Bono, Johnny Turk!
of fire more than made up for the departure of her sister, and the further heavy losses sustained by the Cavalry virtually ended their day for them.
The allied firepower was proving too great for the Russians to overrun the position. They committed their last 8 gun reserve battery, concentrating its fire on the central salient which had caused most havoc to them that morning, in an effort to silence it once and for all. To draw away some of the fire, the British Colonel Ogilvy opened up with a single gun from a neighbouring redoubt - he succeeded in diverting half the guns on to him, but his gun remained in action and he and his Turkish detachment were unscathed.
The fire finally slackened and it was as if the Russians were inviting the defenders to sally forth and attack them. But with only 400 cavalrymen, in a position where the geographical features severely restricted movement, Omar Pasha did not have that option. So General Khrulev, resplendent in a flashy uniform mounted on a big and beautiful horse - how is it that so few generals that flaunted it ever got killed? - decided to put in a major attack from the lake end. There appeared to be less guns there, fortifications were less evident, and the infantry could use the cover of the cemetery and the windmills to get close to the defences which appeared weaker than on the rest of the line.
For the attack he designated his left hand column, comprising his best regiment,the Azovsky with four battalions, supported by two reserve battalions of the Podolsky Jaegers, and a battalion of Greek volunteers.
The attackers reached the cemetery without problems, but then fell foul of a daring British initiative. The Furious had landed a rocket party which set up amongst the windmills, trained on the cemetery gate. As the leading infantrymen emerged they were met by screaming projectiles at point blank range which tore through their as usual tightly packed columns. At the same time they suffered rapid fire from the Turkish defenders, driving them back into the cemetery. Russian artillery immediately came down onto the windmills, neutralising the rocketmen, who feature no further in the account - presumably they all got away as no British casualties were declared.
General Ogarev, commander of the left attack column, despatched the 2nd Azovsky Battalion forward to the cemetery, and shortly afterwards a second infantry
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