The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1877-05-05
VOL. g.
Gke 8ulletin.
THE SEAT OF WAR.
Description Of the Battle-Ground
and schedule Of Forces,
(From the London News.)

The troops available ON either tide have
| already been enumerated by our CORE.
| spondente at KiscLene and Rutschuck
According 10 the former, the Russisnl
have 10000 men, 10000 cavalry, ana go
guns, distributed as follows. The seventh
and twelftl corps, numbering 90 900.
| 1000 cavalry and 25S guns, at Odessa and
| Sebastopol; the eighth, ninth, tenth and
| eleventh corps at and around Kische ne Il
numbering 10000 men, 5000 cavalry and
4j2 guns and the army Of the Cauca.
sus, number ~, go men, 5000 cavalry and
$50 guns. Our kutschuck correspond
cnt glvcs the nunber Of the Turkish troons
in Bulgaria at III 900 infantry, 5000 aTtil.
lery and ZIG guns il addition t. which
there are acme 5000 gunners in the tor.
tresses OF Earna, Shumls, Rutschuck, ST.
listria, Nikopolo and Widn. These troops
are distributed a. follows: In Tultsha,
1000 silistria, 5000; Rutschuck, 10000 (;
Tirnovs, 1900; Nlkopolo and sistoya, 1000:
and in and around Widin, $1,000 and IA
guns.
From kischenef, across the Pruth (the
Ku-so-Roumainian boundry), 10 Jassey Is
about 20 miles-here there Is break of
gauge that may cause some difficulty and
delay thence to GalatZ an Brailow. about
200 mi, es, the railroad would be fDllowe d:
from here throughout slobodzie TO kalar-
ash, ON the Danube, about 20 miles, there
j. a good road the railway continues TO
40 miles, from whence there Is q tolerable
road 10 Ottenitza and then on to Cur
gcvo, 40 miles further, the railway termi.
nu, on the Danube. From the above IL
viii be seen that the distance TO be covered
by railway between kiscbenef and the
Danube, the Turkish first line Of defense,
Is about AGO miles, or considerably more
thsn the defiance from London t. Edin-
burg. The crossing places on the Dan.
ube are Giurgev0- Rutschuck, Oitenitza-
Turtokai and kalarash-silistria The
breadth Of The river at Giurgevo is three
quarters OF q mile, as broad as the Thames
at GraYesend Reach, the current two and
one-half miles an hour. At Glenitza the
breadth narrows to 800 yards, or about the
breadth OF the Thames at Barking. Here
commences ascend by VARIOUS roads TO the
Baik AZ range, the Turkish second line Of
defense. The mountains attain an sleva-
ton o! about 5000 feet at their western
extremity, descending to 400 feet at their
eastern end, and abruptly terminating at
Cape Emineh. The distance from the Dan
ube TO the top OF the passes ID about 30 or
80 miles across rough and broken coun-
try the mountain declivities are them
selves clothed with forests, the climate ~
very cold and bleak, the highest points of
the mountains are free from snow but
few months in the year, and piercing winds
blow through every opening. The passes
are eight in number. The most easterly
one Is the coast road from Nerna TO Bur-
gas. This 10 a tolerably good road and
easy but it is commanded from the Sea.
Proceeding westerly, We come xt to the
Chenga Pass this Is an Indifferent road,
but an easy pass. and was trAyersed by the
Russian army In 1929 the ne xt, the Bogza
Pass, from Shnmla to ksrnabst, although
on the main road between Sllistfla ana
Adrianople, IL = very bad road and diffi-
cult pass ; the next, from Osman Bazar, is
"a nd c follows
the Iron Gate, on the road from TIrnoya
TO Silvino this il decent pass, and has
been trayer-ed by military force from
Tirnova TO kasanlik Is the Shpks Pass,
with a road for carriages the next Is
very diffcult pass-indeed, it has been
lately described as almost impassible-it
leads from Nikopoli, by Lovatz. TO Phillip
polls, or Tsrter BszarjiK; the most west
erIy pass, leading from LON to Nikopoli,
on the Danube, to Sofia, on the Nlsh and
Phihppoii- road, is an easy one, with u
good rosd, practicable tor carriages.
The road. from the more easteriy OF the
passes enumerated converge oil the line OF
railway at or near Adrisnople, after trav-
ersing some seventy miles OF rough, undu-
lstng and stony country, which falls rap
idly toward the sea of Marmora. There are
no further physical obstacles, however. TO
a march on UonstontinOple, until we come
within few miles Of that town, where at
about The spot occupied by the first letter
OF the name Constantinaple in our map,
range OF this stretches across narrow
peninsula from the sea Of Marmora to the
Black sea. This position could, according 10
the opinion of an officer until lately In the
English service. be rendered almost inn
pregnable by land but although plans
have been prepared with this view, moth
ing appears to have been done. On the
first line Of defense-the Danube--gunboats
and tOrpedoes would probably be opposed
to each other for the first time, and the re-
suit would be watched by every maratime
nation with very serious interest. On the
second line OF deiense-the Balkan Range
the Turkish artillery would find them
selves attacked by an army skilled in the
use of the appliances Of modern warfare "a
very different enemy from the one they re-
sisted at Nisse.