They
descended the ridge at the trot, unlimbered in front of the sixth
parallel, and, coming into action, fired with great effect on the
Russian infantry, which offered a broad target. Yet the batteries
suffered terribly; the commanding officer (Souty) was killed, and out of
the one hundred fifty men he brought down, only fifty-five returned when
the guns were dragged back by hand because they lost all their horses
except nineteen.
Bosquet, surrounded by several Russian officers, who were prisoners, and
their guards, was interrogating the captives when a shell burst over
them, killing or wounding both them and the guard--the General only
escaping. Later, when leaning on the parapet watching the progress of
the fight, he was struck in the face by a fragment of a shell. He had
just strength to send word to General Dulac to take his place, when he
fainted.
The struggle in and around the Malakoff was continued till three
o'clock, when Gortschakoff withdrew his troops from the work which they
had defended with such marvellous endurance for eleven months.
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