THE WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND TURKEY. 
409 
Daghestan, while in Abchasia the Turkish fleet landed several thousand 
of the emigrant Circassians who had settled in Bulgaria, and there 
become brigands, and by the addition of this warlike element the 
rebellion attained such dimensions that not only was the weak Russian 
force in the district endangered, but it exercised a disquieting influence 
on the operations of the Rion Column. 
Without going into details, the following combats took place in 
Abchasia :—On the 5th May seven Turkish ships bombarded Poti, and 
then went further north to Gudanti, south of Soukhoum, bombarded it 
on the 12th, and landed 1000 Circassians, against which General 
Kravtschenko sent a few sotnias from Soukhoum. On the 13th May 
two ships bombarded Otschemschiri, 50 kils. south-east of Soukhoum, 
and on the 14th six other ships appeared before Soukhoum and tried to 
land a number of Circassians under cover of a bombardment of the 
town, which were repulsed by Kravtschenko. An attack by the rebel 
inhabitants, and a second bombardment on the 16th, forced Kravtschenko 
to withdraw from the town to the left bank of the Madara, south-east 
of Soukhoum, where he was completely surrounded by the insurgents 
till he was extricated by reinforcements which arrived on the 24th May. 
After a bombardment of Cape Adler, from the 17th to the 19th May, 
from seven ships, they succeeded in landing 3000 Circassians there on 
the 23rd May, before which the Kuban Cossack Battalion had to with¬ 
draw to Sotscha. Kravtschenko had to retire also to the Kodor, after 
an unsuccessful fight at Agansk on the 22nd; so that by the end of May 
the whole coast from Cape Adler to Cape Drandy was in the power of 
the insurgents, and special measures had to be taken by the garrisons 
of the passes to prevent the insurrection from spreading over the 
mountains into the Kuban district. In the meantime the first troops 
from the Rion Column, under General Alchasoff, arrived on the Kodor, 
on the 30th May repulsed an attempt of the insurgents to cross to the 
left bank, and on the 1st June beat off two monitors which attempted 
to land troops at Sotscha. On the 13th June Alchasoff repulsed an 
attack by land and sea on Ilori, at the mouth of the Galizza, south-east 
of Otschemschiri. For combined operations, Alchasoff took over on the 
15th June the command of all the troops in Abchasia and Kutais, and 
still was not able to gain any serious success. On the 19th June he 
found Otschemschiri unoccupied by the enemy, but he had soon to 
march inwards, up the Mokurli valley, to attack the insurgents at 
Mergula and Mokwa, on the 23rd. He could not followup his success, 
however, as he had to return at once to the coast to retake Otschemschiri, 
which had been reoccupied by the insurgents, This he did on the 27th. 
In-the course of the month of July Alchasoff remained in a fortified 
camp at the mouth of the Galizza, where he repulsed attempts at landing 
on the 13th and 20th. After a long period of inaction, he advanced 
on Soukhoum on the 19th August, and found the line of the Kelasuri, 
5 kils. south-east of it, occupied, and the passages guarded, so that 
he could not advance against Soukhoum, which was strongly fortified. 
On the 23rd, however, he succeeded in storming the Gudanti position, 
which was held by Abchasians and regular Turkish infantry, so that he 
won a favourable base for further operations against Soukhoum. After 
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