There was some skirmishing behind the guns - most spectacularly the 11th Hussars who bypassed the battery to the left, charged on almost to the aqueduct, causing panic in the Russian cavalry. Why had there been no Russian screen in front of the guns? There had been, and there were two Russian versions of what happened. In the first, the Cossacks had been positioned in front of the Ingermannlandsky, and taking fright at the approach of the Charge, had shot their way through their own troops to clear an escape route. The other version comes from Lieut S Kozhukhov of the Artillery who was positioned at the gorge above the Traktir Bridge and had a good view of the whole North Valley. In his version, it was the Hussars who were out in front of the Cossacks and who panicked first; all four regiments abandoned the Don Battery to its fate and galloped back to the bridge pursued by an enemy that he reckoned to be outnumbered by five to one. He continued: 'The enemy soon came to the conclusion that they had nothing to fear from Hussars or Cossacks and, tired of slashing, they decided to return the way they had come through another cannonade of artillery and rifle fire. It is difficult, if not impossible to do justice to the feat of these mad cavalry, for having lost a quarter of their number and being apparently impervious to further losses, they quickly reformed their squadrons to return over the same ground littered with their dead and dying.'
Within four minutes of riding through the guns, all had started the withdrawal back up the valley. The survivors of the First Line Regiments had become split up into small groups and having lost their Commanders, had not had time to reestablish a command structure. Captain Morris of the 17th survived an incredible series of adventures, being taken prisoner, escaping, having horses shot from under him, all in the space of about half an hour, to finally collapse wounded and exhausted in safety, only a few yards from where the body of his friend Nolan lay. The Support Line Regiments had sufficient Officers and NCOs surviving to reorganise effectively and they conducted the withdrawal in two main groups. On the North side, the 11th after their chase to the bridge, met up with the 4th, after their sabreing. On the South side, Col Shewell had led the 8th well to the right of the Don Battery, arriving 2 minutes after the others. Not knowing what to do, he pressed on until he met the Brigade Major, Lieut Col Mayow with a group of the 17th. Mayow's first words were 'Where's Cardigan?'
