The larger ships outside the straits made for the coast of Circassia, and without a struggle destroyed the fortified places at Anapa and Soujouk-kale.
By the end of June all the work was done: the chief support of the Russian army was cut, and thus Sebastopol was invested more easily and with far less loss of life than could have been done by any amount of trenching.
* * * * *
The stage was now being rapidly cleared for the last and final act in this drama of war. Already Canrobert had driven the enemy from Tchorgoum, and utterly demolished their camp.
It is somewhat galling to learn from Todleben that the Flagstaff Bastion and other works in front of the town had several times been so reduced by our fire that had they been assaulted our success or that of the French would have been certain, and that Sebastopol must then have fallen.
Pelissier, and with him Raglan, persisted in his one and main object, and that was the capture of the Mamelon, the White Works, and the Quarries, and these fortifications must be carried by storm. The emperor himself stormed in another fashion. He stormed by telegraph. Pelissier tore the telegrams up and let them blow, while he coolly acted according to his own judgment and that of Lord Raglan.
On the sixth of June a cannonade of tremendous proportions was turned upon the Russian works, and carried on till darkness, doing terrible damage. It was resumed on the 7th. About six the same evening the French and Turks carried the Mamelon by storm; and after desperate fighting, which lasted, on and off, throughout the night, the British Light Division and Second Division captured and held the Quarries.
The enemy was thus once more driven back to the rear of his former lines.
How fierce the fighting had been may be judged from the fact that the French had lost 5,440 men, the British 693, and the Russians over 5,000.
* * * * *