Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1877 — The Russian Defeat in Asia. [ARTICLE]

The Russian Defeat in Asia.

There is now no doubt that the Russians in Asia have been defeated, and that their campaign is over for this season. The season in that desolate region is so short that there can be little hope that the Russians will reorganize their armies so that they can act upon the offensive. In about ten weeks Armenia will be impassa ble tor armies, and there is no prospect that Russia, with all her resources, can so reconstruct her shattered forces in that briet period as to commence the campaign de novo. The disasters to the Russians commenced on the 21st of June, in the defiles of DelibabW, where the Russians

were forced from their intrenched positions with great loss, and were compelled to retire to Zewin, where a second attack was made on the 25th, resulting in acrushing defeat of Melikoff, ending in a Russian rout and a heavy lose in killed and wounded. After this battle, Mukhtar Pasha took advantage of hia position and attacked the Russian center, drivisg it back in disorder. In the meantime, Bayazld was recaptured by a Turkish column which came up from Van, and, as there was danger that this column, making its way up the Euphrates Valley, might attack the Russians in the rear while the force from Delibaba struck them in front, an attempt was made by the besieging force at Kars to create a diversion, but without success. The Turks, seeing their opportunity, immediately assumed the offensive with extraordinary vigor, and by their strategic movements compelled the Russians to raise the siege of Kars and withdraw from Batoum. The latter army is now doubled up in confusion, and on the full retreat toward the frontier, harassed on its march by a hostile population. There are several reasons sufficient to account for the sudden turn of the tide of saccess. Down to the fatal battles of Delibaba and Zewin there was every reason to suppose that the Russians would be in Eraeroum before the summer was over. They had met with important successes. Capturing Ardahan and Bayazid, and investing Kars and. Batoum, their victorious columns, flushed with success and profiting by Mukhtar Pasha’s errors, spread themselves out on a very extended line from Batoum to Van, and commenced their march toward Erzeroum. Not being within co-operating distance of each other, a blow at any one point was liable to prove disastrous. That blow came at Delibaba and was repeated at Zewin. The center having been smashed and forced back, the left and right must fall back also to avoid being cut off in detail, as there was no communication between them. Mukhtar Pasha has certainly retrieved himself, and shown in the operations of the past three weeks a degree of military talent that his past record did not give him credit for. Another tiling is plainly evident, namely, that the Russians strangely underestimated the Turkish strength as well as the Turkish fighting quality, and counted upon a victory with such assurance that they did not keep up the normal strength of their forces, while the Turks, on the other hand, have constantly made good their losses with fresh troops. It was staled at the outset that the Russians had 125,00 C men in their Asiatic army, aud the Turks only about 60,000; but it is incredible that the Russians should have been so completely shattered by a force of less than half their strength. There must have been a fatal mistake made in underrating the numbers of the Turks. There are other minor causes of defeat, such as the insurrection in the Caucasus, the hostility of the people, the Incursions of the Kurds and other tribes, the mountainous character of the country, the difficulty of keeping up the line of communication and the transportation of supplies, but these were contingencies known to the Russians. The radical error seems to have been in the estimate of the Turkish forces and their fighting qualities. The interest in the W’ar during the remainder of the season will center in the Bulgarian operations. Thus far, the campaign has favored the Russians, but it must be remembered no battleshave yet been fought. The-Turks, after making some resistance to the passage of the river at Sistova, have slowly and sullenly fallen dack upon the line of the quadrilateral, allowing the Russians to penetrate Bulgaria as far as Tirnova, its old capital, and hold a slice of the central part in their possession. It is not to be expected, however, tliat the main army of the Russians can get by the quadrilateral without a bloody battle, or that they can force the Balkan Passes, or s’orm the fortresses, without meeting a desperate resistance. It must be remembered, also, that, every day’s march into the interior takes them away from their base of supplies, and that under the most favorable auspices their progress must be very slow. It has taken them three months to get from the Pruth to the Danube with the aid of the Roumanian Railroad. Now they have commenced to advance in a country without railroads, where all their supplies must be hauled in carts over the worst roads in the world, with four of the strongest fortresses in Eastern Europe, and an almost impassable mountain wall, in front of them. If they have made the same mistake in Europe that they have made in Asia, a like disaster inevitably awaits them. The Russians may, and probably will, be successful in the end, but it will not be an easy triumph. His success, in Asia will inspire the Turk with fresh confidence and courage, while the Russian defeat has made their task in Europe still more difficult.— Chicago Tribune, July 13.