over the dyke, and by repeated attacks kept them off from our rear. After having passed the first forest without molestation, between Ceglow and Kuflew, colonel Dembinski took a position, between forests, in the environs of Bady, where a part of the 2d division was placed in expectation of the enemy, in a kind of ambuscade. Here our forces waited in vain until night for the enemy, who had contented himself with having taken Kuflew. Two squadrons of cossacks, whom he ventured to send towards our position, to reconnoitre, were, as soon as they were seen, fallen upon by our cavalry, and either cut down or made prisoners, to the amount of more than a hundred men and horses, with two officers. As the enemy attempted nothing more, our forces, during the night, evacuated their position, agreeably to instructions, and reached Minsk at 3, A.M. of the next day. At Kuflew, full 40,000 men, with some twenty pieces of artillery, and commanded by Diebitsch in person, were opposed to general Dembinski, who had not quite 4,000 men and four pieces of artillery, with which force he stood against the enemy for that whole day. The loss of the Russians was about a thousand men, and on our own side it was not fifty. [Illustration: _XXIV._] [Illustration: _XXV._] The actions which took place on the same day at Boimie, were without any decisive result, consisting only of a continued fire of artillery. During the night of that day, our forces in every point made a retrograde movement. The general in chief arranged his preparations to receive the enemy on the 26th, dividing his forces into two parts. The second division under Gielgud, and the division of cavalry, under Skarzynski, was to await the enemy at Minsk; while the general in chief, with the main body, awaited him in person at Dembe-Wielke. BATTLE OF MINSK. [_See Plan_ XXV.] The position of Minsk may be considered as one of the strongest upon the great road from Siedlce to Warsaw. That town is situated in a plain, surrounded by an impenetrable forest, and traversed by a small river, which falls into the Swider. Upon the side of Warsaw, where our forces were placed, are heights which overlook the whole town, and they were particularly commanding upon the right of the roads leading to Warsaw. The fire from those heights could sweep almost every street of the city, and they were occupied by twenty-four pieces of artillery (_a_). Upon the side of Siedlce and Ceglow, whence the enemy was approaching, the whole plain was exposed to the commanding fire of this artillery. The town of Minsk was occupied by two battalions of our light infantry, dispersed as sharp shooters (_b_).