BEEHIVE OF FORTS

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XI, Issue 521, 11 May 1915, Page 7

BEEHIVE OF FORTS

DARDANELLES NARROWS. Just before sunrise at the entrance to tlie Dardanelles there may be seen almost any morning,- during times of peace, a long line of ships of all nations waiting to enter the strait. Before that hour no vessel may enter, though those outward bound whose papers have been passed at Nagara Point may leave during \he night. From Kum Kaleh to Gallipoli, where the actual strait ends to all intents and purposes, is a distance of about 33 nines. Chanak, which stands on the Narrows, is nearly 13 miles from the entrance, and it is here that the famous fortifications are strongest. Staud on the deck of a slowgoing cargo boat and scan witli powerful glass the coast as y.ou pass — that on the Gallipoli Peninsula more especially — and how many guns can you find? Very few, so cleverly have they been mounted and masked. We now know Forts Sedd-el Bohr and its confrere opposite at Kum Kaleh are destroyed. This is not sin-pris-ing, for the latter has been in existence foi- years, and I very much doubt whether any "cupolas existed, in spite of the feverish activity with which the Turco-German garrisons have been making ready. Sedd-el Bahr, now demolished, was somewhat similar to Kum Kaleh. Thus an entrance was forced. The land on the north side now continues in an almost straight line, while that in Asia Minor curves inland at once. Not far from the village of Kum Kaleh" the .river Scamander empties into the bay, a favorite hiding-place of the Turkish fleet, exactly behind, the protection of the fort. —Where Troy Stood.— The ruins of Troy may be seen from this point, a small, squarish, squat pile of stonework on a hill. Beyond this there is nothing to catch the eye on either side until passing the village of Een Kuoi, high up on the Asiatic side. - Fort Dardanus lies almost on the shore a slight distance beyond. In a diagonal line across is a fort, and from this point on high ground guns are dotted here and there all along until the Narrows are reached. Uiis is not the case on the Asia Minor side, for nothing of importance in the way of fortifications is found till one sees a low -lying mound of grass stretching some two or three hundred, yards, commanding the approach. This is Hamidieh, a strong battery, which, always struck me as one of the strongest points of attack among many powerful batteries. Fort K.B. is exactly opposite. The current flows strongly downwards from the Marmora, and the distance across is almost half a mile ; and sliips are obliged, for their own safety, to avoid standing on the Asiatic side, to keep close in near the European shore. Thus, while Hamidieh Fort meets approaching vessels, K.B. can also fire on them, but once past, a part of the former fort ) ceases fire, as the town comes into the line to a certain extent. K.B. continues bombarding, while Fort Chpnak and Medjidieh continue the work of Fort Hamidieh The battleghip, always supposing she lives, receives in addition the attention of- Fort Kosse Kaleh on the Asiatic side, coupled with that pf Cham Kaleh opposite. This hail of steel can be further supplemented by that at Nagara at two points "east of Maidos, and a final greeting comes from Sestos. And all the while a sharp lookout must the captain keep so that he does not strand his vessel on the shoals abounding at Nagara Point, where is the actual Hellespont. It is an exciting journey this, up and through the Narrows, yet 1 venture to think and every one of the allied warships will steam proudly into the Marmora, leaving every gun silent in that beehive of forts. — Bulair 's Forts.— Beyond the Narrows the channel is apparently free of forts, but a following fire, could be directed from some of the batteries already named. Bulair is fortified, and its lines are famous, and if the news from Athens that 100,000 Turks are on the Gallipoli Peninsula be true, then, following the terrific bombardment to which the land from the entrance onwards has been subjected, they must have retreated to •these lines, or crossed in advance of the fleet to the Asiatic side, though this latter course is not likely. All attention will doubtless be paid to the peninsula, while a simultaneous bombardment of Bulair from near Gallipoli and a point due north in the Gulf of Saros must tell its tale, and assuredly the storm of shell of the past few days will have had its effect. It seems clear that the Turkish, fleet has not come to grips with that of the Allies. Probably it is. behind Nagara Point. At the present rate of progression, providing the mine-sweeping is going forward at the same rate as we haye heard, there is no reason why the whole of the channejas fai* as the Marmora should not be entirely in our hands, and the Turks driven into the mainland of European Turkey much sooner than we imagined possible when the first news came through of the systematic bombardment. Those in the forts surrounding the passage of the Narrows oan be. and perhaps are at this moment, silenced for ever. This end will have been achieved from such a distance that our battleships' will not have been exposed to any great extent to the enemy'6 fire. Bisect a line drawn from Nagar* Fort to the extreme west of Fort Kalid Bahr, and describe a circle within it, and you have the key & the Dardanelles. Those forts scattered along the coast are more like snipers' posts, acting on their own account — irritating, no doubt, but incapable of striking hard in conjunction witi^ others. Granted that the Turkish fleet is officered by Germans, jind that the crew of the Goeben are distributed among the native sailors, the question arises : Are these battleships of a certain age capable of holding the Allied Fleet in check, given the favorable position they hold behind Nagara? Surely the, answer is in the negative.