The Daily News. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1916. THE CAPTURE OF ERZERUM.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 February 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1916. THE CAPTURE OF ERZERUM.

The brilliant military feat accomplished by the Russians, under Grand Duke Nicholas, in capturing Erzerum affords striking proof of the thoroughness with which the Russian armies have been reorganised and equipped. It is certainly the most important success so far gained by the Allies, especially when collateral circumstances are taken into account. In the first place these brilliantly successful operations by the Russians were carried out at an altitude of 10,000 feet, over mountains deeply covered in snow, without railway facilities, and with the temperature fifty degrees below freezing point. The herculean task of hauling big guns and ammunition over such formidable country in the depth of the winter season, and also that connected with the transport of provisions and other military impedimenta, can easily be imagined, while the fact that these and all other difficulties were successfully overcome conclusively proves that the Russian spirit is fired with an inflexible determination to secure that final victory towards the attainment of which those minor successes are hut steps by the way. The achievement was a veritable master stroke, and the rapidity of movement of the Drnnd Duke's forces proclaim him to he a general of exceptional ability, for everyday saved was of the utmost importance, and the success obtained may be expected to exercise a powerful and farreaching effect upon the other theatres of the war, while the moral effect on Turkey and the Balkan States cannot .fail to be appreciable. There is this further point to which due weight must be given—the capture of Erzerum, though but one of the links in the chain of events leading to the goal, is particularly welcome at this juncture, and should have a marked effect on the British operations in Mesopotamia, as well as on the course of the war in the .Middle East. It is well known that the Turks placed great reliance on holding Erzerum as an important barrier against invasion. It is the key to Armenia, and its capture should put an end to those terrible atrocities which have been so relentlessly perpetrated on the Armenians by the Turks. It may certainly be taken for granted that the Russians will push on to assist the British forces in Mesopotamia, and it is equally certain that by the fall of the town the Turkish forces on a long front are in considerable danger. Whether the Turks can bring up sufficient reinforcements to "hold up'' the Russians remains to he seen, but their hands are so full just now that it is scarcely likely they will venture to cripple their forces in otlier theatres and thereby court disaster, ending in the fall of Constantinople. It is considered by the Daily Chronicle's military correspondent that among the immediate consequences of the fall of Erzerum will be tlie abandonment or indefinite postponement of the threatened attack on the Suez Canal. Although that attack never gave promise of a hope of success, its removal from the list of possibilities will permit, the transfer n- inrge bodies of the Allied forces to tiie Balkans. It is understood that the

Allies have formulated plans for a conjoint offensive, the armies not acting on independent lines, but on a common plan with one object in view and aa one grand co-operative army. Viewed in this light the capture of Erzerum appears aa the opening move directed to establishing the supremacy of the Entente Powers in Turkey and the Balkans. In the West, Germany has been making most strenuous efforts to break through the Allied barrier, and has only lost large numbers of men in her desperate but futile attempts. Russia's splendid success cannot fail to have a marked oefTct on the German plans, indicating, as it does, that the time has arrived when the Allies will be acting en the offensive instead of the defensive. If Germany cannot now see the writing on the wall it is because she is blinded with ferocious lust of conquest and is rushing headlong to her doom. It may reasonably be assumed that the brilliant success of the Grand Duke Nicholas will cr.use the greatest gratification among the Allies, and that in New Zealand it will be a source of inspiration to the waverers. Such a glorious achievement should certainly give an impetus to recruiting, if only on the ground that now the concluding phase of the war has commenced, those who have been holding back will desire to enlist, so as to have the great privilege of helping to bring the war to a satisfactory finale,, and to open up an era of .peace that will amply repay for the sacrifices caused by the war.