CAPTURE OF ARDAHAN BY THE RUSSIANS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5092, 19 July 1877, Page 3

CAPTURE OF ARDAHAN BY THE RUSSIANS.

From various sides details come of the taking of Ardahan by the Russians. First of all there is the official report of the Commauder-in-Chief of the army iu the Caucasus, which says :—“ I have the honor to congratulate your Imperial Majesty on the taking of Ardahan. I receive at this moment the following despatch from General Loris Melikolf:—1 The advanced works of Ardahan, its fortifications, sixty guns, an immense mass of provisions, the camp of the fourteen battalions of Turks, and the citadel are at the feet of your Majesty. On the 17th of May, between 8 a.m, and 6 p.m., the admirable fire of our artillery effected a breach in the walls. At 6 p.m. the place was assaulted by the Erivan, Tiflis, and Baku regiments, and by the sappers. The enemy could not resist the attack, and fled, leaving agreat number of dead behind. In spite of the darkness, the enemy was pursued by the cavalry. At 9 p.m. the troops marched through the town and the fortifications to the music of the National Hymn, and celebrated their victory with great enthusiasm. The Russian flag was hoisted on all the fortifications. Our losses are not yet exactly ascertained ; but it is believed that an officer and fifty soldiers were killed, and four officers and eighty men wounded. I cannot find words sufficient to praise the coolness and bravery of our voung soldiers, and the excellence of the dispositions made by the officers. _ Selemn Divine service will be held to-day in the centre of the fortifications.’ ”

A later official telegram from Tiflis states that eighty-two guns have been taken, among them many Krupp guns and two 8-inch guns, and in the town as well as in the sandjak of Ardahan, Russian authorities have been installed.

A telegram in the Presse from its correspondent at Tiflis, on May 19, gives the following further details “On Wednesday morning, after the troops under General Dewel had stormed two outworks at Jasara, among them the Fort Elari Oglu, the fortress itself of Ardahan was bombarded on the afternoon of the 17th instant for three hours. At half-past 6 p.m. the Russian column, 17,000 strong, advanced to storm the place. They consisted of the 13th Grenadier Regiment of the Czar, the 80th Regiment of Infantry (Kabarda) of Prince Bariatinsky, the 153rd Regiment (Baku), the 156th Regiment (Elisabethpol), the Siewersk, 17th Regiment of Dragoons, and the Terek and xVstracan Regiment of Cossacks, besides a body of Volunteer horsemen. Ardahan is said to have had a garrison of 8000 men ; and, in addition, several thousand men were encamped before the town. The Russian troops advanced to the assault in two columns on both sides of the Kura River from Sanishew on tbe south—and Amarak on the north, while the Russian guns from Jasara effected a breach in the walls. After a short fight, in which the troops never came to close quarters, and which cost the Russians six officers and 250 men, the Turkish garrison fled, leaving in the hands of the Russians eighty field and siege guns, stores of ammunition and provisions, and the whole camp equipment on the banks of the river Kura. In the hospital of the citadel thirty-five sick were found, and among them a Pasha. Towards 9 p.m. the Russian troops, to the music of the national hymn, took possession of the fortress. In spite of the darkness which had set in, the volunteer horsemen and the Cossacks pursued the Turks as far as A chasehen, and caused them a loss of 700 men.”

This account from Tiflis, with the help of the excellent Bussian ordnance map of the Caucasus, which comprises the roads followed by the Russians in their former campaigns against Erzerum, enables one to form a tolerably clear idea of the Bussian operations which ended in the taking of Ardahan. Immediately below that place the Kiver Kura, hitherto flowing east, turns abruptly to the north, and after continuing more or less in that direction for a few English miles, again resumes its course eastward. The deflection is caused by the spurs of the Tsheldir Dagh coming close down to the right bank of the river. From these heights the town and citadel of Ardahan, which lie on the left bank of the river, close to its bend, are completely commanded. Even in the days of the old smooth-bores the taking of these heights also decided the fall of the place itself. This had not escaped the attention of the Turks, and those outworks at Jasara, the taking of which formed the prelude to the bombardment and assault of Ardahan, had been, it may be supposed, repaired and armed by the Turks; although the fact that the Kussians on entering only found nine guns, does not look as if the Turks had made any extraordinary efforts to defend that key of the whole position. The , Kussians operated on both sides of the river. While one column, on Mal2, threw a bridge over the river at Ur, and made for the heights on the right bank, the other advanced on Ardahan by the left bank from the north. Neither in their attempts to prevent the crossing of the river nor in their defence of the outworks at Jasara do the Turks seem to have displayed much tenacity, while at the storming sf the place the resistance appears to have been only formal. The abandonment not only of siege, but of field guns, would seem to indicate; that they were to a certent extent surprised by the final assault; but the weakness of their resistance all along may be explained equally by the conviction that the eleven, or, according to the Bussian bulletin, fourteen battalions, perhaps some 7000 or 8000 men, had no chance of resisting the Bussian force hurled against them, and that, therefore, it was deemed the best course not to carry resistance too far, as otherwise the garrison might be sacrificed along with the place. As it was, the retreat on Kars was already cut off by the Russians having blocked that road at Panisew, so they availed themselves during the night of the only other available road towards Olti and Erzerum, thus saving the remnant of the garrison. Achaschen, to which the retreating Turks were followed by Bussian cavalry, lies on that road. A bulletin of General Boris Melikoff from the camp at Garshibek gives details of the preliminary operations which led to the taking of the outworks of Ardahan, and thus decided the fate of this place : —“To-day, May 10, two of the outworks of Ardahan, on the height of Gelawtsherdin (Galawerdi), were taken, among them Jelovi Oghlu, which has been built by English engineers, and which is of special importance. In the course of the preceding night we erected nine separate batteries, which were armed with forty guns. Our artillery opened fire at 8 a.m., and bombarded the enemy’s entrenchments till 2 p.m. Their skill is above all praise. The guns of the enemy were dismounted, and therewith the success of the attack prepared, the chief merit of which belongs to the brave Regiment of Elisabethpol, which forms part of the column of General Dewel, commanding the 39th Division of infantry. A column advanced from Akhalzik on Ardahan, and, after an obstinate and long sustained musketry fight, repulsed the troops of the enemy opposed to it. General Dewel was the first to take the entrenchments on the heights of Gelawtrhordin. The 13th Erivan Grenadier Regiment of his Majesty, and the 153rd Bakinaky Infantry Regiment of his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Serges Michaelnvich, were sent to support him. Considerably weakened by the artillery fire, the Turks gave up the defence of the entrenchments. Our trophies were nine guns, a large quantity of artillery material, rifles, and cartridges. Our loss was, in the column of General Dewel, ten soldiers killed, four officers and eight privates wounded. In the column of General Hejmau, four soldiers killed and seven wounded. The loss of the enemy is not known ; but, to judge by the number of their dead in the entrenchments, it must have been great.” The fall of Ardahan, besides securing to the Russians their position before Kars, opens out a new lino of operations either against the latter place or against Erzerum. The event seems to have aroused the Turkish Government to a dim consciousness of the danger threatening in that quarter, and in a Council of Ministers held since, it was determined to send reinforcements, which are still arriving in Constantinople to be armed and fitted out, to Batura and Erzerum. In doing this, however, the military authorities in Constantinople seems to overlook the fact that these troops, in making their ways to Kars or Erzerum,

would have to break through the Russian j Division barring the way at Tslmruk Su. Indeed, the general advance of the Russians against Batum does not seem to have been undertaken so much with the view of taking that place which, defended as it is by the Turkish fleet, and by the entrenchments on the heights, could not he done easily—as with the aim of locking up there thirty-four battalions of Turks, and preventing them or any other reinforcements from getting by the Tshuruk Su line to Erzerum, or the positions taken up in front of this place. The independence of Roumania was declared on May 21, in the Chamber of Deputies. There were no votes against the resolution, but three members abstained from voting. The resolution recited the aggressions of Turkey, accepted the state of war, and ended by declaring Roumania free and independent. Information received from Kars to May 18, announces that the Russians were making great preparations to attack the place, and were bringing up ammunition and war material to the front. About noon, a column of troops belonging to the centre of the Russian army made a reconnaissance. This being perceived from Kars, a body of Turkish troops made a sortie, and had a sharp engagement with the advancing Russians, the result of which is not yet known. The Turkish losses at Ardahan were 300 men killed and wounded, besides ninety-two guns, twenty-five of which were Krupps. The commandant is to be brought before a courtmartial for not offering sufficient resistance.