Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/321

 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. 296 XXXIX. Wlieu Kiriakofi's battalions had withdrawn, ciiAi Canrobert's Division and D'Anrelle's brigade — ^- that brigade followed close by Prince Napoleon Great con- ° . -^ ^ flux of — moved straight npon the Teleoraph. It was ^iench o I o i troops to whilst our Grenadier Guards in a distant part "■Y'^sthe of the field were stepping up from the river's bank to engage the enemy in their front, that this advance of the French took place.* The two Zouave Eegiments (which stood, as we know, side by side on the left front of Canrobert's force), and, almost at the same moment, the 39th regi- ment of the line — the regiment which formed the head of D'Aurelle's column — pushed swiftly for- ward towards the Telegraph. These troops for a capture of tli6 Tclc- while continued to be sheltered by the steepness graph. of the hill they were ascending, but upon gaining its crest, the heads of their columns incurred the artillery fire hurled back, as we saw, from the ground to which Kiriakoff's force had retreated ; and on closely approaching the Telegraph, they all at once came on some riflemen whom the enemy, when about to move off, had neglected to withdraw from the spot ; + but, undaunted by the movements, and marked that they took place simultaneonsly. + It is not with the gallant French ar7ny that the construc- tion of warlike fables originate. The record of this encounter, by one of the gallant Zouave officers who took part in it, states these Russian Riflemen found at the Telegi-aph to be a force consisting of 'two companies.' See footnote post in which the passage is given. In each Russian battalion there were twenty- ibur men armed with rifles; and founding myself partly upon
 * Sir Thomas Troubridge of the Royal Fusiliers saw both the