Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-09-19
THE EUROPEAN WAR.

THE EUROPEAN WAR.
London telegrams of Sept. 18th say:
At length news has arrived of the as
sault on Plevna, and it has been partial
" successful The Russians chose
Tuesdsy for the attack because it was a
fete day of the emperor. During the
previous four days they had poured into
the works a rain of iron which would
suffice to buy the whole place if it we're
sold at Its real value From daybreal<
3 o'clock Tuesday they continued the
cannonade, and then began an assault.
FIGHTING LASTED TILL EVENING,
and it ended in the capture Of three re-
doubts on the southern front, which
were taken by Gen. Shobelef and the
great redoubt of Gravitiza, which fell
into the hands of Gen. Rediohof The
position of GravItza was believed to be
by far the strongest point of defense,
and almost, indeed, the key of Plevna.
Now that it has been captured, there
can be little doubt that the town itself
will soon be untenable, if indeed 1t has
not already surrendered. The storm
ing parties.
CAPTURED FIVE GUNS AND TWO STAND
ARDS,
but with terrible loss on the part of the
sssallants, as the commander of the
regiment was killed, and a general and
5000 men were wounded. The number
of the dead had not yet been reckoned
at the time of the dispatch of the tele-
gram.
AN EYE-WITNEssES' ACCOUNT.
4 correspondent telegraphs long ac-
count of the assault on Plevna as wit
messed by him from the heights in front
of Radizevo. He says: The morning
broke with rain, which settled down in
to dense midst, through which objects
were invisible at a hundred yards About
10 A. NJ
THE FOG LIFTED SOMEWHAT.
and at that time the Grivica redoubt
was still alive, although its fire could
not be called brisk. To oar left near
the Lovatz and Plevna road there were
occasional intermittent bursts of infan-
try fire. Soon after 10 o'clock occurred
IN OMNIBUS lull in the firing. OF this
the Turks iauntily took the advantage
to come out from behind their parapets
and strolled about the glacis with the
utmost nonchalance Then the foe came
down again, yelling everything At II
o'clock precisely
A FURIOUS NIUSkETRY FIRE
suddenly burst out on our left from the
Russians pushing their way out of the
gap through the passes of the Lovatz-
Plevna road, and against the redoubt
on the summit OF an isolated manlelon
southeast of the town of Plevna. The
Turks, as far as could be Judged from
the sound, seemed to be in great
measure reserving their fire until the
Russians came to close quarters with
them, as everything was invisible at a
distance Of twenty yards This also ap-
plies to their artillery fire, although the
Russians continued furiouslv to shell
the Turkish position.
About noon the fog lifted somewhat,
but fell again. During the interval
the cannon in the Turkish second po-
sition
COULD BE SEEN FIRING HARD
IN the direction of the hostile musketry
fire. After the foe fell again one thing
became certain, from the sound of the
firing, that the infantry fighting had
tendency to retrograde from the Turkish
front, moving further to the left and
nearer to the fighting just above the
western end of the village of Radizevo,
exactly along the place held by Prince
Schackoskoy's staff as the fore part of
the line on the night of the 3Oth of Ju-
~. [ found several batteries of Rus
sian field artillery in steady action
against the first and second Turkish
positions on the central swell, q little to
the right and rear of the infantry still
engaged in desultory fighting The
commander of q battery told US with
an assumption of confidence that the
fighting which was dying out was mere
y fOrepost work to clear the way for
grand assault against the redoubton the
isolated mamelon, which was to be
made IN the afternoon; but with glass
[ could discern on the slopes leading up
to the mamelon Russian dead and
wounded lying about sadly thick. Sue
cessive bodies of Turks were streaming
down the slope Of the mamelon against
the huddled mass of Russians, retiring
seemingly on the shelter Of trenches
athWart the mouth of road ravine,
and ascending slopes to our immediate
right. 1t was also clear that Gen. Sko-
belof had attacked the redoubt, and
covered the way due east from the $50
lated mamelOn, yet further to the left
on the extreme westward of Rodizevo
ridge skirmishing was going on; but the
Turks
PRESENTED AN OBSTINATE FRONT
and fired steadily from shelter-trenches
This was at 2 o'clock, and for nearly
two hours little forepost affairs of no
consequence went on.
The foregoing evidently refers to that
part of the operations conducted by
Gen. Skobeloff, and comedies with the
account also from an eyewitness which
says:
Gen. Skobeloff in advancing upon the
Sofia redoubts at II o'clock was attacked
by the Turks, who sailed out to meet
him. He beat them back, and then at
tackled, himself, but