Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/145

 THE MAIN FIGHT. 101 General Peniiel'ather, however, in the absence chap. of his invalided chief, was bow commanding' the ' 2d Division, and the defence' of Mount Ihkerman ^^^^'^'^ioa. was a problem which he i-ecfardecl Iroin ia6 'own point of view. Without at all underrating the strength of the English Heights, he still found himself always remembering that there lay no ground in their rear upon which the English, if thence forced back, could well make a second stand ; and he was unwilling that the fate of the Allies on the Chersonese — nay, even in all the Crimea — should be staked, as it were, once for all upon this single rib of ground. Governed much The one by that aspect of the question, and being of such Pennefathe.- temperament as to become quickly heated in battle by his inborn passion for fighting, he in- clined to dispute with the enemy for every step of ground, and so to keep the strife raging, how- ever unequally, on ground more or less in advance of his own heights. Instead of drawing in all his strength for a decisive conflict on the Home Eidge, he would reinforce his combating pickets by pushing forward little bodies of troops, some two or three hundred strong, and thus generate in front of his position that kind of conflict that can be waged for a time in brushwood, by a few men opposing great numbers. Plainly, to adopt this course of action, and to carry it to the extent of leaving no sufficient troops in reserve for the de- fence of the heights, would be to entrust great issues to the free-will and personal prowess of email groups or knots of men, instead of to co