The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-03 00:00:00

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INVASION OP !lIIT CRIMEA.

JOIRNAL OF A FRENCH OFFICER.
Journal kept on the quarter-deck of the Ville-de-
Paris, by Lieut. Garuault, First Aide-de-Camp
to the Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean
squadron :
"The whole of the 13th was employed as well in
assembling all the vessels of the convoy in the roadstead
of Eupatoria as in giving the last orders destined to
insure the prompt and rapid execution of the landing of
the army. Some hours before night the head of the
staff, and generals Canrobert and Mantinprey, proceeded
to the Primauguet and the Mouette to make a last re-
connaissance, and to point out to these two steamers
the exact position which the columns of our squadron
were to occupy. The night was exceedingly fine, and
f woured wonderfully the mission of these two steamers.

At half-past two a.m. the admiral sent up rockets
to intimate to Admiral Dundas that he was about

to move. This signal, agreed on beforehand, was
immediately followed by the order to move,
given to the whole squadron, and shortly after ships
of the line and frigates, united together by hawsers,
set out in the greatest order for the beach, where
the landing was to be effected, and leaving in the road-
stead of Eupatoria all the vessels of the convoy, which
were not to join us until later in the day.
" The Ville-de-Paris, towed by the Napoleon, took
the lead, followed by the other line-of-battle ships, and
attended by the Ajaccio, the Bertholler, and the Dau-
phin, ready to carry to every part of the line the orders
of the Admiral. The Primauguet, the Caton, and the
Moutte were ordered to go forward for the purpose of
laying down, at a short distance from the beach, buoys
of different colours destined to point out the position to
be taken up by each of the three columns as fixed by the
Primauguet the day before. The English squadron pro-
ceeded by sail to the bay of Kartcha, where. Admiral Dun-
das was to make a false attack, for the purpose of divert-
ing the attention of the enemy. By the side of our
squadron the English convoy was spread out preceded
by the Agamemnon and the Sanspareil, steam line-of-
battle ships.

" Wheil daylight broke these long files of vessels of
all sizes ploughing their way in silence offered a most
imposing spectacle ; officers, soldiers, and sailors had
their eyes turned towards the shore.
"At seven in the morning Admiral Hamelin gave
the sign d that the squadron would anchor according to
the plan agreed on, and at ten minutes past seven the
Ville-de-Paris dropped her anchor. The boats of all
sizes of the various vessels were at once lowered, and at
40 minutes past seven the division began to enter them
front all the vessels on which the troops belonging to
that division were on board.

" Although no movement was made on the land, and
although no forces of the enemy appeared on the beach,
the long-boats of the four three-deckers, fully armed,
and provided with congreve rockets, were sent forward
to the shore the moment the anchor touched the bot-
tom. Two of them took up a position at the northern
angle of the beach, and two others at the southern angle,
so that their fire should cross with that of the Descartes,
of the Primauguet, and of the Caton, to whom orders
were given to go in as close to land as they could, so as
to sweep with their shells the beach to the south, where
the enemy, it was thought, might appear. The posi-
tion of the vessels thus permitted them to completely
command any artillery of the enemy which might
attempt to oppose our operation. Our landing was
then assured, particularly as the men on the 100k-out
from the top of the masts gave no signal of an enemy
making his appearance.
"At 10 minutes after eight the order to commence the
landing was given, and the rafts led by the boats pros
ceeded towards the beach, each striving which should
be the first to reach it. The Ajaccio, the Dauphin. and
the IVlouette towed the boats and the rafts filled with
our soldiers. A gig from the -Ville-de-Paris conveyed
Rear-Admiral B net Willauinez and General Canrobert
to the shore. At half-past eight a French flag taken
from one of our boats floated on the shore of the Crimea,
and signal flags were soon placed to indicate the places
wheie the different divisions were to form. The detach-
ment of infantry from the Ville-de-Paris, and that of the
Congreve-rocket men and the marine artillery, took up
a position on the southern cliff under the command of
the captain of the Ville-de-Paris.
"At 20 minutes past 9 our troops landed en masse,
and all at the same time, and were formed almost as soon
as landed. The whole of the first division were soon on
the enemy's ground, and were almost immediately after-
wards provided with all their artillery, when the steam
corvettes Pluton and Infernal landed in rafts, and which
reached the shore almost as soon as the troops. The mo-
ment the rafts and lighters had landed the men, they were
again towed off by the small steamers to the ships, and
the 2d and 3d divisions, the artillery and engineers,
landed in rapid succession without interruption. The
landing was effected with prodigious celerity, and with
mathematical precision, agreeably to the prescriptions of
Order No. 336.
"Not a single accident happened to disturb or inter-
rupt an operation the great importance of which was
fully understood by our sailors. At 10 o'clock the Eng-
lish troops reached the shore, and then we had such a
considerable number of soldiers on the beach and on the
cliff that it was no longer supposed likely that the enemy
would attempt to disturb our movements. The admiral
commanding-in-chief then made a signal for the Caton to
anchor between the shore and the squadron, and all the
vessels which had been under sail also joined the fleet.
The Turkish line-of-battle ships, which had been at an-
chor since 11 o'clock, assisted in landing our soldiers,
and as so very few now remained on board the admiral or-
dered that the rafts should only he employed in landing
the horses and artillery. The chief of the staff has just an-
nounced that, with the exception of a very few men, sill
the three divisions have landed, as well as 18 pieces of
artillery and all their materiel. The marshal, on the
quarterdeck of the Ville-de-Paris, watched with marked
satisfaction the progress of the operations. He saw his
army increase, form, and put itself in movement, and he
then prepared to land, in order to place himself at its
head. The unloading of the steam-frigates continued
without interruption, and the remainder of the artillery,
the horses of the officers, and those of a squadron of
spahis, were soon landed.
'The breeze from the north which blew in the morn-
ing had been succeeded by a calm, and the English
squadron, after having for a moment directed its course
towards the Kartcha, has just anchored near its convoy.
The diversion projected on that side was made by five
French and three English steamers. They were seen
to approach the coast, and the report of their guns was
heard. At two o'clock the marshal, impatient to be on
shore, left the Ville-de-Paris. The sky began to
lower towards the south ; and our ships, having landed
all their troops, the admiral, fearing blowing weather,
ordered those nearest the shore to get a better offing.
The Caton and the Roland towed out the line-of-
battle ships in succession, and at four o'clock came
to an anchor themselves to the southward of the squad-
ron, to look out for fire ships. At night the wind
freshened from the westward, a surf began to rise on
the beach, and the landing of the artillery and the horses
became rather dangerous. An order was therefore
given to suspend the landing, but the squadron had
already conveyed on shore the three divisions of infantry
complete, provided with four days' provisions, their
baggage and horses, the companies of engineers and all
their tools, more than 50 pieces of artillery, with all
their materiel, the horses of the spahis, and those of
the marshal and his staff. If the 4th division were
nut also landed on the same day, it was because they
were on board the steamers which had been charged to
make a diversion in the Bay of Kartcha. These vessels
did not join the squadron until nightfall ; they had
made a feint of landing, and cannonaded the enemy, who
showed themselves on the cliffs. This division will be
landed to-morrow, as well as the Turkish infantry, and
the artillery and materiel, which still remains on board
the steam-frigates."