War and Revolution in Asiatic Russia
was in the hands of the Russians, but the Turks held stubbornly on to the snow-fields to the West of the summit which connected forts Chaban-dede and Tufta. Here they had made snow-trenches, which were invisible to the naked eye at a distance of more than a hundred yards. On the night of the 12th the right wing of the 39th Division was ordered to attack fort Chaban-dede, which, with Tufta, was the key to Erzerum. The Baku regiment, which had taken Dolan-gyoz, now joined the Elizabetopols, and together they advanced from the village of Buyuk Tuy on the Passan plain up the rocky valley of the Tuy towards the towering cliffs, on which fort Chaban-dede rested.[1] The Russian soldiers were clad in white coats, so that in the darkness and against the snow they were invisible. Silently creeping up the rocky slopes to the fort, they got to within 250 yards of it before the Turkish searchlights discovered them. At once from the Uzun Ahmet and Chaban-dede forts a murderous cross-fire was poured upon them, which in two hours caused them to lose one third of their number. However, one battalion of the Elizabetopols pushed right up, till they got underneath the cliffs of fort Chaban-dede. Here the guns from the fort could not fire at them, the angle being too high: but the guns from Uzun Ahmet could still rake their lines. At this moment also the 108th regiment of the 11th Turkish Army Corps on the Olugli heights at the head of the Tuy defile began a flanking movement. The right wing of the Elizabetopol regiment was exposed, and as there was no sign of the 4th Division, whose appearance alone could fill the gap, the position was critical. The 4th Division was in fact
- ↑ See Map.
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