Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/125

THE THIRD BOMBARDMENT. 95 Redoubts the Selinghinsk and the Volhynia, as chap. well as of the five-gun Zabalkansky battery which ! had been constructed in their rear, there were qu e n°ce Se " only assigned six weak battalions, and five of these during the daytime were kept in somewhat distant reserve (one in and near the Troitsky Eavine, and four in the Ouchakoff gorge), so that, to occupy the two White Redoubts, there remained only one battalion, 450 strong, which, accordingly, furnished them garrisons of no more than 225 men each. Ten battalions — one forming its gar- rison, the other nine held in reserve — were as- signed for the defence of the Kamtchatka Lunette, and six for the defence of the Quarries. From the 31st of May until a late hour on the 7th of June, General Jabrokritski commanded the troops in the Faubourg, and to him, in conjunc- tion with General Timovieff (who had advised a like reduction), there specially fell the blame of leaving the defence of the works to insufficient forces ; though of course the discredit of not re- pressing the pretensions of generals who presumed to be hampering the measures of the great en- gineer, would rest with the Commander-in-Chief — with General Michael Gortchakoff. On the 7th of June, at an hour when assault was impending, Jabrokritski gave up the com- mand, and was succeeded by General Khrouleff. Khrouleff thereupon gave orders for reinforcing the garrisons of all the counter-approaches with the utmost despatch, but he was baffled by the stress of events then almost immediately follow-