Nebraska advertiser., 1877-05-17
The First two Weeks Ofthe war.

The two weeks of the Russo-Turk.
ish war are at an end. and before en-
tering upon the third it will be of in
terest to see what has been accom-.
| plished In the past fortnight. The
Army of the Danube crossed the Pruth
April "a, the Seventh and Tenth Corps
or left wing, at Bolgrad the Eighth
and Ninth Corps, or centre, at Husoh
and Faltsi and the Eleventh and
Twelfth Corps, or right wing at Jassy.
By one of the most wonderful forced
marches of modern times, the advance
occupied GalatZ on the next day and
saved the railroad bridge across the
| Sereth from obstruction by the Turks
Between April % and May the en-
! tire Russian army, swinging around
| the left wing as a pivot, occupied the
whole bend of the Danube from Is
mail to Braila, thus threatening the
Dobrudscha,-th narrow strip of
Northeastern Bulgaria between Rou-
mania and the Black Sea. Fearing
that the Russians intended to force a
passage at this point, the Turks con-
centrated their forces to oppose them,
selecting the railroad from Tscherna-
woda to Kostendje as their first line of
defense, and the quadrilateral COM
manded by the strong fortress of Silis-
trla and Rustchuk on the Danube,
Shumla In the interior and Varna on
the coast. as their second line. On the
Sd inst. their advance was in Bucha-
rest. On the 4th, portion of the left
wing had pushed on to point Oppo
cite Silistria, and on the same day the
the Turkish gunboats commenced to
lombard Reni, on the GalatZ bend of
the Danube. From the 5th to the 9TH
artillery duels across the Danube be-
tween BTaila and Reni were frequent
without intlicting any particular dam
age on either side. On the 8th, the
Russian advance was at GiurgevO, op-
posite Rustchuk. and on the 9th the
Turks commenced a vigorous bon
bardment of Braila, but without ef-
feet. On the same day, the Cossack
cavalry crossed over into the Dobruds-
cha and destroyed some Turkish prop
erty. and bands of Bashi- -BaZouks
crossed into Roumania, ahead of the
Russian advance, but were driven
back by the people with such weap-
ons as they could hastily improviSe.
Since that time Russian engineers
have reached Turn-Severin, and the
advance Is In the neighborhood of Ka-
lafat, which is now defended by Rou
manians against attack from the Turk
ish fortress of Widdin. During these
two weeks, therefore, while no battles
have been fought in Roumania, the
Russians have succeeded in bringing
their army into admirable position the
main army occupying strip of terri
tory in Roumania which would be in
cluded in a semi-circle intersected at
Ismail, Tokschani, Ploeschti, and
Giurgevo, with the Danube for the
string of the bow, the advance guard
being we'll on to the Servian frontier
where Widdin and Kalafat are now
pounding away at each other. The
march of the Russians has been a re-
markable one, not only as physical
military feat, but also as feat of mil
itary transportation, the Russians act
ually throwing away the miserable
rolling-stock of the Roumanian roads,
changing the gauge to suit their own
stock. and building cross-cuts to shor-
ten distances. 1t is now reported
from Turkish sOurces) that the Rus
slams made their first attempt to
bridge the Danube and Gross il on the
9th at Reni, which is on the bend of
the river few miles east of Galatz
that the bridge was broken by the
Turkish infantry and artillery, assist
by their gungoats and that the Rus
sian defeat was very severe one. It
is always well however to discount in
telligence received from Turkish
sources. The Russians may have been
repulsed in their first effort to cross,
but it is not at sll probable that there
has been anything like general Rus
sian defeat. The Russians have
crossed 1t before and will cross 1t
again. The failure ofone division to
cross a certain point is but an Incl
dent in the general plan of forcing the
passage.
The first shot Of the war was fired
in Asia. The Army of the Caucasus
crossed the frontier into Armenia on
the same day April "a, that the Army
of the Danube crossed the Pruth into
Roumania. The right wing advanced
towards Batoum, on the south shore
of the Black Sea, and on the 25th the
advance had a skirmish with the
Turkish force from Trebizond, and
were forced back with loss of 500
men. On the next day the Turkish
feet bombsrded Poti and Fort st. |
Nicholas, near the frontier. The re-
pulse near Batoum was insignificant, |
and had no effect upon the move
ments of the main wing, which leav-
ing sufficient force to observe Ba-
toum, has since trended to the south
east to cooperate with the centre In
its movements against ErZeroum.
The centre marched directly from AL
to Kars and fought se-
we're battle with the Turks under
Pasha on the 18th and 30th |
driving them from their position with
severe loss, and forcing them back to
the fortress, the investment of which
was completed on the 9Th inst, leav-