The politicians, true to form, held conflicting views. Louis Napoleon wanted an early military operation to cut the North Bank forces from their supply lines - after forcing them to evacuate their positions the allies should patch up Sevastopol and reopen it as a port occupied by the allied navies and a token army garrison. The bulk of the armies could then be redeployed for an offensive elsewhere. He was not specific as to the point of attack other than it should be aimed deep into mainland Russia, say along the line of the Dnieper.
For their part, the British were all for offensive action, seeing it more as a logical extension of their current positions, but they were at loggerheads with Louis on the principle of reopening Sevastopol. Sonner or later, their argument went, the allies would need to hand Sevastopol back to the Russians. All the treaty promises in the world could not prevent the Russians from using it again as a base for aggressive naval action in the Black Sea and very likely southward beyond it. The fleet had been destroyed but the port needed similar treatment if the declared aim of eliminating Russian naval power in the region was to be achieved.
If Pelissier had thought that by taking South Sevastopol he would get the Emperor off his back, he was sadly mistaken. French War Minister Vaillant was soon on the telegraph. "The Emperor wants to know what you intend to do. He hopes that you won't batter your head against the fortified position on the Mackenzie Heights, but that you will operate as an accomplished general." The Emperor wrote personally to Pelissier, suggesting that he should go for Simferopol quickly to take it before the winter set in. If he waited till the new year, Louis argued, the Russians would have been reinforced and the opportunity lost.
As always, Pelissier was not going to act on wishes from above if they went contrary to his instinct. "I have been using my troops to seek out a way to advance on my right." he telegraphed to the Emperor; " The Russians are holding their positions on the rocky heights, which run from Inkerman to the other side of Simferopol. They have plugged the gaps with artillery and made this line more difficult to assault than Sevastopol ever was. If we commit ourselves there to bloody battles, to no avail, we could well throw away the strong position we have achieved. However, I will attack if you so order."
