Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/113

 THEIR ABANDONMENT. 83 suadecl that if left to face the approaching ar- chap. mada, its garrison would be simply annihilated, ! the enemy, under Khoumatoff s orders, withdrew A n ap a f. on the 5th of June from the fortress of Anapa, and passed at once over the Kouban, thus aban- The enemy's t 'iii i>i- ill- i forced aban- doning with the last or his strongholds in that donmentof • 7 pi -i ? i r-i- • the whole cherished part or the empire the whole Circassian Circassian coast. coast.* He left in the place, as I count them, from our admiral's detailed report, 114 pieces of artillery. Sir George Brown left the 5000 Turks sup- Troops left ported by a thousand French troops, as well as the straits; by a thousand of English to guard the Straits of Kertch, and with the rest of his forces returned the rest at once to the Chersonese. back g ' IV. The fortunes of this brief campaign (lasting a contrast only about twenty days) were in contrast at more than one point with those of the main under- taking. In the course of their strife for Sebas- topol the Allies had won glorious victories ; but (after sustaining great losses) had as yet con- quered nothing at all except the ground under their feet; whilst by this smoother Kertch ex- pedition they had not tempted the enemy to face them in battle, and of course therefore had not been able to gain any victories, but still they achieved signal conquests. The easy, untroubled invasion of the Ivertchine
 * Lord Raglan to Secretary of State, 12th June (No. 89).