The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-13 00:00:00

THE DEFENCE OF SEBASTOPOL.

The following summary of Prince Gortschakoff's
Ireport of the defence of Sebastopol from the 17th
of August to the 9th of September is taken from
the Journal de St. Petersbourg :
" On the 17th of August the enemy opened against
the faubourg of Karabelnaia a double fire of artillery,
horizontal and vertical, which was continued through
20 days. Our loss during this period amounted on the
first day to 1,500 men, on those following to 1,000 ; and
from the 22d of August to the sth of September to 500
or 600 men every 24 hours. This cannonade, kept up
from the distant batteries, as well as from those at' a
very short distance from the line of defence, produced
the moat disastroua effect on our works ; the ramparts
and batteries, repaired every night under a heavy fire,
crumbled down at last after a few shots ; the parapets
fell in large masses into the ditches, and works which
had cost incredible sacrifices and toil were again de-
stroyed. To the left of the Karabelnaia, which was
more particularly injured by the enemy, the Bastion
No. 2 was reduced every evening to a heap of ruins, and
none of its guns could be fired freely ; we were com-
pelled to transfer to the second line of defenceowhich
was still entire, the battery of 12 guns established on
the left slope of the Malakhoff Hill ; and even this se-
cond line suffered no less than the left face of the Kor-
nileff Bastion, against which the enemy directed the
heaviest fire.

" The proximity of the approaches of the enemy,
which almost touched the outward ditches of our works ;
the irreparable damage done to the line of defences, and,
above all, the loss sustained by the garrison from the
fire of the enemy, which was rendered still heavier by
the necessity of employing a constantly increasing num-
ber of men as labourers ;—all these circumstances united
convinced the Commander-in-Chief of the indispensable
necessity of putting an end to a now useless effusion of
blood, by abandoning to the enemy.the city of Sebasto-
pol, reduced to heaps of stones and ashes. But this
evacuation, in face of a hostile force of a hundred thou-
sand men, whose approaches 'already touched our line
of fcrtification, presented the greatest difficulties, and
imposed the necessity of. selecting for the operation a
particularly favourable opportunity."
The report here repeats more in detail the effect
of the feu infernal of the allies on the Russian
; the falling ramparts filled up the ditches,
irt4ll`"- impossible to do more than secure. the
and it nab - -q by covering them with earth.
vwder maga no_ 'Bll of September the report
Frotri the sth to th©
statesscribing
e ri bin
".men. After de-
officers, 47 suballerns, and 3,914 ,iving notice
gh:rison was 4 superior
in the
that the troops of the allies were assemblingrt-
trenches in front of the Malakhoff, Prlnce
schakoif adds—
the
made on rep).
the4t t 12
arrangements i of

"On the Bth of September, at 11.30 a.m , the enemy
gushed precipitately from their saps against the angles of
the Kornileff Bastion and Bastion No. 2.
"The ditches, filled up with the earth of the crumbled
parapets, did not present any great obstacle to the as-
sailants. They rushed into the Bastion No. 2, drove
from it the battalions of the Regiment Clonet, and, after
having spiked some of the guns, had gained the Omaha-
itoff Ravine, and the second line of defence ; but there
Major Yaroschevitch, with a battalion of the Regiment
Belozersk, repulsed them with the bayonet, and drove
them beyond the parapet."
The report states that the French were also
repulsed from the 12-gun battery into which they
penetrated by the chevaux de frise, and then pro-
ceeds
to the French grand 'attack of the Malakhoff
Tower
- - - - - - - - -

" fho gle.of the Kornileff Bastion (the Malakhoff)
was attacked tIY en. enormous mass of troops, by five
French divisions, aftettnting to about 30,000 men. The
advanced column enterer; tha bastion by the left angle
and drove back from it the 11.1:qiment Praga. The com- '
minder of this regiment, Col. Amid.. charged the French
with several companies with the bayo2et, and checked
them; but he was wounded, and the assault,Tlg columns
which continued to come up repulsed by a vigorous
charge the regiments on the hill at the time, „end, the
enemy held possession of the whole of its summit. .e.:138t.
of the commanders of regiments and battalione, as well
as the officers, had been killed or wounded; our troops
kept their ground obstinately by the powdermagazines
&dreg the tower and the battery that commanded the
Bastiont No. g ; but about 2 p.m. they were compelled
to Yield to the superiority in number of the masses of
the 4nonel, Whioh ConAntted to advance and occupy the
bill ; our tiaeps re iced behind the gorge of the
Malakhoff. The 4.'eritlict on this point, where the adver-
saries were separated by 54 deep ditch and the rampart
of the gorge, was maintained tot it long time W'lth obsti-
nacy and fury ; the numerous columns of the enemy
made several attempts to throw our troops back, but
were each time repulsed with the bayonet."
In tlid attack made at the same time on the Ger-
vais Battery the French drove out of it the regi-
ment of Chasseurs of hie Imperial Highness the
Grand Duke Michael. The report then describes
the English attack on the Redan :
" At noon the English advancing in skirmishing
order, sustained by strong reserves, rushed on the angle
of Bastion No. 3. The Vladimir Regiment, thrown
back at the first moment of the attack, but supported in
time by companies of theis, Regiments Karnschatka and
Yakoutsk, charged the enemy with the bayonet, and
repul,ed those of the English who had already gained
the parapet, and were setting fire to the fascicles of the
sides of the embrasures. Lieutenant General Pauloff,
who expected a second attack of the enemy, reinforced
the defence by the Selenghinsk Regiment, which formed
the reserve. The enemy did renew the attack at the
angle of the bastion, but was repulsed by this regiment,
under the command' of Colonel Mezentsoff, who fell
during the assault. A third attack by the en:enly was re-
pulsed with the same slimes as the two first. A portion
of the as,ailants established themselves ire the fosse, ant
directed from thence a sharp fire of musketry ; 43 volun-
teem of the Vladimir Ittgimeat, tmclq the command of
-

Ensign Doubrovine, descended into the ditch, and drove
the English out of it."
The report details the incidents of the conflict on
the city side of the Malakhoff ; it appears only that
the Freueh did not advance beyond the works they
and several attempts to do so
had taken at noon;
are described as having laeen. foiled. At last, how-
ever—
" The Comms.nder-in-Cbief proceeded himself to the
second line of our intrenchwents before the Malalthoff-
hill, and, finding the height occupied by large masses of
French troops, in the rear of which there were strong
reserves. be was co,ivinced that the re-occupation of the
Kornileff Bastion (the Malakhoff) would again necessi-
tate immense sacrifices. As he had already decided on
abandoning the city, he resolved to take advantage of
the fact that the assault bad been repulsed on every
other point to execute this most difficult operation while
the enemy was still exhausted by fatigue. Accordingly,
he ordered Lieut.-Gen. Schepeleff not to attack the Kor-
nileff Bastion, but, at all hazards, to prevent the enemy
from debouching from it in the direction of the city.
These orders were punctually
_executed, notwithstanding
all the efforts of the French to advance in front of the
gorge of the bastion."
Prince Gortschakoff then mentions the names o
the officers who had distinguished themselves dur-
ing the later operations, and gives the number of
killed and wounded during the day of the Bth Sep-
tember ; it was 4 superior officers, 55 subalterns,
and 2,625 men killed ; wounded, 26 superior offi-
cers, 206 subalterns, and 5,826 men ; contused, 9
superior, 38 subalterns, and 1,138 men ; 24 officers
and 1,739 men were missing. He thinks the loss
of the allie.vin killed and wounded must have been
enormous. The report then proceeds to the eva-
cuation :

" At 4 p.m. the Commander-in-Chief gave the order
to commence the evacuation of the south side of Sebis-
topol at the fall of night, and for the transportation
of the troops to the north side, partly by boats, partly
by the bridge constructed in the bay. The operation
was conducted in the following manner:—
" The volunteers and part. of the artillery were left on
the line of defence, and kept up a slack fire from the
guns and small arms. The lines of barricades previously
constructed in the interior of the city were occupied on
the right by the regiments Tobolsk, Volhynia, and
Minsk ;on the left by. those of Azoff and 0 Tessa. Co-
vered by these troops in advance, the different corps
formed behind them were marched in succession to the
Nichelas-place, and thence crossel the creek by the
bridge ; those from the Karabelnaia Faubourg were car-
ried over in boats and steamers prepared by Vice-Ad
miral Novasilsky. When the troops had all quitted the
Nicholas-placeand the Paulovskypoint, and the wounded
in the hatteties' of Nicholas and Paul bad been t...ans-
ported to the north side, a signal was given, and the
rest of the artillery, the volunteers, and the troops oc-
cupying the barricades began tomoze towards the points
of passage of the bay. As the last troops retired from
the different points of the line of defence the heavy pieces
of artillery on the works were as far as possible rendered
useless, and the powder magazines, as well as the city
itself, set on fire. After all the troops had crossed to
the north side of the harbour the'bridge was removed.
lOn the Bth of, September, after the evacuation of the
city, the Batteries No. 7, No. 8. and No. 10 exploded ;
the Paul Battery was blown up, as well as the small
quantity of powder in the Nicholas Battery.
" Thus, after 349 days' obstinate defence of a city
surrounded hastily, and in sight of the enemy, with field
works, and presentiug between its different parts natural
obstacles like the South Creek and the harbour, the
garrison evacuated the city without being molested. The
enemy, still underlthe impression of the bloody opposi-
tion he had mec during the day, did not even think of
pursuing us. Our passage to the north side of the city
cost us only a few men."

A note states that the number of magazines
blown up was 35.