580 
ACHIEVEMENTS Of FIELD ARTILLERY. 
exercise so potent an influence over the enemy that it was only where 
he could find shelter from their shells that he could with any advantage 
use his guns; on our side men began to breathe more freely. The 
crisis of the day had passed, and, even though our reserves were all 
but exhausted, we had held the enemy at bay in numerous sma.ll com¬ 
bats for many hours, and did not, therefore, regard with apprehension 
the prospect of opposing him a little longer with attenuated forces. 
For his aggressive force was clearly sinking, and his columns were no 
longer supported by the heavy artillery fire which had hitherto lent 
them courage. 
Gradually gathering confidence our infantry were even drawn on to 
assume an offensive role , and under cover of the two 18-prs. a battery 
on Shell Hill was attacked and driven off the ground. This last blow 
determined the fate of the day. General Dannenberg, despairing now 
of being able to reassert his power, suddenly gave the order to retreat. 
He was driven to this resolve, he afterwards stated, by "the mur¬ 
derous fire of artillery.” That is to say that two siege guns, manned 
by determined men, and placed skilfully in position, had had so great 
an influence on the fortunes of the day as not only to subdue the fire 
of 100 pieces, but to impress the hostile commander to such an extent 
with their power that he withdrew the whole of an enormously superior 
force from the contest. 1 " The Siege Artillery of the English was 
placed in position on the field of battle and it was not possible for our 
Field Artillery to contend against them with advantage.” 
But the two gallant 18-prs. were yet to show that they could hit 
infantry even harder than artillery. 
When the Russians determined to quit the field and began to draw 
off their guns, a heavy column, formed of the Vladimir Regiment 
2000 strong, was sent to cover the retreat, and with a larger daring 
than had been thought of by the General who entrusted that task to 
them, moved down the slope towards the very part of our position where 
Collingwood Dickson's guns were placed. As the smoke lifted they 
were perceived, and soon the great shot were tearing through their 
ranks, scattering destruction amongst them just as they had spread 
havoc through the batteries. 
The heavy column hesitated, halted, turned, and sullenly fell back. 
It acknowledged the superior power of artillery, and abandoned the 
struggle. 
The last effort of the day was thus stalled off by the same guns 
wbo had brought the crisis about, and now the Russian army was 
at our mercy had we bad but a reserve of fresh troops at hand to 
drive the victory home. The whole strength of our men had, how¬ 
ever, been put forth since dawn to avert disaster, and when the 
triumph came they accepted it with a sense rather of relief than 
exultation. The enemy were beaten, but the victors were, perhaps, 
more exhausted than were they. As Lord Raglan at the close of 
the day saw the great Russian columns dragging their slow length 
in full retreat beneath him, he realised what he and his army had 
accomplished. "I have been attacked,” he said, "by 40,000 men.” 
1 Prince Mentschikoff’s despatch, 
