As night fell, Lucien bid farewell to Marshal Raglan and his party, and returned to his temporary camp, and although he was glad that the friendly reinforcements had arrived in time, he was still a little uneasy. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

He inspected the forward positions with Field Marshal Raglan, and during this time the British troops occupying the Balaclava area did make a great effort to defend the area and support the French forces that had surrounded the fortress of Sevastopol.

However, due to the rush of time and the difficulty of transporting supplies, these fortifications are not very strong, and it can only be said that simple is better than nothing.

And Marshal Raglan's way of dealing was to put the Turkish troops that had landed at the forefront of the British front, so that they could defend the multi-sided fortresses on the front line, and his wishful thinking was to use these foreign troops to consume the strength and offensive spirit of the Russian army, even if the front line could not withstand it, it could reduce the defensive pressure of the British army.

Although he could understand Marshal Raglan's intentions, Lucien was a little worried, because he had a lot of experience in the army, so he did not agree with the practice of blindly using cannon fodder troops to consume the enemy on the front line, not entirely because of a benevolent conscience, but because of very practical military considerations - the cannon fodder troops must be demoralized and outdated, and they could not have any determination to fight the enemy to the death, so their defense capability was very poor, and even if they relied on good fortifications, it was difficult to play the desired role. You can't stop the enemy for long.

If it is just a trivial matter to not be able to stop the enemy army, what is even more terrible is that after these cannon fodder troops are defeated by the enemy, it is difficult to retreat in an orderly manner, and I am afraid that there will be a panicked rout, and the scattered army has no combat effectiveness and order at all, and has become a group of blind headless flies, which not only cannot bring difficulties to the enemy, but will hinder the stability of their own army front.

Throughout the ages, I don't know how many famous generals had to hate the battlefield because they broke the line of their own army, and there are many examples of war, so Lucien is naturally worried, for fear that these Turks will repeat such examples.

However, Marshal Raglan was full of confidence, believing that there would be no problem with his deployment, so he had to give up after admonishing him once, after all, he had no way to dispute military matters with a marshal, and could only obey orders.

However, although the marshal gave him orders only to prepare his army and prepare for reinforcements after the battle began, and it did not seem to be urgent, he still kept an eye on it, and concentrated his troops in a state of ready action.

At the same time, he gathered his men together and explained to them what Marshal Raglan was doing, and what he was thinking.

"Field Marshal Raglan thinks that in such a situation it is possible to rely on the strength of the British army, but I am somewhat concerned that the Russians are more determined than before, and that our defensive line is in question, and it is difficult to be completely sure. I am not in a position to argue with a marshal, but I think it is incumbent upon us to be more prepared for victory, for the victory of the British is our victory, and we cannot afford to risk their defeat. ”

Perhaps because of the same face-to-face contact with the Turkish army, his subordinates quickly came to a consensus with him, and they were very unoptimistic about the role of the Turkish army in the possible future battle.

"And what are we going to do, sir?" One of his battalion commanders, Major Yeri, asked worriedly, "We can't watch the wrecked ship sink in, can we?" ”

"There is no need to say so seriously, Marshal Raglan is so confident, and naturally he has a point, the excellent quality and bravery of the British army are admirable, and even if the Turks do not use it, they should be able to turn the tide with all their might, so we don't have to worry too much." Lucien calmly replied, "What we have to do now is to be as prepared as possible, to increase the speed of reinforcements at the front, and at the same time to urge Marshal Tréville to lead the main forces over to support as soon as possible...... As long as our French troops rush over and join the British, it should not be a problem to block this attack. ”

"Well, we'll all listen to you!" In front of Lucien, the officers all saluted, and then walked out of Lucien's battalion commander and hurried towards the camps of the various units he led, and they would all be no longer asleep to-night, and their eyes wide open for the war that might soon take place.

That night, Lucien did not sleep, he paced in his tent with some restlessness, and only felt uncomfortable, this battle-hardened warrior, who had developed an instinct in his many years of military service, could almost smell the breath of war when it was about to begin.

Feeling the damp and slightly gunpowder air around him, Lucien simply stepped out of his tent and looked at the starry sky in the open space outside.

Because it was a sunny day, the starry sky at this time was full of stars, and the starry sky was upside down on the earth, which also brought sparse starlight to the earth, Lucien walked up a small hill, and then looked in the direction of the Russian army in the distance with the help of starlight, but unfortunately because the distance was too far away, he couldn't see anything clearly, and could only see vague rows of temporary camps, like giant beasts in the shadows.

He could not see the deployment and movement of the Russian troops, but he could feel that the camp with the bonfire on the opposite side was being prepared in an orderly manner, and the attack was likely to happen immediately.

Soon, when it was dawn, there was a cold glimmer in the sky, the gloomy night sky in the east had turned a little white, and the images of forests, valleys, and hills had been sketched out on the earth, as on any previous sunny day.

However, the moment the first rays of sunlight tore through the night sky and spilled onto the earth, the earth trembled slightly, and then there was an earthquake-like roar.

"Boom!"

With a violent roar, shells slammed down on the hills opposite the Russian position, shaking them slightly. These hills were the location of the many faceted forts that were at the forefront of the British army's construction. It is clear that this is the preparation of artillery fire in the early stage of the offensive launched by the Russian army.

Sure enough, as Marshal Raglan had predicted, the Russians were not even willing to rest for an extra day in order to gain time with the French army, and launched an attack in the early morning of the second day after they arrived here.

The artillery attack came to the sky with fire and shrapnel, and the multi-faceted fortress that had been seemingly strong became precarious in this artillery fire, and many wounds appeared, even if you only look at it with the naked eye, you can see that the defenders here have been dealt a strong blow.

And in the roar of artillery fire, the defenders who had already been prepared also woke up at the first time.

During the first baptism of fire, Marshal Raglan, who was resting in the tent, immediately woke up, but he was still slightly dizzy because of his advanced age. He quickly shook his head and regained his senses, and then several of his lieutenants rushed to the tent as well.

"Give me my scepter!" Marshal Raglan said to them calmly.

Knowing that the Russians would attack soon, the marshal simply did not take off his uniform when he fell asleep yesterday, and was now able to get into work quickly. After hastily washing his face, he directly picked up his marshal's staff and walked out of the tent.

In order to facilitate his command, Field Marshal Raglan set up his camp on a hill close to the front line, on this small hill, the view was very good, and he could observe the movement on both sides, and Marshal Raglan was very confident in his deployment.

In the midst of the bombardment, the marshal calmly picked up the telescope and looked at the opposite side.

With the help of the still very cold light, he found that a group of Russian soldiers with guns were roaring wildly and rushing towards the forward positions of the British army in a scattered formation, and they rubbed one after another, and rushed quickly up the hills of the front in a dense formation, towards the British army's construction

Behind them, it was the rising sun, and the golden light emitted by the morning sun seemed to smear a layer of gold dust on their military uniforms, coupled with their resolute expressions and determined steps, it was like a spectacular picture.

"Heh, they're so anxious!" The marshal, still very calm, laughed instead.

Perhaps in order to open the gates of the march as quickly as possible, or perhaps because the day's preparation time was a bit rushed, the Russian artillery bombardment quickly ended, and the soldiers launched an assault, which was expected.

A large number of Russian soldiers, accompanied by the trumpets of the charge and the neat shouts, rushed up several hills all over the mountains.

Soon, they rushed to the multi-faceted bastion, which had been severely weakened by artillery fire. The remaining defenders in the fortress immediately launched a counterattack, and their artillery fire also began to fire condescendingly at the attacking troops, and the dense bullets that came in front of them soon caused huge losses to the Russian soldiers in the dense formation, and many fell to the ground.

But the Russian army didn't care about such casualties at all, and the non-commissioned officers and officers on the front line commanded the soldiers to continue to rush forward with all their might, and these Russian soldiers also rushed forward frantically.

Unable to bear the consequences of the fall of Sevastopol, and even more unwilling to suffer the humiliation of being recklessly acted upon by the British and French on their doorstep, the Russians were determined to lift the siege of the fortress and defeat these hateful foreign armies, whatever the cost.

Field Marshal Raglan and the people around him watched silently in the distance, and these Russian troops showed more courage than ever before, and this must have put great pressure on the front.

"The front seems to be a ......little tight," said one of the adjutants, with some apprehension, to the marshal, suggesting that he adjust his disposition.

"Now the Turks must resist to the end." Marshal Raglan replied, "We are here to defend Turkey, but the Turks must do everything to defend their homeland!" Besides, how are we going to move now? ”

The adjutant understood what he meant, the marshal did not think that there was a need to change the deployment, now that the war had broken out, although the offensive strength of the Russian army exceeded expectations, but now it was too late to change the deployment, and it was just a sudden mess.

The group's gaze became a little nervous, and they concentrated their full attention on the movement on the front line, praying that everything would be as they thought.

However, they were disappointed, and in the fierce firefight, the Russian army launched a series of attacks on the multi-sided forts with a frenzied spirit, regardless of casualties, and short and fierce hand-to-hand combat soon descended on these forts, and then fell into the hands of the Russian army one by one.

The Turkish troops, who had suffered heavy losses in the initial shelling, were now dealt a new blow, and they were soon beaten a little dazed, and gradually some of the defenders began to retreat, and then the retreat turned into a rapid run.

……

"Bastard thing! These damned Turks! They can't stand it for an hour, these bastards! Seeing these Turkish troops retreating in a panic, Marshal Raglan couldn't help but widen his eyes and cursed fiercely, "I already knew that I shouldn't trust them!" ”

The furious marshal had a great temper, and none of the adjutants and heralds around him dared to dissuade the marshal, and still less dared to defend these Turkish troops, which were so easily routed because the marshal had placed them at the forefront of their isolation.

What's more, there are also problems with the construction of fortifications of the British army, and the various multi-sided forts are isolated and cannot form a fire barrage covering each other, and the Russian army can easily break them individually.

In any case, these reasons pale in the face of retreat, not to mention the fact that no one wants to justify the Turks, whom they have always looked down on.

And so it was.

Seeing what was happening at the front, Lucien whispered in his heart.

This did not come as a surprise to him, for yesterday when he and Marshal Raglan were investigating the situation, they were already worried about the rapid breakthrough of the forward position.

The Turkish army was overwhelmed and now had to rely on the British and French armies to resist the Russian offensive, and they were stronger and braver than expected.

"Gentlemen, the situation is worse than expected, we must persevere, hold on until the last moment!" He shouted to the officers he had summoned, "As long as we hold on, Marshal Trevier will save us all!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

After breaking through the initial forts, the Russians did not stop their footsteps, and soon continued to advance along the valley between the hills towards the depth of the British positions. At this time, because the terrain was flatter and more open, their forces were easier to deploy, and they could even put in a large number of cavalry.

By this time it was already full of light, and a large number of cavalry rode forward and attacked the British positions along the valley road between the hills they had just contributed, while the Russian soldiers, exhausted from the battle, cheered loudly and prayed for their victory.

A large number of Russian cavalry swept away in a fearless manner, these cavalry were densely formed, like a wall advancing rapidly, the rumble of horses' hooves echoed in all directions in the valley road, and then became earth-shattering, and the sabers in the hands of these cavalrymen were also waved in the air, shining with a terrible cold light.

If you are a soldier who has not been trained, I am afraid that you will be too scared to move when you see this scene.

Soon, they rushed to the position of General Colin Campbell.

These British troops did not expect that the front would be broken through so quickly, so they were all a little panicked for a while, and the follow-up troops had not yet arrived, that is, they had to face these enemy cavalry alone.

The Russian cavalry swept in a large area, which made everyone feel unspeakable pressure.

However, the British army did not choose to retreat.

Because they knew that if they retreated like the Turkish army, the rear front would definitely be more chaotic, and the Russian army would have succeeded in its purpose. Therefore, they decided that they had to stay, even if they were alone, and they must withstand the offensive of the Russian army.

For the sake of victory, and for the sake of Britain.