RUSSIANS MAKE FURTHER ADVANCE IN ARMENIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16159, 22 February 1916, Page 7

RUSSIANS MAKE FURTHER ADVANCE IN ARMENIA.

CAPTURE OF TOWNS SOUTH OF ERZEROUM. TURKISH LINES OF COMMUNICATION COMPLETELY CUT. LARGE BODIES OF THE ENEMY FLEEING SOUTHWARD. By Telegraph— Association—Copyright. (Received February 21. 11 p.m.) London, February 20. A Russian communique states that the forces of the Grand Duke Nicholas have carried by assault Mush and Akhlat, south of Erzeroum, in Armenia. The Turks continue their flight. Military critics point out that the capture of Mush and Akhlat gravely affects the Turkish position and completely cuts the lines of communication between north and south. It deprives them of all possibility of joining up their forces.

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 south of Erzeroum, where, in September, the Khurds and Turkish gendarmes drove Armenian women and children into barns and burnt them.

Large bodies of beaten Turks are reported to be fleeing southwards, apparently making for Kharput and Diarbekr. The Eleventh Army Corps is retreating westward towards Erzingan. One regiment has already been captured.

The Russians have apparently succeeded in breaking the connection between the three army corps composing the Third Turkish Army. The Grand Duke Nicholas has transferred his headquartersi to Erzeroum.

Mush is 80 miles south of Erzeroum at an altitude of 4690 ft. The locality was the scene of a massacre of Armenians in 1894. Mush is an important military station situated at the mouth of a gorge in the mountains on the south side of a plain. Good roads lead to Erzeroum and Bitlis. The plain is very fertile, growing wheat and tobacco, and contains 213 villages. The Murad, or Eastern Euphrates traverses the western end of the plain, and disappears into a narrow gorge there. Akhlat lies on the north shore of Lake Van, 95 miles south and east of Erzeroum. Lake Van stands about 5260 ft above sea-level, and is situated about 100 miles to the south-east of Erzeroum. It is without an outlet, and its greatest depth is along the southern shore. The lake is roughly rectangular, 55 miles Ling and 40 miles broad. Sever© storms make navigation dangerous in winter. The southern shore is fringed by a steep range of mountains, which have now been almost entirely denuded of trees. The advancing Russian troops have a rough and difficult country to negotiate. On the north Armenia descends abruptly to the Black Sea; on the south it breaks down in rugged terraces to the lowlands of Mesopotamia; and on the east and west it sinks more gradually to the lower plateaus of Persia and Asia Minor. Above the general level of the plateau6oooft above sea-level bare ranges of mountains, which run from north-east to south-west at an altitude of from 8000 ft to 12,000 ft, and culminate at Ararat, 17,000 ft. Between the ranges are broad, elevated valleys, through which the rivers of the plateau flow before entering the rugged gorges that convey their waters to the lower levels. A particularly rough and rugged district lies to the south of Erzeroum in the vicinity of Mount Bingeul Dagh, and the peaks near Lake Van. Most of the towns in Armenia are situated at altitudes ranging from 4000 ft to 5000 ft. Through the long valley run the roads that connect the Iranian plateau with the fertile lands of Asia Minor.