The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1915-03-12
TURKISH FLEET, ASSIGNED TO
GIVE BATTLE TO ANGLO
FRENCH WARsHIPs, FLEEs
BEFORE ALLIES.
TEN BIG WARSHIPS TAKE
PART IN B0MBARDMENT
Reports From Constantinopie Derids
Activity of Allies as Ineffective
Ottomans, However, Admit De-
destruction of Outer Forts
Squadron Is Reinforced.

London, March 5.-The allied fleets
| have resumed their bombardment of
| the inner forts of the Dardanelies, ac-
| cording to dispatch received by Reu-
ter's Telegraph company from its cor
respondent at Athens. The dispatch
| follows:
THE bombardment of the inner
forts of the Dardanelles has been re-
sumed. Ten big warships took part in
! the operations.
According to British officer, only
two of the Turkish forts remain in
tact. Allied landing parties found the
charred remains of soldiers in the
damaged forts, showing that the
Turks had buried their dead before
exacuating these positions"
The Turkish fleet, assigned to give
battle to the Anglo-French warships
inside the straits has fled at the ap-
proach of the allied war squadron, ac-
cording to Athens dispatches.
Turkish Ships Escape.
While a heavy fog hung over the
strait, the Turkish warcraft lifted an
Choir and steamed silently out of Ma
CARA road and into the sea of Mar
mora. With the lifting of the mist
allies aviators reported not single
Turkish war vessel in the strait and
accommodating flights far up Marmora
sea failed to reveal their whereabouts.
The Turks are believed to have with
drawn to the very approaches of Con-
stantinople, prepared to pass the Bos-
porus and enter the Black sea if the
Ottoman capital falls.
DardanelIes Becomes an Inferno.
The battleships of the allies, which
now show all the colors of the triple
entente by the addition of the Russian
cruiser Askold, have turned the straits
of the Dardanelles into an inferno
which, according to British and
French claims, has spelled destruction
to the Turkish defenses. On the other
hand reports from Constantinople de-
ride this activity as ineffective The
Turks, however do admit the destruc-
ton of the outer forts, which they
say they expected, but they declare the
inner works impregnable.
Three more of the inner Dardanelles
LII 10 nave DCCn lSUuC6u anu
and British warships continue to shell
the forts still guarding the entrance
to the narrowest part of the. straits,
according to Athens dispatches A
French squadron is renewing he at
tack on the Bulair forts Cd .dlf
of Saros on the Gallipoli ia
with the object of landing H.. 20
seize the railway.
Mine Sweepers Are Busy.
Mine sweepers have cleared the
channel for a distance of IL miles
above the entrance, penetrating near
ly to Cape Kephez, 13 miles inside of
the Dardanelles. The fleet guns are
Asiatic side of the strait
Athens dispatches confirmed the re-
port that German artillerymen are
manning the big Krupp guns replying
TO the allied fleet bombarding the Oar
danelles.
A landing party, moving northward
on the Asiatic side, found bodies of
many Germans near the ruins of
Turkish fort
Among other reinforcements, which
are said now to make the allied fleet
off the Dardanelles number more than
fifty ships is the battleship Campus,
last heard of as anchored off the FaIk-
land islands.
The only craft which French or
British authorities report has been
to withdraw from the action
S the British destroyer Zephyr.