RUSSIA'S TASK.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 January 1916, Page 5

RUSSIA'S TASK.

ADVANCE IN A BLIZZARD. . .'3BKS ROUTED. Petrograd, January 20. Tlie first Turkish positions' in (he Caucasus were stormed by the Russians on Xew Year's Day (Old Style, Jamiarv 14 on our calendar). The Russians, advancing by night in a terrible blizzard, floundered into snowdrifts, and then crawled on all fours, thus completely surprising the Turks. The latter used rocket", as searchlights were use-' less in the thick snowstorm, hut the snow-covered ■Russians were invisible. They fell on the enemy with the bayonet and panic seized the Turks, who did not believe an attack was possible. The Russians remorselessly pushed on, and soon the whole Turkish army of a hundred battalions was on the run. Mounted Cossacks, fresh from Manchuria, swept the. country, cutting down fugitives and digging prisoners out of hiding in the villages'. They passed by hundreds of frozen "roups, where they had, huddled for warmth and died as they slept.

HARASSING THE ENEMY. - Received Jan. 20, 9.10 p.m. Pctrograd. .Tan. 23. The P.uiaian positions aro four versts distant from the town of Pinsk. The Turkish effectives in the Erzerum district are 120.000. The Turks, apart from losses in the recent battle, lost 50 officers and four thousand men- in their flight.