Page:Decisive Battles Since Waterloo.djvu/91

Rh cut down, and captured five more guns. The Russians retreated to their main body, the Turks pursuing, but halting judiciously and retiring when they found they were facing great odds. The Russian stand was made at Kouleftscha, where Diebitsch immediately concentrated all his forces and drew victory out of defeat. As the battle continued, the superiority of the Russian artillery told heavily against the Turks, who were thrown into disorder, and lost heavily in men and guns. The grand vizier took a circuitous route to Shumla, where he arrived with eighteen thousand men and twelve guns; he had marched out a few days before with thirty-six thousand men and fifty-nine guns. The Russian loss in the battle was sixty-three officers and about twenty-five hundred men; all the artillery lost by them in the early part of the battle was abandoned by the Turks later in the day. Immediately after the fall of Silistria General Diebitsch conceived the daring plan of crossing the Balkans, but he carefully kept it to himself until every thing was ready. He made great and ostentatious preparations for besieging Shumla, and so completely deceived the grand vizier that the latter made no attempt at defending the passes of the mountains. Diebitsch formed a camp in front of Shumla, and during every day detachments of troops were arriving hourly with banners flying and bands playing, while the soldiers already there greeted the newcomers. But during the night other detachments, which were concealed by a chain of outposts, moved silently to the left to reinforce the corps of Roth and Rudiger, which had entered the valley of the Kamtjik with the view of crossing the Balkan chain by the Aidos Pass. The ruse was so successful that the Turks had only three thousand men at the foot of the northern slope of the ridge, and had done absolutely nothing in the way of throwing up intrenchments or otherwise preparing for a defence, when Roth and Rudiger were ready to move