Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/281

THE OPENING OF THE SIEGE. 251 general plan of siege labour in which the Allies cHAP. were engafiina!. ' The frround that the French had before them Tiie French . occupying was favourable to tiie plan of 'drawiuff closer more ad- vanced 'the investment;' and, in their camp, the pro- rositions; posal to that effect did not meet with the hin- drance which it had encountered when Lord Eag- lan submitted the measure to his Infantry Gen- erals of Division. The same day as that on which the English Generals of Division had de- livered their opinions, but not till after sunset, nine French battalions, commanded by General Lourmel, were pushed forward and established in a sheltered position, beneath the commanding crest — the crest of Mount liodolph — where the French meant to plant their batteries. It was on the night of the 9th of October that andbroak- 1 T-i 1 1 « 1 • '"^S ground the Irench were to break ground. Advancing on the night, , . , ^ of the QlU from the ground where Lourmel had established Oct. himself, their Engineers, with a large body of men told off for the work, were to fasten at once upon the crest of Mount Eodolph; and this they pro- posed to do by tlirowing up a gabionade a few yards in advance of the ground they had selected as the site of their intended batteries. By this gabionade (to be thrown up as effectually as might be in one night) they intended to provide a fitting screen or cover for the subsequent opera- tion of sinking the trenches in which their bat- teries were to be placed. The night was clear, but there blew a fresh wind from the north-east, which prevented the