ABSTRACT
The retirement of the Russian troops to their winter quarters left the field to Shamil, and he did not fail to take advantage of this fact. ‘During the entire… winter [of 1840–41] bands from Chirkah and Chechnia broke through across the Sūlāq and penetrated as far as Targhū; [they] drove away sheep and carried out robberies in the vicinity of Temir-Khān-Shūra; the communications of the latter with the Line were possible only under a heavy convoy.’ 1
