Battle of Balaklava
Date October 25, 1854
Location Off Balaklava (Black Sea)
Issue British Victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom
France Russia
Commanders
Lord Raglan
Lord Cardigan
Lord Scarlett
Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud
François Certain Canrobert Pavel Liprandi
Jabrokristki
Forces present
About 20,000 men About 23,000 men
Loss
617 dead 627 dead
The Battle of Balaklava is a clash that took place on October 25, 1854 between the Russian army and a Franco-British-Turkish-Piedmontese coalition that besieged the city of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. It ended in a Pyrrhic victory for the British.
As their European adversaries had established their siege works and two supply ports at Kamiech (French) and Balaklava (British) the Russians assembled a relief army - 25,000 men (4 regiments of infantry, lancers, hussars, Cossacks and artillery) - to seize this last port.
Battle
In the early morning, 5 a.m., the allies were awakened by a cannonade near Balaklava. They then discover the Russian army stretching out across the plain - staying out of artillery firing range. General Liprandi's target was initially the redoubts held by the Turkish contingent and which defended the port. They are supported by two infantry regiments of General Jabrokristki from Inkermann.
Apart from the Turkish contingent, the port was defended by the British cavalry under the orders of Lord Lucan, the heavy brigade of Lord Scarlett and the light brigade of Lord Cardigan - some 1,500 men) and the 93rd Highlander of Lord Colin Campbell (650 infantry) and finally the defenders of the city:100 men of the marine infantry and a hundred hastily armed invalids.
Reinforcements were dispatched from siege positions but could not be in line for several hours. Only the artillery can provide immediate support.
The Turks quickly evacuate the redoubts. The Highlanders rather than forming a square extend in 2 lines instead of the 4 regulations - presented by an observer on the heights by a formula which will become famous:"a thin red line..."
Around 9.30 a.m. the Russian cavalry set off and consisted of 3,000 to 4,000 hussars and Cossacks from the Urals. Facing them the Highlanders remain stoic and only unload their shots at the last moment, breaking the Russian assault cleanly. At the same time, Lord Scarlett's heavy cavalry charged, literally piercing the defeated Russian cavalry. But Lord Scarlett for reasons of personal conflicts does not charge at this moment when he could finish confusing the Russians.
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Lord Raglan gives the order to Lord Scarlett to prevent the Russians from taking the guns from the redoubts - an order badly written and transmitted with delay. He arrives at 11 a.m. when the situation has evolved. The guns are no longer visible from the position of the light brigade, only the Russian artillery was visible behind which the cavalry was retreating. Lord Cardigan eventually launched the assault with his 5 regiments (13th Light Dragoons, 17th Lancers, 11th Hussars, 4th Light Dragoons and 8th Hussars) - but only 660 men. In the immediate future the maneuver is impeccable but immediately it attracts the attention of the Russian artillery which mows down the horsemen by the dozens. Severely decimated, the brigade reached the guns, sabered the gunners but had to immediately fall back, suffering a counter-attack from Russian spearmen followed by contact with an infantry corps. Only 180 cavalry returned, the legend of the "Charge of the Light Brigade" was born. Tennyson wrote his famous poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade (1854), on this subject. The Light Brigade was only saved from total destruction thanks to the intervention of the 4th French Chasseurs d'Afrique regiment.
The outcome of the battle is indecisive, with each side silencing their guns and beginning to leave the battlefield. The British lost 360 men, the French about 250, while Russian losses are estimated at several thousand dead and wounded.