Battle of Malakoff

The Battle of Malakoff was a French attack against Russian forces on the Malakoff redoubt and its subsequent capture on 8 September 1855 as a part of the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. The French army under General MacMahon successfully stormed the Malakoff redoubt, while a simultaneous British attack on the Redan to the south of the Malakoff was repulsed. In one of the war's defining moments, the French zouave Eugène Libaut raised the French flag on the top of the Russian redoubt. The Battle of Malakoff resulted in the fall of Sevastopol on 9 September, bringing the 11-month siege to an end.

Until 1784 most of the fortifications around Sevastopol were dedicated to the protection of the harbour entrance, the city itself and its naval base and were positioned close to these features. The construction of fortifications in the surrounding hills had been planned as early as 1837, but at the time of the battle only basic facilities and roadways had been completed on the north side of the long, westward-facing bay. To the south the central anchor of the defence system was the Malakoff-Kurgan ridge. Situated about 2.5 miles southeast of the city, it consisted of a two-story stone tower of limestone on which the Russians had placed five heavy 18-pounder cannons at the beginning of the siege.

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