RUSSIAN FIELD ARTILLERY. 
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guns resounded as one; one after another the other guns belched 
forth case shot against the Turks ; we loaded anew; every effort was 
made; each gunner tried to vie with his comrade, but, even then, 
the period between each shot appeared an eternity. 
The noise of the bullets which whistled past our ears and buried 
themselves in the ground, the noise of the men, horses, and guns, the 
cries of the wounded—to which no one could attend—interrupted by 
the laconical word of command “ fire,” the bursting of the shrapnel 
over our heads, the smoke from the guns, and the countenances of our 
men blackened with gunpowder, and bathed in perspiration—all 
these condensed into a few minutes will for ever remain before my eyes 
as an emblem of war. 
This was the final and desperate effort that the Turks made against 
our centre; the most vigorous and energetic that took place in this 
action, according to official accounts. 
Above the battery there was a cloud of smoke; the case shot was 
becoming exhausted. Danger close at hand. At the limbers might be 
seen another lamentable picture: that of horses wounded by the 
enemy's fire. Worthy death for these beautiful and noble animals, 
who, without a cry or complaint, bid farewell to the man with a look 
of resignation and affection ! 
From time to time are heard the exclamations of a driver trying to 
hold in his horses, and who is at last obliged to cut the traces and 
burst the buckles in order to let the animals free; disorder gains 
ground; a driver struggles in vain to extricate himself from a horse 
which has fallen wounded. Everywhere are to be heard voices and 
shouting; this man is wounded, that man the same; “ the spare 
horses "—“ where are they?" “ Sir, all the case shot are finished"! 
Much sangfroid and great presence of mind are necessary in order to 
keep one's head amidst such chaos and disorder, and to keep one's face 
unmoved, and infuse tranquillity and confidence. In a word, the 
battery had lost morale; that last exclamation was like a death-blow, 
and the probability of the loss of our guns stared us all in the face. 
The left half-battery received the order to retire 100 yds., and 
open fire with shrapnel, without attempting to refit in any way, and 
to fire as rapidly as possible, with the fuze bored at the first hole.* 
The right half-battery loaded with their last rounds of case, and 
awaited with bated breath the imminent assault of the Turks. 
In this critical moment the Chasseurs re-appeared on the right flank 
of the battery, and fell on the left of the Turks; at the second charge 
of the 13th and 14th battalions of the 4th Brigade of Chasseurs the 
battery was saved, and the fate of the battle decided. 
Three guns of the right half-battery joined the four of the left half, 
leaving the fourth gun with only two horses, one of which was 
wounded; an officer, whose horse had been wounded, remained at the 
gun with a few men. The infantry fire became less and less, and 
no Turk was to be seen in the maize. 
* They did not seem to know of firing shrapnel reversed, as case, without any fuze or plug. 
What time might thus have been saved, and the moral power of the battery maintained in the eyes 
of the men.—J. C. D. 
