ALLIES MENACE TURKISH POSITION

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2506, 6 July 1915, Page 5

ALLIES MENACE TURKISH POSITION

THE ADVANCE ON ACHI BABA TERRIBLE DESTRUCTION BY FRENCH ARTILLERY By Ttilegraph-Prc'ss AEeociation-CopyrlKht London, July 4. It is reported from Mityleno that tho operations of the past week-have materially improved tho Allies' position. Tho (idvanco putß our liis3 ju a DOHiseriously threaten the Turkish nccupatiou. of AcM w

No munitions have readied Turkey through the Balkans for a month. Tho production of the two 'Turkish factories is practically at zero, owing to lack of material and tho scarcity of skilled labour. Tho Turkish artillery is limited to a score of shells in. the forenoon and a score in the evening. Enemy's Spirits Drooping. Tho spirit of tho soldiers is drooping. Prisoners state that tlieir comrades would willingly 'surrender, hut . tho Germans' strong measures make this difficult. Machine-guns under picked men aro placed in commanding positions behind tho'trenches, find they have no hesitation in. firing on their comrades if they show the slightest.inclination to cease fighting. The spirits of the Turks are only sustained by bringing up entirely iresli troops, a procesi which can-not-last-long. ( Magnificent Gunnery ol the French. Tho French artillery is magnificent. In one four hours' bombardment it poured ten thousand shells upon .four.lines of trenches, 430 yards long. When the infantry advanced there was not the slightest opposition." Tho men rushed up the slope without a shot, heing firerl, and found the defenders had been annihilated. The trenches were a mass of wreckage. It is estimated that ten French shells fell cn each square yard. ( . For tho Defenoe of Constantinople. It is reported that Field-Marshal von der.Goltz, the Gorman leader of the Turkish armies, lias asked the Turkish Government for an additional 300,000 men before lie will accept full responsibility for the defence of Constantinople. ' SULTAN OF TURKEY' IN G.RAYE CONDITION. London, July I. Tho Berlin Press Bureau states that the Sultan of Turkey's'condition is grave. Developments aro expected.