After the Russians penetrated to Mush (eighty-three miles south of Erzerum), and Plian, Halil Bey, commander of the Turkish forces in the Caucasus, reorganized his army, bringing its strength up to 90,000, including six divisions of infantry, one of cavalry, and a large body of Kurds. General Eudenitch, the Russian commander, thus found himself confronted with the alternative of hastily attempting to concentrate his forces in the face of a strong Turkish army, or to retreat and thus expose a large Armenian population to Turk and Kurdish revenge. The main Russian army withdrew along the right bank of the Euphrates, the Turks occupying the left bank, July 22-25, 1915, being held in partial check by rear-guard actions.
On August 1, 1915, Halil Bey's forces came into contact with a considerable body of Russians at Palantchen, on the left bank of the Euphrates, twelve miles southwest of Kara Kilissa. The Russians had taken positions on a line extending from the northeast to the southwest from Darabi, six miles north of Kara Kilissa, to Djamschato, six miles southwest of the important Akhtunski Pass, covering the roads to Erivan, in Transcaucasia. In opposing this front the Turks exposed their communications, then 150 miles long, to attack from the direction of Sarikamish. The violent and picturesque fighting that developed during the first week of August will be described in the next volume.
The Turkish and Persian borders had meanwhile settled down to comparative quiet. Up to this stage the Russian commander had made no attempt to advance to Erzerum, though there were strong grounds for belief that the defenses of that fortress were by no means so strong as had been supposed or represented.
Russia was waiting her time in this theatre of war: her object was merely to hold the gate. She had just suffered severe reverses in Galicia and the Carpathians, and was now fighting desperately to avoid the great enveloping movement engineered by all the skill and weight of Von Hindenburg and Von Mackensen on her own territory of Poland and Russia itself.[Back to Contents]
PART XI—THE WAR IN AFRICA
CHAPTER LXXVII
THE CAMEROONS
The war in Africa smoldered and flamed during the second period from February to August, 1915. The fight for the colonial possessions became a struggle for existence.
During the spring of 1915 the fighting in the Cameroons was generally favorable to the allied arms. In April the advance of the French and British troops forced the Germans to transfer their seat of Government from Buea to Yaunde. In this month, Colonel Mayer's French column succeeded in pushing its way over the River Kele, while about the same time a British detachment seized a bridge across Ngwa.
On May 11, 1915, the station of Escha was taken. The Germans who occupied a strong position at Njoke were driven out, and the place was occupied by the British on May 29, 1915.