2-913-955 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Battle of the Alma - sketched from the Mizen-Top of H.M.S. "Retribution", by Lieutenant Montagu O'Reilly, 1854. Crimean War, scene on 20 September from a British warship. 'The Russian report of the battle...is much more truthful than the ordinary bulletins from St. Petersburg, [and] confesses that the appearance of the French in that unexpected quarter was rather a damaging affair...[The] dense mass of troops marching southward along the shore road to Sebastopol [consists of] French Infantry and Horse Artillery...[The] Sketch represents the march of the English army soon after the commencement of the attack. The English centre may be seen not far behind the French...The smoke a little to the left of the centre marks the village of Burliuk, and vineyards near it, where a party of Russian rifles had taken up a...position, from which they were speedily driven by our troops'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.