Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/342

 31 G BATTLE OF TIIK ALMA. CHAP, for other reasons iiiiputicnt, Lord Eaglan deter- '. mined to order the final advance of the Eng- lish infantry without waiting any longer for the time when Canvohert and Prince Napoleon should be established on the plateau. So the English infantry went forward, and in a few minutes the battalions which followed Codrington had not only defeated the two heavy columns which marched down to assail them, but had stormed and carried the Great Ticdoubt. From that moment the hillsides on the Alma were no longer a fortified position ; but they were still a battle-field, and a battle-field on which, for a time, the combatants were destined to meet with checkered fortune ; for, not having been supported at the right minute, and being encom- passed by great organised numbers, General Cod- rington's disordered force was made to fall back under the weiglit of the Vladimir column ; and its retreat involved the centre battalion of the brigade of Guards. Nearly at the same time Kiriakoff, with his great 'column of the eight ' battalions,' pu.shed Canrobert down from the crest he had reached, obliging or causing him for the moment to hang back under the cover of the steep. At that time, the prospects of the Allies were overcast. But then the whole face of the battle was suddenly changed by the two guns which Lord Eaglan had brought up to the knoll ; for not only did their fire extirpate the Causeway batteries, and so lay open the Pass, t)iit it tore throuoh the columns of Prince Ment-