ng its
finish. With masterly skill the Russian commander in chief had
withdrawn his huge army in the face of a victorious and highly
efficient enemy, not, to be sure, without serious losses, but
certainly without permitting his long front to be really broken or his
forces utterly defeated. It was felt in Russia that he, of all men
developed by the war, was the one to organize and initiate the
proposed operations in the Caucasus.

It was early in the month of September, 1915, September 5 to be
precise, that the czar issued his famous order relieving the Grand
Duke Nicholas of his command in the north and transferring him to the
Caucasus. Taking with him a number of the higher officers who had been
with him through the trying months on the Warsaw front, the Grand Duke
Nicholas immediately journeyed south and took over the command of the
Russian forces in that theatre of war.

It was not long before there were to be seen many evidences of the
arrival of a commander with energy and determination. Despite the
lamentable shortage of munitions known to exist in Russia, guns,
shells, rifles, provisions, and stores of all kinds were rapidly
accumulated at the main Caucasus base and from there distributed to
the points along the line of advance into Turkey. Many of these
supplies of all kinds, provisions as well as munitions of war, came
from the United States by way of the Siberian port of Vladivostok and
even by way of Archangel, although that port was, in most cases,
reserved for British shipments. From Vladivostok the American
shipments were carried over the 6,000 miles of the great
Trans-Siberian railway to Petrograd and from there continued on their
long and slow journey to the Caucasus front.

Among the endless stream of supplies were many special and ingenious
conveyances for transporting guns, provisions, and soldiers over the
otherwise impassable snows of this terrible region. It was necessary,
to insure success, that by some means hitherto unknown to military
transportation guns weighing tons should be moved about the trackless,
roadless country almost like playthings. Only thus could a commander
hope to secure that preponderance of heavy gunfire without which the
modern offensive is doomed to defeat or stalemate.

By the beginning of February, 1916, all was ready for the Russian
advance upon Erzerum. To begin with, the Turks were known to be
busily occupied in other fields. The British forces in Mesopotamia,
alt