Слике страница
PDF
ePub

north, and which may play an important part before the end of the siege of Plevna, or in the operations to prevent the supply and relief of the place.

Soon after the middle of August the Russians were reinforced by the second and third divisions of infantry, and the third brigade of rifles, all of which were moved in the direction of Plevna and Lovatz. A large number of recruits also arrived about the same time to fill up the regiments which had suffered most severely, especially in the ninth corps. On the 22d a Turkish force advanced from Lovatz upon Selvi, but were repulsed without the aid of the reinforcements sent in that direction On the 25th the main body of the Roumanian army commenced the passage of the Danube. On the 31st Osman Pasha, with twentyfive thousand men, moved out of his lines at Plevna and attacked the Russian outposts in the vicinity of Pelisat. He carried the latter place, and advanced somewhat beyond it, when, encountering the Russians in force, he was driven back. He held Pelisat with great determination, but was finally driven out of it, and back into his lines with heavy loss. The Russians regained all their positions. About the 1st of September Prince Charles of Roumania was placed in command of the combined Russian and Roumanian troops operating against Plevna; there is some uncertainty as to the exact powers intrusted to him, but the weight of evidence appears to be to the effect that he has the direct command, under the general orders of the Grand Duke commanding in chief. On the 3d of September Lovatz was successfully attacked by the Russians: the importance of this position, and the very creditable manner in which the attack was conducted merit a brief description.

Lovatz is on the Osma River, in a circular valley surrounded by hills rising gently to the height of some six hundred feet. The bottom of the valley is about three fourths of a mile in diameter, while it is some miles from crest to crest of the encircling hills, whose gentle slopes, intersected by ravines, and well covered with crops and trees, afford good cover for troops. The bottom of the valley is crossed by a southeast and northwest ridge, some hundred feet high, through which the river has cut its way. On the extremities of this ridge are the redoubts forming the key points of the Turkish position. Lovatz has about twelve thou

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]

sand inhabitants, principally Turks, and is a closely built and dirty city, blessed with a charming situation.

The main road from Selvi enters the amphitheatre from the east, and thence turns northward to Plevna. As already stated, the position of Lovatz is strategically important, and its possession was very necessary to the Russians as a part of the projected operations against Plevna.

The attack was intrusted to Prince Imeretinski, with Skobeleff under his orders.

The Russian force engaged amounted to about twenty-two thousand men, and consisted of Imeretinski's own division, the second, one brigade of the third division, Dobrovolski's third rifle brigade, some detached regiments, a brigade of Cossack cavalry, and ten batteries. The Turkish force is somewhat uncertain, but is represented by themselves to have consisted of about ten battalions, with an uncertain number of guns.

On the morning of the 2d September Skobeleff gained possession of two peaks of the crest encircling Lovatz just north of the Selvi road; the Turks held the rest of the amphitheatre. Some redoubts and numerous lines of strong rifle-pits covered the approaches to Lovatz in all directions.

During the night of the 2d and 3d the Russian troops were quietly brought into position behind the crest of the hills, and in the vicinity of the Selvi road. The right wing was under the command of General Dobrovolski, the left under Skobeleff, the reserve under General Engmann. About six o'clock on the morning of the 3d the batteries were in position and opened fire.

At seven o'clock Dobrovolski began his advance upon some small hills on the right bank of the Osma, where in addition to the riflepits were two redoubts without artillery. By ten o'clock these redoubts and all the lines on that side were carried. As soon as this result was reached, Skobeleff moved to the attack of the redoubt on the eastern end of the cross ridge referred to as intersecting the bottom of the valley. His advance was covered by a heavy fire of artillery, and by one o'clock he had complete possession of the redoubt, and with it of the town of Lovatz. There now remained the strong work on the western end of the cross

At half past two the preparations for attacking this work were

[ocr errors]

complete. To reach the base of the ridge on which it was situated, it was necessary to cross a plain about half a mile wide, most of it entirely open. But under cover of their artillery the Russian infantry advanced rapidly under a very heavy but ill-directed fire.

After several feints to withdraw the attention of the Turks from the true point of attack, the final rush was made, and the work carried. The defenders held out bravely, and few escaped. The whole of the Turkish position was now in the hands of the Russians, whose loss was less than one thousand men, while that of the Turks was much heavier; the Russians state that they buried twenty-two hundred Turkish dead. The slight loss of the Russians was due partly to the fact that the Turks fired too high, but mainly to the skilful handling of the Russian generals, who, far from repeating the blunders of Plevna, never exposed masses to a heavy fire. The capture of Lovatz was very important, not alone from its strategical value, but from the proof it affords of what Russian troops can do when well handled.

On the following day Osman Pasha attempted to recapture Lovatz, but was readily repulsed.

The operations against Lovatz were preliminary to the renewal of active operations against Plevna. During the night of the 6th and 7th of September the Russians placed several batteries in position, and on the morning of the 7th opened a heavy fire upon the Russian works. This fire continued during the day. During the following night the batteries were brought nearer to the front, and kept up the cannonade all day; on the afternoon of the 8th the second and third divisions, on the extreme Russian left, occupied the heights south of Olcagas with moderate loss.

During the forenoon of the 9th the Turks made a sortie against Imeretinski and Skobeleff on the extreme Russian left, but were repulsed with heavy loss. During the same day the Roumanians, coming from Verbitza, closed in from the north, occupying the ground from the Wid to the Russian right near Grivitza, so that Plevna was now completely hemmed in on the eastern side of the Wid. The positions of the allied troops were then about as follows: the third, fourth, and second Roumanian divisions, in the order named, extending from Bivolar to the vicinity of Grivitza; the fifth Russian division east of the great redoubt, the thirty-first south of the fifth, the thirtieth with its left at Radichevo, the sixteenth on

« ПретходнаНастави »