Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/40

 14 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. CHAP. On the same hill, hut higher up and more to . ! his right, the Prince threw up another slight breastwork, which he armed with a battery of field-guns. Tiiis was the Lesser Redoubt. The vineyards at some points were marked and cleared so as to give full effect to the action of the artillery ; but except the two redoubts, no fiehl- works were constructed by the Eussian Generah Wilful and confident, he was content to rest mainly upon the natural strength of the ground, the valour of his troops, and the faith that he had in his own prowess as a commander. lie even omitted, as we have seen, to break np or to guard the waggon-road which led np from Almatamack to the left of his position. The Prince did not attempt to occupy the West Cliff; but some days before the action, a battalion * supported by half a battery had been placed overlooking the sea in the village of Ulukul Akles, in ordei-, as was said, to ' catch marauders,' or to prevent a descent from the sea in the rear of the Piussian army ; and the detachment remained in that part of the field until the time when the battle began. Disi.osi- On the IcdLre M'hich divided the river from the tlOlinfluS '^ troois. steep broken side of the Telegraph Height Prince Mentschikoff placed four Militia -|- battalions, and + I adopt tliis inaccurate term as the hest T can find to de- scribe these scnii-regular troops, becanse to call them, as the Russians do, 'reserve battalions,' would tend to confuse, by suirr^estiuf^ the iclea of 'reserves' in the ordinary sense. I thought at one time I might liave called them ' depot battal-
 * The Ko. 2 battalion of Minsk.