534 GEMS FROM THE POLISH CAMPAIGN. 



again succeeded in carrying the right side of the wood at the point 

 of the bayonet. The whole of the 24th Russian division now fell 

 back in complete disorder, and communicated a momentary pariic to 

 the Russian army. The eagle eye of Chlopecki saw that the decisive 

 moment was arrived. " Ride off to Lubienski," said the gallant old 

 man to one of his aide-de-camps ; " tell him to fall on those Russian 

 dogs with his cavalry, and the day will be ours !" In the meantime, 

 he led on in person the light brigade of the 2d division, and was on 

 the point of taking the Russian artillery in flank, when suddenly the 

 aspect of affairs changed. Lubienski refused to charge without a po- 

 sitive order from Prince Radziwill, alleging the unfavourable nature 

 of the ground. General Chlopecki, wounded by the bursting of a shell, 

 fell from his horse ; and, at the same time, all the superior and field- 

 officers of the light brigade were either killed or wounded ; the vic- 

 torious advance of the Poles was paralysed,and the favourable moment 

 escaped. It was already half-past two o'clock, and the battle had 

 raged for five hours without intermission. Diebitsch now brought 

 up all his reserves. Two brigades of grenadiers advanced once more 

 against the wood, while Szachowski's corps debouched from Zombki; 

 and with its artillery enfiladed the Polish columns posted in the rear 

 of the wood ; this position was then no longer tenable, and the pine- 

 wood at length remained in possession of the Russians. 



The Russian line now extended far to the right, from the Chaussee 

 to the village of Zombki. Pahlen's corps occupied its original posi- 

 tion near the Chaussee ; Rosen's corps and 2d division of grenadiers 

 occupied Kawenczyn and the pine-wood, which they had just carried; 

 while Szachowski's corps was fast approaching Zombki. The Polish 

 army was quickly reformed, and now presented a new front ; their 

 line extended from Grochow to Zombki, towards which latter point 

 Roland's brigade was marching to support Uminski. In the mean- 

 time, the Russian field-marshal, surrounded by a brilliant staff, was 

 seen from a neighbouring height reconnoitering with his glass the 

 Polish position. He felt that the decisive moment had arrived for 

 hurling his masses of cavalry, which he had hitherto held in leash 

 behind the wood, against the Polish line ; and he imagined that our 

 battalions, thrown into confusion, would be either driven back upon 

 or cut off from the bridge. 



For this purpose he deployed into line on the left of the pine-wood 

 sixty pieces of artillery, and immediately opened a most destructive 

 fire upon our squares, preparatory to the grand charge of cavalry, 

 on which depended the fate of the day. Beneath this iron tempest 

 the Polish battalions rocked like the pines of their native forests when 

 agitated by the furious blasts of winter ; but, nothing daunted by 

 the deadly shower, our brave fellows closed up their shattered ranks 

 over the bodies of their dead and dying companions, and with stern 

 composure prepared to receive the desperate charge of the Russian 

 horse. As the smoke cleared off, they were observed debouching 

 from the pine-wood and forming their columns of attack opposite to 

 the Polish right wing. When all was ready, Diebitsch himself gave 

 the signal, and with headlong speed the Russian horse, in columns of 

 squadrons, charged the Polish line. The division of cuirassiers 



