The British Expedition to the CrimeaRussell, William Howard, Sir
History
The British Expedition to the Crimea
Russell, William Howard, Sir
Crimean War, 1853-1856
With early morning on Tuesday, September 20th, the troops were up and
stirring; but the march did not begin for some hours afterwards, and
this circumstance has given rise to severe strictures by several French
writers on the conduct of our generals on the occasion. At 5 o'clock on
the evening of the 19th, says M. de Bazancourt, M. St. Arnaud convened
the French Generals before his tent, and explained to them verbally his
plan of battle, concerted with the English Commander-in-Chief. This plan
was that the English army should execute "a turning movement on the
Russian right, whilst its attention was seriously drawn on its left by a
French division, and that the bulk of the army should make a powerful
effort to force the Russian centre." General Bosquet, who had charge of
the French right, consisting of the 2nd Division, supported by the
Turks, was to turn the Russian left by the abrupt slopes, "judged (by
the Russians) to be inaccessible," and therefore not defended by
artillery. The 1st and 3rd Divisions were to assault the centre of the
position--the 4th Division forming the reserve. The hour of starting was
fixed as follows:--The French right wing at 5.30 A.M.; the left wing,
formed by the English, at 6 A.M.; the centre at 7 A.M. Having given
these explanations to his generals, M. St. Arnaud sent Colonel Trochu,
with General Rose, across to Lord Raglan, to inform him of the plan, and
the hours fixed for the march of the troops, which Lord Raglan "accepted
entirely" in detail. On this statement it may be remarked, that if the
plan had been "concerted" between the Generals, as the French writer
declares, there was no necessity for Lord Raglan's acceptance of a
proposition which he had, conjointly with another, previously agreed to.
In order to obtain unity of action in the allied movements Prince
Napoleon and General Canrobert received orders to communicate with Lord
Raglan and with Sir De Lacy Evans, who commanded the 2nd Division,
immediately in proximity with the French.
[Sidenote: PLAN OF ATTACK.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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