On the morning of July 30th, an artillery duel commenced and did not end until 3:00 p.m., when the Russians started their main troop advances. On the extreme left flank, Gen. Skobeleff got to within 600 yards of the Plevna out­skirts and started to fire his artillery when heavy long-range rifle fire caused so many casualties that he withdrew beyond their range and view. Prince Schachowskoi advanced to the village of Radisovo and killed the handful of Turks found there. Although his orders were to take the village and await new orders, he and his men were excited at their easy success. At 2:00 p.m., the Prince sent a message to Skobeleff saying that he was taking the offensive with his two brigades. This was the moment for which Osman Pasha's riflemen had been trained. The Prince lined up his two brigades and ordered them forward towards the Turkish trench line.

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    Russian reporters and military analysts later said that these troops began taking hits from the Peabody-Martinis at 3,000 yards, but this must be considered an exaggeration. What was really happening was a plunging high trajectory fire that was being accurately adjusted to keep pace with the oncoming infantry (see note below for a discussion of "plunging fire").  Men were falling in fair numbers at 2,000 yards, and the losses increased as they marched ever closer to their goal atop the hills of Plevna.

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    The Russian infantry accepted these losses in their usual stoic manner, but by the time they were 600-700 yards from the Turks, they began to unravel and break up into clusters. Some groups lay down to avoid the hail of lead and were goaded to their feet by their officers who valiantly urged them onwards. The concussion of Turkish rifle fire was constant and was augmented by Turkish artillery firing shrapnel shells into the Russian line. As the Turk officers called out each new range change, the riflemen adjusted their sights and poured forth more bullets in the general direction of the Russian line. The Winchesters lay next to many of them, fully loaded with 14 rounds. A box of 500 rounds was placed next to each repeating rifle, and other ammunition reserves were close at hand.

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    Still they came forward, these obedient Russian sol­diers, until they reached a point 200 yards from the Turkish trench line, when the order was given for the Turkish artillery, to cease fire and the riflemen to pick up their Winchesters and commence rapid fire. As the Winchesters spewed forth their rapid fire fusillade of lead, Russians fell in greater numbers than before. Still they came forward, bayonets fixed, ready to impale their oppressors in the trenches. According to prior plans, the Turks stopped shoot­ing when the Russians were about 50 yards from the trench line, and they now abandoned their first line of trenches and ran back into their second trench line, where they commenced their rifle fire all over again. The Russian advance stalled and took cover in the Turkish first line of trenches.

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 Prince Schachowskoi received a message that Gen. Krudner was sending a regiment to reinforce him, but they lost their way and never arrived in time to help. At 4:00 p.m., he could hold himself back no longer and ordered his remaining troops to charge the second line of trenches. The long-range Peabody-Martinis started their deadly plunging fire again, and Russians fell in large numbers as they worked their way uphill. closer to the second line. Once more the Winchesters took up the close-range fight, sending their wall of hot lead, decimating the oncoming infantry line. In a few places, Russians managed to get into the second line trench­es and, surprisingly, two companies actually got into Plevna itself, but Osman threw strong reserves into these points and drove them back.

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   By 6:00 p.m.. both flanks of the Russians had ended their attacks, but in desperation, Gen. Krudner sent his reserves, the Serpoukhof Regiment, into action near the center. These gallant men caught plunging fire as soon as they formed up their lines, and not one got closer than 100 yards of the Turk first trench line. Their leader, General Bojerianof. was hit near the 100 yard markers and was car­ried back by those of his personal guard who were still unhurt.

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  By 7:00 p.m., the Turks had full control of their second line trenches and attacked the now retreating forces of Prince Schachowskoi. who had no men available to act as a rear guard. The Prince sent a message to Gen. Skobeleff on his left. It read, "Extricate yourself as best you can. My companies (originally 200 strong) are coming back 5 and 10 men strong!" His personal guard had all been slain, and he kept around himself a small group of Cossacks. He man­aged to escape back to the Russian encampment four miles north of Plevna. His remaining soldiers were literally being driven before the Turkish rifle fire, causing the Russians to abandon three artillery pieces, all their wagons and their wounded (whom the Turks killed off during the night, as they took no prisoners).

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     News reporters wrote "...to find another instance of a corps being so rapidly destroyed as those the Russians used here, one has to go back to some of the frightful slaughters in the wars of the First French Empire." An official Russian report stated, "Turkish rifle fire was infernal on the flanks and center and seemed to in­crease greatly as our men neared the trenches."  Thus ended the Second Battle of Plevna.  Losses were reported to be 169 officers and 7,136 men. This represents 30 percent of the 26,000 that Gen. Krudner sent into battle.

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     The Grand Duke Nicholas was appalled and frustrated while Czar Alexander II messaged his demand for a successful attack to eliminate the stalemate at Plevna and to get the entire army moving again on all fronts. An army of Romanians had now joined the forces that Krudner had at Plevna. Rearmed, resupplied and rest­ed, the combined Russo-Romanian forces now numbered 80,000 men (later to increase to 150,000). These were divided into two 40,000-man groups, and one group was held back as a reserve. Those in the attack­ing group were ordered to move forward as close as possi­ble and to dig entrenchments and artillery positions on the north, south and east sides of Plevna. On the morning of Sept. 7th, they commenced a massive artillery bombard­ment which they maintained for four and one half days until noon on September 11th.

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    Turkish reports stated that this cannonade was totally ineffective and caused virtually no casualties or irreparable damage to their positions. The Turks were quite correct on this matter. Infantry in zig-zag trenches 15 inches wide could not be effectively harmed by shrapnel from shells that exploded in the ground. Only a direct hit could kill and wound, and then only in that immediate trench area.

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     At noon, the Third Battle of Plevna started much the same way that the others had, except for one difference. The Peabody-Martinis started killing the allied reserves that were gathered a few hundred yards behind the actual line of attacking units, over 1,000 yards from the Turkish riflemen! Turkish artillery and long-ranging Peabody-Martinis cut  down large numbers of allied infantry long before they managed to reach the first trench line of the Turks. As before, the Winchesters did their remarkable job at the clos­er ranges. It was a repeat of battles number one and two. Krudner and his ranking advisors had seemingly learned nothing from their earlier mistakes.

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     The Gravitza Ridge Redoubt No.1 (see Plevna battle map) had been a particularly important goal to Gen. Krudner, and after hours of bloody attacks (and massive losses), the Russian infantry finally managed to push out the Turkish defenders and raise their own flag over this redoubt. However, once they had filled it with their troops -- courtesy of Osman Pasha, who withheld artillery and rifle fire until plenty of Russians were inside -- they found to their dismay that they could not stay there. Another Turkish redoubt (Gravitza No. 2, which had been silent and unsuspected) was located above and only 300 yards from Gravitza No.1, and the Turks were now pouring a torrent of rifle fire right into the Russian troops, who found no place inside that gave them any protection. The Russians had no other choice; the order was given to retreat from this redoubt that had just been captured at high cost. Gen. Skobeleff, seeing this flight and failing to recognize the cause, ordered his own reserves forward to try to stop the widespread retreat unfolding before him.  His efforts came to nothing when Turkish artillery and riflemen stopped his troops before they had gone 500 yards. The General himself had to retreat to the rear with his IV Corps troops in order to save himself.

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     The Third Battle of Plevna is usually recorded as having ended the night of Sept. 11, 1877, by which time the Russians had lost another 300 officers and 12,500 men, and their Romanian allies had lost 56 officers and 2,500 men.  The battle was not quite over because Gen. Skobeleff, in a gallant effort to obtain some measure of success that day, had now pushed his 15,000 men against the southeastern redoubts Numbers 14 and 15, and, after sustaining severe losses, managed to occupy these two that were nearest to the center of the town. While all the other allied forces were retreating with heavy losses for the day, Skobeleff hung on for 24 hours, pleading for reinforcements that never arrived. On the afternoon of Sept. 12th, he reluctantly evacuated these redoubts, having sustained casualties of 53 percent (8,000 men). This, then, marked the end of the Third (and final) Battle of Plevna, but not the end of fighting in the area.

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     By October 19th, Romanian sappers had wormed their way to within 40 yards of Gravitza Redoubt Number 2 and were begging their commander, Prince Charles, to allow them to attack. Unwilling to dampen the eagerness of his troops, the Prince consented. The Romanians hurled them­selves at the redoubt in huge numbers, expecting to take it with the overwhelming rush of manpower. From the previ­ously "quiet" redoubt, there blazed forth a volume of rifle fire such as had never been experienced by any soldier. The Turks had expected such an attack and had, in fact, been taunting the Romanians by sniping and throwing clods of dirt down onto them for weeks. Osman had specially rein­forced this redoubt with Winchester shooters because it was so close to the enemy line, and had also modified the layout so that it consisted of three tiers of rifle pits, one above the other, which enabled them to bring an unprecedented 20,000 shots per minute to bear upon the area being assailed.

     The Romanians endured this enormous rain of bullets long enough to carry into the first level of rifle pits, but after 20 minutes, they were forced to retreat, leaving over 1,000 of their comrades dead on the slopes. This 25-minute action appears to have satisfied their need to come into closer contact with their Turkish enemies, as they no longer begged for permission to repeat the assault on Redoubt No. 2.

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     Europe, and most other parts of the world, had been following "The Plevna Delay," as it was being called in the newspapers. Reporters marveled at the fact that so few Turks were holding up the entire Russian offensive. The value of the rapid-firing Winchesters was never properly recognized by the press or non-Turkish military men, but in many war rooms around the world, decisions were later made to replace outdated big bore rifles with faster shoot­ing rifles of smaller caliber and higher muzzle velocity. The Turkish High Command placed an immediate order with Winchester for another 140,000 repeating rifles. These gen­erals had no need for further tests and trials. They knew what worked.

     The Russians managed to capture the town of Lovatz to  the south, and this effectively encircled the Plevna area and cut off Turkish supply caravans. Food, fuel, ammunition, medical supplies, blankets, uniforms, shoes and everything else an army needs failed to arrive, and by December, things were desperate inside Plevna.  Disease and enemy action had taken the lives of 10,000 Turkish soldiers, and Osman had just 40,000 men remaining to face the nearly 150,000 well-supplied allied troops.

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     On the night of December 9th. Osman distributed to each of his men 150 rounds of ammunition, three days rations and a pair of sandals. This was all he had to give. All the cannon not being taken were spiked and their ammuntion buried. A bridge was secretly thrown across the River Vid, alongside an existing stone bridge, so as to permit a more rapid movement of troops across this river. Four thousand sick and wounded men were to remain in the Plevna infirmary, but all the doctors and nurses moved out with the army.

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     After dark, the Turkish forces started to quietly with­draw from the positions that they had held since July and  silently massed at the River Vid. At 3:00 a.m., Gen. Skobeleff learned from Turkish deserters what was happening. He sent a small detachment up into the Turkish redoubts, and after they had explored sufficiently, they reported back to Skobeleff, who immediately informed the Grand Duke, at Bogot, and General Todleben, at Tucenica (by telegraph), that Plevna was being evacuated by the Turkish army. All allied forces were put on alert, but, as yet, there was no indi­cation as to where the Turks would appear.

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     Osman Pasha divided his force into two corps of 20,000 each. His plan was to attack the Russian lines two miles west of the fiver on the Sophia Road and, eventually, to march to Milkovatz where he could be resupplied and again make a stand. His reserve, Second Corps, was told to stay near the river and guard his rear for "two hours" and then come up fast, to join with the First Corps.

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    On the morning of December 10th, the Turkish First Corps started the two-mile charge towards the Russian positions under incessant artillery fire -- and without benefit of their own artillery to respond. Shrapnel and  grapeshot felled Turks in large numbers, while their line advanced silently at double-quick time for two miles on an open plain, without firing a single shot in retaliation. Osman Pasha led his men at the front of their line, astride his chestnut stallion. In 45 minutes they were into the first line of Russian trenches, which they overwhelmed quickly and, then, without pause, charged forward to take the sec­ond line as well as two artillery earthworks, each containing eight field pieces. General Stroukoff had been sent to bring up a full division of grenadiers, and at his timely arrival with these reinforcements, the Russians regained their composure and did not yield any more terrain to the now weary Turks.

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     It was now 8:30 a.m., and Osman Pasha realized that he had made a fatal mistake in not having his Second Corps follow earlier. With his full army, he surely could have forced his way through the remaining Russian defenses. The Russian troops threw themselves upon the exhausted Turks, and the most furious hand-to-hand fighting raged with heavy casualties on both sides, but the Russians were now the ones with overwhelming superiority of numbers. The big guns were retaken as were the two trench lines, and seven guns that the Turks had brought from their starting point at the river. At this time, the two armies were only 200-300 yards apart, keeping up a heavy fire upon one another but making no attempt to close in. Osman's horse was killed, and the bullet wounded him in the calf of his right leg. News of his falling spread rapidly amongst the Turks and somehow became distorted to the affect that Osman was dead. The same battalions that an hour earlier had fought with a frenzied valor now began to fall back towards the River Vid. Seeing this panic, the Russians renewed their own attack on the fleeing Turks, who were soon jamming their way through throngs of civilians and their carts that clogged the narrow Sophia Road.

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     At 10:00 a.m., the Turkish Second Corps started west­ward as planned, but immediately encountered the First Corps retreating towards them. Russian artillery was shelling the area with salvos of shrapnel, and the Turks had no place to hide on the open plain. For three more hours, they milled around in this exposed area. taking continuous shellfire and many losses. The Turks replied as well as they could with their own few field pieces.

    At 1:00 p.m., as if by mutual agreement, the cannons ceased their work and an eerie quietness settled upon the region. Both sides expected the other to make another charge attack, but it had not happened. The Turks began to realize their hopeless situation. The enemy in front was now overwhelmingly superior in manpower. Behind them, Russians and Romanians now occupied the defenses of Plevna, and Osman Pasha and his weary soldiers were trapped and dying in an open area, running low on ammunition and hope.

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     A white flag appeared and a blindfolded Turkish officer was seen going across the bridge towards Plevna, with a Russian escort troop. General Ganetsky refused to deal with him when he learned he was only a junior officer. Fifteen minutes later, a second Turkish officer was also refused and was sent back with a note written in French saying that because Ganetsky knew the Field Marshall was wounded. he would only deal with an officer who personally repre­sented Osman Pasha.  However, in a few minutes, Gen. Skobeleff himself arrived at the bridge with 30 of his staff, who waved white handkerchiefs at the Turkish soldiers standing on both sides of the road. Turkish officers replied by waving a large white object to signify their understanding.

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     Osman sent out his Chief of Staff, Tevik Pasha, who stated to Skobeleff that the Turkish army would surrender but, due to his wound, Osman could not come out in person from the small house in which he was now lying. Ganetsky agreed to be escorted to the house where Osman surren­dered his sword and was asked to tell his army to lay down their weapons. A member of his staff, Adil Pasha, was sent to a nearby hill where he could be heard telling the men in his loudest voice that it was all over and to lay down their arms. Riding in a carriage on his way back to Plevna, Osman was greeted by the Grand Duke Nicholas who said, "I congratulate you on your defense of Plevna. It is one of the most splendid exploits in history." The next morning at a huge breakfast gathering, the Grand Duke returned Osman Pasha's sword as a final tribute to this worthy, history making adversary!  Field Marshal Osman Pasha was interned comfortably in Russia for the duration of the war, which the Turks eventually lost in 1878.