The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-08-04
NEW YORK HERALD SATURDAY AUGUST H. 18-wTH SUPPLEMENT-

| ing vineyards In black pillar against the
sky. The white smoke of the battle rolls
up in heavy clouds and curtains in the pic
ture of war that is before us.
| THE PARoxYsM OF BATTLE.
The fell fury of the battle has entered on
its maddest paroxysms. The supports that
had remained behind, lying just under the
crest of the slope are pushing forward over
the brow of the hill. The wounded begin
to trickle back over the ridge. We can see
the dead and the NOR severely wounded
lying where they fall on the stubble and
amid the maize. The living wave Of fight
ing men is pouring over them, ever on and
| on.
HOT ARTILLERY FIRE.
The gallant gunners to the right and to
the left of us stand to their work with
will on the shell-swept ridge. The Turkish
cannon fire begins to waver in that earth
work over against us.
THE FORWARD DASH.
More supports stream down with a louder
cheer into the Russian fighting line. Sud-
denly the disconnected men Of the
advance close up, and are together
again in q strong line. We can dis
Germ the officers signalling for the
concentration by the waving of their swords.
The distance from the Turkish line is about
one hundred yards. A fierce hoarse shout
reaches us, but already the rush has begun.
With the speed that only comes in the last
desperate moment of closing on bitter foe
the Russians spring forward The wild
dash is headed by the colonel of one of the
regiments Of the Thirty-second division.
| THE 1NTHENcHED TURK.
The Turks in the shelter trench hold
their ground. The bristling line of bay
onets is close upon them, but the Sons of
Islam, with their blind reliance on Kismet,
look fate in the shape of the armed Mus
covite steadily in the face. They FIRE
| steadily and with terrible effect into the
advancing forces
GALLANT OFFICER FALLS.
The horse Of the gallant colonel who is
leading the charge goes down, but the
colonel is on his feet in o second and, wav-
ing his sword, leads his men forward on
foot It is only for a few PAGES. He stag
gers and falls. heard afterward that he
was killed We can hear the sound Of
wrath-half howl, half yell-with which his
men, bayonets at "the CHARGE" rush on to
avenge him.
INTO THE TRENCH.
They have not long to wait. It is but
few yards now to the Turkish works, and
these are soon traversed. In an instant
they are over the parapet and in among the
Turks like an avalan she. The carnage is
seen to be terrible, It is hand to hand and
breast to breast. The rush which carried
the Russians in sweeps all before it. Not
many Turks get chance to run away from
the cleaning bayonets swayed by muscular
Russian arms The outer edge of the first
position is won.
RECKLESS FIGHTERS.
The Russians are bad skirmishers. They
despise cover, and give and take fire out in
the open as in the old days before arms of
precision were in use. It will not do now
adays, A soldiers life is not his own, even
to throw away. The men who captured the
shelter trench disdained to use the cover
afforded by its parapet. but pushed on in
broken or open order up the bare slope.
FORWARD AGAIN.
In places the soldiers hung back little,
for the musketry fire from the Turks en-
sconced behind the main earthwork above
was very deadly, and the slope was strewn
with the fallen dead and wounded. For the
most part, however, the men advanced MIN
bly, enough T;nqyet it took them half an hour
from the time they left the shelter trench
before they again converged under the coll
of their officers and made their final rush at
the main earthwork. :.
THE TURKS FLY.
This time the Turks did not wait to meet
the Russians at the point of the bayonet
but with one final volley abandoned the.
work. We watched their huddled mass in
the gardens and vineyards behind the posi-
ton, examining the narrow track between
the trees. 1t was genuine helter-skelter