NEAR EASTERN SITUATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 March 1916, Page 2

NEAR EASTERN SITUATION.

PALL OF ERZEROUM, "TURKS MAY LOSE ALL." The utmost importance is attached to the fail of Erzeroum by Mr. Ashmead Bartlett, tlie war correspondent, who goes so far as to assert that it has completely changed the situation in the Near East. Writing in the Mirror (Sydney), he contends that the Turks, in trying to achieve too muchj are now likely to lose all. Indirectly, the disaster may be traced to the long-drawn-out struggle in Gnllipoli and to tlie British offensive in Mesopotamia. Nearly a quarter of a million of the best Turkish troops were drawn into the maw of the Dardanelles. Of that number, at least 100,000 have been killed or died of sickness or permanently disabled. What has proved even more important is the fact that tlie bulk of the Turkish forces were withdrawn from Armenia and Anatolia and concentrated in Thrace, which loft the north-eastern frontier open for the Grand Duke's master-stroke. You cannot rush troops from east to west, and west to east in Turkey as the Germans are able to do in Europe. The railroads are few and single tracks without military sidings, and once an army is in Thrace it takes months of march'ing before it can be sent back to Armenia. The Turks missed their chance after out evacuation of the Dardanelles. Had von der Goltz gauged th o situation correctly, he would have despatched every available man to Erzeroum, instead of which he could not resist tlie temptation of attempting to surround and destroy the little army of General Townshend at Kut-el-Amara, on the Tigris, to which point it retired after the abortive success at Cestipion, within 'lO miles of Bagdad. His reinforcements, instead of being pushed into Armenia, were despatched to Mesopotamia. Our little army has, in fact, contributed materially to the greater triumph of the Grand Duke by attracting to its immediate vicinity all the enemy's available reserves. Tlie balance of power in the Near East is now gradually shifting in favor of the Allies. As long as tlie Turks and Bulgarians, reinforced by German and Austrian troops, held Macedonia and Thrace, and were in possession of the interior lines, it was impossible for us to spare enough men to attack them successfully fro.m Salonika. But there is reason to believe that the German and Austrian corps have been withdrawn, and that the Bulgarian army alone in holding Servia and Macedonia. That army has been greatly reduced, and cannot now number more than 200,000 men.