Turks stoutly defended their position and made every shot tell.
Skobeleff was for a time more successful than the other generals directing the attack, as he clung to the positions he had gained in spite of the Turkish fire that raked his lines from three directions. Mounted on a white horse, and dressed in a white uniform, such as he always wore when going into battle, he led the charge against a double redoubt in the bend of the Loftcha road, close to Plevna. All his escort were killed or wounded, his horse was killed beneath him, and his sword was cut in two by a cannon-shot. But onward he pushed, and carried the redoubt, losing 3,000 men in the effort.
And now came the question of holding the redoubt. It was taken about six o'clock in the afternoon, and Skobeleff sent immediately for reinforcements, but they never came. All through the night he retained his position, and in the morning he was heavily assailed by masses of Turkish infantry, who advanced under cover of the artillery fire from the Krishin redoubt. The Turks were repulsed, but they returned to the assault as soon as they could re-form and fresh troops could join them. Five times did they attack Skobeleff's rapidly diminishing forces, and five times were they driven back. Towards the close of the day they attacked for the sixth time, and as their battalions came surging on, Skobeleff was at his tent on a wooded hill near the redoubt. When word came that the Turks were assaulting, he mounted his horse and rode towards the redoubt, out of which his men came streaming in a disorganized, straggling mass. They were dying of thirst, hunger, and fatigue, and worn out with almost continuous fighting for forty-eight hours. The repulse of the Russians at other parts of the line had enabled the Turks to gather an overwhelming force to drive Skobeleff out of the redoubt, and at last they succeeded. One bastion was held to the last by a young officer, who was slaughtered with all his men around him.
