A strong detachment from General Inouye's Division, therefore, crossed westwards to Tan-lang-fang; the Imperial Guards marched rapidly along the main road from Chiu-lien-cheng; and the 2nd Division spread out towards Antung and pursued the retiring 9th and 10th Regiments. It was the Guards Division and the 12th Division with whom General Kashtalinsky had to deal in this last brave stand. He ordered the 11th Regiment under his chief of staff to assume a commanding position in the rear, from which they could fire upon the enemy from two sides. Lieutenant-Colonel Mouravsky's battery he held in reserve; and then he ordered the wearied troops of the 12th Regiment, the 22nd Regiment, and the 3rd Battery of the 6th Brigade to retire under cover of the fire of the 11th. [Sidenote: The Last Gallant Stand] But before this manoeuvre could be effected the fierce pursuit of the Japanese had gained its object. Both the Guards and the 12th Division reached the spot by 1 o'clock, and approaching from opposite sides, surrounded the hapless Russians. An enfilading fire made it impossible for the 3rd Battery to retire. Its horses were killed, and, therefore, Colonel Mouravsky, who assumed the command, ordered the gunners to take up a position where they stood and return the Japanese fire at close quarters. This they did with the greatest gallantry. They fought on steadily till not a man was left standing, their brave commander, Colonel Mouravsky, himself being among the last to fall. In the meanwhile, a company with machine guns had been ordered up to the assistance of the 3rd Battery. The officer in command, seeing the difficult situation of Colonel Mouravsky, took up a position, in the words of General Kashtalinsky's dispatch, "on his own initiative." He was no more fortunate than his superior officer. He, too, had entered the fatal ring of fire, and half his men and horses were shot down before he could render any effective service. An attempt to bring away his guns by hand and to take them under shelter of the hills under the terrible cross fire to which he was exposed, was no more successful, and the guns ultimately fell into the hands of the enemy. The case being evidently hopeless, the 2nd Battery, which had been brought up as a reinforcement to the 11th Regiment, was ordered back to rejoin the reserve by another road, but half its horses, too, were killed, and, finding it impossible to ascend the slopes without them, the officer in command brought his guns back to their original position, and there bravely, but unavailingly, received the Japanese attack. [Sidenote: Rifle Fire and Cold Steel]