On the morrow the Turks drew in large forces from the north side and pressed the victors hard.

In vain did Skobeleff send urgent messages for reinforcements to make good the gaps in his ranks.
None were sent, or indeed could be sent.

Five times his men beat off the foe.

The sixth charge hurled them first from the Kavanlik redoubt, and thereafter from the flanking works and trenches out on to that fatal slope.

A war correspondent saw Skobeleff after this heart-breaking loss, "his face black with powder and smoke, his eyes haggard and bloodshot, and his voice quite gone.