THE BATTLE OF THE ALMA.
1854.
Following upon their declarations of war with Russia, upon the 27th and
28th March, 1854, respectively, arrangements were at once made by the
Governments of France and Britain for forwarding a sufficient number of
troops to the East. Gallipoli, on the south side of the Sea of Marmora,
was chosen as the rendezvous, and here in due course arrived the armies
of the allies. The armies were under the respective commands of Lord
Raglan and Marshal St. Arnaud. The Turkish army, then actively engaged
with the Russians upon the Ottoman frontier at Silistria, was commanded
by Omar Pasha.
It was resolved by the three generals, after some preliminary
disagreement by St. Arnaud, to advance the armies to Varna, in
Bulgaria, and from that base to operate for the relief of Silistria,
where a Turkish force was being besieged by the Russians. Our only
present concern with the successful defence of Silistria (so that on
June 23rd, 1854, the siege was abandoned by Russia), and with the
Turkish successes upon the Lower Danube at Rustchuk, is the moral
effect which they produced in Britain. At both these places the Turkish
troops were practically led by young British officers who had flung
themselves into the enterprise without orders, and practically for
the pure love of fighting. At both these places their efforts, backed
by the unflinching Turkish soldiery, had met with signal success. The
names of Butler, Nasmyth, Ballard, Bent, and others were household
words in Britain. Men’s eyes kindled with enthusiasm as they heard of
the defeat of the dreaded armies of the Czar by a handful of mere boys,
and now that they had, so to say, tasted blood, the people of Britain
clamoured for an offensive, rather than a defensive, campaign. True,
the Turkish frontier had been successfully freed from the enemy, and
that without the co-operation of the allied armies; true, an honourable
peace might be concluded with Russia at this juncture, but both these
things, good enough in their way, were not satisfying. Through the
medium of the “Times” newspaper, then in its infancy, and in a hundred
other ways, backed by the Minister of War, the Duke of Newcastle, and
egged on by the Emperor of the French, they clamoured for the overthrow
of Sebastopol. Once let that great fortress, the stronghold of the
power of southern Russia, be razed to the ground, and a lasting peace
might be proclaimed. But no half measures would suffice. Accordingly,
the British and French Governments sent specific instructions to Lord
Raglan and Marshal St. Arnaud to proceed with their armies to the
Crimea, and to lay siege to the fortress of Sebastopol. This resolution
and these instructions saw the commencement of the Crimean campaign.
After one or two preliminary delays, the combined fleets, with the
transports containing the allied armies, arrived off the port of
Eupatoria on the north-west coast of the Crimean peninsula. Cholera
and other forms of sickness, which had been rife amongst the armies
during their stay at Varna, showed little abatement on the voyage,
as had been hoped, and many men fell victims to the dread disease.
It was found that the port of Eupatoria was undefended, but its
formal surrender was demanded, in connection with which formality an
amusing incident arose. The governor of the place, having an unfailing
respect for his own official position, and regarding the formalities
of the health regulations of Eupatoria as of paramount importance,
calmly, in the face of the allied armies and fleets, insisted upon
fumigating and disinfecting the “summons to surrender” in accordance
with the Government health regulations! Moreover, he informed the
representatives of the Powers that persons landing would have to
consider themselves in quarantine for the prescribed period!
From the few Tartar inhabitants of Eupatoria the allies were able to
buy cattle and forage, a matter of vital importance to the armies,
and after its formal surrender on the 13th September, 1854, the fleet
proceeded southward along the coast, anchoring off the Old Fort in
Kalamita Bay. The British force landed at the south of the Lake of
Kamishlee, and the French slightly to the south of them. By the 18th
all were landed, the British numbering 27,000, including 1000 cavalry
and 60 guns; Turks about 7000 infantry; and the French 30,000 infantry,
with 68 guns.
Partially overcoming the difficulties of land transport by the capture,
by Sir Richard Airey, the Quartermaster-General, of a stray Cossack
convoy (some 350 waggons were obtained), the allied armies were to
move south upon Sebastopol. It was decided they should march parallel
with the coast, escorted by their fleets on their right flank. On the
morning of the 19th September the march began. The British army took
the left, the French and Turks the centre, and the fleets formed the
right of the advance.
Between the allies and Sebastopol flow several rivers, from the high
levels of the Crimea to the sea, at right angles to the line of march.
The first of these is the Bulganak, the second the Alma.
On the march the troops suffered severely from thirst and cholera; many
men fell out from weakness also, but by evening the river Bulganak was
reached, and a force sent back to bring in the stragglers.
At the Bulganak the first sight of the enemy, in any force, was
obtained, in the shape of a body of cavalry some 2000 strong, backed by
6000 infantry with two batteries. The enemy were observing the advance
of the allies from the opposite hill on the far side of the river. For
our advance guard of four squadrons of cavalry, in marching order, to
engage so large a force in position would have been folly. Accordingly
Lord Raglan gave orders for our cavalry to withdraw--a movement
which was promptly followed by the Russian artillery fire. Several
horses were killed and two men wounded, but the manœuvre was effected
successfully, and by the time it was accomplished our main supports
were in sight. The enemy accordingly disappeared, with the loss of 35
cavalrymen killed or wounded by our artillery, now by this time brought
into action.
This was the first combat of any importance in the Crimean campaign,
and at its conclusion our troops received orders to bivouac on the
banks of the river. Owing to the proximity of the enemy, and fearing
an attack at dawn, Lord Raglan gave the command to bivouac in order of
battle. He himself passed the night in a posthouse by the riverside.
In the morning, however, the enemy was nowhere to be seen, and it was
subsequently ascertained that he had fallen back to his entrenched
position on the far side of the Alma. Early in the morning of the 20th
September, 1854, the allied armies left their position by the Bulganak
and marched forward towards the Alma. The order maintained was, in
the main, similar to that of the previous day. The fleet defended the
right, the French and Turks marched in the centre, and the British took
the left.
Now the Russian position on the far side of the Alma was a strong one.
Though the ground to the north of the river slopes down gently to the
riverside, and is covered by gardens and vineyards, on the south of the
river hills rise to a considerable height almost from the water’s edge.
This range of hills formed the Russian position.
Nearest to the sea is a hill with steep sides, so steep that the
Russian commander-in-chief, Prince Mentschikoff, the former ambassador
to Constantinople, deemed it impossible for any troops to scale them.
This hill is called the West Cliff. Joined on to it, and forming as it
were an eastern shoulder, is the Telegraph Height, so called from the
fact that at the time of the battle a telegraph line was in course of
construction upon its summit. East of this again is a valley through
which runs the main road to Sebastopol, flanked on the other side by
the Kourgané Hill. East of this again the ground slopes away more
gently.
Deeming the Western Cliff inaccessible, the Russian commander had not
thought fit to defend it, but upon the ledge which intervened between
the river and the Telegraph Height he posted four militia battalions,
with four battalions of regular infantry as supports, and four
battalions of the Moscow corps, a few companies of the 6th Rifles, and
a ten-gun battery--the whole under the command of General Kiviakoff.
These troops faced the French army. In the pass between the Telegraph
Height and the Kourgané Hill, and opposite the British second division,
were posted four battalions of light infantry, the Borodino corps,
some 6th Rifles, and a battalion of sappers near the bridge crossing
the Alma. Across the main road were 16 guns (later called the Causeway
battery), with eight other guns to the east of them. These forces,
constituting the Russian centre, were commanded by Prince Gortschakoff.
The Russian right, on the Kourgané Hill, which at the commencement
of the battle faced our Light Division (and later, the Guards and
Highlanders) consisted of 16 battalions of infantry, 2 battalions of
sailors, 12 heavy guns in the fortified embrasure of the Great Redoubt,
and 4 batteries of field artillery, one of which formed the Lesser
Redoubt; General Koetzinski commanded. In addition to these troops, the
Russian cavalry consisted of 16 squadrons, with 11 sotnias of Cossacks.
Altogether 39,000 troops, including 3600 horsemen and 96 guns.
The allied troops were disposed as follows. On the extreme right, next
to the sea-coast, were the brigades of Generals Bouat and Autemarre,
under the chief command of General Bosquet, and supported by the
majority of the Turks. On the left of these, but far in their rear,
marched the 7th Division under Camobert, and the 3rd under Prince
Napoleon, moving abreast and supported by the 4th Division under Forey,
with the remaining Turks. On the left of these again came the British
2nd Division, under Sir de Lacy Evans, supported by the 3rd (Sir
Richard England). On the left of Evans again, the Light Division, under
Sir George Brown, preceded by the 2nd Rifle Battalion of skirmishers,
and supported by the 1st Division under the Duke of Cambridge, parallel
with whom moved the 4th Division under Sir George Cathcart. The Earl
of Lucan commanded the cavalry. The constitution of the British
Divisions was as follows:--1st Division--Grenadiers, Coldstreams,
Scots Fusiliers, with the Black Watch, Camerons, and Sutherland
Highlanders; 2nd Division--30th, 55th, 41st, 47th and 49th regiments;
3rd Division--38th, 50th, 1st Royal Scots, 4th, 44th, 28th and 63rd
regiments; 4th Division--20th, 21st, 63rd, 57th, with 1st Battalion
Rifles and cavalry.
Briefly, the plan of attack was this--the French and Turks were first
to turn the enemy’s left, then the British were to attack him in front.
Advancing in the warm sunshine in the order above indicated, the allies
made a final halt before the battle at about a mile and a half from the
river, on the ground which slopes gently down to the north bank. From
this point the enemy’s position could be more or less clearly seen, a
deep scar upon the slopes of the Kourgané Hill showing the position of
the Great Redoubt.
It was at this time that there occurred, as Kinglake tells us, that
“singular pause of sound,” when a sudden stillness fell upon the allied
armies, so intense that the slightest noise could be heard over the
field for a long distance. It seemed, indeed, that fighting was the
occurrence least of all to be expected--an idea quickly dispelled by
the veteran Sir Colin Campbell, who remarked that the opportunity would
be a good one “for the men to get loose half their cartridges.”
During the carrying out of this order, the two commanders, Lord Raglan
and St. Arnaud, rode forward entirely alone to reconnoitre the enemy’s
position with their field glasses. As the Marshal neared our lines, he
was cheered by the British soldiers, and, raising his hat, he replied
in excellent English, “Hurrah for old England!”
By this time one o’clock arrived, and the general advance was sounded.
At twenty-five minutes past one, the allied fleets opened fire upon the
Telegraph Height, and the infantry massed upon the ledge at its base.
The result of this fire was that the Russian troops at this place,
under General Kiviakoff, withdrew further up the hill towards the
Telegraph.
At 1.30 the Russians opened fire. Accounts vary as to the first man
hit. Some say he was a drummer carrying a letter, and that he was
positively broken in two by a round shot. Others have it that it was
an artilleryman riding in front of his gun; but, be this as it may,
at length battle was engaged between the land forces. From this point
onward the enemy’s artillery fire was brisk, and soon afterwards the
1st Division came into range, and was accordingly thrown into line, and
the men lay down.
Lord Raglan and his staff were at this point objects of attention to
the enemy’s artillery, a heavy fire being directed at the brilliant
uniforms of the headquarters staff as they moved about the field from
place to place.
Now, as before stated, Bosquet faced the West Cliff, Camobert the
west side of the Telegraph Height, Prince Napoleon was opposite the
Telegraph Height, and Evans, the village of Bourliouk. On his left was
Sir George Brown. Suddenly the village of Bourliouk was set on fire,
no one knows how, and the immediate result was a contraction of the
British front in order to avoid the stifling smoke and heat, such a
contraction threatening to be of considerable advantage to the enemy.
Meanwhile, Bosquet’s operations for turning the Russian left had been
pushed forward, and were taking effect. His troops, in two divisions,
crossed the river respectively at its bar and at the village of
Almatamack shortly after two o’clock, and began to ascend the steep
West Cliff, encountering no enemy. On gaining the summit, however,
they were received by a tremendous fire from the Russian battery No.
4, and for a few seconds thrown into confusion. Almost identically,
however, the French artillery arrived and supported Bosquet’s force
effectively, with the result that their twelve pieces silenced no fewer
than forty of the enemy’s guns. Meantime the Russian commander, Prince
Mentschikoff, hearing of the attack on his left, moved four batteries,
seven battalions of foot, and four squadrons of Hussars towards the
threatened point, but ere they reached it he seems to have changed his
mind, and ordered a countermarch, thereby rendering this large body of
troops entirely useless at a critical period of the fight. Bosquet was
accordingly allowed to retain the West Cliff, which he had won, but was
almost entirely unsupported, and in considerable danger.
Accordingly, St. Arnaud ordered Generals Camobert and Prince Napoleon
to advance, in words which the great historian of the war has
recorded:--“With men such as you I have no orders to give; I have but
to point to the enemy,” said St. Arnaud. The advance commenced, and
was not wanting in incident. At one time Prince Napoleon was in great
danger. General Thomas, perceiving a ball coming in the direction of
the Prince, cried to him, “Take care!” and the Prince, putting spurs to
his horse, avoided it with the utmost coolness. It, however, struck M.
Leblanc, the military intendant, with the result that his leg had to be
amputated.
Now, had the advance of these two divisions been successfully carried
out, there seems little doubt that the subsequent scheme of battle
would have been considerably altered. For two reasons, however, the
French divisions halted when they had crossed the river and were about
to scale the opposite steeps. The first was that the ground on the far
side was found to be too steep for artillery, and the maxims of the
French army forbade infantry from advancing unsupported under such
circumstances. Accordingly the guns had to be sent round by the ford at
the village of Almatamack, causing inevitable delay. The second cause
was the unfortunate panic which set in, not unnaturally, amongst the
rear ranks of the divisions owing to the galling fire to which they
were exposed. The front ranks, being under shelter of the steep river
banks, were, more or less, halted in safety, but the rear ranks were
directly exposed to the Russian batteries posted on the Great Road.
The measures taken to rectify this state of affairs unfortunately
only served to aggravate it. Part of the 4th Division was sent to
support Camobert, and this, by increasing the mass of men exposed to
fire, naturally increased the slaughter which at this stage has been
described as almost a massacre.
At this time the Russians might have materially altered the aspect of
affairs by taking advantage of Bosquet’s isolated position, and by a
free use of the cavalry at their disposal. But neither of these steps
were taken.
To Lord Raglan was communicated the state of affairs on the French
side of the battle. Immediate action must be taken if Bosquet’s
successful advance was not to be nullified. For an hour and a half
our troops had been under the enemy’s fire, and had suffered heavily.
This circumstance, together with the repeated requests of the French
aides-de-camp, determined Lord Raglan, at the risk of spoiling the
symmetry of his front and of the original plan of advance, to move
forward at once.
Those present have recorded the joy of all ranks when the order flew
down the lines like magic. Nolan it was, of the 15th Hussars, who
afterwards carried the fatal order that was to decimate the Light
Brigade at Balaclava, who now bore the command down the cheering ranks,
and in a few moments the whole of the foremost British line advanced
in order towards the river. A few moments later still and Nolan had a
horse shot under him as he rode forward with the advance brigade.
Owing to the burning village of Bourliouk, Sir de Lacy Evans,
commanding the 2nd Division, had to cut his force into two parts, one
passing on the right and the other on the left of the conflagration.
The Russian fire from the Causeway batteries was heavy. Evans himself
was struck, and nearly all his staff wounded, and some indeed killed.
On the left moved forward the Light Division under Sir George Brown,
opposed to whom were the Great Redoubt and no fewer than eighteen
battalions of infantry, including the famous Kayan battalion.
Straight down through the vineyards and across the river, somehow or
other, moved the Light Division. The orders were not to halt until the
river had been crossed. It has been reported that some few men, fearing
the hail of bullets, which, by reason of their sound among the foliage,
seemed in the vineyards to be nearly doubled, took refuge in the
farmhouses which stood here and there. But such men were very few, and
soon the whole division, under Generals Buller and Codrington, stood on
the Russian side of the Alma, sheltered for a moment by the steep river
bank. Here Buller, on the extreme left, halted and reformed his men,
holding back the 88th and 77th regiments to protect the allied army
from a flank attack.
The remaining five battalions of the Light Brigade pressed forward
up the bank, and Sir George Brown himself it was, on horseback,
flushed and breathless, who first gained the summit, a mark for the
entire Russian artillery. That he remained unshot was a miracle.
Simultaneously, Codrington and the Royal Fusiliers, under Lacy Yea,
gained the summit of the river bank, and the five battalions pressed on
up the hill.
Facing them, on their right and left, were the Kayan infantry columns;
in the centre was the Great Redoubt. The Kayan columns on the British
left were soon put to flight by the Riflemen, the 19th, and the Royal
Welsh, who had joined the centre for the attack upon the Great Redoubt,
but the Kayan column on the right engaged the Royal Fusiliers in a
stubborn fight.
Terrible was the death roll as our Light Division pressed up the hill
towards the Great Redoubt. Men fell on every side. The Welsh and Royal
Fusiliers suffered heavily, and for a moment had to pause and reform.
The gallant Colonel of the Welsh Fusiliers was killed in the front of
his men, and with the words “On, lads, on!” upon his lips. Old Sir
George Brown was knocked from his horse, but rose immediately, and
remounted with the assistance of a rifleman named Hannan, who coolly
asked, “Are your stirrups the right length, sir?” Up swept the scarlet
coats, only pausing for a second now and again to reform. During one of
these pauses the Eddingtons were killed. The two brothers were in the
95th, the Derbyshires. Captain Eddington was deliberately murdered by
a Russian rifleman when lying wounded on the field, when his brother,
perceiving the act, rushed forward, in a frenzy, in advance of the
regiment to avenge him, and fell, literally torn to pieces by a storm
of grape shot. But the men pressed on in spite of all the carnage
around them, and then suddenly, as they neared the Redoubt, the smoke
lifted for a moment, and disclosed the Russian gunners limbering up
and making off. Quick as lightning, young Ensign Anstruther of the
Royal Welsh rushed forward with the colours of the regiment, and,
outstripping all, succeeded in planting them upon the parapet of the
Redoubt. A second later and he fell back riddled with shot, dragging
the colours involuntarily with him. A sergeant of the same regiment,
Luke O’Connor, seized the colours again, and planted them firmly upon
the wall of the Redoubt, when General Codrington, uncovering, saluted
the colours, and leapt his horse into the embrasure just as the last of
the enemy’s guns galloped off. In the fight no fewer than thirty-one
officers and non-commissioned officers had been killed. One Russian
gun was captured in the act of withdrawing.
By this time the 1st Division under the Duke of Cambridge, consisting
of the Guards and Highlanders, was moving to the support of the Light
Division, who thus occupied the Great Redoubt. But as yet they were
only at the river, so the Light Division found themselves isolated,
while before them were the Vladimir regiment, supported by the Ouglity
corps and others, sixteen battalions in all with horse and artillery.
In the meantime the position of affairs on the allied right, where
Camobert and Prince Napoleon’s divisions were advancing to the support
of Bosquet, was distinctly unpromising for the allies. The heavy column
under Kiviakoff had checked Camobert’s advance, and Prince Napoleon was
not yet in touch with the enemy.
At this juncture there happened that which is perhaps unique in the
history of battles. On the one side a large proportion of the Russian
army was engaged with the French attack, on the other their troops were
about to push the British down from the ground which they had so hardly
won in the storming of the Great Redoubt. In the centre, however, to
the Russian left of the Causeway batteries, there were in the meantime
no troops, and here Lord Raglan found himself in his eager pushing
forward to obtain a clear view of all that was happening.
The effect of the appearance of Lord Raglan and his staff upon the
rising ground in the centre was tremendous. The Russian right, on the
Kourgané Hill, seeing a group of staff officers in the centre of the
Russian lines, supposed that the French had been entirely successful in
their part of the field, and accordingly halted to take counsel as they
were in the act of advancing upon our unsupported troops who had won,
and were now occupying, the Great Redoubt.
Not content, however, with the moral effect of his presence, the
significance of which he fully appreciated, Lord Raglan ordered a
couple of nine-pounder guns to be brought up to him, and with these
(Colonel Dickson working one of the guns with his own hands, says
Kinglake), he opened fire upon the flank of the Causeway batteries,
and upon the enemy’s reserves. The Causeway batteries retreated higher
up the road, leaving it open for Evans’ advance; the enemy’s reserves
were disorganised, and the Russian right advance was for the moment
paralysed.
General Evans was quick to seize the opportunity. Advancing up the
road with his troops, and with the batteries of Sir Richard England,
directed by that General in person, he drove back the Russian artillery
and took up a firm stand in line with Lacy Yea and his Royal
Fusiliers, who, it will be remembered, were still engaged with the
(Russian) left Kayan battalion. The fight here was a stubborn one, and
much depended upon it, for as long as the Fusiliers could hold their
own, and keep the Kayan battalion fully occupied, our troops to their
right could take up an effective position with comparative ease. But
the Fusiliers did more. Assisted by the 55th Regiment, who had been
gradually advancing up the hill, and who now poured a flanking fire
into the Russians, they routed the Kayan battalion. This advantage
was followed up by the Guards, who passing the severely battered but
victorious Fusiliers, led the van of that second severe fight on the
Kourgané Hill, which ultimately terminated in victory for the allied
armies.
Seen at this point of the battle, the British line was more or less
continuous, and was formed as follows, from its right--the Grenadiers,
covering the Fusiliers reforming; the Coldstreams, the Black Watch,
Camerons and Sutherland Highlanders in the order named. Opposed to
them were the Vladimir columns, supported as before on either hand by
the Kayan columns, that on the British right sadly disorganised by its
sanguinary encounter with the Royal Fusiliers.
It was a battle of column against line, the Russians being commanded
by Prince Gortshakoff in person, under whom was the brave General
Koetzinski.
The fight did not last long. Deceived by the apparent numbers of
the red-coated troops advancing in line; assailed with ferocity by
the redoubtable Black Watch under Sir Colin Campbell, whose command
of “Forward, 42nd!” has become world-renowned; now stormed by the
impetuous 93rd, in the main composed of men whose eagerness to fight
had led them to exchange into it rather than be left at home; at
length roughly handled by the 75th, and unsettled by the successful
operations of the allies on their left, where the Causeway batteries
were in retreat--the powerful columns broke up after a short but
stubborn fight, in which many fell on both sides, and beat an angry and
reluctant retreat from the field of battle. Deep-throated sobs of rage
were heard as the great grey-coated columns drew off, and to the last,
General Koetzinski, borne wounded in a litter, directed the operations
of the retreat from the very rear of his defeated army.
So one after another, Vladimir, Kayan, Sousdal, and lastly the reserve
columns were driven from the field with slaughter and harried by our
horse artillery so that, in places, the killed and wounded “formed
small heaps and banks.” Of the four Russian generals in this part of
the field, three were wounded. The loss of the Kayan battalion alone is
estimated at 1700. The loss of the Guards and Highlanders together was
no more than 500 men.
Meantime in the French part of the field, General Camobert’s artillery
had crossed the Alma at Almatamack, and now, returning eastwards along
the Russian bank of the river, were engaged in shelling Kiviakoff’s
battalions on the Telegraph Height. Bosquet’s artillery fire was also
directed upon these troops, and General Kiviakoff supposed the fire
to be coming from the ships of the allied fleets. Seeing, in addition
to these calamities (for the execution done by the French guns was
considerable), the turn of the tide on the Russian right of the field,
General Kiviakoff ordered a retreat, and shortly the Telegraph Heights
were occupied by the warlike Zouaves. A few Russian riflemen, who had
for some reason failed to move, were overwhelmed by the bayonet, and,
in spite of a heavy fire from Kiviakoff’s retreating battalions, the
standard of the 39th French regiment was planted on the Telegraph
Height. Lieutenant Portevin was killed by a cannon ball in the act
of hoisting it, and later, Marshal St. Arnaud in person thanked the
Zouaves on the summit of the hill.
After traversing a couple of miles, Kiviakoff succeeded in halting his
men and in once more facing the French fire, but panic soon set in,
and a confused rabble of men, guns, and horses trailed off towards the
river Katcha.
In no part of the field was the retreat followed up to any extent; our
men were for the most part wearied, and our cavalry arm was weak, while
Marshal St. Arnaud found it “impossible” for the French army to advance
further that day. Had these things been otherwise, there is every
probability that much of the later campaign might have been curtailed,
if not indeed rendered unnecessary.
As Lord Raglan rode along the field after the fight, loud British
cheers arose from regiment to regiment, now slowly reforming, till,
says Kinglake:--“From the spurs of the Telegraph Height to the
easternmost bounds of the crest which had been won by the Highland
Brigade, those desolate hills in Crimean Tartary were made to sound
like England.”
But in spite of this, Lord Raglan was sad and thoughtful, and spent
many hours among the sheds and farmhouses where lay the wounded. In the
evening he dined with only two others in a small marquee beside the
Alma.
The allies camped where they found themselves at the termination of the
fight. The total of French losses, killed and wounded, was between 500
and 600, though a much higher figure was supplied in the preliminary
official returns. The British lost a total of 2002 of all ranks, and
the Russians no fewer than 5709, including 5 generals and 193 other
officers.
On the morning of the 21st September, the dead were buried, and a huge
mound some five hundred yards from the river marks their last resting
place. Many lives might have been saved had not the number of surgeons
and appliances been wholly inadequate. On the 22nd, the allied armies
resumed their march.