VICTORIOUS RUSSIANS.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5362, 21 February 1916, Page 5

VICTORIOUS RUSSIANS.

PURSUING TURKISH REMNANT.

HOW KItZKROUM WAS TAKEN.

Petrograd. Last Night. A communique states: The completeness of the Turkish defeat at Erzeroum is becoming clearer. The fortress and the surrounding country are full of the corpses of Turks. The remnants of the army are fleeing in disorder in various directions. Our pursuit is annihiliting or capturing the rear columns. The German commander at Erzeroum was an experienced engineer officer land had powerfully organised the fortress. He used all the resources of modem artillery and art in strengthening the position. Big Turkish reinforcements hastening to the aid of Erzeroum wer e unable to arrive in time. The greater portion of the garrison escaped. The Russians fought without heavy artillery. Before the evacuation of Erzeroum the Kurds mercilessly massacred thousands of Armenians. The Russians in th© Caucasus report that two hundred held and fortress guns were captured in Erzeroum. The Siberians rushed two forts, taking prisoner 1452 Turks and many guns. The Turks then lost sight of the Siberians for some days owing to a blizzard around Dumlu Dagh. Next they were suddenly surprised by a rush of the Siberians against tht' rear of the Deveboyun forts. The whole of the principal defences faced eastward. A terrible boinbardmeant was followed by infantry assault, characterised by desperate hand t© hand fighting, on the half battered fortifications. But the Siberians were victorious, reducing a fortress with guns in a few hours, this in mid-winter and under the most terrible weather conditions. It seemed an imposible task for the hardiest troops. The Siberians are not necessarily born in Siberia, but they are pieked men of the quality of the Guards, who are sent to do soldering on the confines of the Empire. The Grand Duke Nichlas’s task is now to intercept the remnants of the defenders. who are apparently retreating along the plateau westward, and prevent them joining the third Turkish army.

ALMOST INCREDIBLE. GRAND DCKE'S GENERALSHIP. Petrograd. Last Night. The capture of Erzeroum evoked the greatest enthusiasm throughout Ru.S'ia. Thousands attended Te Drums in the churches. The populace* acclaimed 1 Grand Duke Nicholas and the victory is regarded as a triumph of his generalship. It is almost incredible that he captured by the bar onet in a few hours the Germanised forts which forty years ago were found improvable after almost a year's assault. Despite five excellent roads westward it is unlikely that the retreaters will make a resistance during the fortnight’s march to the railhead leading to Constantinople. Possibly a hurried ami disorderly retreat will enable mast to escape, but the rout will have an immense moral effect. Reinforcing corps are now useless. They arrive without artillery which was shipped via- Trehizond. The Russians are dangerously pursuing the broken down Turkish army, which is making a stand ten miles westward of the fortress. The Russians are nnlikely to be held up anywhere eastward of Sivas. RALLY BY THE TURKS. Rude Peat, Last Night. The Turks are making a desperate rally west of Krzeroum where a big battle is beginning. ENEMY RAIDING IN EAST. RUSSIANS SINK SHIPS. Petrograd, Last Night. A communique states: The raids of enemy Zeppelins and areoplanes are more frequent in the Drinsk and Riga sectors. The Germans sent clouds of asphyxiating gas into our trenches in the Jaoobsiadt district. Our warships destroyed coastal bridges west of Trehizond and destroyed fifteen sailing vessels. ADVANCE IN BUKOVTNA. GREAT BAYONET CHARGES London, Last. Night. Mr Percival Gibbon, writing from Bucharest, says that the Russian advance on the Bukovina. front was a wonderful spectacle. The roads were seething like torrents as miles of tolling men and horses dragged vast batteries across the valleys and precipitous slipefl. making good the ground won by bloody bayonet charges. Along the Bojan road the Russians were \lccasantiy attacking and never slackening the pressure on the trenches, which the Austrians were holding across: the wide valley narrowing? towards Pruth. At Zaleszczyki and in fighting beyond the trenches the cavalry came into action. The fighting on the Strypa-Stvr line developed into a serious offensive, which was prosecuted despite awful losses.