Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,995
"This is not war, this is madness!"
On October 25, 1854, during the Crimean War, raging raged near the British supply port of the town of Balaklava a battle.
Some of the Russian troops besieged in Sebastopol have broken out of the fortress, have united with reserves brought in from Russia and are now attacking under the command of General Pavel Liprandi ...
... in a strength of 23,000 men the British and their allies under Field Marshall Lord Fitzroy Somerset, the 1st Earl of Raglan ...
... which, with a total strength of 20,000 men, are somewhat weaker in number (but are considerably better armed with modern rifles).
During the fight the Russians manage to get some Ottoman cannons ...
... to conquer on the Causeway Hills - so called by the British.
This defeat worries Lord Raglan - at that time losing a cannon to the enemy in battle was almost as shameful as losing a flag!
Raglan therefore orders that the previously unused British cavalry be used to recapture the cannons from the Russians before they can transport them away as booty.
His order, which is in itself very vague, runs through the chain of command of Raglan's Chief of Staff, General Richard Airey ...
... to the orderly officer Captain Louis Edward Nolan ...
... who passed it on to George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan ...
... hands over the commander of the cavalry division and this in turn to his brother-in-law James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan ...
... the chief of the light brigade.
The command becomes more and more garbled from hand to hand.
In addition, all three people involved, Nolan, Lucan and Cardigan, are related to each other, hate each other fervently and there is no willingness among them to help or support each other in a comradely manner.
Cardigan, who is now supposed to carry out the matter, is confused - he doesn't know what to recapture.
The cannons in question are on the Causeway Hills, which Cardigan cannot see from where he is. He asks Nolan to explain.
But Nolan just wiggles his saber wildly and hits Cardigan with barely concealed contempt:
"There, Sir, is the enemy! And there, Sir, are your cannons!"
As the accident would have it, Nolan pointed with the point of his saber at another, well-fortified Russian cannon emplacement of the Don Cossacks at the end of the northern valley.
A frontal cavalry attack on this - wrong one! - But position means: The riders have to take a nearly one kilometer path through an uncovered valley, the three surrounding mountain ranges of which are occupied by the enemy and at the end of which an artillery position is waiting ...:
When Cardigan Nolan points out the expected slaughter among his riders by crossfire from three sides, Nolan replies something like "Orders are orders!"
Cardigan shrugs his shoulders and lets ride!
When the 673 cavalrymen of the 13th Light Dragoons, 17th Lancers and 11th Hussars ...
... start moving in the wrong direction, Nolan seems to notice the misunderstanding and gallops over to Lord Cardigan to bring him a correction.
But before Nolan can reach the cavalry commander, he is killed by a Russian grenade direct hit ...:
The slaughter that Lord Cardigan expected is actually happening! Only about 200 horsemen (from originally 673) make it - shot from three sides - to the Russian artillery position ...:
During the long ride of the attacking British, the Russians had enough time not only to set up a few regiments of mounted Don Cossacks behind their artillery, but also to add a dragoon regiment to reinforce them!
When the surviving British actually manage to penetrate the artillery position, they are immediately attacked by the Russian cavalry and thrown back!
And the last surviving British horsemen would certainly have been completely killed by the superior Russian cavalry, had it not been for the French General Morris ...
... would have come to the rescue on his own initiative with the 4e Chasseurs d'Afrique ...:
Less than 130 intact members of the Light Brigade can reach their own lines again ...:
Lord Cardigan is among them.
I close with the famous words of French general Pierre Bosquet ...
... who had to watch the attack by the British: "That's great, but it's not war, it's madness!"
I myself never understood why people in Great Britain are so proud of this event that they have been celebrating the anniversary since 1875 ...
On October 25, 1854, during the Crimean War, raging raged near the British supply port of the town of Balaklava a battle.
Some of the Russian troops besieged in Sebastopol have broken out of the fortress, have united with reserves brought in from Russia and are now attacking under the command of General Pavel Liprandi ...
... in a strength of 23,000 men the British and their allies under Field Marshall Lord Fitzroy Somerset, the 1st Earl of Raglan ...
... which, with a total strength of 20,000 men, are somewhat weaker in number (but are considerably better armed with modern rifles).
During the fight the Russians manage to get some Ottoman cannons ...
... to conquer on the Causeway Hills - so called by the British.
This defeat worries Lord Raglan - at that time losing a cannon to the enemy in battle was almost as shameful as losing a flag!
Raglan therefore orders that the previously unused British cavalry be used to recapture the cannons from the Russians before they can transport them away as booty.
His order, which is in itself very vague, runs through the chain of command of Raglan's Chief of Staff, General Richard Airey ...
... to the orderly officer Captain Louis Edward Nolan ...
... who passed it on to George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan ...
... hands over the commander of the cavalry division and this in turn to his brother-in-law James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan ...
... the chief of the light brigade.
The command becomes more and more garbled from hand to hand.
In addition, all three people involved, Nolan, Lucan and Cardigan, are related to each other, hate each other fervently and there is no willingness among them to help or support each other in a comradely manner.
Cardigan, who is now supposed to carry out the matter, is confused - he doesn't know what to recapture.
The cannons in question are on the Causeway Hills, which Cardigan cannot see from where he is. He asks Nolan to explain.
But Nolan just wiggles his saber wildly and hits Cardigan with barely concealed contempt:
"There, Sir, is the enemy! And there, Sir, are your cannons!"
As the accident would have it, Nolan pointed with the point of his saber at another, well-fortified Russian cannon emplacement of the Don Cossacks at the end of the northern valley.
A frontal cavalry attack on this - wrong one! - But position means: The riders have to take a nearly one kilometer path through an uncovered valley, the three surrounding mountain ranges of which are occupied by the enemy and at the end of which an artillery position is waiting ...:
When Cardigan Nolan points out the expected slaughter among his riders by crossfire from three sides, Nolan replies something like "Orders are orders!"
Cardigan shrugs his shoulders and lets ride!
When the 673 cavalrymen of the 13th Light Dragoons, 17th Lancers and 11th Hussars ...
... start moving in the wrong direction, Nolan seems to notice the misunderstanding and gallops over to Lord Cardigan to bring him a correction.
But before Nolan can reach the cavalry commander, he is killed by a Russian grenade direct hit ...:
The slaughter that Lord Cardigan expected is actually happening! Only about 200 horsemen (from originally 673) make it - shot from three sides - to the Russian artillery position ...:
During the long ride of the attacking British, the Russians had enough time not only to set up a few regiments of mounted Don Cossacks behind their artillery, but also to add a dragoon regiment to reinforce them!
When the surviving British actually manage to penetrate the artillery position, they are immediately attacked by the Russian cavalry and thrown back!
And the last surviving British horsemen would certainly have been completely killed by the superior Russian cavalry, had it not been for the French General Morris ...
... would have come to the rescue on his own initiative with the 4e Chasseurs d'Afrique ...:
Less than 130 intact members of the Light Brigade can reach their own lines again ...:
Lord Cardigan is among them.
I close with the famous words of French general Pierre Bosquet ...
... who had to watch the attack by the British: "That's great, but it's not war, it's madness!"
I myself never understood why people in Great Britain are so proud of this event that they have been celebrating the anniversary since 1875 ...
