Imaginary wars and battles -- Fiction; Science fiction; War stories
Heideck had seen sufficient to be able to judge of the position of the
battle. He climbed down the minaret and mounted his fresh steed, whilst
Morar Gopal sprang into the saddle of his own horse. They quickly
arrived amongst the British cavalry, deploying in advance of their main
army. The advance march was now executed with greatest rapidity. The
English batteries dashed forward at the fastest pace the soft ground
would permit, unlimbered, and opened fire. Large masses of infantry
marched towards the jungle. But from the other side of the river the
lively English fire was but feebly returned. Only from the direction of
the left English wing, invisible from this point, did the artillery and
infantry fire rage with unabated violence.
In consequence, considerable reinforcements were sent to the apparently
hard-pressed left wing, and a distinct weakening of the centre took
place, without a clear idea having been formed as to the intention of
the Russians. Heideck’s conviction was that such probably had been the
Russian tactics. He was of opinion that they probably raised a great
battle din by Shah Dara, in order to direct the attention of the English
to that point, and then deliver their main attack against the centre.
He was right; the main forces of the Russians were opposed to Colonel
Baird.
Another circumstance he could not explain was the curious fact that
the English as well as the Indian infantry regiments halted before the
jungle instead of pushing forward to the river. Not even riflemen were
sent into it, although the bush was by no means too thick for a chain
of riflemen to take cover. The prickly bushes on the river’s bank were
sparse enough, and the high grass reaching up to the mens’ shoulders
would have made a splendid hiding-place.
By-and-by the English army had executed the movement to the left, and
now stood facing the Russian front. One new regiment after the other was
drawn from the second division and placed on the left wing, which was
believed to be most threatened. The English guns thundered without
interruption, but their position might have been better; many fired
without being able to see the enemy at all through the thick jungle, and
threw away their ammunition prematurely.
The sun shone brightly in the cloudless sky. A slight north-westerly
breeze coming from the far distant hills blew the smoke of the powder in
clouds back on the English army.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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