RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 September 1918, Page 5

RUSSIA.

MASSACRE AND RAPiNE. fiCENB AT THE SACKING OF BAKU. Received Sept. 23, 7.45 p.m. Stockholm, Sept. 22. A Russian eve-witness of the capture >l Baku states fiat the inhabitants left were chiefly worker*, who desperately Wended, and after two days ic the superior forces of Turks and Kurd? Scenes of massacre and rapine followed. The town buildings and naphcbk works were fired, doing great damage- • The Bolsheviks protest against Turkish oecupation as a breach of the BrcstLitoYsk treaty—Times Service. 2ERMANS ORDERED TO JOIN BOLSHEVIKS. ROSSI AN, ARMIES REORGANISING f Received Sept. 23, 9.55 p.m. Pekin, Sept. 22. the Kaiser, on the 10th, ordered all Jeraana in Russia fit for duty to join Ihe Soviet troops to oppose Japan and tw Allies, who threaten to restore the Eastern front. A Vladivostock correspondent writes that the (Sect Commander, General Garda, interviewed, illuminates the significance of the Kaiser's warning. He •Utfd tfrat the organisation of the Ru=stan armies behind the TJrab is proceeding •»•«& Already one army of 50.000 hat bee* motl'l"*', although at present it lacks, tiie tMMiitmls of military equipment. Three divisions ate immediately •e#'M to hold the Urals and allow the organisation to continue. "Meantime the German' tentacles have closed on the Urala, The Government at Omsk has proved sufficiently strong to restore the civil aa>tti'«tr»t!on throughout Siberia.— Beuter THE POSITION AT BAKU. TREACHEROUS ARMENIANS. BOLSHEVIKS' DESPERATE MANIA. Wellington, Last Night. A, British detarhment was sent to Baku on the ur out appeal of the inhabitant*, with a view to stiffening the defence against the Turks and Germans, xtA sav ing the Caspian shipping and the Baku oilfields. It was known that; tae e\pedition was hazardous, since the Armenian National Council bad made peace with the Turks, but it was hoped the Amen!an population of 80,000 would offer a stout resistance to its persecutors, and, if so, the strategical gain was held to justify the risk. The Itolshcvik Government was overthrown and a new one set up, which begged British assistance. bet the number oi iroops sent across was limited by the cUfik-'ih cmiii-iiinica-tions. To secure this s inall force, including some 10,000 Ru*siens and Armenians Oil the spot,, it was obvious that loyal co-operation was necessary, but the* local Government appeared to think no further effort was necessary. After the arrival of the British detachment the Armenian troops proved quite unreliable in action. Oa August 28 a ■letennmed ;Tarkißh attack was beaten off by the Sforth Stafford* and Worcester, and a second attack in another sector was also repulsed. By the esd of August it was recognised that the cooperation of the local government was insufficient to justify the sacrifice of our small detachment in Baku in face of superior enemy numbers. Orders were Usued to evacuate the British troops. The same day the Turks again attacked ™d our allies again failed to co-operate, ;.o that the Royal Warwickshire Regiment had to cover the retreat of the Armenians and Russians, and, it is feared, lost heavily. On the 2nd September the Russian leneral Bichalakov occupied Petrovsk, md promised to send reinforcements to laku. The first small detachment actu>lly arrived on September 9. Promises -.f reinforcements and comparative nemy inactivity tended to improve the norele of our allies, but meanwhile the Vrmeniun were negotiating to hand >ver the town to the enemy. The Brit'«h thereupon trained their guns on tfie Armenian quarter. Ok the 14th the Turks made a determined attaek, and after a battle of sixteen hours, chiefly borne by the British, hiir troops evacuated Baku. The Russians vera by now disgusted at the feeble am? nßtruttworthy behaviour of the Ar* mMtaw. V* eo*tempktod deposing the uA. to aasume control in ■nSfawrttir vttfc the British. As Gent* fl " e»« n * ttoß helped hia

with the necessary shipping. " ; n g that further resistance was uIn trans-Caspia the Bolshevi!. jnce has come to a standstill owin 0 .0 the assistance of British troops. Recent events in Russia reveal the Bolshevik tyranny as a desperate mania _ threatening the stability of the entire , civilisation of the world, almost as omii nously at German aiabitions, unless promptly and definitely crushed by the allied forces of democracy throughout the world. >■ - POSITION IN RUSSIA. \ CZECHOSLOVAKS HARD PRJiSSED. Wellington, Last Night. ■ J Says the official weekly summary of . war operations:— j In northern Russia, skirmishing west ; of the Murman railway resulted in our .favor. In the Archangel region the Bo] I sbeviks have fallen back on the Onega- ! Obertkaya road, so we have secured thiline of communication. The Czecho slovak forces in European Russia are very hard pressed. In the last week or ten days the Bolsheviks, I helped by a large number of Germans, j drove them out from Volsk. Simbirsk, j and Kazan. The fall of 'the latter was j entirely due to want of ammunition j The Czechs, indeed, are very worn out I and are lacking in munitions, equipment, and stores, and most urgently require [ help from the Allies, especially as the - Germans are reported to be ? able numbers in the Kharkoff-Biplgorod urea, probably aiming at intercepting J General AlexielFs forces from the Czechs • at Samara. But it must be noted that '■ already the Czechs, though hard pressed • are keeping the enemy busy in Russia, - and are thus having an important effect •- on the situation on the western front. 0 Germany's offer to withdraw her t troops in northern Russia if we will do - the same is apparently owing to her f difficulty in getting thus Fins to fight, e . and also her desire to avoid being fure I ther involved, considering her situation e jon the western front. Nevertheless she j continues /preparing, and we must be 1 | prepared 'for a serious attack on the : coast railway.