Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s16.5

v2.c27.s16.5

The first brush between the two armies had occurred on 1 November, and then followed daily skirmishes between their patrols or foraging parties and exchange of distant cannonade,—which latter was calculated rather to keep the enemy back through fear than to inflict loss. On 5th November the Bhāu began to fortify his position. Pitching his tents over a plain some six miles in length from west to east and extending for about two miles in depth southwards of Pānipat, he included that city within his defensive lines. Around his camp he dug a trench sixty feet wide and twelve deep, with a high earthen rampart on which he mounted his cannon. His field artillery of some two hundred pieces was judiciously distributed so as to make all the four sides easily defensible. The countryside for miles around Pānipat was denuded of its trees in order to supply timber for propping up the sides of the ditch and supporting the raised gun platforms. The Shah, too, formed a permanent camp facing the Marathas, about three miles to their south, and fortified his position with trenches and a strong abattis of felled trees. [Kashiraj.]