RUSSIANS ADVANCE UPON TURKISH FORTRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15767, 16 November 1914, Page 8

RUSSIANS ADVANCE UPON TURKISH FORTRESS.

TFRKS DRIVEN INTO THE MOUNTAINS.

NEW FIGHTING ON OLD BATTLEGROUND. (Recoiled November 13, 7.30 p.m.) Petroqrad, November 14. The Russians are advancing upon the Turkish fortress of Erzerum, in Armenia, on three sides. The road is practically open to within a tew miles, where the Russians are confronted with the formidable hevehoyim Heights, the scene of severe fighting in the Russian-Turkish V..U- of 1877. The Turks have reinforced Erzerum from Trebizond, <n the Hlack Sea roast. The Russians inflicted great losses on the lurk?. A flank attack on the Russian left wing was caught by a I' inching crossfire from mountain artillery and broken up by infantry charges. The Caucasians are now pursuing the Turks into the mountains. The Russians assaulted a fortified position of the Turks near the l".-zok Pass on the night of the 11th. Ki-z.-rum is the chief town of an important vilayet of the same name in Asiatic Turkey. It is a military station and a fortress of considerable strategical von., dosing the roads to important parts of the Russian frontier. Several important routes from Trebizond and various parts of Anatolia converge towards ii from the west. It i. situated at the eastern end of a bare, open plain, 30 miles lung and about 12 miles wide, bordered by steep, rounded mountains and iraM-rswl by the western Euphrates. The town is surrounded by an earthen <-mvint«> or rampart with some forts on the hills just above it, and others on a ridge facing east., the whole forming a position of considerable strength. Inside lie ramparts the town lies rather cramped, with narrow, crooked streets, badly chained and dirty. The town has a population of 43.000, including about 10,000 Armenians and 2000 Persians. It is the seat of the British Consulate ' for iMii'ihstan, and there are other European Consulates besides an American mission v ith schools. Situated on the main road from Trebizond into north-west Persia, tin- town has always a largo caravan traffic, principally of camels, but since the improvement of communications in Russia this has declined. Erzerum is a town of great antiquity. It was captured by the Seljuks in 1201, when it was an important city and fell into Turkish possession in 1517. In July, 1829, it was captured by the Russian general Paskevich, and the occupation continued until the peace of Adrianople in 1829. The town was unsuccessfully attacked by the Russians in 1877 after a victory gained by them a short time previously on the I'evelinvuni Heights. It was occupied by them during the armistice in February, 1878, and restored to Turkey after the Treaty of Berlin. In 1859 a'severe earth' quake destroyed much of the town, and another in 1901 caused much damage.