The Allies could not withstand such severe casualties, so they settled in for a siege and fully surrounded Plevna. Osman Pasha asked for permission to withdraw before the encirclement was complete, but he was denied. By December, with food and ammunition running low and his troops suffering from starvation, cold and disease, Osman knew he could not hold on throughout the winter and that no help from outside was available. Instead of surrendering, he chose to try and break through the siege lines. On 9 December, the Ottoman army attacked a sector of the Russian line and nearly broke through. But the Russians recovered and closed the breach after bitter hand-to-hand fighting, driving the Ottomans back. But the enveloped army could not return to Plevna because during the engagement with the Russian forces, the Romanian army had stormed the defenses protecting their rear, making a withdrawal to the fortifications impossible. Furthermore, Osman was wounded in the leg by a bullet and his troops panicked, thinking that he had died. With his army caught between the Allies, Osman Pasha had no choice but to capitulate surrender to Mihail Cerchez.