Unfortunately for the result. General Pelissier was so completely deceived by the Eussian expedient " of economising their batteries and fire," that he fully believed that the fire was entirely subdued, and late on the evening of the 17th, he intimated to Lord Eaglan his determination that the troops under his command should commence the attack at three o'clock on the following morning. In this change of plan Lord Eaglan most reluctantly concurred, and the disastrous events of the day only too sadly justified his scruples and vindicated his military sagacity.
THE EAST.
It was intended that the French should first carry the Malakoff Tower, the Eedan of Careening Bay, and the intrenchments covering the right of the Karabehiaia, and that as soon as they were estabHshed in the Malakoif, but not sooner, as the Eedan was commanded by its guns, the Enghsh should advance to storm that work. Three French divisions composed the attacking force on their part, supported by a division of the Imperial Guard, who were held in reserve behind the Victoria Eedoubt. Mayran's division had the right attack, and was to carry the intrenchments which extend from the battery of the point to the Eedan of Careening Bay. Brunet's division was to turn the Malakoff on the right, while D'Autemarre's manoeuvred against it on the left.
General Pelissier himself was to give the signal for the general advance, which was meant to be simultaneous on all these points, by means of star rockets sent up from the Victoria Eedoubt.
It was here that the first of that series of mishaps which marked this fatal day, and caused the first serious check the Allies had received in the siege, took place. Most unhappily, and by what General Pelissier terms "an inconceivable fatality," shortly before 3 a.m., while the General was still more than a thousand yards from the j^lace whence he was to give the signal, the brave and ill-fated General Mayran fancied he recognised it in a shell with a blazing fuse, sent up from the Mamelon. He at once ordered his division to advance; but no sooner were the heads of the columns perceived by the Eussians, than a shower of missiles was poured upon them, not only from the threatened works, but also from the steamers, which, coming up at full steam to the head of Careening Creek, manoeuvred there with fatal effect. General Mayran, who had already been twice hit, was knocked down by a grape-shot, and immediately carried off the field of battle, while his men, dispirited by the loss of their General, and finding it impossible to advance under the deadly fire to which they were exposed, were thrown into considerable confusion.
The rocket was now sent up from the Lancaster battery, and, fresh troops coming up to the support of the compromised division, it rallied and contrived to hold its ground in the ravine of Careening Bay, but was unable to make any further demonstration in advance.
Strangely enough, results almost similar to those produced by the prematurity of the attack on the right were brought about by delay in those of the centre and left. General Brunei had not completed his preliminary arrangements when the signal-rockets were fired, and the contest had been waged for nearly half-an-hour on the right before he was ready to advance. When he did so, at length, his troops met with an opposition as terrible as that which had checked the other division. His men began to fall thickly around him, and he himself was mortally wounded by a ball in the chest.
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The movement of General D'Autemarre's division was also retarded, as it could not go into action before that of Brunet; but, as soon as this difficulty was removed, he sent forward a couple of regiments, who, dashing with impetuosity into the intrenchment which connects the Karabelnaia ravine with the Malakoff, scaled it, and a few of their number actually penetrated into the Malakofl' itself, on which the French eagles were for a moment planted. But the hope engendered by this dashing achievement was as short-lived as its brief success: the Eussian reserves poured in masses into the Malakoff, and the French, overpowered by numbers and by a heavy artillery fire, were driven back across the intrenchments.