Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/57

 STATK OF THE CAMPAIGN. 13 Both General Vinoy's bvigiulc and Sir Colin (MIat. Campbell's Highlanders fulfilled a double pur- '__ . pose ; for they not only covered Balaclava, but ^o'l'v",*!,*' were so placed that they would be ready to fall eli'.^fvlj.'ii upon the flaidc of any Itussian force attempting "^"'"y- to gain the Chersonese by forcing the Pass at the Col. These, however, were all the services that could be rendered to the common cause by Vinoy and Campbell. They could not abandon the defence of Balaclava and the approaches of the Col to aid their comrades on the north-east of the Chersonese. The main part of the Allied cavalry lay camped Position of near the English Headquarters, but the remains oavairy. of Lord Cardigan's brigade were on the Sapoun6 Ridge and not far from the windmill which used to stand in those days a little to the south of Mount Inkerman. Both the French and the English Headquarters remained where they first were established. Thus the troops lay drawn out in a chain which, Timwantof with all its manifold bends, was not far from bo.iyof 20 miles long ; and it can hardly be said with reserves. accuracy that the Allies defending the Chersonese had any reserves of infantry ; for their battalions all ranged out in front along the circumference of the occupied ground, and it was only by strip- ping some part of their line that they could rein- ' force any other part. They were all, so to speak, at the outposts. Troops thus planted may be detained for hours together in a wrong part of the battle-field by an