FURTHER DETAILS.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 February 1916, Page 5

FURTHER DETAILS.

A SURPRISE STKOKii. deceived Feb. 22, 1,10 a.m, London, Feb. 21. The fighting in the Erzerum campaign lias been utterly different to that in Europe, for it is not in trenches. The troops operate on reads, with the opposing forces a few miles apart, and they may he separated by a mountain range as completely as if they were in different hemispheres. The Russians' success was largely due tc manoeuvring, which mystified the Ormano-Tmkish led commander! to a fatal dispersion of She Turkish forces. Grand Duke Nicholas, when at Yudenitch, at first did not contemplate an assault on Erzerum, but by breaking the Turkish centre there came the opportunity for a sudden stroke, the details of which are still unknown.

Some heavy guns were laid on sledges and sweated by man-pswer over the mountains, which were dee]) in snow. In a night attack on Fort Tafma, without firearms the Russians, in the starlight, crept silently over tlhe snow and rushed the fort with the bayonet alone.

The Siberians then attacked the great fort of Tehabandede, the fall of whicih caused the disorderly Turkish rout. There was hand-to-hand fighting in t<he frozen marshes north of Erzerum, and the storming of the southern ridge proceeded simultaneously. The horrors of the Turkish retreat were increased by the burning of the town and a merciless hail of Russian shells. The Siberians rushed fort after fort from the frontal positions, though eighty thousand Turks, under Achmet Pasha, were defending the town. Kiamil Pasha vainly ordered two other army corps to hasten to Erzerum. The Russians, assisted by a blizzard, surrounded one division in a defile and compel) :d the men to surrender.