Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/131

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COMBATS ON THE INKERMAN SPUR. 101 vance — and it did not cost theoo any great sac- chap. rifice — was almost to ensure final Yic'icry ; for thenceforth the weight of •numbers — two nhclc ;■ ,. French brigades to two bodies' of bu't 225" nien each — could scarce fail to govern the issue. The resistance of the two little garrisons might be hopeless, but still was brave. Chestakoff, the commander of the redoubts, and Bedaieff, com- manding the battalion, were both of them killed. After a struggle in each of the works, which, although not greatly prolonged, was still hot so long as it lasted, the redoubts were both of them taken, the Volhynia by General Lavarande's, the Selinghinsk by Failly's brigade. A second battalion of the Moroum regiment came up with a mind to support the vanquished and retreating garrisons ; but yielding to weight of numbers, the men of this last force were soon in a state of discomfiture, and sharing in the fate of their comrades. Pursuing their vanquished enemy, the French pressed on over a distance of some 500 yards, and seized the Zabalkansky battery ; but not choosing to hold as their own a seizure and J ' ° abandon- WOrk so far out in advance, they destroyed its em- mentofthe ' •> • j * Zabalkanskj brasures, and spiked the five guns it contained.* battery. When about half an hour had passed, two other TheRus- sians tlirow battalions of the Moroum regiment which had ingforward ° two bat- been in reserve all this while marched out of the &H?na<>f their Mn- Ouchakoff Ravine with a mind to retake the Re- roumregi- ment. doubts ; but long since, General Bosquet had seen that any movements of troops going on, whether

  • In that state Todleben found it, vol. ii. i>. .5.J0.