[24] A private named O'Brien led them, or at least was the first to leap out of the trench, and was shot through the back as he was crossing the ditch by a Russian above him.
[25] Very unfavourable comments have been made upon Major-General (then Colonel and acting Brigadier) Windham's conduct in leaving the Redan at such a moment, and some French officers did not hesitate to speak of his "desertion" of his men, as they called it, in the severest terms. I have therefore thought it advisable to give the lengthened statement, which was furnished to me on the best authority the very day after the assault, of the motives which led General Windham to quit the Redan, and of the circumstances which preceded and followed that proceeding. I offer no opinion on the merits of the controversy. I merely state what were presented to me—I believe correctly—as facts by one who ought to have been conversant with them.—W. H. Russell.
[26] Sir W. Codrington, who acted with great gallantry at the Alma, and who proved himself a most careful and excellent Brigadier and a zealous General of Division, denied at the time, in a letter which came under my notice, that he was at all discomposed by the untoward events of the 8th of September. But a man, under such circumstances, is not the best judge of his own acts; and though I have the highest admiration for General Codrington's bravery, honesty, simplicity of mind, and character, and soldierly qualities, I think it right to retain the statement which I made on the faith of officers who had opportunities of observing him on that day, when he was indeed charged with enormous responsibility, and subjected to the severest test by which a general can be tried.
[27] Joined the squadron at Odessa.
[28] "Je suis radicalement opposé."
[29] "Do not attack Odessa unless you are certain of succeeding."
[30] The ascent of the Bug or the Dnieper is only to be attempted by vessels with shot-proof screens and proof decks, inasmuch as every man could be picked off the decks by Minié riflemen, unless the banks of the river were cleared by troops in numbers sufficient to beat back the enemy as they advanced. In spite of our operations in the Sea of Azoff, let it be remembered that we did not reduce Arabat or Genitchi, and that the Russians had free use of the Spit. The water of the sea is frozen in winter to the distance of several miles, so that no boat can approach to prevent the passage of troops or convoys. Had Arabat fallen, and an expedition landed at Kaffa or Theodosia, we should have been masters of the Peninsula of Kertch.
The want of wisdom and foresight of most of our military operations in burning, laying waste, and blowing up, was never better exemplified than at Kertch. There was a very fine barrack near the quarantine station, on the Bay of Kertch, recently built, provided with every comfort, and well supplied with water from a deep well, and with capacious tanks. In the ordinary exercise of reason these buildings should have been preserved, inasmuch as it had been determined to keep a British force at Kertch; but, before Sir George Brown left, they were burnt and reduced to a heap of blackened ruins. During the following winter, with infinite labour and trouble, and at prodigious expense, we were obliged to send the materials for huts to Kertch, and drag them up close to the site of the barracks, where they formed a very poor protection against the weather in comparison with the substantial buildings which we destroyed. As the tanks were ruined and the well spoiled, the men were compelled to drag water a distance of three miles to their new residence.
[31] I do not allude to the advice given by Sir de Lacy Evans, who was so strongly impressed with the falseness and insecurity of our position in a military sense, that he recommended Lord Raglan to retire from it, as much as to the opinions of those generals who maintained that we had no business in the Crimea at all.
[32] Notwithstanding a reckless assertion in Major Calthorpe's letters, I have the best authority for reiterating the statement that Lord Lyons looked with disfavour on the flank march.