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Show OFJURKS New Battleship Queen Elizabeth, With Eight 15-inch Guns, Takes Part in Bombardment of Dardanelles Defenses, De-fenses, Which Are Soon Battered Down. LOSSES OF ALLIES REPORTED SMALL Agamemnon Struck and Three Men Killed; Strait Penetrated a Distance of 14 Miles by Cruisers; Operations Are Still Proceeding. LONDON, Tob. 28, 2:54 a. m. Twenty-eight warships of the allied fleet entered the Dardanelles at noon Saturday and bombarded the inner forts, according to a dispatch from the Athens correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph company. Tlio message adds that a battleship bombarded a Turkish camp on tho gulf of Saros. BERLIN, Feb. 27, by wireless to Sayville. The Overseas Nows Agency, in a statement given out today, to-day, credits tho Tages Zeitung with saying that England and Trance aro attempting to steal a march on Russia Rus-sia by reaching Constantinople in advance of the Russians. Their hope, the statement says, is to pro-vent pro-vent Russia from obtaining exclusive exclu-sive control of Constantinople. (Sp&clal Cable by ArranRoment With London p.ilj Talegruph and International Nuwa Service. ) ; LONDON, Feb. 27. Forty British ! and fourteen French warships, including includ-ing some of the most powerful drcad- noughts in the allied fleets, today roared ! and battered their way fourteen miles uji the Dardanelles. This is about one-third of the ivay through tho straits of Hellespont. Hel-lespont. Once through these strnit n, Constantinople lies impaled on tho Golden Horn less than 100 inilcs away. The warships nro now ready to Ivgin tho bombardment of tho narrows, the one-mile one-mile wide strip of water which in the last big barricade to a clear route to tho Turkish capital. The steady progress of the intnrna-I intnrna-I tional fleet Rgainst the fortresses hern- tofore regarded as impregnable, has cauped panic in Constantinople. Tho fortresses of the capital are negligible and with the Dardanelles passed, tho city would be at the mery of the allies' big guns. Special trains aro reported to be waiting in readiness to convey tho sultan and tbe members of his government govern-ment to Asia Minor. Russian Fleet Active. Meanwhile the Ruwian Black sen fl-ct is trying to forco the Bosphorus and approach ap-proach Constantinople from tbo out. Bombardment of tho forts on the Abiatii side of the Bosphorua alrondy )jh bfen starle.d. Having pulverised the " impreg-nablo" impreg-nablo" fortress at the outer entrance to the Dardanelles, the allied licet, preceded pre-ceded by mine sweepers, punhed their way up as far fls Hortari end within range of Fort Intcpe, which enardu this section of the waterway of th; Asiatic coast. Effect Terrific. A few pilots were thrown n rnnco Anders And-ers and Ujpi tu'i l'OJnl).'(i(ln)'jil. ly thn HrltiKh dreadijouKhta Ujan. Jntfpc-, J i ke the ri'it'.-r foi-trtpwf'fl, ha - b'-U-v-i ua unlnkahle. h-it the 'M'.rt of tin; Jh-ft'f git;;, nti' shells wan terrific. The rpiy f'f the Turkish kuiiu'Th was gen'ji;jliy w!'J tml n-T f"'1 i ve. 'linn iw n a p:ir with the rn)y mrio hy thr- cutinr-ry, of the oulr fort k. i urliiK w hh.-h iu:1 .m th" allien w-re fc'. arcly toune-I. The ndmlnilty unnouivf-;! tonh;ht 1h:il (Virine; the Mta'-k th- AtNim-'innon w.,H Ptrn-k by a h?1t. which j;inJ"l r.n tin) arr) that three mnn wth kllh'fl and five Injure. Thf re Is ev:ry r-;innn t hU-.- That this 1h th') limit of th: allien" capualttes. Turkish Casualties. On thfi othT hai'l, n diFr'i1,-h from fif.fi a ptatew that the d'-r.ti'l'-rs of the O'Jtf-r forts SMfff-refl e"Vf;; !.', t"."0 wnnn'l-M wnnn'l-M TtuUh-h foMI'tk hjivlnt; heeti tehen i from tho rulne-1 forti fh'.a t innp. While the larger vf-i.em of tho allied I (Continued on Page Seven.) mmm TO SILENCE THE TURKISH FORTS New Battleship Queen Elizabeth Eliza-beth Takes Part in Bombardment Bom-bardment ; Cruisers Penetrate 14 Miles. (Continued from Paso One.) navies were battering their way toward Constantinople, a French squadron of smaller warships cruised uider what remained re-mained of the entrance works and completed com-pleted the ruin. Landing parties sent to Investigate the results of the bombardment of the four fortB at the entrance to the straits found that three of the forts were completely destroyed, while the fourth was partly in ruins. The razed forts are Sdd-el-Bahr, the Cape HelleB battery, the Orkanleh Tnhia and Kum Kali. Farther un the straits the huffe fortress for-tress at Dardanus, one of the largest and stronsrest of the entire scheme of fortifications, forti-fications, has been subjected to a long-range long-range fire thut has all but destroyed It. Obstacles in Way. Bombardment of the narrows fortifications fortifica-tions ie expected to beerin within the next twenty-four hours. These fortifications are the very backbone of the entire plan of the Dardanelles. The narrow passage Is puarded bv twelve forts, nine on the Kuropean side and three on the Asiatic. The fortifications were laid out under the direction of Germany army engineers, and In addition to them theje Is a long series of lntrenchments and wirth works that will have to be taken by landitip parties. Once through the narrows, the Turkish Turk-ish fleet of thirty-four vessels remains to be disposed of. This fleet is believed to be wal tins; i ri the Naga ra roans. It is said to consist of one dreadnought, two battle cruisers, five cruisers, nino torpedo-boat torpedo-boat destroyers, fifteen torpedo boats and the two former German cruisers, the Goeben and Bresluu. Aeroplanes Play Part. Aeroplanes with which the allied vessels ves-sels are equipped played a leading part in the destruction of the forts guarding the entrance to the Dardanelles. The airmen made daily flights over the positions posi-tions of the enemy, dropped bombs and made observations which enabled the warships to gauge the fire to a nicety. The Turks were helpless to protect themselves from the airships, for they were without high-angle guns. Through the information secured bv the airmen it Is believed that of the 2V)0 shells fired by the warships frtm their stand 12.000 yards distant less than a dozen Were wasted. Met by Germans. One landing party at Kum Kali was met by a strong force of Turk and German marines, who opened fire on tham with rifles. There was one machine gun and the defenders tried to bring this into action. ac-tion. The British charged, however, and fierce hand-to-hand fighting followed. After a few minutes the Turks broke and fled over the Mendere bridge, which shells from the warships had already partly de-; de-; stroyed. The Turks left many dead and wounded. The allied losses were only one killed and three wounded. The landing piirty ..TU'turL-d two four-inrh guns whirh :hr Turks wliuii Heeijfr h.i l trlfU to con-rul con-rul n-;ir the tmnb of Achilles and four Nun! Qi: flr! t. guns, t'OviTi ng t he entra in'o in the works. The landing partv at H"'M- ! 1- liatir hi t: t no resistance. They fu ;od the plce in complete ruins and touk a n"?"her of ;,uns that the Turks had abandoned. aban-doned. ''he new battleship Queen Eliza both, nno of the lnrest members of the British Brit-ish flrot, iook part in the bombardment. rhi? is the first time, it is stated, in i which (jf teen-inch naval euns havo beeu in action. The Queen Elizabeth, a ves-, ves-, m'I nl 27j500 tons, has eight lif teen-inch 15113. Admiralty Statement. The admiralty statement follows: The entrance to the Dardanelles was guarded by the four principal forls, namely. Cape Holies battery. Fort Seddul Pahr. Fori Orkhane-h Tabia and Fort Kum Kalossi Tabla, which wiil be described for convenience conveni-ence as A, B, C and D. These forts were armed as follows: A Two Si. 2 guns. B Six in. 2 guns. (' Two 9.2 guns. D-Fotir 10.1! and two 5.9 guns. The weather having improved, although al-though the wind was still from the j southwest, the attack on these forts ' was resumed Thursday morning (Feb- ; ruaiy 2:.) at lu o'clock. Begins at Long Range. The Queen Elizabeth, Agamemnon, Irresistible and Gaulois began by de-, de-, libera tely bombarding forts A, B, G ami D. respectively, at long range. Fort A replied. One shell at 11.000 yards bit the Agamemnon, killing three, and seriously wounding five. ! The Irresistible and Gaulois made ex- I eel tent practice on forts C and D, 1 while the Queen Elizabeth concen- , trated with great accuracy on Fort A, putting botli of its guns out of action by about 11:10 a. m. The Vengeance and Cornwallls then ran in under cover of lone-range fire and er:?aged Fort A at close range. 1 The reduction of Fort A was completed, com-pleted, while Forts C and D opened a very slow and inaccurate fire. The Suftern and Charlemagne next delivered an attack on Forts C and D, advancing to within 2000 yards of them. It was then seen that they were in no condition to offer an effective ef-fective resistance. Destruction Completed. The Vengeance, Triumph ana Albion Al-bion were then ordered in to complete com-plete the reduction of the forts. All four were reduced by 5:15 p. m. Sweeping operations, covered by a division of battleships and destrovers, 1 were immediately begun. The" enemy en-emy set fire to a village at the entrance en-trance as darkness fell. A report also has been received of , the operations of February 26. The straits had been swept up to four j miles from the entrance. The Albion and Majestic, supported bv the , Vengeance, proceeded to the limit of I the swept area and began an at- ! tack on a fort and some new bat-; bat-; teries on the Asiatic shore. The fire in reply was ineffective. 1 After being shelled from inside the straits, tiie enemy retired from the forts at the entrance and, during the afternoon, demolishing parties were landed at Kum Kale and Seddul Bahr (Sedd-El-Bahr) from the Vengeance and Irresistible. Forts A. B and C were then completely, and Fort D was partially, destroyed. Driven Over Bridge. The enemy were encountered in Kum Kale and were driven out over the Mendere bridge, which was partially par-tially destroyed. The new four-inch guns concealed near the Tomb of Achilles were also destroyed and four Nordenfelts covering the entrance were destroyed. Our casualties on the 26th were one killed and three wounded. The Turkish army headquarters in Constantinople Con-stantinople announced yesterday that one ship of tho Agamemnon type and two other armored vessels were damaged. Two other armored vessels were damaged dam-aged by tlie fire from the forts on the Asiatic side of the Dardanelles. The Agamemnon, a isael of 16.500 tons displacement, was laid down in 1005. Hur complement is S65 men. She is 436 feel loncj and has a main battery of four 12-inch guns. |