GERMAN CRITICISM OF RUSSIAN STRATEGY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XV, Issue 5173, 15 June 1878, Page 6

GERMAN CRITICISM OF RUSSIAN STRATEGY.

A coRREsroNDEHT of the Timet writes from Berlin, April 10th: —The strategy and tactics of the Russo-Turkish war are the subject of an important book, just published at Berlin by Captain von Trotha, under the title of " Der Kampf nm Plevna." The learned author, who is attached to the Frederick William IV. Grenadiers, judges very severely the strategy of the Grand Duke Nicholas and his staff. He regards it as absolutely certain that if Osman Pasha had assumed the offensive after the first victory at Plevna, and if anything like an ordinary amount of military intelligence had been displayed at that juncture by the commanders of the Shumla and Balkan forces, the Russian armies must have been destroyed. As it was, Osman Pasha was left in the lurch, and the occupation of Plevna, an excellent move if assisted by the other generals, became a mistake, and led to an irreparable catastrophe. But supposing there had been no Plevna, the Russians having crossed the Balkans with insufficient force, a judicious resistance offered by the Turks must have imperilled the position of the invader and the indiscreet generals in command. In all this, the author seems to believe that, considering the extreme valour of the Russian rank and file, victory would have been on the Ottoman side had not an incalculable degree of sloth and stolidity been displayed by the appointed commanders.