He and three men attacked a Russian gun, but were themselves attacked by Cossacks (Russian light cavalry). Smith estimates that there were about 80 of the 11th left by this stage. Smith says: “Colonel Douglas, seeing that there was no time to lose … called out ‘Give them another charge, men, Hurrah’ … Waving our swords over our heads, on we galloped …” The 11th then passed through the Russian lines for another 100 yards (no other regiment got so far), where they saw the waiting Russian cavalry. The first man of my Troop that was struck was Private Young, a cannon ball taking off his right arm, I being close in his right rear, fancied I felt the wind from it as it passed me, I afterwards found I was bespattered with his flesh.”Īs the charge progressed, “Many riderless horses were now galloping along with us, forcing their way up into the ranks, and keeping their places as though their masters had been on their backs.” Smith lost some of the lace on his cuff to a bullet, but made the Russian gun line in one piece. “As we moved off the Russians opened fire from all their batteries, the round shot passed through us, and the shells burst over and amongst us, causing great havoc. The best account of what happened to the 11th comes from the pen of Troop Sergeant Major Loy Smith, whose diary is in our museum’s possession. With him were 5 officers, a medical officer, Regimental Sergeant Major Bull and 135 men. The 11th was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Douglas, who had first joined the army in 1829, transferring to the 11th Hussars in 1839. The 11th Prince Albert’s Own Hussars were in the second line of the Light Brigade (the 13th Light Dragoons and 17th Lancers were in front, with the 4th Light Dragoons and 8th Hussars behind them). However, a cavalry attack on a regiment of British infantry (the 93rd Highlanders) defending the port of Balaclava was repulsed by the “thin red line tipped with steel”, and a subsequent attack on five British cavalry regiments of Dragoons and Dragoon Guards (The Heavy Brigade) ended with the Russian cavalry being chased from the field. The initial attack was successful, with a line of strongpoints (“redoubts”) along a crest of high ground being captured. For the British and French, the most serious fighting took place in the Crimean Peninsula (recently in the international spotlight again), when they besieged the important sea port of Sevastopol.īalaclava is a small port some distance from Sevastopol, where the British had established their main supply base: in the early hours of the 25th October, the Russians launched a major attack to try and capture the town. This action was part of the Battle of Balaclava, in the ill-fated Crimean War between Great Britain, France, Turkey and their allies against Russia. Many more illustrations relating to the Crimean War can be found at the Look and Learn picture library.25th October 1854 saw one of the most famous military blunders in history – the Charge of the Light Brigade. More pictures relating to the Charge of the Light Brigade can be found here. Some 670 men were involved in the charge, of which 110 were killed, 129 wounded and 32 wounded and taken prisoner 375 horses were killed. They were supported by the 11th Hussars and others, but the ‘heavy brigade’ had been withdrawn when Lord Lucan realised the charge was doomed. Half of Lord Cardigan’s men of the 17th Lancers and 13th Light Dragoons were dead before the guns were reached. However, a misinterpreted order from Raglan led British cavalry to charge into the North Valley and into the path of Russian shell fire. The British line was held by the Scottish 93rd Highland Regiment – what was to become known as “the thin red line”. Ragland had insufficient troops to defend his flank, a weakness exploited by the Russians. Ahead of the siege, the British forces under Lord Raglan moved into Balaclava. The Crimean War was entering its second year when British and French forces prepared to besiege Sevastopol. 25 October marks the anniversary of the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava in 1854.
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