English were to attack the Great Redan, escalading it
at its salient. On the left the 1st Corps, to which
General de la Marmora had wished to join a Sardinian
brigade, having at its head General Levaillant's
division, was to penetrate into the interior of the town by
the Central Bastion, and afterwards turn the Flagstaff
Bastion in order to establish a lodgment there likewise.
General de Salles had instructions not to pursue his
attack further than circumstances might render it
advisable. Further, the fleets of Admiral Lyons and
Bruat were to operate a powerful diversion by firing
against the Quarantine, the Roadstead, and the sea
front of the fortress; but the state of the sea,
agitated by a violent north-west wind, was such that
neither the line-of-battle ships nor the frigates were able
to quit their anchorage. The English and French
mortar boats, however, were able to go into action. Their
fire was of remarkable excellence, and they rendered
us great assistance. At noon exactly the divisions of
Generals McMahon, La Motterouge, and Dulac, electrified
by their chiefs, sprang to the Malakhoff, the
Curtain, and the Little Redan of the Careenage.
After unexampled difficulties, and a most exciting
foot to foot combat, General McMahon's division
succeeded in effecting a lodgment in the anterior part of
the Malakhoff. The enemy showered down a storm of
projectiles of all kinds upon our brave troops. The
Redan of the Careenage, especially battered by the
maison en croix and the steamers, it was necessary to
evacuate after its occupation; but the division of
General La Motterouge made its ground good on one part
of the curtain, and that of General McMahon gained
ground in the Malakhoff, where General Bosquet sent
continually the reserves which I sent forward to him.
The other attacks were suboidinated to that of the
Malakhoff, that being the capital point of the defences of the
whole place. Standing in the Brandon Redoubt (on
the Mamelon), I considered that the Malakhoff was
safely in our power, and I gave the signal which had
been agreed upon with General Simpson. The English
immediately advanced bravely against the salient of the
Great Redan. They were able to effect a lodgment in
it, and struggled a considerable time to maintain their
position, but, crushed by the Russian reserves, which
advanced incessantly, and by a violent fire of artillery,
they were forced to return into their parallel. At the
same moment General de Salles had directed an attack
against the Central Bastion. The Levaillant division
had begun to establish itself in it, as well as in the Right
Lunette; a tremendous fire of grape was succeeded by
the arrival of Russsan reinforcements so considerable in
number, that our troops, already decimated by the fire
of the enemy, and whose chiefs had been disabled, were
compelled to fall back on the place whence they had
sallied. Convinced that the taking of the Malakhoff
would be decisive of success, I prevented the renewal of
any attacks on other points, which, by compelling the
hostile army to remain on all its points, had already
attained their main object. I then directed my sole
attention to the retaining possession of the Malakhoff,
which General McMahon had been previously enabled
completely to obtain. Besides, a great and critical
moment was impending. Bosquet had just been struck
by the bursting of a shell, and his command I gave to
Generul Dulac. A powder magazine near the Malakoff
exploded at this moment, from which contingency I
anticipated the most serious results. The Russians,
hoping to profit by this accident, immediately advanced
in dense masses, and, disposed in three columns,
simultaneously attacked the centre, the left, and the right of
the Malakhoff. But measures of defence had already
been taken in the interior of the fortress; for which
purpose General McMahon opposed to the enemy bodies
of undaunted troops, whom nothing could intimidate;
and after the most desperate efforts the Russians were
compelled to make a precipitate retreat. From that
moment the discomfited enemy appears to have
renounced all idea of further attack. The Malakhoff was
ours, and no effort of the enemy could wrest it from us.
It was half-past four o'clock. Measures were
immediately taken for enabling us to repulse the enemy, in
case he should attempt against us a nocturnal attack.
But we were soon released from our uncertainty. As
soon as it became night, fires burst forth on every side,
mines exploded, magazines of gunpowder exploded in
the air. The sight of Sebastopol in flames, which the
whole army contemplated, was one of the most awe-
inspiring and sinister pictures that the history of wars
an have presented. The enemy was making a
complete evacuation; it was effected during the night by
means of a bridge constructed between the two shores of
the roadstead, and under cover of the successive explosions
that prevented me from approaching and harassing
him. On the morning of the 9th the whole southern
side of the town was freed, and in our power. I have
no need of enhancing in the eyes of your Excellency
the importance of so great a success. Neither will it
be necessary for me to speak of this brave army, whose
warlike virtues and devotion are so thoroughly
appreciated by our Emperor; and I shall have, great as the
number is, to name to you those who have distinguished
themselves among so many valiant soldiers. I cannot
yet do so, but I shall fulfil this duty in one of my next
despatches. Deign to accept, Monsieur le Maréchal,
the expression of my respectful devotion.—The General
in Chief, PELISSIER."

A despatch, also dated Sept. 11, from General Niel,
commanding the Engineers of the French army,
contains a very lucid account of the dispositions which had
been made for the combined attack on the Malakhoff
and the manner in which the arrangements were carried
into execution. It is as follows:—

"Monsieur le Maréchal,—The place of Sebastopol
was stormed on the 8th of September. That assault has
rendered us masters of the Malakhoff work, the
occupation of which renders the defence of the suburb
almost impossible, and enables us to cut off the
communications of the town with the north part of the
roadstead. After rallying several times, and resuming the
offensive with a courage to which we are bound to do
homage, seeing that his uttermost efforts remained
fruitless, he began during the evening to evacuate the
town; during the night he set it on fire, and he
employed his powder in destroying with his own hands
the defensive works and the great establishments which
Russia had been accumulating for so many years in this
fortress. He sunk all his ships, frigates, and other
sailing vessels, preserving only the steamers; lastly, he
broke up, and pulled after him the bridge of boats by
which he communicated with the forts of the north
side, abandoning to us in this way the town, suburb,
and everything else on the south side of the roadstead.
The defence was energetic; on several points our attacks
were repulsed; but the chief attack, that which ensured
our success, was not doubtful for an instant. The 1st
division of the 1st corps, commanded at present by Gen.
McMahon, carried at the first onset the Malakhoff work,
and there maintained itself heroically, understanding
that it held in its hand the keys of the place. I am
going to give you an account of the dispositions that
had been taken for diminishing as much as possible the
numerous difficulties attending this terrible assault,
made, not on a place invested, on a limited garrison,
but on a vast fortress, defended by an army equally
numerous, perhaps with that which attacked it. In the
attacks against the town our approaches had been carried
to within forty metres of the Central Bastion, and thirty
metres of the Flag-staff Bastion. At the attacks of the
Karabelnaia suburb, the English, impeded by the
difficulties of the ground, and by the fire of the enemy's
artillery, had only been able to advance their approaches
to about 200 metres from the salient of the Great Redan.
Before the front of the Malakhoff we had arrived to
within 25 metres of the enceinte which surrounds the
tower, and had carried our approaches to the same
distance of the Little Redan of the Careenage.
This important result was due to the incontestable
superiority of our artillery over that of the enemy.
The generals-in-chief of the allied armies had made
the following arrangements:—The general attack of
the place was fixed for the 8th September at noon.
On the morning of the 5th the artillery of the
attacks against the town and that of the English attacks,
who until then had husbanded their fire, were to
resume it with great energy. Such a cannonade was
never heard. We had mounted in our two attacks