Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. BATTLE OF THE ALMA. Order of March of the Allies?Operations open to the Russians?The Bulganak reached?The Valley of the Alma?The Russian Bank? Omissions of the Russian Commander?The French ascend the Heights?Position in Front of the British?Russian Forces there? Delay to allow French to gain Heights?English ordered to advance ?First Onset of the English?The Light and Second Divisions?The Russian Heavy Guns withdrawn?Our First Onset fails?Advance of the Guards and Highlanders?English Artillery in the Action? General Retreat of the Russians?The Losses?Tactical Views of the Battle?General Advance wanting in ensemble?The Cavalry. On the ipth the advance of the armies began. The French were on the right, next the sea. The fact that we had cavalry and they had none indicated the inland flank as ours. The four French divisions were ranged in lozenge form, the apex heading south for Sebastopol, the four points marked each by a division with its guns; and in the space thus enclosed were the Turks, and the convoy of provisions, ammunition, and baggage. The British were formed in two columns of divisions, that next the French of the Second Division followed by the Third; the other of the Light Division followed by the First and Fourth; the batteries on the right of their respective divisions. The formation of the divisions was that of double companies from the centre, giving them the means of forming with readiness either to the front or the left flank, which was also the object of placing threeOperations open to the Russians. 43 of the five divisions in the left column. If the Russians, after leaving a sufficient garrison in Sebastopol, were to keep an army in the field, it might, from its natural line of communication with Southern Russia, namely, the road thithe...