3-021-702 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Volunteer Review at Portsmouth: the sortie from Hilsea Lines, 1868. Illustration of '...the mimic battle, which was one of the most interesting affairs of its kind...From each division, as it advanced to form a junction, strong pickets were thrown out, advancing and feeling their way until they occupied the line of the railway - those from the first division in advance of Wymering and Paulsgrove, and those from the second division passing through Cosham. Before the pickets had taken up their allotted positions, the junction between the two advancing divisions of the enemy was effected, and the whole force wheeled into line of columns, at deploying distance, along the face of the hill. The full force of the enemy was now displayed; and, as the strength of the defenders justified their assuming the offensive, the initiative was taken by dispatching two battalions, one from each division, across the iron bridge to drive in the enemy's pickets'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.