TURCO-ITALIAN WAR

Otago Witness, Issue 3017, 10 January 1912, Page 27

TURCO-ITALIAN WAR

-TURKISH GARRISON SHELLED. PROSPECT OF SETTLEMENT. TRIPOLI, January 2. The weather prevents aeroplane reconnaissances, and the rough seas are unfavourable for further landing, and 40,000 Italians are therefore idle. General Rocchi is completing the defences at Ainzara. The Turkish troops have been recently strongly reinforced. Their headquarters will be at Aziziah or Zebea. Enver Bey’s camp is 17 miles oast of Benghazi, the tents covering a front of four miles. Several daring attacks were made, particularly against the oasis near Benghazi, where the best wells in the district are situated. An aviator discovered Enver Bey’s attacking formation, which includes a strong detachment, both wings being similar to Von der Goltz’s double enveloping attack in the German manoeuvres in September. The attacks on the fortified pcs it ion a at Benghazi have revealed great bravery, apparently due to the necessity for keeping the Arabs employed. Enver -Bey states that he will not make peace, even if the Turkish Government consents. The Arabs cannot be induced to lay down their arms. CONSTANTINOPLE, January 4. The cruisers Piermonte and Paglia shelled the garrison encamped 10 miles northward of Hodeidah. CAIRO, January 4. Stringent precautions are being taken against the smuggling of arms into Tripoli, and posts have been established between Sollodi and Alexandria. , Camel patrols of Bedouin trackers are watching the land frontiers. Some Turkish officers captured yesterday are being sent back to Turkey. ROME, January 4. The newspapers report that a new Italian army corps is getting ready to sail for Cvrenaica. BERLIN, January 2. Writing in the Neue Freie Presse, General Von Der Goltz expresses the opinion that the Turks are gaining an inestimable advantage, since the war has cemented the confraternity between the Turks and the Arabs. .He approves of the tactics of enticing the Italians into the interior, and says that only the beginning of a long, obstinate war has been reached. LONDON, January 5. The Salonica correspondent of The Times says that there is reason to believe that the general conditions of peace have been arranged, and that hostilities will cease in the near, future. The following official statement regarding the war lias been received by the Italian Consul (Mr John Roberts) from Melbourne; “ The pretended Turkish victory at Birtebras is non-existent, after battle 19, in which the enemy had 200. killed or wounded. The enemy retreated at Xzizia.”