Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/86

 60 BATTLE OF TIIK ALICIA. CHAP. I. Bosquet, after a inomeiitary cliGck, cs- t,'il>lislics Iiimsplf on tlic cliff. .Measures l:iken by Kiriakoff upon ob- .scrving Bos- quet'.s tuni- iug uiovc- iiicnt. gained tlic summit, they were drawn up and formed on the plateau. No shot was as 3'et fired by the enemy ; and General Bosquet, with his staff, ascended a tumulus or mound on the top of the cliff", in order to reconnoitre the ground. IMcanwhile, his artillery was coming u}), and the first two of Ids guns had just reached the summit when one of the carriages In-oke down. This accident embarrassed the rest of the column, and whilst the hindrance lasted, the enemy opened fire from his four guns.* Coinciding as it did with the breaking down of the gun-carriage, this fire produced for the moment an ill effect u])on the head of the French column, and one of its battalions fell l)ack nnder the shelter of the ac- clivity. But lliis check did not last. The road blocked by the broken-down gun-carriage was quickly cleared, the guns were moved up I'apidly, and swarms of skirmishers pressed up in all directions. Then the troops which were already on the summit moved forward, and lodged tiiem- selves upon a part of the plateau a little in ad- vance of the steep by whieli they had ascended, "f* As soon as he began to hear guns in the direc- tion of the West Cliff, Kiriakoff took from his reserves two of his ' jMoscow ' battalions, and ])Osted them, the one low down and the other sian artillery. + Sir Edward Oolebrooke saw this operation from the deck of one of our ships of war, and describes it very well in his memorial. He was a skilful and very accurate observer of military movements.
 * Half of the T^o. 4 hatteiy of the ITth brigade of the Pius-