"... I visited the Roumanian troops in the trenches, where they are standing knee-deep in mud and water! The breastworks have fallen in in many places, so that they are exposed to the musketry of the Turks, and many men have been wounded during the last few days." The sufferings of the troops were still further increased by the destruction of the bridges over the Danube, and to the discomforts of cold and wet was added the terror of starvation. A number of disputes occurred between the Russian and Roumanian foraging-parties, which culminated one day in a party of Russians being marched past the Prince's quarters as prisoners! The second Grivitza redoubt was taken, after a first unsuccessful attempt, by the Roumanians on October 19, but the Turkish reserves eventually forced them to retire, with a loss of 300 killed and 707 wounded. The Russians, however, succeeded in gaining possession of the great redoubt at Gornji-Dubnik under cover of night on the 24th, and thereby completed the investment of Plevna, from which Osman could now only escape by forcing his way through the lines of the Allies. The course of the investment proved uneventful until November 10, when General Skobeleff took the Green Hill by a night attack, with the comparatively trifling loss of 200 men. This important point commands the town of Plevna, and its capture could not fail to hasten the end of the siege. Every attempt, especially by means of night attacks, was made by the Turks to drive the Russians out of this position, but each attempt was defeated by the stern valour of Skobeleff's veterans. In reply to the Grand Duke's summons to surrender, Osman Pacha sent the proud and soldierly answer that he had not yet exhausted all his means, and therefore could not capitulate: that his honour as a soldier required him to hold out to the last. The whole Russo-Roumanian line investing Plevna was now divided into six sections under separate commanders. The first and largest, consisting of some thirty field works connected by shelter-trenches, extended for nine and a half miles from the right bank of the Wid to the Griwitza redoubt, the second ran from thence to the Plevna-Rustchuk road, the third to the Tutschenitza Ravine, and the fourth to Krtuschab, the fifth to the line of the Wid, and the sixth completed the circle to the west of that river. The difficulties of his position were thus described by Prince Charles, November 17, 1877: "The command here is no easy task, for the General Staff often alter the dispositions, and the Imperial headquarters interfere directly on every occasion, thereby causing confusion. This has, however, been amended after some representations, and we are now left alone. The expression, 'under my immediate command,' in my last General Order, marks the altered conditions, and prevents any direct interference. It sometimes looks to me as though the Russians found me in the way!...