STIFF FIGHTING IN MESOPOTAMIA

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2757, 28 April 1916, Page 5

STIFF FIGHTING IN MESOPOTAMIA

' HEAVY TURKISH COUNTER-ATTACK SPLENDID STAND BY THE BRITISH LINE By T«lcßr«psi—Press Association—Copyright London, AprH 26. Daiafls of the Turkish counter-attack in Mesopotamia .on April 17 and 18 show that the enemy essayed to carry the position by sheer weight of numbers. It began at 7 oolock in the evening, and continued all night. Tliera were six distinct assaults against one brigade, as well as sporadic rushes, yet the British line was not broken. A blaze of bur-sting shells disclosed the enemy lying flat, and our mtantry fired fusillades at the ground level. 0 ver two thousand dead were counted in front of one brigade alone. So fierce was the attack that a portion of tha enemy broke through a gap between two battalions. Finding their retreat cut off, they doubled back, and in the confusion all were shot down or captured. THE RUSSIAN DRIVE IN THE CAUCASUS A SERIES OF BRILLIANT ASSAULTS. ("Times" and Sydney "Sun" Services.) London, April 26. The latest reports from the Caucasus say that the Turks are endeavouring : to concentrate between Trebizond and Erzerum. . The Russians have captured the valleys and mountains north of Baiburti (sixty miles west-north-west of Erzerum}, after a series of splendid assaults. The operations are most difficult, owing to lack of roads and the snowcovered hills, which compel the guns to be transported by hand. i The Turks are strongly reinforced, and are desperately resisting the ad- | vance.