in modem warfare, it will be readily seen that the demolition of the Danubian fortresses is more a question of diplomatic pride relative to the execution of the Treaty of Berlin than of practical military importance. Considerable stress has been laid in some quarters upon the amount of arms and ammunition left in Bulgaria by the Russians. The Muscovite Infantry of the line made the campaign with large-bore Kranka rifles, transformed f; om muzzle-loaders j the cartridges were of paper and the powder of inferior quality. Now, as the line regimen's are being armed with the Berdan rifle, used during the war by the Guard and Grenadier divisions, and this rifle fires the metallic cartridges universally used in modern warfare, it is easily intelligible how the Kranka cartridges stored in Bulgaria, not being worth the cost of transportation home, should have been presented in liberal quantities to .the Bulgarian Militia, who arearmed with Kranka rifles. These discarded, rifles are worthless except for old iron, and, therefore, they have also been left behind in large numbers. The Russian Artillery used brass guns of inferior quality, An entire new equipment has been ordered from Krupp’s works at Essen. Tbo Bulgarian? have, therefore, received liberal supplies of this discarded weapon.