the men silently began to build the epaulements for the gun batteries. The darkness of the night and the contour of the land hid their activities from the Turkish pickets. As dawn approached, Khrulev mounted his horse and personally led the column on the left forward to the point of the first attack, approximately 1,300 meters from Eupatoria's walls. Following immediately behind Khrulev, the company commanders led their battalions forward. As they moved forward, however, they were observed by the Tatars on watch who retreated toward the city sounding the alarm. Although, Khrulev planned his offensive as a surprise attack, the Turks were aware that an attack was forthcoming and were already on the parapets. At approximately 6 am, the first shots were fired when the Turks began a general cannonade supported by rifle fire. As quickly as they could respond, the Russians began their own artillery fire. For about an hour both sides continued to bombard each other. During this time, Khrulev reinforced his column on the left, advanced his artillery to within 500 meters of the city walls, and began to concentrate his cannon fire on the Turkish center. Although the Turkish guns were of a larger caliber, the Russian artillery began to have some success in the cannonade. Shortly thereafter when the Turkish fire slackened, the Russians began to advance five battalions of infantry toward the city walls on the left. A part of this force included a battalion of Greek volunteers who had joined forces with the Russians early in February. Using the ruins of a cemetery, the infantry battalions advanced to a position 400 meters from the ditch which served as a defensive belt in front of the city walls. Equipped with fascines, scaling ladders, and other items, the infantry battalions advanced quickly to the ditch in a final assault all the while in a crossfire of canister shot and rifle fire from the walls of the city plus bombardment from the Allied warships in the harbor. At this point, the attack effectively stopped. The ditches were filled with water at such a depth that the attackers quickly found themselves unable to scale the walls. After numerous failed attempts to cross the ditches and ascend their ladders to the top of the walls, the Russians were forced to retreat and seek shelter back at grounds of the cemetery. Seeing their enemy's difficulties, the Turks took