THE RUSSIAN DRIVE IN ASIA MINOR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2773, 17 May 1916, Page 5

THE RUSSIAN DRIVE IN ASIA MINOR

;' TURKS IN A PANIC FORTIFYING DEFENCES WITH FEVERISH HASTE , By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright _ Athens, May 15. ■ The Turks are alarmed at the Russian advance. Great efforts were made to stem it before" Erzingan. Many lines of trenches were cut, but the Turks chiefly relied on their 4.7 in. and 7in. guns. Transit of artillery is difficult, but thousands of Christians have been forced to repair the Sivas-Erziugaiv road, and to build parallel roads. Many German officers are present, with a stiffening of German trribps. Defensive works at Diarbekr are being feverishly pushed on, as the capture- of the head-waters of the Tigris would cut off supplies to Bagdad. i ANOTHER POINT SCORED BY THE RUSSIANS (Bee. Hay 16, 9.5 p.m.) ■'■'.■ n, . , . , , Petrograd, May 15. A Eussian official communique states: ' , "We have captured Rowandez, 30 miles over the Persian frontier towards Mesopotamia, a,nd 100 miles north-east by cast of Mosul (on the Tigris), with amniuuition depots and convoys of food. Our cavalry is hotly pursuing the retreating enemy." ■ ENEMY STRONGLY REINFORCED BY 20,000 TEUTONS. •. (Rec.-May 16, 9.50 p.m.) m , „_ ~„,..,„_,- , . - London. May 15. The "Daily Chronicles' Petrograd correspondent states that the Turks in the Caucasus have been reinforced by twenty thousand Austro-Gernian infantry cavalry, and artillery. They hope to "break the Russian centre between Erzerum and Erzinghan, but the Russians. are advancing along the coast west of Trcbizond, and-are also converging on the Tigris basin. It is reported that the Turks at. Kut-el-Amara have been dispatched north to bar the Russian advance on Bagdad. A STRATEGIC MOVE TO BAGDAD ; CRec. May 16, 10.35 p.m.) The "Morning Post's" Petrograd correspondent states that Russia'is makin" a strategic instead of a tactical attack on Bagdad. "She has quietly moved into Mesopotamia by the shortest and easiest road, and her columns are now within 6fty miles of ancient Nineveh, where the Bagdad railway reaches the Tigris Doubtless this railway is already at Kut-el-Amara. The Russians are at Rowanduz, in rich, fertile country, within cavalry ride of Nineveh, and their vantruard is close to Arbela, where Alexander defeated Darius. WHO WAS TO BLAME FOR KUT-EL-AMARA ? GENERAL TOWNSHEND ON "OUR POLITICIANS." ("Times" and Sydney "Sun" Services.) Mr. A. G. Hales, writing in "John Bull," attacks the Government for the surrender of Kut-el-Amara. Ho says ho knows that General Townshend expected the Government to send an army quite strong enough to save him and the Empire's honour in the East. He quotes a letter from General Townshend, saying: "I sent you letters after the Battle of Ctesiphon, where wo won a Pyrrhic victory, having 4500 killed and wounded in an army of 14,000. The enemy had fonr to sis divisions against my one. lam amazed that our politicians did not know that these heavy reinforcements had reached the Turks. Had I got to Bagdad I would never have got out again. All this comc3 about through not heeding my protest ..when ordered to take Bagdad." Alleged Hospital Scandal. "The Times," in a leader discussing Florence Nightingale's birthdav, refers to tho lamentable breakdown m the hospital arrangements in Mesopotamia. There were no means for the treatment of more than half those wounded at Ctesiphon. The wounded lay out in the rain for hours after the action. They were brought down the river in boats, with no shelter from the wet and bitter cold. Soma boats with wounded were mixed up with tho other traffic, and the men were without food for hours after falling. Tho commonest medical necessaries woro lacking on the voyage down the stream. A hundred wounded were sent down with one doctor. There were no orderlies, and no servants, the diet was unsuitable, and there was a shoitage of tho simplest appliances for the wounded. Wounds were not dressed for days, and many died from dysentery and exposure. No blame is attached to tho doctors, who. did their duty manfully and nobly. Their task was an impossible one. They were always short-handed, and when they sickened and broke down they were not relieved. . Tho paper adds: "Wo have deliberately withheld many particulars of a horriblo and pitiablo story, trusting that wc havo told enough "to awaken tho conscience of the nation and of Parliament."