, by which the General descended into the ditch, and was, it
is said, the first up the escarp of the work. A friend of mine described
to me how he watched the tricolor on the parapet being carried slowly
along, thus indicating exactly how our allies in the body of the work
were gaining ground. The zouaves who crossed the ditch on the proper
left of the Malakoff had some difficulty in climbing up, from the height
and steepness of the escarp.

MacMahon's leading brigade crossed the short intervening space without a
shot being fired. The enemy's working parties and gunners who were
repairing damages fought bravely with picks, shovels, and hand-spikes,
but were eventually driven back. The very few Russians in the salient
were completely surprised, so much so that some of the superior officers
were found at dinner in an underground chamber of the Malakoff, and the
French without difficulty obtained absolute possession of the south end
of the work. Although the enclosure covered an area of about four
hundred yards by one hundred fifty, there was but very little open space
within it, for behind the remnants of the stone tower were rows of
traverses stretching from side to side of the work. Behind these the
Russians took post as they came up from their bombproof shelters. Every
separate parapet was fought for, hand to hand, and it was not till
Vinoy's brigade, which, entering by the Gervais battery, got behind the
traverses, turning out the regiment Grand Duke Michel, that the enemy
was finally driven from this part of the work.

The leading brigades of Motterouge's and Dulac's divisions, headed by
their chiefs, seized the curtain and the Little Redan, the latter
falling first, as St. Pol's brigade was nearer to it than Bourbaki's
brigade was to the curtain. Once inside these works from which the
Russians were easily driven, the French pressed on to the intrenchment
then being built across the rear. General PELISSIER now gave General
Simpson the signal to attack the Redan. At the same time the French
attacked the Malakoff, and there the fate of Sebastopol was really
decided.

The possession of this fort was strongly contested, the Russians
bringing up field-batteries; the French were also fired on heavily by
three steamers, which, circling round, fired broadsides into them, and
batteries sent shells from the north side of the harbor into the French
support. Eventually after a prolonged struggle, in which the French
captured