On both occasions the Russians were so badly shaken that, in the opinion of competent judges, they could easily have been driven in on Nicopolis or Sistova, in which case the bridges at those places might have been seized.

But Osman did not do so, doubtless because he knew that his force, weak in cavalry and unused to manoeuvring, would be at a disadvantage in the open.

Todleben, however, was informed on good authority that, when the Turkish commander heard of the likelihood of the investment of Plevna, he begged the Porte to allow him to retire; but the assurance of Shevket Pasha, the commander of the Turkish force at Sofia, that he could keep open communications between that place and Plevna, decided the authorities at Constantinople to order the continuance of defensive tactics[152].
[Footnote 152: A.Forbes, _Czar and Sultan_, p.291.On the other hand, W.V.Herbert (_op.

cit._ p.

456) states that it was Osman's wish to retire to Orkanye, on the road to Sofia, and that this was forbidden.
For remarks on this see Greene, _op.