FIGHTING IN THE SNOW.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 249, 30 March 1915, Page 2

FIGHTING IN THE SNOW.

CAUCASIAN BATTLES,

TURKS PUT TO FLIGHT. '

MAD ADVENTURE FAILS.

Russia's remarkable victory over the Tukish armies which had rashly, advanc- I (id 80,000 strong and 40,000 strong over the Armenian frontier passes into Russian territory, on the very eve of the setting down of the Cis-Caspian winter, is graphically elucidated in official dis- j patches transmitted from Petrograd. | The first extended dispatch- describes ■ the culmination of the operations, thus: '"ln the Caucasus, having received rein- ] forcements, we attacked on Sunday, ! January 3, the Turkish troops concen-l trated at Ardakhan and inflicted a complete defeat on the enemy, "taking from him the colors of the Bth Regiment, which formed part of the garrison at Constantinople. "During the later development of the action we discovered that the bulk of tile Turkish forces, namely, the Bth, and 10th Army Corps, had taken the offensive against Sarykamysh. This movement, undertaken by mountainous, roads covered with snow, across extremely steep ridges, was carried out almost without supply convoys, or field artillery, although the Turkish troops were abundantly supplied with war supplies.

"The enemy planned this operation counting chiefly upon the sympathy and liberal help of the native Mussulman?, who had previously been approached by Turkish emissaries.

AT ALPINE ALTITUDES.

"The task of our troops was to check the large, forces of the enemy on this .front, and to create a barrier sufficientI ly strong to defeat the Ninth and Tenth Turkish Army Corps. ' "In spite of the extraordinary difli--1 culty of this work and the rigorous win- , ter, and the necessity of fighting in the mountainous passes covered with snow, and at an altitude of 10,000 ft, our gallant troops of the Caucasus, after desperate fighting which lasted for over ten days? brilliantly fulfilled the exceptional task which had fallen to them. "Having repulsed the frenzied attacks of the Turks on the front and at Sarykamysh, they enveloped and annihilated almost the whole of'two Turkish army corps."

The second Russian headquarters report reviews the Ottoman tactics, and the Russian counter-strategy which led I to the Turkish catastrophe:— j "At the end of November the main I body of the Third Turkish Army waa j moved in the direction of the region to the east of Erzerum, north of Turkish Armenia. The army was preceded by I two army corps, with a reserve corps fnear Hassan Kaleh.

| "In accordance with the plan of Knvet ,Pasha, 'the Third Army was to operate as follows: The Ninth and Tenth Corps | were to advance in the direction of Olty, ? in order to form the. wing of the Tur- \ kish defensive, while the Eleventh Corps . was ordered to maintain its position, J which was strongly organised, and by a strategic demonstration to draw upon itself our troops. In case the Russian , troops undertook an energetic offensive, : the Eleventh Corps was ordered to fall ) back on the fortress of Erzcrum, drawj ing our forces with it.

THE TURKISH PLAN. "The Tenth Turkish Corps was to advance in two columns—the first, one division strong, marching towards Yde through the valley of Olty-Tehai, while the second, two divisions' strong, was to march on Ardost, northward from Turkey towards Sarykamysh, through the valley of Sorvy-Tchai. The Ninth Turkish Army was to assume the offensive in the gap between the Tenth and Eleventh Corps—between the Olty and Sarykamysh frontier passes. "Our troops in the region of Olty, in spite of the enemy's numerical superiority, courageously hindered a Turkish advance, and by means of counter-at-tacks, inflicted heavy losses on the enemy.

"In the meanwhile wo ascertained that a strong Ottoman column, reinforced by the rebel Mussulman population, was advancing over the Panjouretsk and Yalanuz-Djamsk passes towards Ardakhan. Our garrison, which was occupying this point, fell bacli slightly after fighting 17 days." This dispatch leaves off apparently where the. former dispatch takes up the operations which led to the victories of Ardakhan and Sarykamysh. COURTING DISASTER.

o When the Turks entered upon the war .. the most sanguine Russian did not venture to hope that they would court disaster by advancing into the Caucasus

3 in the winter, especially as the weather . tins year lias been particularly severe, writes the correspondent of a London

newspaper. _ Their invasion of Russian _. territojcy venture, the conception of which, everyone was convinced, was of German origin; and the outcome of which was bound to be on a par with previous German miscalculations. The Russian military authorities made no secret of their certainty that it

would end in a groat Turkish defeat and that the Turks were being sacrificed to a chimerical German idea of'detaching considerable Russian forces from Poland and Galicia. The Russians have bad to fight hard, I

having been engaged in no fewer than ten pitched battles; but of the final result there was in Potrograd never the least doubt.

Accounts are being received describing how the Russian troops stormed the ' lurkish position on high mountains j waist-deep m snow, and showing that the victory was due as much to the ; stamina of the men as to their physical courage and the military skill of'their

commanders. I : Every message makes it additionally i clear how pitifully lacking the Turks j were in equipment of all kinds. - FIGBTIXC ODDS, TEX TO OXE. j Nothing could have been steadier than the conduct of the .Russian troops during the initial stage? of the battle of Sarykamysh, when they were outn 'inhered by the enemy by ten to one.

] The Turks adopted the conventional I German tactics, and attacked simultan-

eously on the front and Hanks. It is incomprehensible how they could have been hypnotised by their German taskmasters to such an extent that they went to certain destruction. They swarmed down couloirs of a stecepnss which would have daunted Swiss mountaineers; and, waist-deep in

; snow, half-naked, ragged and frozen, at- ! tacked the Russians. ! The hitter withheld action Until the enemy was within -100 yds and then opened with quick-firers. Then tliov affected a retreat eastwards, drawing the unsuspecting Turks after them' _ The Turks, bravely carrving out the • instructions of their German masters in

the sense of "now or never," fought on j (lay and night until they were within ' a couple of milra of Sarykamysh. i _At tins moment, however,'the Rus- | smn reinforcements, including artillery, j arrived on the scene, and the. tables were I turned with a vengeance. j This was the beginning of the end. I It was noted in the course of the fight- ! u:g that the Turks fired upon the Tied ! Cross trains.