The New York herald., 1877-07-11
KARS AND ITS DEFENCES.
AN ENGINEERs DESCRIPTION OF THE FAMOUS
ASIAN CITADEL

AN ENGINEER's DESCRIPTION OF THE FAMOUS
ASIAN CITADEL.
[From the Pail Mall Gazette, Juno 90
Tho following account of the Qualifications round
Kars taken from very detailed description OF the
fortress recently printed in the Russian Inpa,d The
fortress OF Kars Is situated upon high OF rock
known the Karalagh, formed by spur jutting out
from the Sagnanlu range Naturally strong position,
the Karadagh directly bars tho road down he valley OF
tho Kars- rschai and the route from the Russian
frontier to Erzoroum, ana consequently has always
been justly esteemed by the Turks of the most
important bulwarks for the defence of their Asia,ic
possessions against Russinn invasion. Alter every
campaign therefore, the delcnccs of Kars have been
strengthened OF late years especial attention
been given by the Turkish government to improving
the orlGcaons Oh the Caucasian side OF tho cncelntc
The experience gained during former cam
paigns, all oil which the sege OF kars
has invariably formed prominent incident,
has utilized Forts OF derabe size and tor
mdable profile of permanent at least provisional
character have been constructed at points whcrc on
former slight Geldworks thrown up IN haste
to meet the exigcnces OF tie moment, have proved
valuable despite their comparative weakness anu the
orlincations been armed with powerlu al ord
nance. The result OF the labor which has been thus
bestowed upon succcssivcly making strong those
points which have been found TO be weak Is that at hc
present lime the fortress o Kars consists OF CITADEL
an construction. but which has been restored
ano repaired, and no lever than twelve groups Of de-
tachcd works oi these 1--WE iic on the right tie re-
maining the left bank OF the kars-l schn #,
comm unicat0n between tho two divisions Lcnr cstab-
lished by means OF three stuno bridges across the
river.
FoErIFIcATIoxs ON THE IiGHr
Tho works the right bank are the follow ing On
the heights OF the Karadagb 900 metres TO the north
east OF the CITADEL hcs Fort Arab, or karapatiak.
traced irregular ngurc with the gorge closed by
"a dcfensbc barracks The let flank of the work rests
tho precipitous bank OF tho KarsTschaI. and CON-
manas Fort Ipgs on the lett OF the river. To tho
the valley swept by tho lort In advance OF
mud parallel TO the right tace " an outwofk which.
ke the main work tsolf and It's g!ucis, IS formed o
earth Jrough from distarcc the rocky nature OF tho
ground rendering deep excavations difficult The pro.
lille of the parapct is as ioOws:-Commhnd, H. me.
tres thickness that OF the nam work, II metres and
o. that outwork III metres; length oi crest o
main work 606 PAGES, OF oatwork 3.2 PAGES. The sec
ond worS, Fort iradagh, lies I,l2o metres 10 the
southeast OF the tort described above. Its giacis Is
swept like, that oi Fort Arab ry both artillery and
muskctry fire. It's crest line Is ,5lS PAGES IN length
The command OF Its parapct "a about three metres is
thickness metres Like Fort Arab, again, u has
no lnchcs, being built Ui carth brought rom "a dis
tance In aavaucc ol u are two ouwotks, com nandct
| by battery the tort. The third work, For
Chahs-pacha, lies in The PLAN on the sou'i
| Of tho karadagh, 1,C2J metres from the ior
| Of the latter name, ana Is SGuar'
bnstionod fort, with masonry bomprools aud cx
pensvc magazines and "A covered way. Each side 0
the square winch the FASHIONED fronts arc traced
] Us metres In leng.h. The parapet has command o