ssibly be written. It is a
feud as old as the hills, and no historic battle field of the world
was ever so liberally drenched with human blood as the soil of
Armenia.

Having expelled the Turks from the Transcaucasian region toward the
end of February, 1915, the Russians again moved forward on the Asiatic
front, sweeping aside, destroying and capturing detachments of Turks
that opposed their advance.

By March 1, 1915, the Russians were approaching Oltichai along one of
the main highroads toward Erzerum from the west. Another column
advancing from the east encountered some Turks in the mountain passes
south of Alashkort. These they defeated, capturing two guns. On
February 28, 1915, the Russian troops operating in the coast region
occupied the port of Khopa on the Black Sea, eighteen miles southwest
of Batum. This port was of great military value to the Turks.

On March 3, 1915, the Russian Army of the Caucasus, driving the
Turkish forces before it, had reached the River Khopachas, the estuary
of the Chorokh in Armenia. This move severed the route of Turkish
reenforcements and supplies from Constantinople to the Caucasian
frontier through Khlopa, Turkish Armenia, thereby isolating a big
portion of Turkish territory. From Batum Russian troops advanced near
the Turkish border, the Turks opposing them step by step. Russian
warships from the Black Sea sprayed their shells over the shore and
cleared a fifteen-mile strip of coast of Turkish barracks and troops,
successively cutting off several lines of their communications by sea
until, after a three days' battle, the last route was effectively
closed. A number of Turkish coasting vessels, laden with ammunition
and supplies, were also sunk.

According to an official Russian report issued on March 3, 1915, the
number of Turkish prisoners who had passed through Pyatigorsk on their
way to the interior of Russia (since Turkey entered the war) up to
February 13, 1915, amounted to 527 officers and 49,000 men.

During February, 1915, the Turks had been nibbling at Egypt through
the Sinai Peninsula. On the 25th of that month the allied squadrons
had begun heavy firing on the Dardanelles. This decided the supreme
Turkish war council early in March to recall most of the troops from
Egypt and the Caucasus to defend the straits. By March 16, 1915, the
Turks had lost so many important points in the Chorokh region that
they completely abandoned to the Russians what positions they sti