On 30 May {all dates old style, so add 12 days for the Western calendar}, Grabbe left Gerzel north of Dargo. He went south along the left bank of the Aksay River, the same route as Vorontsov’s retreat in 1845. That day he made only 7 vests against no resistance (the sources do not say whether the Chechens had advance knowledge of the attack. If they had no warning it would have taken them several days to bring up their reserves). That night it rained heavily, making the road worse. On the second day they made 12 versts in 15 hours, fighting all the way. They were forced to camp for the night on a waterless plain. On the third day they made only 6 versts. The enemy had increased to something under 2,000, the roads were more difficult, barricades more frequent, the troops had been short of water for two days, there were already several hundred wounded and confusion increased hourly. On the night of the third day (1 June) Grabbe saw that further advance was impossible and gave orders to retreat along the same road.
