Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/262

 232 THE ALLIES SITTING DOWN CHAP. IX. Distinct systeni of defence le- HUircd for Balaclava. The means adojjted for Btrengthen- liig it. ^villilln■ to do so, when lie rcmeniLered that, except towards the north, tlio Sapoun^ Iiidge was well covered by the plain of Balaclava where the English Horse cainpetl and patrolled. Tiie fault was one of the many which resulted from u divided command. Such, then, ere the arrangements made i'or the defence of the Chersonese; but so long as the English should continue to look for supplies to the port they had hitherto used, it was necessary, of course, that Balaclava should be also secured ; and this place, though close to the south-eastern angle of the Chersonese, and lying indeed at its foot, was on the outside of the natural rampart which guarded the table-land. It therefore re- quired a separate system of defence. For this, so far as concerned its eastern approaches, the steep lofty hills — which soon came to be known as the ' Marine Heights' — were so well fitted as to be capable of being rendered formidable by even the slight works which could be quickly constructed for the purpose ; and a redoubt, with a line of breastwork extending athwart the entrance to the gorge by the village of Kadikoi, was to complete the ' inner line ' of the Balaclava defences. It was afterwards determined that an ' outer line ' of defence should be constructed by throwing up a chain of small redoubts upon the low range of heights which stretches across the plain at a distance of about a mile and a half from the gorge leading into Balaclava. With 1200 men commanded by Colonel Hurdle,