Photograph of the mantlets in the barracks battery after the Siege of Sevastopol. The photograph shows the stone wall of the battery, with a rope mantlet hanging on either side of a small stone storage area. In front of each mantlet is a cannon, the one to the left with circles of rope around its neck. Stones, cannonballs, rope and a stool litter the ground behind. A mantlet is a large and portable shield used to protect fortifications from incoming ammunition. After the French captured the Malakoff redoubt, forcing the Russians to abandon the city, the allied forces entered Sevastopol and occupied the remaining fortifications.