The allied commanders, Maréchal Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud and Lord Raglan, then marched toward the strategically important port city of Sevastopol, 45 km (28 miles) away.

[4] Allied forces reached Kalamita Bay on the western coast of the Crimea, 45 km (28 miles) north of Sevastopol, and started disembarking on 14 September.

No tents or kitbags were offloaded from the ships, so the soldiers spent their first nights without shelter, unprotected from the heavy rain or the blistering heat.

Despite the plans for a surprise attack on Sevastopol being undermined by the delays, six days later on 19 September, the army finally started to head south, with its fleets supporting them.

[b] By midday, the allied army reached the Bulganak and had its first sight of the Russians when a Cossack vanguard opened fire on the 13th Light Dragoons' scouting party.

As the Light Brigade prepared to charge the Cossacks, Lord Raglan sent an order for it to retreat when a large Russian infantry force was discovered in a dip in the terrain ahead.

[10] At the Alma, Prince Menshikov, commander-in-chief of Russian forces in the Crimea, decided to make his stand on the high ground south of the river.

Furthermore, the Russians had more than one hundred field guns on the heights they could employ with devastating effect from the elevated position; however, none were on the cliffs facing the sea, which were considered too steep for the enemy to climb.

[e] By mid-morning, the allied army was assembling on the plain, the British on the left of the Sevastopol Road, the French and the Turks on the right, stretching out towards the coast.

[12] According to the plan that the allies had agreed upon the day before, the two armies were to advance simultaneously on a broad front and try to turn the enemy's flank on the left further inland.

At the final moment, Raglan decided to delay the British advance until the French had broken through on the right; the troops were ordered to lie on the ground, within range of the Russian guns, in a position from which they could scramble to the river when the time was right.

Leaving their kitbags on the riverbank, the Zouaves at the division's head started to swim across the river and rapidly climbed the cliffs using the trees to scale it.

[14] Once they had reached the plateau, they hid behind rocks and bushes to engage the defending forces of the Moscow Regiment and held the position until reinforcements could arrive.

They arrived just in time to meet the extra infantry and artillery that Menshikov had transferred from the center in an attempt to organize the resistance and prevent the Russian Army from being outflanked on its left.

Prince Napoleon sent word to Lieutenant-General George de Lacy Evans, 2nd Division's commander on his left, calling on the British to advance and take some pressure off the French.

Mounted British officers galloped round their men, urging them to reform their lines, but were unsuccessful in persuading them to move from the shelter of the riverbank.

Aware of the danger of the situation and unable to reorganize, Major-general William John Codrington, commander of the Light Division's 1st Brigade, ordered his troops to fix bayonets and advance.

As Russian artillery opened fire, the British continued scrambling upward until some of the Light Division's advanced guard tumbled over the walls of the greater redoubt.

However, realizing their lack of reinforcements, and as the Vladimirsky Regiment poured into the redoubt from the open higher ground, British buglers sounded the withdraw order.

The Scots Fusiliers were forced to retreat, stopping only when they reached the river; they remained in the riverbank shelter for the rest of the battle, ignoring repeated orders to advance.

In it they found a field kitchen, letters from the Tsar, 50,000 francs, pornographic French novels, the general's boots, and some ladies' underwear.

The necessity of collecting equipment scattered through the battlefield delayed the pursuit, and the lack of cavalry ruled out any possibility of an immediate chase of the Russians.