OF TlIK ALMA. 57 time for the battle. The rest of the regukr land cii ap. Ill forces in the Crimea amounted in number to about . ! — 12,000,* and were stationed under the command of General Khomoutoff in the south-eastern part of the peninsula ; but even these most distant troops were not so far beyond reach as to make it impossible to call them up to headquarters be- fore the critical moment .-|- Besides these bodies of men, which were uU in strictness land forces, there were some bodies of marines, which at this time had been stationed in a permanent way, partly at the several sections into which the land defences had been divided, and partly in furnishing guards for the Admiralty and the hospital. These stationed marines were not men withdrawn from any of the ships in the roadstead. They amounted in number to 2600.:}: There were, besides, four 'landing battalions,' amounting in number to 1800 men, which were posted along the lines of defence. These ' land- ' ing battalions ' were marines withdrawn from the fleet, and efficiently organised for land service. Including these, it may be said that, indepen- dently of the army and of the local companies, and independently, also, of the men appropriated to the coast defences, and without counting any of the naval forces remaining on board ship, there
- Todleben, p. 140.
t This was proved by the forced march of the Moscow Uegi- nient, which, having been ordered up soon after the appearance of the Allies on the coast, was on the field of the Alma on tho morning of the battle.
- 2G66.— Todleben, ] Ui3.
