r the success of the Turkish
plan were the holding of the Russian force beyond Sarikamish, and the
accurate timing of the flanking attacks, otherwise the Russian
commander would be able to deal with each force separately and defeat
and perhaps destroy them.

The campaign opened on November 20, 1914. The Russians, advancing
across the frontier from Sarikamish, took Koprikeui, within thirty
miles of Erzerum. There, for some time, they remained while the
Turkish command prepared for their great coup.

About the middle of December, 1914, the Eleventh Corps of the Turkish
army moved out of Erzerum, engaged the Russians at Koprikeui, defeated
them after a short, sharp struggle, and drove them in disorder a dozen
miles to Khorasan. While the Eleventh Corps was thus engaged the
Ninth and Tenth Corps, marching forty miles to the north in terrible
weather, succeeded in crossing the high mountains that guard the
Russian frontier. On Christmas Day they looked down on the town of
Sarikamish and the vital railway that stretched away to the eastward.
At the same time the two divisions of the First Corps, stationed at
Trebizond, making a wider sweep, had, by forced marches through a
blinding blizzard that threatened to make necessary the abandonment of
the artillery, reached the vicinity of Ardahan.

The Tenth Corps had reached and was threatening the railway east of
Sarikamish on the road to Kars. Its defeat was absolutely necessary to
the safety of the Russian army. It was therefore the object of General
Woronzov's first attack. During four days every available man and gun
he could bring up on the railway were thrown against the rapidly
dwindling ranks of the Tenth Corps. The Turks fought bravely, but
weight of numbers and superiority of communications told in the end,
and the Ottoman forces were driven into the mountains to the north.

The defeat and retreat of the Tenth Corps exposed the left flank of
the Ninth, commanded by Iskan Pasha. General Woronzov took full
advantage of the situation. Iskan and his 40,000 troops were soon
fighting a desperate battle against an enveloping movement that
threatened to encompass them.

Of the 40,000 troops of the Ninth Corps, a bare 6,000 struggled out of
the mountains to the vicinity of Sarikamish, where they were rallied
by Iskan Pasha. For six days and nights this heroic band made a
determined attempt to capture the town held by a comparatively weak
Russian garrison. Finally, when, surr