The great war in England in 1897 . fantry had been wounded. The headquarters of the Eussian army had at last beenestablished in a British city, for over the great Council Housethere now lazily flapped in the fresh morning breeze the greatyellow-and-black flag of the Tsar Alexander. And the Eussian General, finding he had lost the enormousforce of 61,000 men, spent the grey hours of dawn in nervousanxiousness, pacing the room in which he had installed himself,contemplating the frightful disaster, and undecided how nextto act. An incident illustrative of the fierceness of the fight outsidethe ci
The great war in England in 1897 . fantry had been wounded. The headquarters of the Eussian army had at last beenestablished in a British city, for over the great Council Housethere now lazily flapped in the fresh morning breeze the greatyellow-and-black flag of the Tsar Alexander. And the Eussian General, finding he had lost the enormousforce of 61,000 men, spent the grey hours of dawn in nervousanxiousness, pacing the room in which he had installed himself,contemplating the frightful disaster, and undecided how nextto act. An incident illustrative of the fierceness of the fight outsidethe city was published in the Times several days was an extract from a private letter written by G. Morris of the 3rd Battalion of the York and LancasterEegiment, and was as follows:— The sun that day was blazing and merciless. Throughoutthe morning our battalion had lost heavily in the valley, whensuddenly at about twelve oclock the enemy a])parently receivedreinforcements, and we were then driven back upon Weather-. BIUMINGllAM OCCLTIKU UV Till; Fall of Birmingham 159 oak by sheer force of numbers, and afterwards again fellfurther back towards our position on tlie high ground inHagley Eoad. In this hasty retreat I found myself with a sergeant andeighteen men pursued by a large skirmishing party of we could do was to tly l)efore them. This we did, until atlength, turning into Beech Lane, we f(;und ourselves before asmall, low-built ancient hostelry, the Kings Head Inn, with adilapidated and somewhat crude counterfeit presentment of KingGeorge II. outside. The place was unoccupied, and I decidedimmediately to enter it. I could count on every one of my men;therefore very soon we were inside, and had barricaded the littleplace. Scarcely had we accomplished this when the first shotsrang out, and in a few moments the space outside where thecross-roads meet literally swarmed with Iiussians, who quicklyextended, and, seeking cover at the juncti
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidgreatwarinen, bookyear1895
