Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1920-01-02
CONSTANTINOPLE MAY
IMPORTANT SHIPS SUNK.
(Coptinued from Page One.)


IMPORTANT SHIPS SUNK.
During the course Of the great battle
between the British men Of war and
the Turkish defenders, quite num-
Der of important ships of the attack
ing fleet were sunk by Turkish gunfire
and several others, like the super
dreadnaught Queen Elizabeth" Sc
riously damaged. About the same
period of the Turkish campaign allied
submarines undertook two daring raids
on Constantinople. One, the French
submarine Turquoise" was caught by
the Turk, the crew being saved; a
British submarine, however after a
slSilful dive under the Turkish mines,
succeeded in reaching the capital, and,
suddenly emerging In the Golden Horn,
the heart of the city, shelled a few
ships in the harbor and then managed
to get away into safety. At that time
rumor was circulated in Constanti-
nople, that the officers of this subma-
rine, mooring their boat at an unde-
tected spot, went ashort in mutt to
have a good time" in some places Of
amusement of the enemy capital!
Meanwhile. the British fleet outside
the Dardanelles had suffered painful
losses and eventually decided to break
off the battle, retiring to the islands
which served them as a base.
What would the British admiral have
said, had he known that at the moment
when he gave up the attempt to force
the passage to Constantinople, the gun
ners in Fort Hamidieh, the key to the
city, whose fall would have decided the
fate of the capital and of the Turkish
Empire, had only eight shots OF am
munition left with their guns! Another
hour of battle, and the British flagship
could have hoisted the Union Jack
within eyesight of the Ala Sophia the
Jewel of Stamboul!
OFFER RESISTANCE.
Soon, however, attention had to be
concentrated upon the terrible fighting
of which the Gallipoli peninsula was
the theatre The Turks had offered
right from the outset, stubborn re-
sistance to the attack of the British,
and when the Joint attack of Field
Marshal Won Mackensen and General
Jeckoff, crushing the heroic resistance
of the Serbs, had opened the way from
Berlin to Constantinople, the question
of supplying the Turkish forces with
war material was solved, rendering
the defence of STEAMBOAT more syste-
matte and effective. The new situa-
| ton however although Of great adj
vantage to the Turks, did not bring
about any considerable increase in the
number of their guns. 1t was then
generally believed, in neutral and al
| lied circles, that the Austrans had
brought down to Gallipoli consider
able number of their famous 12-inch
mortars. AS matter of fact the whole
of the Austrian artillery that ever took
part in the Gallipoli campaign, con-
| sisted of battery of SO inch mortars
and battery of 6-inch howitzers.
| And these two batteries had been sent
| to Gallipoli before the way through
| Siberia had been opened, the guns be-
| ing taken to pieces and smuggled
! through neutral Rumania with the
knowledge of certain Rumanian au-
thoritles, while the officers and men
travelled through that country in plain
clothes, passing for commercial trav-
elers. workmen. etc. In view of the
very limited railway facilities for
| transport-the Balkan railway Is a
| one track line-the conquest Of Serbia
| had rather a moral than a material
! effect on the outcome of what the Eng
lish newspapers later called the Cali
| poll adventure"
| that campaign which again saved the
| Turkish capital by hairs breadth.
In the murderous battle OF Anaforta,
| a Turkish battery was posted on a hill
which dominated the route to Con-
stantinople and, II lost, would have
opened the way there for Sir Ian Ham
| ilton's army.
The Turks had been pressed hard and
| as there were no reserves available,
acknowledgements the command OF
Marshal Liman Won Sanders Pasha-
ordered the troops who had up to then
| held the hill to withdraw during the
night The Turkish captain In charge
of battery of fieldguns on the sum-
nit refused to obey orders. and while
the rest OF the Turkish forces evacu :
ated the position, he opened q mur-
derous quick-fire on the British lines.
So lively and bewildering was this can
nonade that the British were misled,
1 and thinking they were I'D against a
number of batteries with correspond
ingly strong infantry. withdrew from
the fire zone. As soon as this had
come to the knowledge Of the Turk ish
4 army headquarters. frantic and event.
ually succesgful efforts were made to
hurry reserves to the spot and next
morning the hill was found to be firmly
held by the Turk
Foo FAvoRs BRITISH,
! It is generally known that the Brit
ish evacuation OF the peninsula was
favored by fog which made II possi-
BILE for the troops to embark prac-
ticaiiy unseen oy the enemy. Few peo-
| pie, however, will be familiar with the
fact that q very clever ''camoufIage''
by the British was at least az great a
help to the execution Of their Man a
| that fog. During the last few davs
which preceded the evacuation. fhe
British fleet would. in broad daylieht.
land a division or two; in the dark ~
the night, however. two to four divi-
sions would quietly embark and be re-
moved from the battlefield. This skiI-
full game was carried on for several
days, and before the general win
drawal was effected. already aho,,t