Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/498

LEFT WORLD WAR 428 WORLD WAR tress had eighteen separate positions, which encircled the city in two rings and protected the inside defenses. The Turks had four army corps and Kurd, Persian and Arab auxiliaries to defend the place. It was on high ground (6,000 feet above sea-level), to which the Rus- sians had to mount. The effect of the Russian movement was astonishing. After the first frontal attack by Siberian troops, lasting five days, nine of the out- lying forts were carried, and the entire fortifications were evacuated without the need of the flanking operations planned. The Turkish command feared the bot- tling up of some 200,000 of its first-line troops and decided to retreat before the Russian ring was formed. The retreat was a rout through broken country and was menaced by superior forces on both flanks, but the Turks made good their escape. With Erzerum as a center the Russian advance spread rapidly in all directions; on the west toward Erzigan and Sivas; to the S. toward Bagdad, Mush, Bitlis and the region of Lake Van; in the N. with the Black Sea port of Trebizond as an objective — a front in all of about 300 miles without a single railroad and with few highways that de- served the name. In the advance on Trebizond the Russians were helped by their Black Sea fleet. Thy moved so rapidly on that port that the inhabitants fled well in advance, being specially terrorized by the presence of the Rus- sian warships. By the middle of March the Russians were within twenty miles of Trebizond. The Turks in an effort to defend it, started strong counterattacks, but were repulsed with heavy losses. The Russian advance could not be halted and Trebizond's fate was sealed long be- foi-e the Turks evacuated it. The Russians entered on April 18, 1916. In the W. the Russian center moved on Erzingan, one of the Turks' army head- quarters, in the face of strengthened op- position. The enemy had retreated from Trebizond in this direction, making for Baiburt along the Trebizond-Erzingan road. The Russians tried to cut off the fleeing Trebizond garrison, but did not succeed. In May Turkish resistance to their advance increased and there was constant hard fighting which, while un- favorable to the enemy, retarded the Russian movements. At the close of that month the Turks assumed the offensive and forced the Russians back twenty-five miles. The latter did not resume their forward movements until the middle of July, by which time the Turkish opposi- tion had weakened. Baiburt fell on July 15, and from then on the Russians steadily moved toward Erzingan, which they occupied ten days later. Its cap- ture, added to that stretch of territory gained to the N. by the fall of Trebi- zond and other points along the Black Sea, virtually put Turkish Armenia in Russian possession. In the S. the Rus- sian advance, directed toward Bagdad and to the rear of the Turkish forces besieging the British at Kut, moved in two directions — one from Mush and Bit- lis, and the other through Persia. Mush was occupied on February 19, Bitlis fell a fortnight later. The next point aimed at was Diarbekr, an important town on the Tigris at the crossroads of the country's communications. The critical British situation in Mesopotamia caused these Russian movements to be pushed with increased vigor in the hope of ^ drawing off the Turkish strength from Kut. One column, striking from the N. E. through Persia, captured Kerman- shah — less than 200 miles from Bagdad — on February 27. A further advance was made to the S. W., but the Russians could not sustain their advantage. With July came a revival of Turkish attacks, which forced the Russians to retreat from Kermanshah. Thereafter the Rus- sians achieved no definite progress. They were unable to be of any service to the beleaguered British to the S. Trebizond and Erzingan marked the crest of their successes. The Turks became particu- larly active against them in the Persian area, forcing them from a number of positions. Mush, Bitlis and Kermanshah were occupied by both sides alternately; once the Turks swept the Russians out of the Lake Van district ; later the latter recovered their foothold there. Appar- ently the campaign lost itself in loose ends and became ineffective, though fighting continued throughout the rest of the year. Earlier in the year the British in Meso- potamia under General Townshend had remained besieged by the Turks. A re- lief force fought its way from the Per- sian Gulf toward Kut, and came within seven miles of the place on March 8, 1916, this date marking the ninety-first day of the siege. The relieving column faced the second Turkish line at Es-Sinn, which was attacked in a vain attempt to raise the siege. Floods increased the difficulties of rescue, and hopes of saving General Townshend and his 10,000 troops dwindled as the spring advanced. The Kut garrison was slowly but surely being starved out, thanks in part to the Tigris floods, which impeded rescue. The Turkish ring remained unbroken; no food could get through. The expected therefore happened on April 29, when General Townshend (who had wireless