The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1877-05-04
GREEK VS.. TURK.
The Possibilities of the Campaign.

According to the most trustworthy
advices the available Russian army
consists of 275, 900 men, 10000 cavalry
and 900 guns. Of these, 65,0O0 men,
5000 cavalry and $50 guns are included
in the army of the Caucasus, now ad-
vancing into Armenia from the east,
and the Seventh and Twelfth Corps,
numbering 10000 men, 1000 cavalry
2SS guns are at Odessa and Sevastopol.
The troops lately concentrated at Kis-
cheneff, and now moving toward the
Danube, are the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth
and Eleventh Corps. The corps now
remaining at the Black Sea ports might
bring this army up to 200, 200, but the
former figures, which are those given
by the correspondent of the London
Daily News, seem to more accurately
represent the invading force under the
command of Grand Duke Nicholas.
This officer is a brother of the Gar, is
said to be handsome, ,haughtyprince,as
all the Romanoffs are, forty-six years
old, but without any military expert
ence. The real commander is his chief
of staff, General Nepokoytchizky, "the
Moltke of Russia, )" Pole by extraction,
and long professor of strategy at the
military academy at st. Petersburg.
He has participated in all the wars of
Russia since 1S49, and in that Of 1853
"a was chief of staff in Luders' corps
and the leader in all the operations on
the Danube. He is thoroughly familiar
with the field and has chosen for his
brigade and division commanders, Off
GERS who served under him before and
who also know the whole Danubian
region.
The Turkish Commander-in-chief is
Abdul Kerim Pasha, also known in
Turkey as Buyuk Abdi Pasha, or the
great Abdi, who was one of the most
successful of the Turkish commanders
in the Crimean war, and Minister of
War under Abdul AZiZ. The troops
under his command in Bulgaria num-
ber lis, 900 infantry, 5000 artillery and
216 guns, besides some 5000 gunners
in the fortresses. These troops were, a
fortnight ago, distributed as follows,
In Tultsha, 1000; Silistria, $4,000;
Rustchuk, 10, 900; Varna, 8, 600; Shumla,
$1,000; Tirnova, 5000; Nikopoli and
Sistora, 1900, and in and around Wild
din, 5000 men and IA guns. The
Turkish army in Asia Minor, whose
first successful engagement with the
Russian army of the Caucasus under
the Grand Duke Michael, is reported,
is commanded by Ahmed Muktar
Pasha. We have seen no trustworthy
estimates of its strength. The Grand
Duke Michael, by the way, is said to be
much ADLER and more experienced
officer than his elder brother.
The first important task before the
Russian army now advancing through
Roumania is the passage of the Danube,
the broad and swift-fowing river that
separates Roumania from Bulgaria, and
forms the Turkish first line of defense.
The Roumania railway, connecting
with the Russian line from Kischenef
at Jassy, on the Pruth, extends south
to Galatz and Brahilov, on the Danube.
about two hundred miles. From this
point there is good road through Slo-
bodzie to Kalarash, opposite Silistria,
the first of the great Turkish fortresses,
a distance of about ninety miles, while
the railway runs directly hundred and
forty miles to Bucharest, the Rouma-
nian capital, and thence forty miles
further down to the river at Giurgevo,
opposite Rustchuk. This the second of
the Danubian strongholds, and from it
a railway extends southeasterly to the
fortified town of Varna, on the
Black Sea, passing near the stronghold
of Shumla. The Roumanian railway,
it may be here said, continues westward
as far as Tchernetz, at the extremity of
Roumania, where the Danube, leaving
the Austrian frontier, forms the east
ern boundary of Servia. Widdin, the
most important Turkish post on the
upper Danube, is seventy or eighty
miles below, where Bulgaria runs up
between Roumania and Servia.. 1t is
about one hundred and eighty miles
distant from Rustchuk, Nicopoli, an
other fortified town, lying between.
All along the river the southern bank
is high, commanding the Roumanian
side, and the varying width and the
current of the river present numerous
numerous difficulties, besides the arti-
fetal difficulties of the Turkish forts
and Turkish gunboats. What is equally
important, the roads are bad, and there
are thus but few points where the river
can be crossed to advantage. These are
Galatz or Brahilov, where the Russians
now are; at Kalarash, opposite Silistria;
at Ollenitza, further up,or at Giurgevo,