The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1877-08-09
THE WAR SITUATION.
The Turks Flushed with their Re-
cent Victories,
And the Russians correspondingly
Depressed and Demoralized.
They are Fleeing in Utter Panic
Before the Turks.

A few additional facts regarding
the Softscha-P levna battle have been
received. In regard to the effect OF
this decisive engagement, it may be
seen that it altres the entire situa-
ton of the Russian and Turkish
forces, or rather reverses their re
spective relations.
To retrieve the great disaster has
now become an imperative necessi-
ty for the Russian COMMANDMENT
chief, and for reasons political as
we'll as strategical. Already alarm
and gloomy foreboding fill the Rus
sian press, and the people are haunt
ed with dread of the coming evil
To fail in the present campaign, af-
ter such enormous preparations and
snowy beginning, would be a contin-
gency that might well be dreaded
even by so desperate a monarch as
the Gear of all the Russians.
1t may be taken for granted that
the Russian government and the i'm
perial family are conscious of the alb
solute necessity of success, and will
place the last regiment in the field.
There is in prospect one of the most
gigantic and fiercely contested wars
Europe has ever seen. Evidently
the Turkish armies are far more
numerous than the Russians expect
ed. At Bucharest and Simnitza the
officers persuaded themselves that
the number of the Sultan's troops in
Europe had been immensely eXag-
gerated. Thus a few days ago they
expressed themselves as convinced
that there were only ninety thous-
and Turks in Bulgaria. They have
been by this time painfully unde-
ceIved. The fact is that the Turkish
forces have grown, while the Rus
SLAMS have been preparing, and their
calculations made in January, or
even in April, will no longer hold.
Reinforcements have been arriving
at Constattinople from Egypt and
the provinces, and these levies are
now in the field to check, if not roll
back, the tide of invasion.
We have then, at the present mo
ment, to sketch a new description of
the armies in the field, in accordance
with the altered state of affairs.
General Krudener's army Of be-
tween 10000 and 10000 is beaten,
and unless reports are greatly ex-
aggerated almost disbanded, while
Osman Pasha with a Turkish army
flushed with victory occupies the
line of the river Vidi. with not
single Russian battalion between
Plevna and Tirnova to oppose him.
On the other hand of the long Rus
sian line we hear of Mahemet Ali in
the field with a force variously esti-
mated, but supposed to comprise the
best troops from the camp at Shum-
la, and certainly not less than 40,
600 strong. Already he is said to
have engaged the Russians at Ras-
grade successfully, though the infor-
nation at that point is not very
complete. At any rate he is pre-
pared to fight the Russian army OF
Rustchuk, which is in this predica-
it marches to relieve Gen
eral Krudener, it will thus set free
a considerable Turkish force now in
Meanwhile Gen. Zlm-
corps in the Dobrudscha
is said to have been increased by re-
of fifty thousand, is
cut off from participat-
ing in the movement of events now
taking place south of the Balkans.
General Gourka has met a serious
check, which may soon be expanded
into something more than mere de-
feat, appears to have taken the mi
tiative, gaining thus a temporary
over Raouff who fell back
to Kars or Buanar, but Suleiman re-
inforced him, and together drove
Gen. Gourka back to Eski Sagre.-
He is said o have been entrenched
at Kazanlik, at the southern mouth
of the Shipka pass, but his position
is exceedingly critical, while to-
night the balance of success seems
to turn in favor of the Turks. There
is no telling what may happen in the
next few days. Skillful generalship
may materially change the aspect of
affairs. The Russians undoubtedly
have in the long run an immense
of resources, and it is
certain that whether publicly pro
claimed or not, there will be at once
a general levy for military service.
Meanwhile, competent military
critics at the front a ssart that u-hat
the grand Duke should do now to
collect rapidly his scattered forces
and operate against Mehemet Ali
in front, with simultaneous assis-
lance from Gen. Zimmerman in the
rear of Ferdarekeim but inevitably
will be crushed, providing he can
not effect a junction with Osman