Cassell's History of England, Vol. 6 (of 8): From the Death of Sir Robert Peel to the Illness of the Prince of WalesAnonymous
History
Cassell's History of England, Vol. 6 (of 8): From the Death of Sir Robert Peel to the Illness of the Prince of Wales
Anonymous
Great Britain -- History
The British hardly relaxed a moment. Their batteries were mauled, but
their gunners never ceased to hurl forth their shot and shell. We had, by
this time, so reduced the fire from the Barrack batteries, on the Russian
right of the Redan, and from the earthwork round the Malakoff, that these
batteries were regarded as silenced. But, when the French ceased, the left
flank guns of the Flagstaff and Garden batteries, a little in its rear,
but facing our trenches, and the Redan, went on as furiously as ever. The
Russians fought their guns with a skill and persistence deserving the
greatest praise. They were now testing the worth of all their defences.
The costly casemated forts were replying to the allied ships; two steamers
and a line-of-battle ship in the harbour were exchanging shots with our
Lancaster guns and 68-pounders; while Todleben's extemporised batteries
were in full play. But the British fire was so good that, about three
o'clock, a shell found its way into the magazine of the Redan, and,
setting it on fire, caused an explosion which silenced that work for
half-an-hour. Then they got one or two guns to work, and with these they
kept up a fire all the rest of the day. But this earthwork suffered so
severely that its garrison was replaced three times between sunrise and
sunset. Along the whole line opposed to our batteries we had, by the
evening, established a complete superiority over the fire of the enemy;
and had the French been equally successful, it is probable that an assault
would have been hazarded. During the day we had demolished the Malakoff
tower, exploded its magazine, the magazine in the Redan, and a magazine
in the town; we had killed Admiral Korniloff, and killed or wounded 500
men, and dismounted thirty-five guns; and we had driven the line-of-battle
ships out of the creek, and damaged a steamer in the harbour. In return
our whole loss was 130 men killed and wounded, one Lancaster gun burst,
and seven guns disabled in consequence of injuries to wheels and carriages.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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