Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/328

the French army 302 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. CHAP, by chance this man shall be brought some day to ^- his account, it will not be by an appeal to the memory of the Alma that lie will be able to avert his punishment. With Lourmel's brigade, as we saw, he had followed the steps of Bouat, marching off to the peaceful sea-shore, and becoming null in Position the battle. When D'Aurelle was already at the l^eTesTof^ Telegraph, Forey, with Lourmel's brigade, had but just crossed the river at its very mouth, and was more than two miles distant from the nearest of the enemy's forces. But with the exception of this annulled brigade under Forey, and the two Turkish battalions which had been left to guard the baggage, the whole of the French and Ottoman troops were now ranged upon the plateau of the Telegraph Height. Their array was upon ground less advanced than that taken up by the English. It fronted towards the east. XLIL The position When Kiriakoff's movement of retreat had Skoff.^ brought him to the ridge which lay at a distance of nearly two miles in rear of the Telegraph, he forthwith took up a position, and once more showed a front to the Allies. Having with him not only his own artillery, but that also which Prince Mentschikoff had brought from the centre at the commencement of the action, and being in company at this time with some of the cavalry, he was able to complete the semblance of something like a defensive stand by placing thirty guns in