THE CAMPAIGN IN BULGARIA, 1877-1878.
The Campaign in Bulgaria, 1877-1878. By F. V. Greene. (Hugh Rees. 8s. 6d. net.)—This volume, belonging to the " Pall Mall Military Series," is a reprint of part of its author's " Russian Campaigning in Turkey." Mr. Greene was Military Attache to the United States Legation at St. Petersburg. As to its value as a narrative of military operations there can be no doubt. It is usefully illustrated with maps, beginning with one that gives the " Theatre of War in Europe." There are " Progress Maps," representing the three periods of the campaign, plans of Galatz, Zimnitza-Sistova, Plevna, and the Shipka Pass, and one of the positions of the two armies on August 5th, 1877. This was after the second battle of Plevna, a most disastrous affair for the Russians, whose loss hors de combat was seven thousand three hundred and five officers and men, the killed numbering two thousand four hundred. (The proportionate loss of officers was small, one in forty-three, especially as the battle was an attack on fortified positions.) At Gorni-Dubnik, where the Russians were victorious, it was very different (one in twenty-eight). The main subject of the volume is of the greatest importance, and it abounds with significant details. Such, for instance, is the curious fact that reinforcements for the Russian army continued to arrive long after peace had been declared. In view of recent campaign- ing and the criticisms thereon, it is reassuring to find that the commanders on both sides with one or two exceptions, Skobeleff chief among them, blundered egregiously. It is curious that the Emperor's Manifesto declaring his sympathy with the oppressed Christians of Turkey was dated from Kishineff.
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