Crimean War - The End of the War

September 8 1855, the French launched a well-planned attack, aimed at the Malakoff, one of the two key strongpoints of the defence. A heavy bombardment was followed by a well-timed assault by an entire French corp. Surprise was achieved by the first use of synchronised watches to time an assault, and after intensive fighting (there were 10 attempts to capture the position) the Malakoff was captured. The losses in the last assault had been very heavy: for the allies over 10,000 men, for the Russians 13,000. No fewer than nineteen generals had fallen on the final day. This put the remaining strongpoint under an intolerable strain, and so that night Prince Gorchakov evacuated his remaining troops to the North side of the city by floating bridge.