474 THE WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND TURKEY (PART II.) 
Pasha hastily retired from Kars on the road he knew so well towards 
the Soghanli Dagh, with eight battalions, to rally as many stragglers 
as possible. 
The Russian loss on both days (1441 men) maybe considered small, 
and shows in a striking manner the tactical superiority of the Kussians 
and the feebleness of the Turkish defence. 
The defeat of the Turks on the 14th and 15th October was the 
turning point of the campaign in Armenia, and its consequences were 
felt even on the European theatre of war, as 10,000 men, destined for 
the latter, were embarked at Constantinople for Erzeroum (via 
Trebizond) from the 16th to the 19th October. Its direct influence on 
both the other lines of operation in Armenia has already been traced in 
the preceding chapters. 
The Kussian operations had now two distinct objects—the pursuit of 
Mukhtar Pasha, and the endeavour to hinder his junction with IsmaiPs 
troops, and the blockade of Kars. The siege army was placed under 
General Lazareff, and consisted of the 1st Grenadier and the 40th 
Infantry Divisions, the 2nd Brigades of the 19th and 38th Divisions, 
the 155th Regiment, 1st and 4th Rifle Battalions, the 15th, half of the 
16th, and half of the 17th Dragoons, the Cossack Division, the 1st and 
2nd Volga, 2nd Astrakhan, the 2nd Kisiliaro and the Poltava Cossacks, 
the 3rd Daghestan and the Akhaltzikh Cavalry Regiments, the 1st 
Grenadier Artillery Brigade, the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th/40th, 6th/19th, 
3rd and 5th/38th, 3rd, 4th, and 6th/39th Artillery Brigades, the 2nd 
and 5th Kuban and 13th and 14th Don Horse Batteries, and the 3rd 
Sapper Battalion. All the other troops of the Alexandropol Column (see 
Note II.) were placed under the command of General Heimann for 
further operations against Mukhtar Pasha, and started on the 20th for 
Tikhma. Mukhtar had reached the Soghanli Dagh on the 20th, and 
there took up a defensive position, to cover IsmaiPs passage of the Aras 
at Koprikoi; he held it till the 27th, although his outposts had been 
driven in by General Heimann. The Turkish retreat had now to be 
carried out as quickly as possible, as on the 28th October the advanced 
guards of Heimamds and TergukasofPs columns bad united at Koprikoi, 
and on the 29th they succeeded in surprising the Turkish rear guard at 
Kurudjuk. Heimann halted at Kurudjuk to wait for the main body of 
TergukasofPs column, the last echelon of which arrived on the 3rd 
November. 
Mukhtar Pasha thus gained time to fortify the last defensive position 
before Erzeroum, the Deve-Boyoun on the north, and the Palandoken 
Dagh on the south of the road, and to occupy it with about 60 battalions, 
8 squadrons, and 50 guns, the greater part of which belonged to 
IsmaiPs army; a few reinforcements from Europe, but none from 
Batoum, had reached him. The centre of the position was its weakest 
part; the road, which ran between the two ridges, was only defended 
by a small fortified camp, while both the elevated flanks of the position, 
strong by nature, had been heavily entrenched. The position of the 
Turkish right wing, on the outer flank of which were the villages of 
Gildji and Topadjik, was almost impregnable; but its one fault was 
that the only line of retreat from it lay behind the weak centre, so that 
if the Russians broke through here, the Turkish right would have to 
