TOO STRONG.
r DARDANELLES FORTS. : ALLIED FLEETS' DIFFKVI.T TASK. TURKS IX NEED OF AMMt/XITION. ;J, (Cabling from Chanak, under date ; June (i, Granville Fortescue, formerly military aide to President Roosevelt, [ states that the Dardanelles are too ; strong for attack by warships. Fortesoue adds that, notwithstanding its terrific (bombardment, the combined fleet did little harm to, the forts). Two thousand sheik per hour fell in Chanak when the British fleet tried to force the Narrows of the Dardanelles. Such is the calculation made by a neutral army officer who was 'present during the bombardment. Despite this rain of gigantic projectiles, the casualties in the forts were tat 26 killed and twice that number wounded. The only guns struck in the forts were those in Fort Ilamidieh. .Thirty-three shells, all of more than 6111 calibre, struck the traverse, while 26 fell back of the gorge, yet but one projectile struck in an embrasure, this killing six men and wounded 12, dismantling their gun. LAND DEFENCES .SUPREME. \ This is proof enough that the problem j of the ships attacking the land fortifica- I tion*, even with the most powerful guns, still leaves an insurmountable advantage with, the forts. Fort Nagara frowns down on the straits where Leajidcr swam. They are now half-blocked by a stranded hull and a sunken transport. These lie right in line where the Xerxes bridge spanned the waters from the Thracian to the Asiatic shores. CROWDED WITH CUXS. The straits are crowded with batteries from which brown-barrelled guns menace every yard of the waters. We' rowed past Maidos, a collection of roofless and shattered houses, whose empty windows stared down on us like eye sockets of so many skulls. Ohanak is only a shell of a city. Beyond the white houses that line the sea front there is nothing toward Kilid Bahr, from which it is separated by only a few hundred yards of water. When you actually see this narrow passage swept by more than 50 Sin guns, mounted 30ft above the water, the folly of attempting to force it'by the old methods is patent. That the Allied fleet suffered as little as it did is a miracle. Here the channel makes a sharp turn from the northeast to the north-west, necessitating a change of course for ships navigating the Narrows. As every inch of the surface . of the water is plotted on the artillery maps of the forts, it needs but a moment's calculation to get the exact range of any ships entering the zone. CHANAK IS SOTIPLY BASE. As the mainland operations are taking place across on Gallipoli Peninsula, Chanak is only a base for the supply of I coast defence troops stationed on the Asiatic side. Besides these there is but a comparatively small force of in-' j fantry holding Kura Kale. Along the .banks of the Kodja-Chai i two battalions of Turkish infantry are camped. This section is peppered with enormous shell-holes .from the lire of the Queen Elizabeth. The armor-piercing noses of these 15in of solid steely coneshaped, lOln high, and Sin acrofis the base, decorate the entrances of both the German and Turkish headquarters. Admiral von Uscdom, the German commander, a gentleman with a kindly eye and courteous manner, wearing the Order , 'of Merit decoration, lives in a well-con-cealed tent, but daily seaplanes circle around Chanak, dropping spears off death. j! PRINCE REUSS IN A FEZ. , Admiral Melton shares with Admiral Usedom' comma.nd of the zone, and his chief aide is my friend, Prince Reuss. His mother would not recognise him wearing ft fez. He gave me an outline of the situa-" tion here from his side, but obviously I cannot write of his confidences. Yet it would be no breach to say that the Germans are supremely satisfied with the outlook so far as the forts of the Narrows are concerned. The arrival of a German submarine in Saros is what the Gernrana arc congratulating themselves on to-day. SEES FLEET IN DISTANCE. (From my quarters in the House of the Whirling Dcrivigh I can make out th« ■ entrance to the Dardanelles. A low cloud of smoke hangs over the water from Seddcl Belir to Kum Kale. 'Die, silhouettes of two .battleships stand out against the grey sea. Front these a line of smoke arches toward the land. This marks the. line of flight of the shells breaking over the forts of the coast. The Tegular booming of the bombardment is too great to distinguish the tails. A daily source of excitement in the land operations is the. duel between an English captive balloon and the Turkish aeroplanes. The balloon, which directs the British gunfire, is viewed with alarm and chagrin by the Turks. X T ot only do they aim every available gun at it, ' hut immediately it appears an aviator is launched against the yellow sphere, j When this danger threatens the balloon returns to earth. An unending line of troop transports moves along the coast road to support i the Turkish position. The supply of I men seems to be without end. It is not the lack of soldiers that worries General Limon von. Sanders as he rides along the trenches from the Dardanelles to the Aegean Sea, for all Turkey is an armed camp—but daily the supply of ammunition diminishes.
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Taranaki Daily News, 6 July 1915, Page 3
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882TOO STRONG. Taranaki Daily News, 6 July 1915, Page 3
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