War and Revolution in Asiatic Russia
critical moment for the Russians had arrived. Would these forces unite and press their attack together, or had one of them failed and been overwhelmed in the snow-fields or defiles? About midday the artillery of the 4th Division began to drop shells on the Turkish snow-trenches on the Grobovoye heights. The bombardment went on for half an hour and then stopped, the commanders waiting in suspense to hear whether there was any reply from their comrades, the Turkestans, who should by this time be attacking from the North. Hope was beginning to wane, and they were faced by the prospect either of a single-handed encounter with a greatly superior enemy or of a disastrous retreat. But about one o'clock a faint rumble was heard, and a few minutes later shells were seen dropping on the Grobovoye heights. They were Russian shells, yet not fired by the 4th Division. The situation was saved, for the Turkestans had forced their way through the Gurji-Bogaz defile, capturing fort Kara-gyubek, and pressing on to the Grobovoye heights and towards fort Tufta. The Turks now on the Grobovoye heights were in danger of being surrounded from the North, South and East. They could see that Kara-gyubek was already in Russian hands. The left wing of the 4th Division, moreover, was pressing on to the heights of Kuni-tepe, a mass lying North of the Olugli and commanding fort Tufta from the South. This they occupied at three o'clock, and the Turks on the Grobovoye heights retired at once on fort Tufta. In another half-hour the Turkestans appeared upon the sky-line; and here, on this desolate Grobovoye height, at this historic moment, they greeted their brothers of the 4th Division. The gap in the Russian
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