Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/257

 HKFOIIE SEBASTOrOL. Hie sie.'^c ; * but 1iis troops were so posted, that CHAP. IX whilst they had thus cast iipon them the duty of _^_L. pursuing the siege, they were also liable, as we shall presently see more exactly, to he sum- moned to the task of defending the Cliersonese at its north-eastern auglo. The Englisli army had its left on the bank of the ravine which divided our lines from the French, and thence it extended eastward to the verge of the Sapoune steeps.f The English army drew its supplies from Balaclava, and at first by two routes ; for, until the 25th of October, the Woronzoff road, as well as the way by the Col, was open to the besiegers. In the task of securing their armies against Defensive attacks in Hank and rear, the Allies were much fm-ni'snf favoured by the conformation of the ground ; for the besieging forces lay cani[)ed upon the Cher- sonese, and, except towards Sebastopol which lay in their front, the upland they thus made their home is encompassed by either the sea, or acclivities in most places formidable. There, indeed, is an opening at the Pass by the Col de Balaclava ; and at that north-eastern angle of the Chersonese which has come to be called Jfount lukerman, the ascent in some places is not of a forbidding steepness ; but elsewhere, the Sapoune fence of Balaclava were only at first one battalion, the 93d, and some weakly men not in a condition for hard duty, to- gether with one field-battery. The other troops aiilinf; in the defence will be seen, post. + liOrd Raglan to Secretary of War, despatch, 3d October 185t.
 * The infantry forces dctaclietl from, our army for the de-