Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-12-05

Vivid Description Of the Charge on the
Heights of Deyeb0yun.

I'LL UT LhALhOOMs
Vivid Description of the Charge on the
Heights of Deveboyun.
The London Telyraph's special cor
respondent az ErzerOum gives the fol-
lowing vivid description of the capture
of the heights of Deveboyun:
After the surprise of Bassan Kaleh,
reported in my previous dispatches,
Mukhtar Pasha, having splendidly eff
fected, under circumstances of great
difficulty,a union Of the greater part of
order upon the strongly-fortifed posi-
ton of the pass of Deveboyun, which
forms the only road from the plain to
Erzeroum. This narrow defle leads
up the face of a mountain, and every
inch Of it is commanded from the sides
Of the hill. Thus strong by nature, it
had been placed by art in state of
almost impregnable defense, under the
personal superintendent of Gen. Col
Manu. a German officer, better known
as Fazi Pasha. The roadway itself con-
shutting the pass is only wide enough
to allow two wagons to travel abreast
On this stronghold Mukhtar and Ismail
Pasha fell back with their reunited
forces They had been beaten but
were by no means disheartened; and
as telegraphed to you at the time, the
GhaZi was confident of being able soon
to retrieve his position The Turkish
army was disposed in the following
manner: Its extreme left held Gurgee
Boghaz; the centre occupied the Deve-
boyun pass; while the right extended
to the end of the ridge of Soghilhar
Dagh Thus
ERZEROUM WAS COMPLETELY COVERED.
and every point was, to all appearance,
utilized for stern and successful de-
Tense Speaking Of myself [ saw no
reason to doubt that this would mark
the extreme limit of the Russian adj
vance, and that they would again be
compelled to retire eastward to winter
quarters. On the morning Of Oct. %
Mukhtar personally inspected the stu
alton along the whole line. Ismail
Pasha's men were on his left, while his
own soldiers held the defle. Under the
personal encouragement and direction
of Mukhtar, the most strenuous efforts
were made to complete preparations
for great battle. The Russians, we
knew, were following up their advan-
tage rapidly. They had occupied, as
we were successfully informed, Olti,
Koprikoi, Delibaba, and finally Hassan
Kaleh in force.
On Saturday, Nov. 3, the enemy were
within ten miles Of Erzeroum, and. had
even pushed reconnaissance to the foot
of Deveboyun pass. 1t was evident,
therefore, that the attack was not far
distant, and that no time could be
spared if the capital of Armenia was
to be saved. On our side scouts were
actively employed in ascertaining the
Russian strength and the movements of
their advancing corps; and it resulted
from the information, thus obtained,
that we had at least thirty thousand
Russian infantry, supported by vast
masses of cavalry and one hundred and
fifty guns, Immediately in our front.
THE ENEMY APPROACH.
On the morning of Monday, Nov 5, a
great movement of the enemy was
visible from the Turkish left, in the
direction of the villages of Khandjes
and Sogbirlu. The Russians could be
discerned advancing, with a consider
able force of infantry and artillery,
against the positions intrusted to 1smail
Pasha. The Turks remained in their
trenches, and calmly awaited the as
sault. The usual result followed; The
attack was fruitless; again and again
the Russians, Notwithstanding their
numbers, were repulsed by the steady
fire of the defenders in the. trenches,
and about IL o'clock they were COM
PEELED to retire, having suffered heavy
losses, without having taken an inch of
Turkish ground. The Ottoman COM
manders were led to believe that the
main part of the Russian army was
concerned in this movement, with the
intention of turning their unassailable
position in the Deveboyun Pass. Such
an inference was only natural, mas
much as it was moral, if not ply
steal impossibility, humanity speaking,
to make a direct assault on the trent Of
Mukhtar Pasha's position. And SO,
indeed, if the defense had been rightly
managed, it would have been. No
number of men could successfully ad-
ollC pttoo LII II O111 VI CA1C Ill = VI
Mukhtar's infantry and artillery. It is
true that his whole force was largely
outnumbered by that of the assailing
army; but he had thirty battalions of
fairly good infantry -fatigued, no doubt,
by long marches and hard work, more
or less dispirited by two recent defeats,
but yet enough to hold the splendid posi-
ton which his army occupied against
the force which the Russians could
bring to bear upon them.
A MAsTERLY RUSE.
While, however, the attack on the
left had been gallantly thwarted in the
way have described, the enemy be-
gan, to our surprise, to develop move
ment on the Turkish centre. Soon
after midday large masses of Russian
cavalry we're observed man@uvering in
the plain, stretching out toward the foot
of the pass The Turks were amazed
and bewildered at the seeming audacity
Of this movement. The idea of send
ing force of cavalry, however strong,
against such position, was inexpli-
cable, especially as it was obvious that
the horsemen were wholly unsupported