THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 320, 2 May 1877, Page 3

THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR.

I Vne of the Danube Defence. ■fl'c (exchange) condense the following Li the Review Militaire de VEtranger, ■scribing the relative importance of the Eeral points at which the passage of the Knube might be effected, and which will ■ this time be of interest to our ■aders: — IThe right bank of the Danube, from ■ e confluence of the Timok to Ruschuk, ■rtns a continuous terrace, without any ■eat undulations, only parted by water ■annels from the Balkan. The terrace ■often terminated by deep slopes, washed ■ their feet by the Danube. The Rou■anian bank is a low plain of meadow Mm&, which is submerged during floods streams running through it. Bidin is the first fortified town met with ■ descending the Danube. It has 30,000 ■habitants, and is situated on low and ■vrsby soil. It commands the river and Biacent islands, but is itself commanded K high positions on the right and left ■inks 0 of the river. On the land side, ■fidin is surrounded by two concentric ,rtitied encientes. The first is only inple earthwork parapet, which is Hanked jrll redoubts, each armed with six guns, t either extremity of this line are strong jdottbts. Tuere is a second and inner B e of defence, in the form of a half circle, imposed of seven bastioned fronts, and a tha river side of two paral'el walls, 'here are posterns for sorties. The castle f Widin, formerly a strong fortress, is 10 w nsed as a magazine. The armament I Widin, in last July, was 120 Paixhan annons of 9, 11, and 17 inches; 13 Krupp eld guns of 12i inches ; 16 mortars, of rhich two are 26 inches. They were to ie reinforced by 24 Krupp guns. A corespondent of the National Ztitvng says his armament had a little different comosition, viz., 62 large Krupp, and So liner pieces, total 147. Widin is conidered on all sides as one of the bulwarks if the Turk"sh Empire, able to offer some esistance ; but likely to be destroyed by latteries established on the other bank of he river at Knlafat. Widin, without [iilafat, is like a body without a head.. Ifteen miles south-east of Widin, near fhere the Loin river flows into the fcinube, is Lorn Palanka, on the heights ommanding the course of the river. It ias a castle occupied by a Turkish garrion. The work is square, with flanking owers, arnnd with artillery at each angle. [he Turks have also erected three works 'or batteries to defend the river, and to :over the postal road. Kulafat is now iccupied by 4000 Roumanian troops, who ire engaged in placing it :n a state of de'.•ao •. L >v.er d-iwn the river, opposite the o:iiI i •o'.-e "f the Schyl. is Rahooa (36,000 iilv.i•>;cants), a place formerly fortified. A it:; iiu-ther down is Ustrowa, where the it u<;:i:; arm,- crossjd in 1310. The Turks ,re S'.:d to b? fortifying this position. S't.rp'>iis, lower down the valley of t'.ie Drnoe, li is SWO inhabitants ; it was disnsnfclel by the Russians in 13LI. It is principally built on heights. Tno breadth uftiie stream is less than in any other part of its course, and it would foi-r. an excellent passage- for an army. From Kicopolis to Ruschuk, the left bank of the Danube, is a vast marsh, and the ilussians would have great d.flkuilty in crossing these marshes, especially with the fortnss of Ruschuk in close proximity. Ruschuk forms part of the famous quadrilateral. Siltstria, Varna, Sehumik, against which, four times in one century—lßlo, ISII, 1828, and 1853—the Russian efforts were foiled. The town of Ruschuk has 40,000 inhabitants, and is situated at the confluence of the Loin with the Danube. The enceinte of the town is a simple bastioned Hue possessing a ditch and counterscarp. It has the shape of a right-angled triangle of 60 decrees, of which tiie hypotenuse, formed of six very irregular bastioned fronts, is washed by the Danube. The short side follows the edge of heights, and the long side—the front which would probably be attacked—looks over the Plain. Thewestern fort and citadel are the acute angles of a triangle. Last, summer t..e Turks commenced constructing a pohgon fort on the road to Srmmla, armed the Western front with two large Krupp guns, and erected other defences. TotivUau is the next point of passage, at a point where the Danube is separated by an island two miles long. The place is only practicable for a pontoon bridge in summer. _ The place is too much commanded by heights to be capable of offering a prolonged resistance, but tiie Turks are reconstructing a battery to command the left flank. Tiie next fortress is ISilistria, which is a strongly fortified Turkish town. The river is here nearly a quarter of a mile wide. The population is between 20,000 and 30,000. It is a convenient point. The walls of Silistria are of solid masonry, surrounded by a ditch and many detached work 3. It has been rendered almost impregnable. On the outbreak of the Crimean war, the Russians besieged it with an army of 60.000 or 80,000 men, while the Turkish garrison was only 15,000. After a vigorous and well-sustained attack, the Russians retreated with, a loss of 12,000 men. Rassooa, about 30 miles further down the river, from which a fortified barrier constructed b}' the Emperor Trajan, extends to Kustendji, on the coast of the Black Sea, a distance of 337 miles.