Battle of Balaklava

“ The pickets of the Light Division were soon assailed and obliged to fall back. About the time of the advance on our right flank took place a demonstration against Balaklava, but the enemy contented themselves with drawing up their cavalry in order of battle, supported by field artillery, at the neck of the valley, in readiness to sweep over the heights and cut off our retreat, should the assault on our right be successful. A steamer with very heavy guns was sent up by night to the head of the creek at Inkerman, and threw enormous shells over the hill. ”

“ With respect to the battles of the Crimean war, only that of the Alma is subject to the tactical criticism of ordinary battles; those of Balaklava, Inkerman, and the Tchernaya, were of the nature of sorties made to prevent an assault of the unfinished works of defence, and to prolong the operations of the siege. They must therefore be judged as such, and not according to the ordinary rules applicable to contests in the open field. At the battle of the Alma the Russians were attacked in position, the two lines of battle being nearly parallel. ”

“ Mentchikof, meanwhile, had received large reinforcements, and prepared to attack the allies from the east. His point of attack was Balaklava, the defence of which had been intrusted to Sir Colin Campbell. The battle was undecisive, but made memorable by the sacrifice of the "Light Brigade,"--about six hundred cavalry troops under the command of the Earl of Cardigan. This arose from a misunderstanding on the part of the Earl of Lucan, commander of the cavalry division, of an order from Lord Raglan to attack the enemy. ”

“ But this road, narrow, stony, and broken, was naturally very difficult even for field-artillery, and was easily to be rendered totally impracticable; while the right of the intrenchments surrounding Balaklava, crossing this road, with two advanced stockades looking upon a deep and narrow glen on one side, and the sea-cliffs on the other, along which the path wound precariously, rendered a successful attack impossible. Thus Balaklava could only be attacked in front directly down the valley ”

“ On the top of each of these hills the Turks had thrown up redoubts, each defended by 250 men, and armed with two or three heavy ship guns—lent by us to them, with one artilleryman in each redoubt to look after them. These hills crossed the valley of Balaklava at the distance of about two and a half miles from the town. Supposing the spectator, then, to take his stand on one of the heights forming the rear of our camp before Sebastopol, he would have seen the town of Balaklava, with its scanty shipping, its narrow strip of water, and its old forts, on his right hand ”

“ The one engrossing topic silences every other. Alma, Inkermann, Lord Raglan's flank march, and the earlier incidents of the siege, are related by the very men who took an active share in those deeds of glory. Two cavalry officers, both wounded on the fatal day, recapitulate once more the pros and cons of the immortal charge at Balaklava--a question that has been vexed and argued till the very actors themselves in that most brilliant of disasters scarcely know how they got in, and still less how they ever got out. ”

“ There followed a month of comparative freedom from fighting, while the Allied armies closed on Sebastopol and took up their position for a siege. The work of the Cavalry was constant, in exploring the country and watching the enemy, but until the 25th October no serious encounter took place. Then occurred the famous battle of Balaclava. ”

“ But on the 25th something serious happened which brought the shambles close once more. To the Turkish contingent had been assigned the redoubts which protected the heights behind the entrenchments. On the morning of the 25th the Russians, numbering some twenty thousand troops, after following the same route by which the Allies had reached Balaklava, appeared unexpectedly before these redoubts. The Turks abandoned them without striking a blow and fled down the valley to the plain in sheer panic. Nor did a volley from the 93rd Highlanders, hastily formed up, stop them. ”

“ Crosses and decorations are given often enough to those who have never seen a shot fired, but poor “Thomas” goes away bravely in peace, as he fought bravely in war, with his medal, and even that for “distinguished service in the field,” to sweep a London crossing. Balaklava is a clear instance of mere brilliant animal courage, a bravery that the Russians recognise as fully as we do, and would reward better than we do, who have allowed many a gallant man who rode in the “death ride” to sink to workhouse pay. ”

“ I charged at Balaklava with my squadron until it was nearly annihilated, my own lance being shot away. Drawing my sword I galloped on to the Russian guns, and assisted in cutting down the gunners. On the right of our forming line I observed one particular gun going away as fast as the horses could take it. I went after it with Captain Jervis, of the 13th Light Dragoons, who shot one of the horses and delayed its progress. On this I engaged two of the gunners, who both fell. It now became a struggle for our lives, a large body of Cossacks surrounded us. ”

“ IN THE BATTERIES BEFORE SEBASTOPOL.
Sketched on the spot.
On October 25 General Liprandi attacked the English camp at Balaklava with 20,000 or 30,000 men. It is a day to be much remembered in British war annals with pro­found but melancholy pride, because of the blunder which cost the British Army the loss of two-thirds of its Light Cavalry. |Balaklava.| The action began by the capture by the Russians of four redoubts held by the Turks. ”

“ Nothing could save the entire army but the self-devotion and valour of the men: tactics were unavailable, and generalship useless. Now, however, [168] came the crisis of the struggle. General Bosquet had by this time discovered that the threatened attack on Balaklava was but a feint; and warned by the thunder of cannon and the roll of musketry of the real point of attack, hastened to, the rescue. Two troops of horse-artillery were speedily despatched, and took up a position whence they could effectively play upon the Russian guns. ”

“ While Balaklava harbor was crowded with ships full of huts, clothing, and fuel, the men at the front were dying in hundreds from wet, cold, and insufficient food. Between them and abundance extended an almost impassable quagmire, in which horses and bullocks sank and died in thousands, although laden only with weights which a donkey in ordinary times could carry. Had the strength of the regiments in front been sufficient, the soldiers might have been marched down, when off duty, to Balaklava, to carry up the necessaries they required. ”

“ The health of the troops was better, mortality and sickness decreased, and the spirits of the men were good. The wreck of Balaklava was shovelled away, or was in the course of removal, and was shot into the sea to form piers, or beaten down to make roads, and stores and barracks of wood were rising up in its place. The oldest inhabitant would not have known the place on his return. If war is a great destroyer, it is also a great creator. The Czar was indebted to it for a railway in the Crimea, and for new roads between Balaklava, Kamiesch, and Sebastopol. ”

“ It was under these circumstances that an order was given by the British headquarters, which led to the charge for which above all Balaklava is remembered. It was carried to Lord Lucan by Captain L. E. Nolan, 15th Hussars, and ran as follows:—"Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns ... French cavalry is on your left." Lucan, seeing no attempt on the part of the enemy to move guns, questioned Nolan, who is said to have pointed down the valley to the artillery on the plain ”

“ The allies abandoned, if they had ever entertained, all thought of fighting a great battle in order to regain the ground thus lost; but Balaclava was soon covered with a strong and complete line of defence. Meanwhile the Russians had been pouring reinforcements into the Crimea, being well aware that when winter arrived it would be impossible to do so, and had formed a plan for attacking the northern extremity of the allied position, where it approached the upper end of the great harbour. ”

“ Taking advantage of the fog, the Russians conveyed their guns to the lofty eminences beyond the Tchernaya, facing the British position, and by almost incredible efforts, in a very brief time, had established a formidable battery in a most commanding situation. About four o’clock in the morning, intelligence arrived at head-quarters that Balaklava was again threatened. General Bosquet was immediately on the alert, with his French chasseurs, and the indomitable Sir Colin Campbell was fully prepared to meet any force which might be despatched against him. ”

“ He took a prominent part in the early actions of the campaign, and displayed throughout the greatest personal courage and the greatest recklessness in exposing his men. The feat which made his name famous was the charge of his brigade, numbering 600 men, on a body of Russian heavy cavalry 3600 in number at the battle of Balaclava (October 25, 1854) . He forced his way through the enemy, but half his men and horses were left dead on the field. ”

“ The outposts watching the plain of Balaklava heard cavalry approaching, and a great deal of firing in the dark took place—the sentries blazing away whenever they saw, or fancied they saw, the phantom horsemen, “who seemed perpetually galloping, but never coming any nearer. Staff Officers kept arriving to know what the commotion was about. Of course I could give them no information.” A regiment of Zouaves and the guns in a French redoubt poured volleys into imaginary columns coming to storm our position. “The Russian drums all along the Fediukhine heights beat to arms ”

“ Many full descriptions have been given of Balaclava and Inkerman. Our space here will not allow of more than a brief account of some of the glorious deeds on those fields of victory.
On October 25th, 1885, the Russians made a bold attempt to take Balaclava, and the tale of their defeat is the immortal tale of two of the finest cavalry charges ever known in the history of war. Immortalised in verse by Tennyson, the "Charge of the Light Brigade" is a deed bringing honour and glory for all time ”

“ Meanwhile the Russian field army had been gathering in the neighbourhood of Balaclava, and on October 25, the anniversary of Agincourt, made an attack on the allied position there, which led to the most famous feat of arms of the whole war. From the harbour of Balaclava the ground rises steeply on the west to the high plateau which was entirely occupied by the allies. On the east the ground rises equally steeply, and at the top a line of defence had been fortified, which formed an adequate protection for Balaclava itself. ”

“ On the early morning of October 25 the Russians, who had no very great opinion of the Turkish troops, made a determined attack on Balaclava. The valley leading down to the sea is cut in two by a low range of hills, and down these two valleys they advanced. The Turks, after one or two rounds, incontinently abandoned the redoubts, and fled in haste to the refuge of the town. Sir Colin moved up the 93rd Highlanders, and awaited the advance of the Russian cavalry division. ”

“ One feature of the Russian character has been very prominent in this great struggle—a brutal want of humanity. They partake of the attribute of their eastern origin, in the little value they attach to the lives of their own troops, provided they gain their end; and they have no particle of mercy for a fallen foe. In the mêlée, arising from the rash Balaklava charge, they hurled the bolts of their artillery, indiscriminately on friends and enemies; and, after all contests, it was their invariable habit to bayonet the wounded French and English. ”

“ Fortunately for the allies, the Russians failed to avail themselves of the advantages which the enemy had thus gratuitously afforded. The fleet having entered the open harbor of Balaklava, the allies now commenced the labor of landing and moving up their siege material and of opening their trenches, while the Russians prepared their fortifications on the south of Sebastopol for resisting the operations of that gigantic siege which stands without a parallel in history. ”

“ On an average the men had not more than three nights out of seven in bed. The French had five nights out of seven in bed. With reference to the observations which were made at home on the distribution of labour between the two armies, it must be borne in mind that when the French and English first broke ground before Balaklava we were as strong as our allies, and that it was some time after the siege began ere the relative proportions of the two armies were considerably altered to the advantage of the French by the arrival of their reinforcements. ”

“ The French constructed strong redoubts on the site of the old redoubts in the plain. These works were in connection with the outer line of defence from Kamara, Traktir, and Tchorgoun, and the Sardinian and Turkish batteries towards Baidar, and behind them were the old batteries defending Balaklava, which became one of the strongest positions in the world. ”

“ It is by that plain that the Mackenzie Road leads across the Tchernaya at Traktir Bridge, and, after passing through our pontoons, leads into the Balaklava plain.
A strict watch was kept all along our lines—the Turks, who occupy the hilly grounds of Balaklava, were on the alert, and watched Alsou; and General d'Allonville, also put on his guard, doubled his vigilance in the high valley of Baidar. My mind was quite at rest, moreover, as regards the extreme right; it is one of those mountainous regions where it is impossible to manœuvre large bodies of men. ”