Charge of the Light Brigade: The Battle of Balaclava

[The Stranger]

seems like one tough battle... i also want more info. im interested

[Watchman]

Osprey has a pretty neat book on it, IIRC. And you can bet your arse there's been a lot of ink spilled over the Light Brigade debacle, already quite soon after the fact since not a few folks understandably wanted heads to roll over such a blunder.

Anyway, by what I've understood of it it was really a matter of bad communications (plus bad personal relationships between officers). Basically, the Russian offensive had after hard fighting succeeded in capturing Turkish redoubts atop the ridge along that "Valley of Death". At least some of the cannon there were on loan from the Brits or something along those lines, and as number of captured guns was a matter of military pride and prestige the Brits wanted them back. So during the counter-attack phase (which included the genuinely impressive Charge of the Heavy Brigade, which saw said Brigade rout a much larger force of Russian cavalry in rather absurd sequence of events that really goes under the rubric "So Crazy It Worked") the Brit commander asked his ADC to bring the word to the Light Brigade to capture the ridgetop redoubts before the Russians could haul the prize cannons away, but apparently his wording could have been clearer. Anyway, the ADC brought the somewhat garbled order and personal enmities involving him and at least one of the Light's senior officers meant the dialogue was very curt and tense and clarifications weren't much asked after. The overall CO of the Light then told the actual commander (you know, the guy who rides in the front and yells "Charge!" at a suitable time) to go down the valley and charge the Russian guns set up at its end, or in any case that's how the commander interpreted it. Personality friction again, I understand. He of course thought the idea lunatic - the Russian forces in the valley vastly outnumbered his men, and there was Russian infantry and artillery all along the ridges at the sides of the valley - but stone-facedly went to carry out his order without further ado.

Apparently the ADC - who came along - at some point began to realize something was not quite going as it was supposed to and sought to halt the advance, but was killed by a fragment from a Russian shell before he could so on it went.

Oddly, the Light actually was able to fight its way through Russian cavalry squadrons sent to stop it and in spite of withering flanking fire from the ridges, as well as eventually salvoes from the Russian batteries they were bearing towards, and reach the guns although very much in tatters and many sub-units having either fragmented altogether along the way or having been stuck in skirmishes with Russians. Some even fought their way through the gun crews and reached the Russian cavalry formed up behind them. Those were apparently the same guys the Heavy Brigade had put to flight earlier in the day (the Light Brigade had been nearby in a position which would have allowed it to effectively pursue and potentially disperse the routing Russians - very much what light cavalry was for after all - but personal enmities, bad communications and some rigid adherence to orders lost the opportunity) and presumably rather demoralized, as the ragged remnants of the Light were actually able to push them back quite a distance.

Granted, the Russians were doubtless quite confused by the clearly suicidal and harebrained charge and thus their responses were duly somewhat bewildered and sluggish, but I understand the commander present wasn't the most illustrious specimen either.

Anyway, the Russians eventually gathered their wits enough to send in nearby Cossack squadrons to hit the engaget remnants of the Light in the flanks, which they did with gusto and soon had the Brits either on the run or hopelessly outnumbered and surrounded. Russian officers had to intervene to rescue their British colleagues about to get killed and pillaged by the elated Cossacks, this being a period when such odd chivalrious gestures were still de rigueur.

The Light was then chased back up the valley while under flanking fire from the ridges, although the close pursuit by the Cossacks forced the infantry and artillery to be careful with their shooting to avoid hitting their own troops. Some Brits also rallied into ad hoc squadrons that engaged and further hindered the pursuit. A nearby French cavalry squadron also assisted by clearing the northern ridge (the "cannon to the left of them") around the mouth of the valley of Russians for a while and thereby covering their retreat back to their own lines - the Heavy brigade and a few other units were still all properly drawn up back there IIRC, no doubt rather confused by the proceedings but in any case the Russians called off the pursuit once they got too close.

All things considered the Light actually got off with relatively light casualties - more than half the men who rode into the charge actually came back to their own lines IIRC, although most were wounded to greater or lesser degree and given the medical standards of the time in general and in the British army in particular many of them no doubt died of infections and other complications later. They'd lost most of their horses however and clearly were not even remotely in a fighting shape anymore. The commander reputedly survived through the whole incident without any wounds of consequence; he apparently rode stiff and stone-faced all the way to the Russian batteries at the end of the valley, his saber contemptuously at the slope (ie. held "at rest" against the shoulder) the whole time, turned around and rode all the way back to his commanding officer, dismounted and woodenly told him he had carried out his orders.

The Russians were rather impressed if also puzzled by the episode. Their reports of it apparently contain amazed commentary at the valour and courage of "these lunatic cavalrymen". A French observer watching the charge unfold from the sidelines - the same guy who led the French cavalry to clear the northern ridge of Russians IIRC - has gone down to history as having commented curtly "C'est glorieuse, mais ce n'est pas guerre"; "it is glorious, but it is not war".

Oh yeah, the Thin Red Line thing also comes from the Battle of Balaclava, from the Russian attack phase early in the day. The Highlanders atop a hill, a few ad hoc units of Turks driven from their positions by the Russian onslaught and then rallied, plus a nearby British artillery battery saw off a bunch of Russian light cavalry (hussars I think) advancing worrisomely towards a rather tactically vital part of the battlefield. The Russians veered off at the first musket salvo; small wonder, as it would have been pure suicide for light scouting, flanking and pursuit troops like them to try assailing such a strong position frontally and the Highlanders plus Turks present actually outnumbered them - not to forget the artillery support - so it's really not such a heroic incident AFAIK. Had the Russians tried to press on it'd near certainly have become their Charge of the Light Brigade...

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

I read about it,only alittle bit.... A Light Cavarly Briadge got their orders messed up, and charged a Heavy Russian unit, and rotued them,but the Light Briadge lost alot of guys..

[Slartibardfast]

I read about it,only alittle bit.... A Light Cavarly Briadge got their orders messed up, and charged a Heavy Russian unit, and rotued them,but the Light Briadge lost alot of guys..

I saw some BBC documentry which made a case for the Officer sent with the new orders for the Light Brigade to advance did get his wording unclear and thus causing the confussion. Instead of going around the Russian guns from the flank and behind they advanced staight through their field of fire.

[Marshal Murat]

The THIN RED LINE is very special because the infantry stood in a THIN RED LINE instead of a doctrine dictated THIN RED BOX.

[Watchman]

Well, they *were* atop a hill. And the Turks had their flanks covered.

[Marshal Murat]

C'mon, the Turks weren't what you could call Grade A, and they had already been defeated once. Charging cavalry is the last think a tired man wants to see!