Читать книгу The Battles of the World or, cyclopedia of battles, sieges, and important military events онлайн

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Onward swept that magnificent charge, officers and men vying with each other who should be foremost to avenge their comrades’ death. But before they reached the guns, Prince Menschikoff had formed a compact mass of Russian infantry on the summit of the hill, which now advanced with level bayonets against our exhausted battalions. Breathless from their rapid charge up the hill, diminished in numbers, and fatigued from their almost superhuman exertions, they were unable to resist the shock, and, desperately contesting every inch of ground, slowly yielded to the enormous weight of the Russian columns. The gallant 33rd, the Duke of Wellington’s regiment, displayed a prowess excelled by none. Their colours were borne proudly to the last, and ever in the spot of the greatest danger. The Queen’s colours, when the fight was over, showed fourteen bullet-holes, and the regimental colours eleven. Nineteen sergeants fell around their standards, defending to the last the honour of their regiment, and preserving the fame so identified with the career of the departed warrior whose name it bore.