Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/463

 VI. 6th Period. THE MAIN FIGHT. 419 General Dannenberg at tliis time was really chap .straitened. After the conclusion of the First Period, when more than 15,000 of his troops were extirpated, he had been driven to the necessity of executing his successive attacks for the most part with the same twelve battalions, and it is believed that, besides the wrecks of the 10th Division (re- garded as almost valueless), the infantry which now remained to him on Mount Inkerman may be computed at no more than about 14,000, a number not largely exceeding the infantry strength of his adversaries.* Of these 14,000, 5000 were the survivors of the battalions which he had been keeping in the front of battle from the time he came into the field, whilst the remaining 9000 were troops hitherto held in reserve, as though consecrated to the one object of covering any re- treat which the fortune of war might necessitate ; and it would seem that, whether fettered by orders, or by his own caution, the General did not venture to use them for any other purpose. Upon the whole, it is clear that, so long as he might con- sider himself bound by that restriction, he could not undertake any further attack without having aid from elsewhere. Thus circumstanced, he might be pardoned if he felt, and felt bitterly, the want of reinforcements, or of help in some other shape. may be supposed to speak his chief's views) ascribes to Dannen- berg at this time as many as 18,000 men ; bnt the statement is one made nnder an apparent bias, and with a view to blamo Dannenberg for retreating on insufficient grounds.
 * Urosoff (who was an aide-de-camp of Mentschikoff's, and