The Battles: Balaklava
 It
was the Russian army hanging on the flank of the British that caused the
second of the Crimean War's battles, the Battle of Balaklava. North of
Balaklava harbour was a slight rise where the 93rd Highlanders had made
their camp. Beyond this there lay the South Valley, an open valley leading
up to a higher line of hills known as the Causeway Heights. The Causeway
Heights looked down on a narrower valley called the North Valley and beyond
it the Fedoukine Hills. It was in the North Valley that the greatest spectacle
and most tragic event of the war would take place - the charge of the Light
Brigade.
Along the crest of the Causeway Heights were a string of six redoubts manned
by Turkish infantry. On the morning of 25th October, 1854 they were approached
by a massively superior force of Russian troops well supported by artillery.
the Turks held their ground as frantic messengers run back to warn the
British. Unfortunately, the British reacted very slowly and by the time
they had started across the South Valley the Turks were in full flight,
four of the redoubts in enemy hands and Russian cavalry was swarming over
the Causeway Heights. Soon they approached the 93rd Highlanders under the
command of Sir Colin Campbell , later famed for his relief of Lucknow
in the Indian Mutiny . Campbell ordered
his men to stand firm and die if they must in their places in the line.There
could be no retreat as they were all that stood between the enemy and the
disorganised British camp. Hold they did and in such a fashion that
Times correspondent William Russell, watching from the hills above, was
moved to coin the immortal phrase 'a thin red line tipped with steel'.
Shortened to 'the thin red line' his phrase came to forever symbolize the
stoicism and imperturbability of British troops when faced with superior
numbers.
 Though
the Highlanders drove off the Russian cavalry on their front, a larger
body of Russian horsemen were moving up the North Valley in the direction
of the British H.Q.. Disturbed by the fire of a British gun, they crosssed
over the Causeway Heights to the left of the Highlanders and saw below
them the Heavy Brigade, six suadrons of British heavy cavalry from the
Royal Scots Greys, the Inniskilling Dragoons and the Dragoon Guards. The
Russians were a dense grey mass all wearing yellowish-grey greatcoats and
the British cavalry approaching them in lines of absurd thinness must have
seemed hopelessly fragile, even effete, in their bright scarlet tunics.They
were led by the aptly named General Sir James Scarlett, 55 years old, who
had never ever commanded troops in battle. He was to show this day that
he had a certain flair for such things. Taking his time to dress his men
into perfect lines and ignoring an order to charge immediately, Scarlett
organised his squadrons as if on parade. The Russian cavalry, from the
slopes of the Causeway Heights watched with incredulous fascination. There
had been no British cavary charges so far in the war and only a fool would
countenance such an action now, against a much stronger enemy.
Scarlett's trumpeter sounded the charge and his men moved off. The Scots
Greys wore heavy bearskins, the Iniskillings and the Dragoon Guards embossed
helmets. If not the finest cavalry in the world they were certainly amongst
the best attired. As they drove into the Russian line the red tunics seemed
to disappear in a sea of Russian grey. There was no room for fancy swordsmanship
and the troopers hacked about them as if with meat cleavers. The ferocity,
execution and sheer arrogance of the charge, however, were too much for
the Russians and they faltered. Then they broke and fled northwards back
over the Causeway Heights.
It was not the most spectacular charge ever made by British cavalry, but
it was probably the most effective. As the Russians retreated and the wounded
were being carried back to camp, an A.D.C. of Lord Raglan the British commander-in-chief
trotted up and handed Scarlett a note. The exhausted Scarlett read the
note and quickly turned away to hide the moistening of his eyes. The note
read simply, "Well done, Scarlett." Raglan was not so pleased with Lord
Cardigan, the leader of the Light Brigade, who let had a golden opportunity
slip by not pusuing the Russians the Heavy Brigade had put to flight. The
focus of the battle now moved over to the western end of the North Valley
were the Light Brigade were positioned and a crucial factor came into play.
The topography of the battlefield, with its hills and valleys, made it
very difficult for officers in the field to see much more than what was
on their direct front whereas the generals watching from the hills above
enjoyed an almost unimpeded view. As the Heavy Brigade reformed and British
infantry advanced on the westernmost of the captured redoubts, Lord Raglan
ordered Lord Lucan, the overall commander of the cavalry, to take any advantage
given and advance with infantry support to regain possession of the heights.
Lucan could see no sign of the promised infantry support and declined to
move. Lord Raglan fumed with impatience at this inactivity and just then
the critical event occurred. The Russians brought up artillery horses to
the captured redoubts obviously intending to remove their guns. Determined
not to allow this to happen, Raglan sent Lucan an order telling him to
prevent the removal of the guns.
Lucan conferred with Cardigan, his brother-in-law and a man he heartily
detested. It was Cardigan's Light Brigade that would have to lead any forward movement.
Unfortunately, the only guns that either of them could see were the Russian
artillery, a mile away, at the eastern end of the North Valley. Supported
by massed infantry and cavalry and with other guns and riflemen on both
sides of the valley, the Russian position was unassailable - a three-sided
trap like the jaws of some ferocious beast. Cardigan mildly protested at
the folly of charging such a position, but Lucan reminded him that he had
a direct order in writing from the commander-in-chief. Unwilling to disobey
a direct order, neither Lucan nor Cardigan made any attempt to verify whether
Raglan really wanted them to make such a suicidal effort. Cardigan sounded
the charge and the Light Brigade started forward. The first line consisted
of the 13th Light Dragoons on the right, the 17th Lancers on the left and
the 11th Hussars in support. The second was formed by the 4th Light Dragoons
and the 8th Hussars. Cardigan rode well in front of the first line and
for all his faults there is no doubting his courage. 673 men rode forward
when the trumpet sounded. Less than 200, almost all of them wounded, would
return.
 For
the first fifty yards nothing happened and Lord Cardigan in his blue and
cherry coloured uniform and gold trimmed pelisse looked, as Lord Raglan
said, "as brave and as proud as a lion." Then the Russian guns opened up.The
horses began to move faster from a trot to a canter to a gallop and the
officers had trouble restraining some of their men from spurring on ahead.
From three sides a storm of lead and iron winnowed the ranks of the British.
The spectacle was incomparable and on the hills above a British officer
burst into tears at the sight of such a suicidal tragedy. An elderly French
general trying to comfort him said, "Pauvre garcon. Je suis vieux, j'ai
vu des batailles, mais ceci de trop." Barely fifty men of the first line
reached the Russian guns. They rushed past, slashing at those gunners who
had been slow to find cover, and slammed into the Russian cavary behind
the guns. They drove it backwards in disorder until overwhelming numbers
slowed the momentum of their charge and they were forced to retire. The
second line slaughtered the Russian gunners and pushing forward were met
by the remnants of the first line in retreat. Lord George Paget, commander
of the second line, on being informed that Russian lancers were closing
in behind them shouted, "Halt boys, halt front, if we don't halt now we're
done!" His men obeyed and turned their weary horses back down the valley
up which they had charged at such cost. As they retired the Russian lancers
seemed to part to let them through with just a few desultory lance prods
to see them on their way. Some said this was a Russian gesture of respect
for the heroism of the charge. Some said it was the result of the ineffectual
leadership that was apparent in the the handling of Russian cavalry. Perhaps
it was simply the ordinary Russian troopers disdaining to risk their lives
against an obviously spent force that had shown such a proclivity to insanity.
More than 500 British horses died in the charge and it's possible the Russians
just felt sorry for the surviving mounts.
The Battle of Balaklava was claimed as a victory by the British but in
reality it was not so. British cavalry played were unable to play any significant
role for the remainder of the war and the Causeway Heights were left in
Russian hands. This would greatly add to the misery of the British Army
as it faced the Crimean winter.
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