| Show THE WAR STATE OF THE rhe SIEGE correspondence Correspond ence ince of ite its the rhe london times I 1 BEFORE beyore sevastopol i jan ran 28 sunday waft war celebrated by an n extremely heavy fire ot of musketry between the russians and the french covering bartles and i the volleys which rolled through the less massive reports of the continual rifle practiced practice et were as afi heavy as those we heard beard at the alma or kennann inkermann In andy andt and from the numbers of russian infantry thrown ht it ta the it a evident the enemy intend to dispute 11 the small space of ground round between the last french trench and the broken outworks out works of their late batteries with th the greatest vigor and obstinacy possibly indeed orders have been received instructing the commanding officer to resist any nearer approaches on the part of the french who have now burrowed up trenched ig lg paralleled and the whole of the country from the shore store below the quarantine fort to the rising ground close to the flagstaff Flag taff tass fort for two nailes in depth by ove five or six sia miles in n length I 1 these works the french have executed under very heavy fire and continued obstructions from the enemy shelling from gun mortar and cohorn cohort iq nightly sorties corties sor ties musketry direct attack attacks and the rire fire of outflanking irom the works As a general rules rule ruie they are not so solidly and finely finished as our own works nor are they BO so thick chck as the more carefully constructed portions of chapmans Chap mans and gordons Gor dons dona batteries but these works are of enormous extent and ahe the he very slight flight flig lit detects defects in their construction may be attributed to the loose way in which our allies construct their babions gab fons ions they are not BO strongly neatly or carefully made as our ga babions gab blons blone ions lons and wo w have badr bady had in fact to reconstruct a portion of trench and parapet made for ns us by the french in one of our attacks owing to that iery circumstance it must not be forgotten that the success ss of 0 our first attack was materially impeded by the failure of the french in maintaining their ore fire and that the failure itself arose from tte imperfect perfect construction of the magazines in rear of their batteries and by the weakness of their works these defects have be been en made moad road L by y our allies with rare energy and assiduity their parapets have been made t f great solidity and their officers now construct their magazines on the english principle A magarine magazine which the french built for us was struck by a shell the tha other day and the root roof wa was st it obee 0 nce des ds troyed fortunately it was not charged this tact fact shows that even now their workmanship Is somewhat slight silent at times in the construction or of magazine magazines but bt the new parapets and earthworks earthworms earth works of their advanced attack seem of extreme solidity and excellence it Is stated that the new french batteries will open cre fre with guns gims which will be pe more than twice as man many 7 as they had bad on the of october the guns of russian batteries bat lat teries lisda the flagstaff fort port are not plainly discernible but the french have counted on two or three occa fonsy when the enemy opened opener a general fire tire about douches bouches a feu including the newly erected batteries by ahe the quarantine fort the storm of musket musketry y never cearo cease last night upon upon these advanced work works and the constan constant flashes of the heavy guns lighted up tip the sky eky till daylight the french replied by small arm arms and scarcely re returned turner a connon cordom hot bot many of thell theli their guns are as yet masked but nearly all of them are in posIt position lon lov and each gun will xe tie provided with rounds of ammunition the russians have discovered some of the guns and their fire tire has his been particularly directed spoil upon those pieces lut but they have done little damage it cannot be expected that such an affair as last nights i can ican take place without considerable loss lors on both sides after daybreak I 1 he fire tire recommenced with great fury and at t about 8 a regular battle was raging in the trenches between the french and russians there could not have been iem less than men olf or each alde aide firing as hard as they could load and anil pull pall trigger triggers and the lines of the works were marked by thick curling banks of if smoke the fare fire slackened on both sides about 9 amilta simultaneously bously it Is said the russians lined the crenellate trenel crenel 4 wai wal walls and were enabled to rire fire down into the trench trenches ex it Is strange enough that this said wall should have stood dood so long and so well the last time I 1 saw it iland and that was very recently I 1 could not see any sign of a breach in its it though it Is nearly opposite the french center attack we further hear that the tha french fench drove the russ RusE russians lans lant back and effected a lodgment inside the their r first parallel at a point where it Is part partially lilly covered by the angle 04 0 the ruins of the flagstaff battery but I 1 very much doubt the correctness of that statement every night after unusually heavy firing some such report Is sure to circulate through the camp and now not a night passes without severe skirmishing or rather sharp shooting behind the parapets and in the broken brokon ground between the lines the works are indeed almost into the town and dominate its suburbs hut but the tha ruined houses of these suburb a vire are ormed into defenses for riflemen and the town Is almost one formidable bat battery hattery teri from the glacis piscia up to io the ridge over the sea on which the south side cf of the town Is situated our own batteries are in very good order ordery and are ready for the reception of the pieces s of artillery which can be put into them in three nights to morrow night our troops begin to arm one ablack attack tonight to night the working part 19 1 s will begin to place the guns in position in the other attack and we have a fine battery ready to open on the which la Is anchored toward the head of the creek near ink Tuk In kennann inkermann ermann and which has caused us so much rinch annoyance annoy anae ly by ber her shells shell the russians on their gides sides side have mad myde made e the heights over Inker In kennann roann bristle with batteries some of which will probably take our more advanced works in I 1 r vr v rs s or will at least enfilade them if we do not stop 1 their fare fire they must have large command of horse pow T to enible them to draw up their heavy guns and 14 inch mortars into such difficult positions the french have relieved all our pickets in front of our right tight attack attacks and our extreme right picket Is now situated in what Is called caned the middle picket ravine this Is a grat relief to ou our oun exhausted exhausted force in return for this service which might have bunea un maled led to us A eforo our OOT commissariat rations a large larga body boey of the aren french army it 11 all gm veli veil 11 the alna alua will be bie ble able hie to reopen alre fire with about guns ank ani nd mortar mortars each with ammunition tor for 43 48 hours sharp firing it Is to be feared there will be great dI difficulty in sub rob duing the fire of malakhoff Malak hof and ot of the inkermann batter ies leg but bet the effort must be made and if it fails falls there only remains what we had bad in much greater elli eitl efficiency clency and force last november the bayonet bay onetto to do the work it Is reported that sir john burgoyne recommended the ne ule of this simple weapon long ago and that thab after the gradual slackening of our tirey firey fare aare he be stated that every day we abstained from its use me would give increased strength to the enemy and would cost us many additional lives Ilo yio however werver weLver that may ties be one week more will test the value of cfall all ail our labors and enable us to form an estimate of the tle strength of the russian position they have been amusing themselves lately with shelling the french in the can Cau canrobert robert from a nive five gun battery of 0 great strength across the aya on the brow of the inkermann bight they have scarped the little road cp up the ravine round by the ruins to the tiie north bida side and have thrown up formidable to resist any attempt to get round the north side by inkermann the paris publishes letters dated before pai pal january Janu arys from rom which we extract the following N Y tribune f the russians have modified modi nned fled their system of attack their corties sorties sor ties which were from the beginning and until list month executed in a slovenly lo venly and irresolute manner are now admirably conducted in the attack on the they displayed great intrepidity the snow appears to 0 have excited their warlike ardor and recollections perhaps it Is solely owing ewing wing to the change of their corb ocra A mander manders sp which according to tbt th deserters la Is very frequent toward 11 on the night sight of the our advanced pickets gave notice of the approach of the enemy there thero were then in the trenches two companies of the regiment of infantry and two others of the under the orders at 0 commander I 1 oar our works are BO so near the russians en on that point that they came down upon us nearly as soon goon as the news of their approach with extraordinary bold boldness nesby nessy their officers officer marching at their head bead we coolly awaited them and when sufficiently close we e charged them with the bayonet A dreadful meva metee ensued but the Russ russians lansy unable enable to resist when attacked with a bayonet were speedily driven back notwithstanding the strenuous exertions they made to maintain themselves ves res on our line and penetrate into the battery the melee continued during their retreat which does honor to their officers three of whom were killed at the first rank rau rou yon ton will remark probably that th tha account pretty nearly resembles what I 1 already wrote to you respecting the corties sorties of the russians they are no longer the me men n we bad to contend with at the he beginning of the al leres bece and I 1 can absure you that we haye hive now opposed to us adver sarle rarie s not to be despised moreover our losses indicate the fierceness of the affair we had bad two captains aad and several men killed and fieten woun led ltd among hom whom were commander and two iwo other officers the commander la Is still I 1 living iving which Is truly miraculous for the upper part of his bis lung lungs hag hat bren been perforated by a bayonet the russians left 30 20 killed in our trenches Theas rhe the assailants sall rali formed a strong column columns and were supported by a corps of reserve a 0 a novel description that corps composed if jot men specially chosen for their agility and dexterity was only armed with slight but solid ropes at the extremity ot of vich was a running noose on arri int within reach of 0 the batteries and during the engagement thy threw on our oli olli ol i i H eriov lassord a which they handled with much kill skill trey tl ey d rilia id not ei cien eien en spare our wounded we have been beld this new weapon was used need in caucus ses this may be the case but bat as we are not the half savage populations of could coald not help heip branding that barbarous proceeding as unworthy of a european army publish the fact in your journal it will be a reply to the fine sentiment renti ment expressed by the emperor nicholas which we read today to day in the papera everything in that sortie wai strange indeed it was evidently organized zed sed by a man of creat great skill and boldness those whets ws ets eos the secnilar pec nilar arms borne by the long straight swords sward 5 with boinard hilts blits the nails and hammers for spiking the guris found in the ther aber IT pockets all showed that the attack was planned and conducted by ty men who were determined to die or succeed in the at one of the acers in his despair at not dot being heing able to climb on the ran his long longa sword word through the babions tu wound the soldiers placed bhend them thern one ol 01 t 11 ip latter broke the sword la in two with his bl spades and then leaping over the par pett attacked the officer nho mho ho had only his bis broken sword to defend himself and killed him no doubt exists as to the worth and rank of the brave chief chiet who commanded the coup da de main the next morning a tag flar lag of truce presented himself with a letter irom from gen osten to general forey in which he expressed his hla deepest regret for the death of that leat at most officer and requested the commander of the besieging dorpe to give up ibis tl body to him gin forey immediately acquiesced la in his daire dalre and by the same opportunity delivered to the rus Rue glans gians the tha bodies of twenty eix six of thein their comrades who had hid nt not yit been interred thib ibis delivery took toa tok within the of the quarantine in the presence of in a oscr of an emen eccentric character cl fracter ar acter acler who ho spoke french very fiak and said to ausy us is a shocking work we are engaged int lot what hinders you from taking the town all this cannot amase anase you von for our part we are heartily tired of lwy it what did he be mean by putting to ua n such quest quert ione lonE I 1 cannot tell I 1 merely repeat his the artillery of the place has modified its gring firing and has 0 of f late adopted the strange estera of letting off several mortars at a time this an extraordinary commotion in the tha air the plan Is not cot a bad one for it Is to easier to vold one bomb than thin ten since the return of the fine weather the sanitary condition of the army bas baa sensibly sens Bens bly improved the arrival of an immense supply of winter clo cio clothing and leather and wooden shoes will hereafter protect our soldiers froin from cold and damp one would suppose that we had turks to command all our men wear the red fez which has been bun given to them in lien of nightcaps they have bare besides received wooden shoes with excellent 1 t socks and ind woolen cloree these chese particulars will afford you an idea of the minute care taken of our soldiers A large lange argo of charcoal has just been landed at kam earn lesch leach for distribution among the divisions some vessel laden with firewood have also arrived there the government ern ment you seey sees see does not let us want for anything since the night of the we have not heard of noi nov asen sen the russians they have only retained posts of ob in the valley ot at the chernay since their lasi iasi unsuccessful attempt to penetrate by inkermann kennann In into Sebasto poly they can only communicate with the anny anni outside along the roadstead nevertheless eressy elessy from our positions we can see them regularly attending to their asna occupations they establish works of de defence fences carry carra ga babions gab blons ions and like us often blow on their fingers to warn am them on the of january the first day of the hesslar yeary year I 1 was standing in our new batter battery rj the one wi wc received from the en english and which Is to batter till thi tower of malakoff Ua lakoff whence I 1 had bad a full view between the thi flagstaff fort and the city ct of the be fine promenade or 01 which the theatre stands with my long glass class I 1 perfectly beheld five or rix six femal femali figures dressed nearly alikes alike enjoying a morning walk walks everybody was anxious to bave have a peep at them for it ii now eight months since such a right bight relieved our eyes two of them appeared handsome we |
