304 
RUSSIAN FIELD ARTILLERY. 
We heard a general cheer, and ceased firing, for fear of injuring 
our own troops. An aide-de-camp arrived : “ What's the matter, why 
is this battery retiring ? ” Then, directly after, another c< Forward— 
a general advance of the whole line."” “ Permit me, Captain, to go on 
in front, and reconnoitre the ground; the battery cannot advance here 
on account of this road,” said one of the officers ; “ Yery well, go.” 
At this moment his horse was wounded, and the rider fell: “ Are 
you hurt ? 33 “ No.” An artificer came up and offered his horse, and 
the officer mounted and galloped off. We now arranged the battery 
by equalizing the teams to four horses a gun, as far as we could. The 
officer returned and made us signs with his hand — ee Left incline—> 
trot.” 
We had to incline some 100 yds. to the left, to pass the sunken road. 
We did not want to stop to fire, because the Turks were in full retreat 
across the wood, throwing away in their flight great quantities of bread 
and other provisions, which, unfortunately, we could not wait to 
pick up. 
Firing in the front, and on the flanks, had almost entirely ceased. 
On arriving at the large wood, we followed the edge of it, which we had 
previously been firing at; once in the high road, we took the direction 
of Dzuranli, towards the west. 
When following the edge of the wood, we were able to see that, 
notwithstanding the unfavourable conditions under which we laboured, 
our shrapnel had done its work, judging from the dead bodies 
of men and horses which we saw there, and the quantity of broken 
trees and branches strewed about. Near Dzuranli the battery took up 
another position, expecting that the action would be renewed. The 
enemy were about two miles from us, and we perceived them on the 
other side of Eski-Saara, by the great columns of dust they raised. 
It is only just to the battery to say that, notwithstanding the sudden 
appearance of the Turks, and of the deadly fire that decimated us, it 
maintained discipline, and remained steady to the last moment, and, 
thanks to this, it was able to defy the danger. This circumstance is 
not so insignificant that we should pass it by in silence. In this action 
the battery had 13 per cent, of men and 25 per cent, of horses placed 
“ hors de combat 33 
It is worthy of remark that at a period when, in consequence of the 
improvements in fire-arms, artillery is being obliged to modify its 
system of fighting, in order to operate at much longer ranges, and 
when many artillerists are considering case shot as being hardly worth 
discussion, a battery of 4-prs., for some minutes, at 200 to 300 paces, 
resisted the enemy 5 s infantry, and was able to maintain itself and save 
its guns, expending all its case shot and suffering comparatively 
small losses. 
This case cannot be considered an exceptional one, for, in this 
war, it was constantly happening—above all when acting on the 
defensive. I do not know whether the ground had been reconnoitred 
in the morning, or not, although there had been plenty of time to do 
so ; but later on I found an opportunity to look over the battle field, 
and was convinced at the same time that there were many much better 
