Wednesday 2 April 2008
A Review of the Crimean War
by David Williams
Phil Hall in his vote of thanks to our speaker David Williams (left) stated that David had given two superb dissertations, one that the subject matter of the Crimean War had been structured in a presentation that related the whole war period and politics that lasted nearly three years in a splendid fashion. Then put the well known charge of the light brigade into context, a twenty minute fiasco and disaster, in a much longer period, thus enhancing our school boys view of that sector taught as history.
Secondly the excellent, polished and dynamic exposition of how to give a power point presentation and to keep the audience captive and thrilled to the end with the "charge of the light brigade" with the trumpet call recording by the actual bugler on the actual instrument, a spell bound afternoon, so thanks David.
David outlined the reasons why the French for one war were on our side, the Empires thrust of both Britain seeking to keep the Russians out of the Mediterranean Sea because of our links to India, the French likewise to support their colonies on the North African coast and of course the Turks for their land mass. The Russian wanted a deep sea port onto the Mediterranean Sea , hence the conflicts of Empires in expansion mode, not much has changed today!
In 1854 a joint invasion force British, French and Turkish; marched south along the coast in the direction of Sebastopol. On the heights to the south the River Alma, the Russian General had prepared his defences, David told us more a joint invasion force, over 60,000 strong, comprising British, French and Turkish elements landed in Calamita Bay, south of Eupatoria, on the 14th September 1854; on the 19th the three armies marched south along the coast in the direction of Sebastopol, 30 miles away. In their path were a number of small streams, flowing from the interior of the Crimea westwards to the coast. On the heights to the south of one of these, the River Alma, the Russians had prepared their defences and boasted that his troops would be able to hold their positions for at least three weeks, and the ladies of Sebastopol travelled to the Alma to enjoy both a picnic and the spectacle of the repulse of the invaders.
1854 the Allies, under the joint commands of General Lord Raglan, Marshal St. Arnaud and General Omar Pasha, reached the Alma and met the Russians in battle with the French being responsible for turning the left (or seaward) flank of the defenders, at which point the British were to make a frontal assault (through a burning village, across a stream and then uphill in the face of withering fire from Russian infantry and artillery). Due to the first of the catalogue of misunderstandings and misapprehensions which characterised this war, the British were forced to assault before the French had fulfilled their objective, with consequent slaughter. Lord Raglan (who was fighting his first battle since Waterloo, when he had been on the Staff of the Duke of Wellington, and had lost an arm) moved so far in advance of his troops that he was actually directing the battle from behind the Russian front line. In approximately three hours, the Russians were completely routed, and fled from the field in undisciplined retreat.
Lord Raglan wished to pursue the fleeing Russians, but his colleague, Marshal St. Arnaud, refused. The Russian Army was allowed to regain Sebastopol and began to prepare Sebastopol's defences. The Allied armies, deciding not to attack Sebastopol from the North, marched South East, skirting the city, towards Balaklava harbour which was captured without bloodshed as their supply base, the French taking the undefended harbour of Kamiesch to the West.
The Allies opened up their bombardment of Sebastopol and continued it for the next two days without noticeable success. The Russians made a major assault on the right of the besieging armies, whose forward defence works were a few half- hearted gun emplacements along the line of the road from Sebastopol, manned by Turkish militia. Although the Turks fought bravely for over two hours, they were driven back as Lord Raglan arrived at his vantage point on the Sapoune Ridge.
The fleeing Turks reformed on either side of the four companies of the Highlanders, which were the only troops between the oncoming Russians and the British base at Balaklava. Shortly afterwards a further two companies of the Highlanders, joined this last line of defence, and these men came under Russian artillery fire. A strong force of Russian cavalry moved in their direction. Campbell formed his men into line (not square, which was the accepted way for infantry to face a cavalry charge), and the probing Russian advance was driven off with volleys of musket fire.
Ten days later the Russians attacked again, in what came to be known as the Battle of Inkermann, or "the Soldier's Battle". The battle raged for almost the whole day, and was prosecuted in thick fog, heavy undergrowth, and with little if any generalship being shown on either side. As dusk fell, the British held the field (having received useful, if belated, help from the French). The numbers of the Russian dead left on the field exceeded the numbers of Allied troops that had been attacked.
After the battle of Inkermann, the weather deteriorated to such an extent that further action in the field was precluded, and the activities of the Allies were restricted to siege operations. During the winter of 1854/55 the shortcomings of the British military supply system were thrown into sharp focus, as thousands of men died from illness, exposure and malnutrition - four times as many died from disease as did from enemy action.
With the arrival of Spring came the huts and winter clothing from England; too late to save the lives of the thousands who had died as a result of their absence. Military operations continued to be restricted to trench warfare until 7th June 1855 when the outer defences of Sebastopol were assaulted, with the British capturing the Quarries and the French the Mamelon.
On the 8th September 1855 the Allies again stormed Sebastopol, with the French successful this time at the Malakoff. The Malakoff, however, was the key to the town's defences, and at its loss the Russians evacuated Sebastopol, having made a spirited defence which had kept the best troops in the world at bay for over eleven months.
The infamous charge was made by the Light Brigade of the British cavalry, Lucan received an order from the army commander Lord Raglan stating that Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns. Raglan in fact wished the cavalry to prevent the Russians taking away the naval guns from the redoubts that they had captured on the reverse side of the Causeway Heights, the hill forming the left side of the valley (from the point of view of the cavalry). Raglan could see what was happening from his high vantage-point on the west of the valley, but Lucan and the cavalry were unaware of what was going on owing to the lie of the land where they were drawn up. The order was was carried by Captain Nolan, who carried the further oral instruction that the cavalry was to attack immediately. When Lucan asked what guns were referred to, Nolan is said to have indicated, by a wide sweep of his arm, not the Causeway redoubts but the mass of Russian guns in a redoubt at the end of the valley, around two miles away.
In response to the order, Lucan instructed Cardigan to lead 673 cavalry men straight into the valley between the hills on either side, famously dubbed the "Valley of Death" by the poet Tennyson. The opposing Russian forces included approximately 20 battalions of infantry supported by over fifty artillery pieces. These forces were deployed on both sides and at the opposite end of the valley.
The Light Brigade set off down the valley, with Cardigan out in front leading the charge. Almost at once Nolan was seen to rush across the front, passing in front of Cardigan. It may be that he had now realized the charge was aimed at the wrong target and was attempting to stop or turn the brigade, but he was killed by an artillery shell and the cavalry continued on its course. Despite a withering fire from three sides that decimated their force on the ride, the Light Brigade was able to engage the Russian forces at the end of the valley and force them back from the redoubt, but suffered heavy casualties and was soon forced to retire. The troops of the Heavy Brigade entered the mouth of the valley but did not advance further: Lucan's subsequent explanation was that he saw no point in having a second brigade mown down and that he was best positioned where he was to render assistance to Light Brigade survivors returning from the charge. The French cavalry were more effective in that they broke the Russian lines and later provided cover for the remaining elements of the Light Brigade as they withdrew.
Cardigan survived the battle he led the charge from the front and, never looking back, did not see what was happening to the troops behind him. He reached the Russian guns, took part in the fight and then returned alone up the valley without bothering to rally or even find out what had happened to the survivors. He afterwards said all he could think about was his rage against Captain Nolan, who he thought had tried to take over the leadership of the charge from him.
"We advanced down a gradual descent of more than three-quarters of a mile, with the batteries blasting upon us shells and shot, round and grape, with one battery on our right flank and another on the left, and all the intermediate ground covered with the Russian riflemen; so that when we came to within a distance of fifty yards from the mouths of the artillery which had been hurling destruction upon us, we were, in fact, surrounded and encircled by a ring of fire."
Returning up the hill which they had descended in the attack, they had to run the same gauntlet and to incur the same risk from the flank fire of the riflemen. Numbers of men were shot down - men and horses were killed, and many of the soldiers who had lost their horses were also shot down while endeavouring to escape, the brigade was not completely destroyed, but did suffer terribly, with 118 men killed, 127 wounded. After regrouping, only 195 men were still with horses.
Raglan blamed Lucan for the charge, claiming that from some misconception of the order to advance Lucan evidently escaped blame for the charge, as he was made a member of the Order of the Bath in July of that same year. Although he never again saw active duty, he reached the rank of General in 1865 and was made a Field Marshal in the year before his death. The charge of the Light Brigade continues to be studied by modern military historians and students as an example of what can go wrong when accurate military intelligence is lacking and orders are unclear.
David covered a mass of details supported by a wide selection of excellent photographs and illustrations that this short report cannot do justice, at the end of a breath taking afternoon, as stated earlier in the vote of thanks and the supporting applause indicated that the afternoon had been well spent, thank you David.
David is a member of Horsley Probus Club and has given talks on military history to many Probus Clubs, Regimental Groups and educational establishments. He is a frequent speaker at the National Army Museum, Maritime Museum in Greenwich and the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst.
He is a prominent member of the Crimean War Research Society (http://www.crimeanwar.org/ with thanks for some of the report details) and visits the areas of conflict in the Baltic and Black Sea on a regular basis.
Although nominally retired in his spare time he continues to act as Chairman of his own engineering group based on the Brooklands Estate.
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