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.
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