THE FATE OF THE VANQUISHED.
While this vigorous attack on the right flank was in progress, the enemy
made a sudden dash upon Stretford.
The edge of the town itself--or rather suburb--lies but a short distance
from the Mersey, and the turnpike road runs straight away over the river
through Sale and Altrincham to Northwich. At the end of the town nearest
the river a road leading down from Barton joins the main road, and at
the junction is a large red-brick modern hotel, the Old Cock, while
adjoining is the Manchester Tramway Company's stable and terminus. At a
little distance behind lies a high embankment, which carries the railway
from Manchester to Liverpool, while the Mersey itself, though not wide,
has steep banks with earthworks thrown up to prevent floods. Hence the
force holding this position found ready-made defences which were now of
the utmost value.
The defenders here included three batteries of Royal Artillery, one
battalion of the Manchester Regiment, the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the
same regiment, and one of the Lancashire Fusiliers, a field company of
Engineers, half the 14th (King's) Hussars with their machine gun
section, and a company of signallers. Trenches had been dug at various
points, and earthworks thrown up all along the line from Chorlton over
to Flixton. Across the junction of the two roads opposite the Old Cock a
great barricade had been constructed, and behind this was a powerful
battery that commanded the level country away towards Altrincham. The
bridges carrying the road and railway over the river had both been
demolished by engineers, and many other precautions had been taken to
prevent the enemy forcing a passage across.
At last, with a swiftness that was surprising, the expected assault was
made. Its strength was terrific, and the carnage on both sides
appalling.
The first dash across was effected by the Russians from the rifle range
near Old Hall, and this was rapidly followed by another from the bank
opposite the battery at Stretford, while further down a third attack was
made near Mersey House, close to Ashton.
Of the three, the strongest, of course, was that upon Stretford. The
enemy had, by a good deal of neat manoeuvring, brought their main body
within the triangle bounded on the one side by the road from Cheadle to
Altrincham, on the second by the road from the latter place to the
river, and the third by the river itself.
Pontoons were floated at many points, and while some cavalry forded the
river, infantry and artillery rapidly crossed in the face of a terrific
fire which was pouring upon them.
Smokeless powder being used, the positions of the invaders were not
obscured, and it could be seen that the British were effecting terrible
execution. Hundreds of the foe who were in the act of crossing were
picked off, and shells falling upon the pontoons destroyed them. The
latter, however, were quickly replaced, and the force of the Tsar, by
reason of the overwhelming numbers that had hurled themselves upon
Stretford, succeeded, after a desperately-contested fight, in breaking
the line of defence between Chorlton-with-Hardy and Fallowfield, and
advancing by short rushes upon Manchester.
But the British infantry in their trenches behaved splendidly, and made
the roads from Old Hall at Sale right along to Partington quite
untenable, so the continuous advance of the enemy cost them very dearly.
Russian shells bursting in Stretford killed and injured large numbers
of the defenders. Two of them struck the Old Cock in rapid succession,
almost completely demolishing it, but the debris was quickly manned, and
rifles soon spoke from its ruined walls. Again, a shell exploding in the
large tram stables, set a hay store on fire, and this burned furiously,
while away in the centre of the town the Public Library and a number of
shops in the vicinity had also been ignited in a similar manner.
At last the thousands of grey-coats swarming over the country fell in
such enormous numbers upon the British rifle pits on the Mersey bank,
that the first line of defence was at length utterly broken down; but in
doing this the enemy's front had become much exposed, whereupon the
Maxims on the railway embankment between the river and Barton suddenly
burst forth a perfect hail of bullets, and in a short time a whole
division of Russian infantry, cavalry, and artillery had been literally
swept out of existence.
The batteries down in the Stretford Road, combined with those on the
embankment, had up to this moment played greater havoc with the foe than
any other. The men of the Manchester Regiment, both Regulars and
Volunteers, were displaying the greatest coolness; but unfortunately the
Lancashire Fusiliers and the Loyal North Lancashire, who had manned the
trenches, had been partially annihilated, the majority lying dead, their
bodies scattered over the level fields and roads. Yet, notwithstanding
the strenuous opposition of the British batteries at this point, the
Russians were bringing up huge reinforcements from Altrincham, Cheadle,
and Northenden, and by establishing strong batteries commanding
Stretford, they at last, about five o'clock, succeeded in killing nearly
half the gallant defenders, and driving back the survivors up the Barton
Road.
The tide of grey-coats rushing onward, captured the British guns, and
although the batteries on the railway embankment still held out, and the
enemy suffered heavily from their Maxims, yet they pressed on into
Stretford town, and commenced to sack it. Messrs. Williams, Deacon's
Bank, was entered, the safes blown open, and large sums in gold and
notes abstracted, shops were entered and looted, and houses ransacked
for jewellery.
Thus Stretford fell.
Its streets ran with blood; and on, over the bodies of its brave
defenders, the hordes of the Great White Tsar marched towards
Manchester.
Meanwhile the British batteries on the railway embankment had also
fallen into the hands of the Russians, who were now driving the
survivors over towards Barton. They did not, however, retreat without a
most desperate resistance. A row of thatched and white-washed cottages
at the bend of the road they held for a long time, emptying their
magazine rifles with deadly effect upon their pursuers, but at last they
were driven north, and half an hour later joined their comrades who had
massed at Barton, but who had been attacked in great force and fallen
back in good order to Pendleton.
By this time the enemy, having pierced the line of outposts, had
occupied Barton and Eccles. At the former place they had set on fire a
number of factories, and out of mere desire to cause as much damage to
property as possible, they had blown up both the bridge that carried the
road over the Ship Canal, and also destroyed the magnificent swinging
aqueduct which carried the Bridgewater Canal over the other.
This great triumph of engineering--one of the most successful feats of
the decade--was blown into the air by charges of gun-cotton, and now lay
across the Ship Canal a heap of fallen masonry and twisted iron
cantilevers, while the water from the Bridgewater Canal was pouring out
in thousands of tons, threatening to flood the surrounding district, and
the church opposite had been wrecked by the terrific force of the
explosion.
A frightful panic had been caused in Manchester by these reverses. The
scenes in the streets were indescribable. At the barricades, however,
the enemy met with a desperate resistance.
Three great columns were marching on Manchester at that moment. The
first, having broken the line of defence near Fallowfield, divided into
two divisions; one, advancing up the Wilmslow Road, stormed the great
barricade opposite Rusholme Hall, while the other appeared on the
Withington Road, and commenced to engage the defences that had been
thrown across Moss Lane and Chorlton Road. The second column advanced to
where Eccles Old Road joins Broad Street at Pendleton; and the third,
sweeping along up the Stretford Road, met with a terrific resistance at
the Botanic Gardens at Trafford, the walls of which, on either side of
the road, were loopholed and manned by infantry and artillery; while
opposite, the Blind Asylum was held by a regiment of infantry, and a
strong barricade, with a battery of 12-pounders, had been established a
little further towards the city, at the junction of the Chester and
Stretford New Roads.
The enemy advanced here in enormous force; but, seeing the formidable
defences, a number of cavalry and infantry turned off along the Trafford
Road, blew up the bridge of the Ship Canal in order to prevent a
pursuing force of British cavalry from following, and after setting fire
to the great dock warehouses and crowd of idle ships, continued along to
Eccles New Road, where, however, they were met by another force of our
Hussars, and totally routed and cut up.
From this point the tide of battle turned. It was already half-past
five, and the sun was sinking when the Russian forces prepared for their
final onslaught. Cossacks and Dragoons charged again and again, and
infantry with bayonets fixed rushed onward to the barricades in huge
grey legions, only to be met by a sweeping rain of British bullets,
which filled the roads with great heaps of dead. In these defences,
rendered doubly strong by the patriotic action of the stalwart civilians
of Manchester, the invaders could make no breach, and before every one
of them they fell in thousands.
The men in the entrenchments saw the foe were falling back, and found
the attack growing weaker. Then signals were made, and they raised a
long hearty cheer when the truth was flashed to them.
[Illustration: RUSSIANS ATTACKING THE BARRICADE IN STRETFORD ROAD,
MANCHESTER.]
The news was inspiriting, and they fought on with redoubled energy, for
they knew that the great body of reserves from Ashton-under-Lyne, Hyde,
and Compstall, as well as those who had been occupying the hills on the
edge of the Peak, had been pushed right past Stretford to Barton, and
were now advancing like a huge fan, outflanking the Russians and
attacking them in their rear.
The British tactics were excellent, for while the invaders were attacked
by cavalry and infantry on the one side, the defenders manning the
barricades made a sudden sortie, cutting their way into them with
bayonet rushes which they could not withstand, and which had a terribly
fatal effect.
The Tsar's forces, unable to advance or retreat, and being thus
completely surrounded, still fought on, and as they refused to
surrender, were literally massacred by thousands by British troops,
while many guns and horses were captured, thousands of rounds of
ammunition seized, and many men taken prisoners.
The fight in that evening hour was the most fiercely contested of any
during that day. The fate of Manchester was in the hands of our gallant
soldiers, who, although necessarily losing heavily before such an
enormous army, behaved with a courage that was magnificent, and which
was deserving the highest commendation that could be bestowed.
As dusk gathered into darkness, the enemy were being forced back towards
the Mersey over the roads they had so recently travelled, but still
fighting, selling their lives dearly. The highways and fields were
strewn with their dead and dying, for while infantry fired into their
front from the cover of houses and walls, our cavalry, with whirling
sabres, fell upon them and hacked them to pieces. Neither Cossacks nor
Dragoons proved a match for our Hussars, Lancers, and Yeomanry, and even
in face of the machine guns which the Russians brought into play in an
endeavour to break the line and escape, our infantry dashed on with
grand and magnificent charges, quickly seizing the Nordenfelts, turning
their own guns against them, and letting loose a fire that mowed down
hundreds.
Across the neighbouring country our forces swept in good attack
formation, and all along that great line, nearly six miles in length,
the slaughter of Russians was frightful.
In the falling gloom fire flashed from the muzzles of rifles, cannon,
and machine guns, and far above the terrible din sounded shrill cries of
pain and hoarse shouts of despair as the great Army that had devastated
our beloved country with fire and sword was gradually annihilated. In
those roads in the south of the city the scenes of bloodshed were awful,
as a force of over 20,000 Russians were slaughtered because they would
not yield up their arms.
Outside Stretford a last desperate stand was made, but ere long some
British cavalry came thundering along, and cut them down in a frightful
manner, while about the same time a Russian flying column was
annihilated over at Davy-Hulme; away at Carrington a retreating brigade
of infantry which had escaped over the river was suddenly pounced upon
by the defenders and slaughtered; and at Altrincham the enemy's
headquarters were occupied, and the staff taken prisoners. Ere the
Russian General could be forced to surrender, however, he placed a
revolver to his head, and in full view of a number of his officers, blew
his brains out.
Then, when the moon shone out from behind a dark bank of cloud just
before midnight, she shed her pale light upon the wide battlefield on
both sides of the Mersey, whereon lay the bodies of no fewer than 30,000
Russians and 12,000 British, while 40,000 Russians and 16,000 British
lay wounded, nearly 10,000 Russians having been disarmed and marched
into the centre of the city as prisoners.
The victory had only been achieved at the eleventh hour by dint of great
courage and forethought, and being so swift and effectual it was
magnificent.
Manchester was safe, and the public rejoicings throughout that night
were unbounded.
The loss of life was too awful for reflection, for 12,000 of Britain's
heroes--men who had won the battle--were lying with their white lifeless
faces upturned to the twinkling stars.
_BOOK III_
_THE VICTORY_