2-913-886 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Battle of the Alma, 1854. Scene from the Crimean War. 'View of this important action, from a Sketch by Lieut. E. C. Gordon, R.E...the point on the left is the retrenched camp of the Russians...the British troops are advancing, as are the French troops. On the left of the picture is the large village; and, in the centre, the burnt village at the mouth of the Alma...When the Russians were driven from their first position on the heights, they fell back on a second. They were driven from that, and tried to take up a third position; but in this they failed. They say the Imperial Guard had fine kits: many of our fellows got a good clean shirt from them. One drummer took two Russian prisoners: he caught them sneaking off under a hedge, ran up, took a dead man's musket as he passed, and made these fellows 'change direction for the rear'- making them 'move on' with a bayonet'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.