Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/387

 TL.VN OF ATTACKING THE NORTH SIDE. 3G1 Willes (wlio was acting with him at the time of chap the survey) conceived themselves able to report '. — decisively in favour of an attack upon the Star Fort as a means of achieving the great object of the Allies ; * but if, even before the invasion, they were warranted in fixing upon the Severnaya or ' North Side ' as the true point of attack, much more was it now to be concluded in favour of such a choice, since the Allies, by their successful land- ing, followed up by the result of the battle on the Alma, had fastened already upon that very part of the coast from which they could conveni- ently assail the Star Fort ; and moreover, it was fairly to be reckoned, that if the Allies should go straight to their end, without at all turning aside, or interposing fresh marches between themselves and their prey, the momentum they had gathered from their victory might carry them through the defences without being put to a siege. Bivouacking now on the Belbec, the Allies The tuw '-' _ Imd now were at last within gunshot of the fortress they come for ^ . '' a final had come over sea to confront; and, the period decision in which it had been possible to keep the ques- that the ' North Side ' was the true point to attack, it cannot but be interesting to the friends of Captain (now Admiral Sir James) Drummond to see the words in which he reported to the above effect : ' I think that, on carrying the position of the ' " E " Fort ' [the Star Fort is marked " E " in Captain Drnm- mond's plan] 'the place would fall immediately.' — Captain Drummond's Report, 9th January 1854. ' possible to destroy the arsenal with time and 20,000 soldiers, ' artillery, &c. The attack en the South Side should be a ' feint.'
 * Captain Willes says, in his Report : * I think it is quite