Chapter XXIV, of Cassells Illustrated History of England, Volume 8 page 2

The allies resolved to beat up his quarters. On the 30th of December General Espinasse brought down from the Sapoune ridge ten battalions of infantry, eleven squadrons of cavalry, and sixteen guns. These he moved over the plain, expelling the Cossacks from the Turkish hills, and pushing both horse and foot up to Mount Hasfort, and into the gorge between that hill and the Fedoukine heights. The Cossacks retired in good order, skirmishing as they fell back by alternate sections. There were some hand-to-hand encounters, for the French, well supported, and despising the Cossacks, kept them on the move. In the meantime Sir Colin Campbell, with a Highland regiment and some companies of Rifles, had marched upon Kamara, and had dispossessed the Cossacks of their quarters in that village. The whole of the French infantry now crowned the heights, and even sent their skirmishers down to the river; while the Russians hastened out of Tchorgoun, and took post on the heights. The batteries on both sides came into action, and the shells of the French guns fired the huts in Tchorgoun. The Russians were really alarmed, for they sent off their baggage, and one of their battalions quitted the field. Holding the lofty heights on the left bank, which overtopped those on the right by a hundred feet, the French sent a part of their cavalry down the Woronzoff road into the valley of Vanoutka, hoping to surprise a Cossack post there; but the Cossacks getting wind of the movement, hurried away into the valley of Baidar. About five in the evening the allies retired to their camps. By this reconnaissance they had learned that no force of any magnitude was in the valley of the Tchernaya,. that the heights on the left bank had- not been fortified, and that no troops were in the valleys between the Tchernaya and the sea. So far then, at the end of December, the allies were relieved of all apprehension for the safety of Balaclava. They had so far intimidated the Russians as to make them burn a good deal of forage, and they had even driven off some sheep and cattle.

With January, 1855, the period of sorties was renewed. The British were only once assailed, but no fewer than five sorties were made upon the French. They had all the same character. Amidst a downfall of snow, driven by a keen north wind into the faces of the French sentries, or from the depth of a dark night, the Russians would issue from the Flagstaff bastion, or creep up the side of the South Ravine, and charge upon the French. Sometimes the latter were on their guard, and then the enemy would feel their fire before he saw them. At other times the sentries, cold and wet, failed to warn the trench guards, and then the Russians, scrambling over the parallel or turning one of its flanks, would surprise the French. Then the latter, running together, would open a close fire of musketry, and animated by their officers, who sought and won distinction in these midnight encounters, the soldiers would lower their bayonets and hunt the enemy out of their lines. Sometimes they followed their assailants up to the Russian works, and paid for their temerity by falling under the fire of the batteries; generally they were content to force out the foe. Often, when the French were relieving guard, a sheet of flame would illuminate the Russian lines for a moment, and a blast of shot and shell, grape and canister, would strike the French parallels. These sorties and volleys of artillery did not hinder the progress of the works of attack so much as the steaming rain and driving snow; for these not only washed away the earth from the parapets, and deformed the embrasures and filled the trenches with mud and water, but crowded the hospitals with sick. Nevertheless, the works of attack and defence went forward vigorously on both sides. The belligerents laboured on the surface and under the surface. Parallel was opposed to bastion and redan, and battery to battery, and mine was met by countermine. The Russians built underground in rear pf their batteries long lines of dwelling-places, well-defended, and they increased their visible works on all sides. The appearance of the allies in some force about Inkermann, and the inability or neglect of the latter to seize the salient points along the ridges leading to the Malakoff and the Careening Bay, led the Russians first to show their apprehension for that side, and then to add to the defences of the eastern suburb. The whole line, from the Great Harbour to the head of the South Bay, formed by the end of January a connected chain of earthworks, and the great redoubt on the Malakoff Hill began to assume a most formidable appearance. The Russian outposts swarmed up towards Inkermann, and shot out along the Malakoff Ridge. Day after day Todtleben, with untiring energy, added new works to the old, and becoming familiar by long study with the character of the ground, and being well provided for action by the possession of boundless resources in guns, timber, earth, and men, he adapted, with marvellous skill, his lines to the nature of the ground.

January, during which the troops suffered most from disease, was nevertheless the turning point, from gloom to brighter days. For the English had arrived huts and warm clothing in superabundance, and better transport. The shores of Balaclava bay had been rendered passable by roads on both sides, and wharves had been built. The railway was creeping out of the port and ascending the hills towards the front; and, as the French had, at last, sent a brigade to reinforce the right at Inkermann, our men got less labour and more rest. The French had, as yet, no huts. They were still sheltered only in dog-tents. But they were tolerably fed and clothed, and large reinforcements, including a brigade of the new Imperial Guard, had brought their numbers up to 80,000 men. The resolve of the allies to take Sebastopol, far from suffering any abatement, had become stronger, and every energy and: resource were applied to secure its fulfilment. The Russian Emperor, the cause of this heroic conflict, was not less resolute, and day and night his thoughts were bent upon frustrating at any and every cost the designs of the allies. The government of Lord Aberdeen had obtained from the King of Sardinia the promise that he would join the alliance, and furnish 15,000 men for service in the Crimea, and there was some reason to suppose that Austria would at length take the field; but whether it was that Austria resented the entry of Sardinia into the Western league, or whether timid counsels prevailed at Vienna, Austria did not change her position from that of a passive to that of an active ally.

The month of February was marked by many important incidents. On both sides there were renewed vigour and activity, in spite of the severity of the weather. For the French Emperor, discontented with General Canrobert, who had failed to realise the expectations formed of him, had sent out the Duke of Montebello to examine the state of the siege, and report thereon. The consequence was that General Niel, one of the first engineers in the French service, a man of great military insight and resolution, and who four years later was to win the title of Duke on the bloody field of Solferino, received orders to hasten to the Crimea, and direct the engineering operations. Niel had not been long in the French camp before he justified the early and oft-repeated counsels of Sir John Burgoyne, and declared that the Malakoff Hill was the key of Sebastopol. It was at once determined to break ground on that side. By every fair consideration, the right of doing so should have been made over to the English. It was a British engineer who had first fastened on this vital point. It was a British force which, through the long winter, had held the position on that side. For four months the British, giving way to French views, had consented to play a secondary part, to throw up trenches and construct batteries, solely to aid the main French attack, without the slightest chance that, in the final assault, let it come when it might, they could perform any decisive act. Now that the French plan had been proved to be an utter failure, it might have been deemed only fair that the English should have been enabled to assail the stronghold on ground promising success; that the French should take the British left and right attacks, and that the English should open the new approaches on the vital part. But no. There were two overmastering reasons. The British had fewer numbers by almost one-half, and the French are always greedy of glory. Lord Raglan could not insist - the alliance depended on submission. The French Emperor was bent on reaping the lion's share of the glory. He needed it for himself and his army. Thus, by force of circumstances, the British were left in their old positions, one of which, the left attack, led no whither, the other led to the Redan, which it was impossible to reach; while the French took up their ground on the plateau leading to the Malakoff, and on the heights on the right of the Careening Ravine.

In the beginning of February the French army was divided into two corps and a reserve. General Pélissier, newly arrived from Algeria, took command of the first; General Bosquet of the second; while General Canrobert kept the reserve under his own orders. The whole force was between 80,000 and 90,000 strong, but one-seventh was still in hospital. The English had also a large number of sick, but the health of the troops was improving visibly, and the men began to complain, in spite of the cold, that they were laden with too many clothes. The English also, in the course of the month$ received back Sir George Brown and General Pennefather, and Sir Harry Jones landed to take the direction of the siege works, in place of Sir John Burgoyne, ordered home. Lieutenant-General the Earl of Lucan was very properly recalled, because he persisted in a paper war with Lord Raglan anent the Balaclava charge; and when he got home he took advantage of his position as a peer of the realm to bring the whole dispute before Parliament - considered by some persons one of the most indecent public acts ever done by a member of the Upper House.

Having once determined on the right point of attack, the French began to work with their usual industry, and by the middle of the month they had formed their first parallel from the Careening Ravine to the steep cliffs of the Great Harbour, had connected that parallel with the British right, and had constructed a strong redoubt and place of arms, called the Victoria Redoubt, on the upper part of the slope running down to the Malakoff. The Russians, seeing these works in progress, began to pull down the ruined tower on the Malakoff Hill, and to construct around its site that enormous redoubt which so long defied its assailants. On its right and left they were equally busy, and soon they took the daring and wise resolution of constructing counter approaches in this quarter.

In the middle of the month, while these works of preparation were in progress, Omer Pasha won fresh laurels by repelling a vigorous attack on Eupatoria. Throughout the winter the allies had held this port, and had drawn from there large supplies of cattle and forage. The French officer in command had begun a line of entrenchments outside the town, consisting of trenches and detached works open to the rear. The Russian cavalry, in considerable force, had watched the town, and had done their utmost to hinder the Tartars from driving their cattle into the lines. Early in February, Omer Pasha was called to the councils of the allies before Sebastopol, and the result of the deliberations was that the British transports carried a large Turkish army, including an Egyptian brigade, to Eupatoria. Including 276 Frenchmen, marines and sappers, the force at Eupatoria on the 12th of February consisted of 21,876 men. This display of troops on the flank of the great road to Perekop at once attracted the attention of the Russians, and on the night of the 16th of February the line of cavalry vedettes was reinforced by 24,000 infantry men, raising the army to 30,000 men, including 3,600 horse and 80 guns. During the night the Russians quietly threw up a long parapet, broken at intervals into rough embrasures, and behind this they arrayed the greater part of their artillery. Behind the line of guns their huge columns of infantry were drawn up, and on the flanks were the cavalry. On the morning of the 17th, about six o'clock, the Russians opened a heavy fire upon the place, directing the weight of it upon a detached work, called the North Crown Work, forming the apex of the northern defences. The Turks at once took up their posts, and stood, as usual, firmly behind their half- finished trenches, undaunted by the masses of bayonets gleaming over the plain, or by the threatening lines of cavalry. For on the sea, covering their left flank, were two British gunboats, the Valorous and the Viper, and on the right was a French gunboat, and in their ranks were Simmons and Ogilvie, and the gallant Frenchmen. Moreover, the lines were fairly defensible, for except on one side, just north of Lake Sassik, there was no sort of cover for an assaulting column. While the cannonade was at its hottest, a body of cavalry sought to turn the left of the lines, and penetrate into the town by the shore. This was probably only a diversion, since the guns of the British war-steamers smote these horsemen in flank, and soon stopped their career. In the meantime, on the opposite side, two heavy columns had gathered, under cover of a Jewish cemetery. They carried scaling ladders, and were intent on breaking into the place near the gate opening on to the road to Perekop. The first column came on with considerable resolution, but it was brought to a stand twenty yards from the lines, and forced back by the Turkish musketry. Then a second column ventured, and, with a loud yell, seemed determined to enter, closing up to the ditch. But the Turks would not yield; the Russians wavered, and the Turks, redoubling their fire, took the offensive, and charged out with the bayonet, while Iskender Bey, galloping up between the town and Lake Sassik, fell upon them with two squadrons of horse. This completed their defeat. About half-past ten the Russians withdrew their guns, and then their infantry vanished over the steppe, leaving only the usual lines of vedettes to watch the victorious foe. The allies lost 107 killed and 294 wounded. Among the killed was Selim Bey. The Russian loss is estimated at 500 men. This success served to raise the reputation of the Turks, and dispirit and vex the enemy, who could not feel altogether at ease with 20,000 good soldiers within two or three marches of his great north road.