SERVICES OF TWO RUSSIAN MOUNTAIN BATTERIES. 
127 
months. By bringing the Horse Artillery guns through the Hainkioi 
Pass, a delay ensued which prevented the co-operation of Gourko's 
with the northern force, in the attack on the 17th. Moreover, the 
work towards Slivno on debouching from the Hainkioi defile, which 
should have been undertaken by the Horse Artillery guns, had to be 
carried out by- the mountain guns, and to rest them they were left at 
Hainkioi, a total mistake, as their co-operation in the attack on the 
Turkish position on St. Nicholas was absolutely necessary. Yet their 
orders were not to advance till the 18th. Wo note also, as in the case 
of our own Indian Frontier Expeditions on several occasions, that 
Horse Artillery, and not Field, co-operated with the Mountain Artillery 
in these operations, which points to the advisability of our adopting a 
mountain gun, the projectiles for which shall be interchangeable with 
that for our Horse Artillery gun, as is the custom in France. 
For the next five months the two Mountain Batteries assisted in the 
defence of the Passes against the numerous attacks made by the 
Turks, performing excellent service, notably the 2nd Battery in the 
determined assault of the Turks under Suleiman Pasha on the 23rd 
August, where its case shot fire saved the Russian position from being 
forced from the rear at a critical moment. 
The fighting in the Shipka Pass itself has been already detailed in 
the “ Proceedings,” and is omitted, as for the same reason are the 
operations in the Armenian Plateau of the other batteries. 
We now pass on to the crowning episode of the war, viz., the capture 
of the Turkish Army in the Shipka Pass and the advance of the Rus¬ 
sian columns on Adrianople in January, 1878. 
General Radetzky at this period commanded the force in the Shipka 
Pass, and his plan for forcing its passage was to divide his troops into 
three columns, one of which, under his own orders, was to remain in 
the works at the summit of the Pass, whilst the other two were to 
pass on either flank across the mountains, and attack the Pass from 
the rear simultaneously with an attack from the front by himself. 
The turning columns were constituted as follows :—The column of the 
right, under Skoboleff II., consisted of 22 battalions, six squadrons, the 
2nd Mountain Battery, and six field guns on sleighs. It was to pass 
over the trail which leads from the village of Zelenodrevo to the top 
of the mountain, two-and-a-half miles from the top of the Bald 
Mountain, and descends thence to the village of Imetli in the Tundja 
Valley. Here the detachment was to turn to the left and attack the 
works defending the village of Shipka. 
The column of the left, under Prince Mirsky, consisted of 26 bat¬ 
talions, six squadrons, the 1st Mountain Battery, and 16 field guns on 
sleighs. It was to leave the village of Travna and, passing through 
the Travna Pass, follow the trail over the Selky Hill, debouching into 
the Tundja Valley at the village of Gusevo, then turn to the right, 
and, joining hands with Skoboleff, act in concert with him in his attack 
on the Shipka Redoubt. 
The movement was fixed to begin on the morning of the 5th, and it 
was calculated that the columns would arrive in the valley on the 
evening of the 7th, and attack the following morning. Mirsky ; s 
