WAR NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5290, 9 March 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

WAR NOTES.

(Prom tho European Mail, January 18.)

The total number of Turkish prisoners taken at Plevna amounted to 44,000 men, exclusive of the wounded and of those who have since died. 35,000 prisoners remained in Plevna.

It is said that after the ceremony of opening the Parliament was concluded, the Sultan, in one of his private apartments, but in presence of the Grand Vizier, Raouf Pasha, and Mustapha Pasha (Phosphor), and one or two others, broke into lamentations over the fate of Plevna and its brave defenders. Then, turning to Mustapha Pasha, the Caimakam of the Minister of War, he said; to your neglect and to your continued misrepresentations. Go from my presence.” The Grand Vizier, Raouf Pasha, and the Sheikh ul Islam had great difficulty in pacifying the Sultan ; and tho rest of the evening was passed, partly .in violent outbursts of grief on the part of his Majesty, and partly in the fabrication of plans for defence and resistance, which do not seem well considered or oven practicable. According to official reports the Russian loss from Decomber 13 to 20 at the European seat of war amounts to ten general and officers and 700 men killed, fifty-two generals and officers and 2040 men wounded, besides twenty-five officers and twelve officers and men hors do combat, being a total of 2845. The total loss since tho commencement of the war amounts to 80,412, exclusive of ninetyone men who were erroneougly announced as having been put hors de combat at Marem and Elena.

Tho official account of the capture of Plevna has been published. From this report it appears that Osman Pasha surrendered to the Roumanians. Towards noon on the day of the capitulation a Turkish superior officer appeared as parlementaire in front of the positions of the Second Roumanian Division. He informed Colonel Cerkezu that he was sent by Osman Pasha, who lay wounded in a house close by, and who desired to come to an understanding about the fate of the Turkish troops. Colonel Cerkezu thereupon followed the Turkish officer. He found Osman Pasha surrounded by several pashas, and the former declared himself a prisoner. The report further states that Colonel Falkoyano took the Opanez Redoubt near Batkova. The Second Roumanian Division and the Sixth Roumanian Regiment were the first to enter Plevna. The second, third, and fourth Roumanian divisions attacked the rear of the Turks, while the Russian Grenadiers heroically opposed tho enemy’s assault. According to a Bucharest authority an inquiry is about to be opened into the disappearance of the Russian and Roumanian nrisoners and wounded who should have been discovered in Plevna, whereas only six were found there on the entry of the allied troops. Osman Pasha will be asked to account for them, so as to ascertain whether they were massacred, in violation of the rights of humanity. Judging by the latest scheme of reorganisation of the Servian army, the forces for disposal in the field number, in round numbers, about 85,000 infantry, 2000 cavalry, with 280 guns, an important auxiliary in the pending Russian operations. Of the four corps of which the Servian army is constituted, the Tiniock corps, commanded by Horvatovich, has 46 battalions, 4 squadrons, and 76 guns ; the Drina corps, 38 battalions, 6 squadrons, and 74 guns ; the Morava corps, under Leshyanin, 40 battalions, 4 squadrons, and 76 guns ; and the Yavor corps, under Mikolitch, 30 battalions, 4 squadrons, and 80 guns. Reckoning the 160 battalions forming the Servian army at a war strength of between 500 and 600 men each, "and the 18 squadrons of cavalry at about 100 men each, this would give the force above stated.

A despatch from Mukthar Pasha informs us that the gloomy forebodings as to the fate reserved for our sick or wounded soldiers who fell into the hands of the Russians at Kars have unfortunately been realised. Two thousand of them have been sent forward from Kars to Erzeroum. Out of this number onehalf succumbed on the way to cold and fatigue, and the other half has arrived in Erzeroum in the most lamentable condition. This fact constitutes at once a violation of the laws of humanity and a cruel and formal infringement of the provisions of the Geneva Convention, which obliges belligerents to care for the enemy’s sick and wounded on the spot, and in the same manner as their own soldiers. The Pesther Lloyd narrates a little episode of the siege of Plevna. While the Grand Duke Nicholas was reviewing the prisoners after the taking of that place, his eye caught the magnificent Arab'horse of a Turkish office. He afterwards sent one of his adjutants to the latter to ask if he would sell it, orders having been given that the captured officers should retain their horses. The Turk replied that it was no longer in Ins possession, for that immediately after tho animal had been remarked by the Grand Duke a Roumanian officer had come to him and ordered him to give it up. He had refused, and demanded the written command of the Prince. The officer then drew his revolver, and threatening to shoot him, forced him to comply with his demand. Fortunately for the Turkish officer tho Roumanian had a squint, and by means of this physical peculiarity was soon discovered, and found to be none other than a staff officer attached to General Skobeletf. He had forthwith to surrender his ill-gotten spoil, was severely reproved, and has been obliged to leave head-quarters owing to the odium into which he has fallen.