The Sun. — 1855-07-24 (London, England)

ACCOUNT OF, THE ASSAULT OF SEBASTOPOL, REPULSED BY THE RUSSIAN TROOPS, JUNE 18. After the third bombardment, which was prolonged in a terrible mariner for five entire days, from June 6 to June 11, the line of the defences of Sebastopol had been completely restrwed to its primitive strength in a very short time. The valorous defenders of the place, strangers alike to fatigue and fear, had repaired their half-destroyed works under a terrible fire, and with the greatest sang froid raised new batteries against the enemy's approaches. ' On the 17th of June, at 3 o'clock in the morning, at a signal'given, the enemy opened a violent fire from all his batteries against the bastions of the Karabelnaia suburb. For two hours his artillery acted by salvos almost continuous. Our batteries replied to them with a rapid fire. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon the besiegers commenced a violent cannonade 'against our right lice of defence ; the fire became general, and continued so until a late  hour of the evening. As soon as it was dark, and for the remainder of the night, the enemy bombarded the place most furiously, causing bombs and shell to rain down, sn to speak, upon the town, the roadstead, and the northern side. One of the enemy's frigates fired broadsides against our coast batteries, the roads, a'hd the town.  Notwithstanding the vertical and sweeping fire which beat upon our works, the repair of these last and the replacement of the dismounted guns was kept up with activity. I should particularly mention the infantry regiment of Sevsk, which, on the•night of the 17th, performed service of this kind in the Korniloff bastion with extraordinary activity under a murderous fire. The extreme severity of the bombardment and the unusual movement of columns on the right flank of the besiegers led to the conclusion that the enemy meditated decisive operations against the fortifications of the Karabelnaia. suburb. Conformably to orders given beforehand to the garrison by Count Osten•Sacken, the troops were in readiness to repel an assault. On the 18th, at  dawn, the enemy advancing, sustained by strong supporting columns, and by large masses of reserves, placed at a distance, attacked simultaneously the left half of our line of defence from Bastion No. 1 as far as to Pe ressype. On the right flank, and in the centre of the attack, were the French ;on the 1.-ft flank the English. The  ravine of the docks served as a line of demarcation between. the French and Engli%h troops. _ _ _  From the depositions made by officers who have been :aken prisoners,* it appears that the iiiittirctions given ;o the attacking forcA were to make themselves masters  of the whole eastern part of Sebastopol, as far as the southern bay.. The French were to take possession of the bastions Korniloff, and those marked 1 and 2 ; the  English were t 3 make themselves masters of that  marked 3.  The following was the order of the attack :—Five French divisions—the 2d, sth, Bth, 9th, and that of the Guard, amounting to about 30,000 men. In addition to this were five English divisions—the Ist, 2d, 3d, 4th, and the Light Division, from 15,000 to 20,000 men. The French troops were divided into two great divisions. The first, or the right, under the command of General Mayran, was directed against bastions Nos. 1 and 2. The other, under the command of General Brunet, was 'directed against the Malakhoff Mamelon. To the third, or left, consisting of the English, under Lord Raglan, was entrusted the mission of taking the bastion No. 3. The first line of the French columns was composed of a dense ma=s of riflemen, supported by continual reinforcements in the rear. The first line of the English was composed of volunteers, taken at the rate of 30 from each regiment, and amounted in the whole to 1,500. The second line was composed of three reeiments of each division ; in all 15 regiments, about 10,500 men. The rest of the English and Scotch regiments formed the general reserve. The events of the day took place in the following order.:—