Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/118

 92 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. CHAP, swing tlioin round, and liurl tlicni again.si the iliink " of an enemy as.sailing his position in front. Again the troops which defended the Causeway could aid the defence of the Kourganfe Hill ; and, moreover, the four Volhynia battalions, which con- stituted what was now left of Prince Mentschi- koff's 'Great JJeserve,' were so placed that they might he promptly brought forward in support to the troops confronting our people. It rested with the four Kazan battalions to make the lirst attack upon the Englisli troops. This was to be done whilst our soldiery, after struggling through the fords, were gaining the top of the bank. The enemy's massive columns were to throw our men back into the channel of the river before they could find time to form.* The slope which led up from the top of the bank to the parapet of the Great Redoid^t was almost as even as the glacis of a fortress ; and, except to one who knew beforehand how unaccountably life and limb arc spared in a storm of artillery-fire, it seemed hard to understand that upon that smooth ground men would be able to live for many mo- ments under round-shot, grape, and canister from the twelve heavy guns they confronted. on the banks of the river, Prince Gortschakoff writes : ' These ' arrangements had been taken with a view to the unavoidable ' disorders amongst the enemy's lines when crossing the river, ' anil in order to throw the Allies backwaid by a violent shock. ' Orders had been issued to that effect by Prince Mentschikoff, ' and severally reported to the commanding generals under me, ' and by me.'
 * After speaking of the disposition of the Russian infantry