What Next?- Reprise
Springtime 1855 in the Crimea was of course not all beer and skittles. The same servicemen who were playing hard when they got the chance were also fully employed several days a week manning the trenches or the guns, risking their lives on the front line.
Activity during the worst of the winter had mainly been limited to the area in front of the Flagstaff Battery, where the French had got their parallel trenches closest to the fortifications and the Russians made repeated strenuous efforts by night to dislodge them.
In mid-February, when spies had reported that Gen Liprandi had departed with the greater part of his Corps for Eupatoria, an ambitious plan was hatched to make a dawn attack on the remainder and drive them away from the Tchernaya. Campbell's Highland Brigade and Rifles, around 2000 strong, would attack via Kamara and Canrobert Hill. 4000 French infantry under General Vinoy encamped at Kadikoi would advance northward and cut the Russians off at the Traktir Bridge. All preparations were made until about an hour before start time when winter decided on one last fling. The wind suddenly got up, the temperature plummeted and thick snow fell, whipped into a blizzard. Canrobert took the decision to call the operation off and sent a British Liaison Officer to inform Campbell. The officer got hopelessly lost and finished up half frozen at Raglan's headquarters - Raglan sent Campbell one of his ADCs, whose route took him through Vinoy's Headquarters in Kadikoi. 'In case Campbell has already started,' said Vinoy, 'tell him I'm disobeying Canrobert and bringing my regiments forward to support him.'
Scorning the appalling conditions Campbell had indeed set out and the ADC caught him up near Tchourgoum. But in spite of the weather the Russian pickets had not been surprised, and the whole force remaining in camp had withdrawn from their tents in good order up to the heights. Campbell waited around for the French, but around 3am decided to withdraw before they all froze to death. He met Vinoy and his brigade on the way back - the two generals briefly considered returning to have a go at the Russians, but finally decided against it. Three Russian prisoners and multiple British and French cases of frostbite were the net result of the whole venture - not quite true; Campbell and Vinoy enjoyed a lifelong friendship thereafter.
A few days later, in calmer weather, a botched operation caused the Zouaves to take an unaccustomed battering. From Sevastopol, Todleben had observed the changes in the allied line taking place - remember that the British area of responsibility had been significantly curtailed - that sector of the line was now shortly going to look like this. He correctly assumed that with Bosquet now entrenched in front of the Malakoff, and two new batteries sited to cross their fire on the Mamelon directly in front of it, that the Malakoff was now going to be a prime allied assault target. He perceived a real threat to the bastion if the Allies sited artillery on Mount Inkerman. At best it would be outflanked, at worst allied guns could fire from behind it. Todleben knew that if he realised this Bosquet could too, and he moved quickly to head off the danger. If he constructed new redoubts on the North West face of Mount Inkerman in advance of his current defensive line, he would not only block that approach, but would also effectively cover defensive works improvements on the Mamelon to further secure the Malakoff.
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