369 
THE BLOCKADE OE THE FORTIFIED POSITION OF PLEVNA, 
AND THE SURRENDER OF THE TURKISH ARMY, 
28 th NOVEMBER, 1877. 
(Report of General Aide-de-Camp Todleben to his Imperial Highness the Commander An-Chief 
of the Allied Armies.) 
TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN BY 
LIEUT. J. M. GRIERSON, R.A, 
Round about Plevna the army of Osman Pasha had occupied a 
fortified camp which was very well adapted for defence, presenting, as 
it did, successive lines of strong positions, which the enemy, in the 
course of our long sojourn before Plevna (since the end of July), had 
considerably strengthened, having profited by all the advantages of the 
terrain, and adapted his works very skilfully to it. The resistance 
which was opposed to us by the defenders of these fortifications was 
increased in a most remarkable degree by the fire—unprecedented in 
its strength—from rapidly-loaded rifles, and by the immense reserve of 
cartridges, permitting the enemy to cover with a hail of lead all the 
terrain in front of his works to a distance of two versts. Besides, the 
positions of the enemy, by their extent and depth, made it possible for 
him to keep reserves out of range of our artillery, and all the ravines 
and valleys converged on the town itself; so that the reserve could, on 
account of its central position, in case of an attack from our side, arrive 
at whatever point it liked of the attacked fronts. Those circumstances, 
in the highest degree unfavourable for us, explain the true causes of 
our failure in the storm attempted on the 30th August on the Plevna 
redoubts; and, to escape an aimless carnage, the solution of the problem 
was to desist from all new attempts to take possession of the position of 
Plevna by force, to await the arrival of reinforcements^ and to reduce 
the Turkish stronghold by blockade. 
48 . 
