18 
ACHIEVEMENTS OF FIELD ARTILLERY. 
a performance so superior to any that the commencement of the war 
had displayed, that it has been hinted that officers better trained than 
those who held the Czar's commission were responsible for it. 
After his rout at Aladja Dagh, Moukhtar Pasha effected a junction 
with the forces of Kurd Ismail Pasha, commanding the right wing of 
his army at Kuprikoi. This position was not, however, regarded as a 
sufficiently secure one, and the united forces retreated on Erzeroum, 
and finally took post on the heights of Deve Boyun, covering that city 
at a distance of six miles from it on the east. A strong position had 
there been prepared by the foresight of Moukhtar's Chief of the Staff, 
Faiza Pasha, and in it the army stood at bay confident in its almost 
impregnable strength. 
General Heimann had been following fast on Moukhtar's heels ever 
since the momentous 15th of October, and on the 30th he arrived in 
front of his old antagonist and commenced reconnoitring his position. 
Before venturing upon an assault, however, he determined to await the 
arrival of the Erivan detachment of the Russian army under General 
Tergukassoff. This reinforcement reached him on the 2nd November, 
and preparations were accordingly made to attack the Turks on the 4th. 
Greene places Heimann's force at 24,000 men, with 120 guns and 4 
or 5 regiments of Cossacks, to oppose which, according to him, Moukhtar 
had 18,000 men and 60 pieces of artillery. 1 2 
The Turks were divided into three divisions. The right, under Faizi 
Pasha, 3 held the high ground above the village of Topalak. It had 
been strongly entrenched, and on it two or more redoubts had been 
placed. 
The centre was also entrenched, posted on the flat-topped hill com¬ 
manding the road, under the Co.mmander-in-Chief himself, while the 
left, under Melimed Pasha, was across the valley and rested on a 
height, also crowned by a redoubt, that commanded all the ground in the 
vicinity. Thus all the paths of the Russians towards Erzeroum were 
completely blocked. 
The Turks never anticipated that a vantage ground naturally so 
strong and carefully fortified would be assailed in front, and regarded 
the valleys by which their flanks might be turned with special anxiety, 
and their position was, therefore, too extended for the force available. 
Their foes, however, relying on the demoralised state of their 
enemies, and their weakness in artillery, which seemed inevitable after 
the losses at the Aladja Dagh, took the bold course of directly storm¬ 
ing the position. 
Early on the 4th, between 8 and 9 o'clock, the Turks saw their long 
dark lines slowly creeping forward, and for some time scarcely believed 
that the attack was really in progress. As it became apparent that 
they were really coming on, however, the Turkish gunners opened 
upon them at long range, and the Russian guns began to reply with 
results which brought back the remembrance of their recent achieve¬ 
ments on the 15th. 
1 The Daily Neios Correspondent says the Turks had only 15000 men. 
2 According to the Daily N'etvS Correspondent Ismail Pasha commanded the right. 
