But the General knew that he must do his best to save "the thin red line" from being overridden, and the men knew that they had got the order to "charge," and it was their business to carry out the order, and not to look at the danger in doing it. So they charged.
The Russians were not less astonished than the British had been; instead of surprising the British, they were themselves surprised.
For a minute or two they hesitated. No officer gave any command, no one knew quite what to do, and in another minute the bolt burst upon them.
General Scarlett and his staff came—bang, smash!—right through their front ranks, followed immediately by the crashing weight of the Greys and the wildly cheering Inniskillings.
The shock of this charge rolled the foremost ranks of the Russians down underfoot as it ploughed its way into the centre of the column, and gave a sort of backward surge to the whole mass-for the Russian force was simply a big, square mass of men and horses.
Our charge, being made by a very small body, only broke into the central part of the Russian front, so the two flanks of their line wheeled forward like two arms to enfold it. But just as they were in the act of doing so they were caught by our second line of Royal Dragoons, 5th Dragoon Guards and Inniskillings; and were rolled up and ridden over in an awful confusion.
These heavy blows seemed to send the great Russian mass staggering backwards, when at this critical moment two more squadrons of Heavies, belonging to the 4th Dragoon Guards, suddenly plunged into the right flank of the Russian column, and completed its break-up.
It reeled again, and in a few minutes more was gradually melting and spreading over the hills behind in hurried flight from the battlefield. And the thin red line was saved.
The whole fight had lasted only eight minutes, the British loss was fifty killed and wounded, while the Russians lost about four hundred.
This battle, like Trafalgar and like many other British victories, showed that, with good, plucky leaders, backed up by men who can be trusted to obey their orders, we could attack overwhelming forces against us and come out victorious every time.