Читать книгу The Battles of the World or, cyclopedia of battles, sieges, and important military events онлайн

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General de Montauban proposed to attack this town the afternoon we reached Senho, but Sir Hope Grant would not consent to do so until he had acquired some knowledge of the position.

The French Commander-in-Chief thereon determined to take the place at once without the aid of our troops. The French troops were led along the causeway communicating between Senho and Tungkoo, which appeared to be the only means of approach; but so considerable a fire was developed from the ramparts as to deter our Allies from attempting a coup-de-main, and they returned to camp after cannonading the place for half an hour.

Means having been afterwards found of approaching Tungkoo with a large front on firm ground, the 1st British Division and the French captured the place on the 14th August. It was exclusively an affair of artillery; the enemy’s guns in position on the ramparts were silenced by our Armstrong and 9-pounder guns, and the rifled 24-pounder of the French, gradually advanced, covered by infantry, to successive positions, as the enemy’s fire became weaker. The Allies had forty-two guns in the field. We found about fifty guns of all sorts in the ramparts, which the enemy, abandoned as our infantry advanced under cover of the guns. The British headed by the 60th Rifles, turned the right of the ditch, and entered the works a quarter of an hour before the French, who made their entry at the gate.