RUSSIA'S TASK.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 February 1916, Page 5

RUSSIA'S TASK.

ARMENIAN CAMPAIGN. TUUOI'.S LANDED ON COAST, AN AGGRESSIVE PROGRAMME. New York, Feb. 22. London advices state that, under cover of the guns of warships, Russian transports are landing large forces on the Armenian coast, 70 miles east of Trebizond, against feeble resistance. The Russian troops are being transported from Batoum, where they have been in readiness for several months. The fact that they were not used in the earlier stages of the campaign in Turkish Armenia leads to the belief that the Grand Duke Nicholas has a fresh army to pursue an aggressive campaign against the Turks in Armenia, driving them towards Constantinople and to the British in Mesopotamia. ■- — -a TURKISH LOSSES. Petrograd, Feb. 22. Tile Turkish killed, wounded, and prisoners at Erzeroum are estimated at 40,000^ LORD KITCHENER CONGRATULATES GRAND DUKE. London, Feb. 22. Lord Kitchener has telegraphed to the Crand Duke: "Heartiest congratulations from the British and myself on the brilliant feat of arms of our Russian comrades at Erzerum." The Grand Duke Nicholas replied thanking Lord Kitchener and the brilliant British army. CHASING THE TURKS. RUSSIANS MAKLNG THEM HURRY. Jhceived Feb. 23, 9.15 p.m. iPetrograd, Feb. 22. The Russian littoral on the Black Sea is chasing the Turks at the rate of twenty miles daily, and is threatening Trebizond, wliich m the only bar to Russian dominance of the region. A Constantinople communique admits the withdrawal from Erzerum, but belittles the operations on the ground that the town was unfortified.

THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE. HEARING TREBIZOND. Received Feb. 24, 12.'40 a.m. iPetrograd, Feb, 23. The Russians have reached Rezeh, 40 miles east of Trebizond,