Battle Honours of the British Army / From Tangier, 1662, to the Commencement of the Reign of King Edward VII

by Charles Boswell Norman

Lord Raglan had in the meantime moved down the First and Fourth Divisions to reinforce Balaclava, and, recognizing the military genius of the Brigade Commander, ordered the Duke of Cambridge to take his instructions from Sir Colin Campbell. The services of the infantry were not called into requisition, but, owing to some inconceivable blunder, never yet properly explained, the Light Brigade of cavalry, without any supports, were ordered to attack the Russian troops in the westernmost valley. Here there was a whole division of Russian cavalry, with a force of six battalions of infantry supporting thirty-six guns, and at this force the little cavalry brigade, just 636 strong, was let loose. "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre!" was the comment of a French General who witnessed the spectacle. The Earl of Cardigan was not wanting in personal courage, but he was totally inexperienced in war. He led his men straight at the guns, and escaped scathless himself, but he acted in defiance of all the canons of the art of war. The charge of the Light Brigade has been immortalized by Tennyson, but, alas! the men who participated in it were rewarded with the same decoration as the infantry soldiers who marched down from the camp to act as spectators of that gallant charge. The clasp "Balaclava" means nothing; the name on the colours is the battle honour.

Casualties at the Battle of Balaclava.

Regiments.	Officers.		Men.
	K.	W.	K.	W.
Staff	2	4	-	-
4th Drag. Gds.	-	-	1	4
5th Drag. Gds.	-	2	2	11
Roy. Dragoons	-	4	2	7
R. Scots Greys	-	4	2	53
Inniskilling Dragoons	-	-	2	13
4th Hussars	2	2	32	22
8th Hussars	2	2	30	23
11th Hussars	-	3	32	23
13th Hussars	3	-	24	14
17th Lancers	3	4	33	34
Sutherland Highlanders	-	-	-	-

Inkerman, November 5, 1854.

This battle honour is borne by the

4th Hussars.
8th Hussars.
11th Hussars.
13th Hussars.
17th Lancers.
Grenadier Guards.
Coldstream Guards.
Scots Guards.
Royal Scots.
King's Own.
Royal Fusiliers.
Yorkshire.
Lancashire Fusiliers.
Royal Scots Fusiliers.
Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
Gloucesters.
East Lancashire.
West Riding.
Border.
South Staffords.
Welsh.
Essex.
Sherwood Foresters.
North Lancashire.
Royal Berkshires.
West Kent.
Middlesex.
Manchesters.
Durham Light Infantry.
Connaught Rangers.
Rifle Brigade.

This was indeed a soldiers' battle. In the early dawn of November 5 a large Russian force, taking advantage of a dense fog, issued from Sevastopol and surprised our troops in the trenches. Reinforcements were hurried up from the camp, and the men—the few men on duty in the trenches and in the advanced siege-works—behaved with unexampled heroism. As each fresh regiment came up it was hurried into action, without any regard to brigades or divisions, and, indeed, in many cases men were found fighting in groups under officers of different regiments. The Allies were not merely surprised: they were outnumbered, as the following table shows:

Troops Engaged.	Men.	Guns.	Officers.		Men.
			K.	W.	K.	W.
British	8,500	38	44	102	616	1,878
French	7,500	18	14	34	118	1,299
Russians	42,000	106	2	47	4,976	10,162

After an heroic struggle, in which the Russians displayed the greatest gallantry, they were driven back, with terrible slaughter, the fire of those of our regiments which were armed with the Minié rifle doing fearful execution in the dense columns of the enemy. It will hardly be believed that many regiments were still armed with the Brown Bess with which we fought in the Peninsula, although the Minié rifle had in the Kaffir War three years before proved itself a most formidable weapon.

The losses of the army during the winter of 1854-55 were appalling, but the men bore them without a murmur. With the spring active operations were renewed, and on June 18, the anniversary of Waterloo, an attempt was made to carry the fortress by storm. In this disastrous attack our losses were 22 officers and 247 men killed, 78 officers and 1,207 men wounded. Ten days later the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Raglan, died, and the command was given to his Chief of the Staff, another Peninsular veteran, Sir James Simpson, an officer who did not enjoy the confidence of the army, and who practically owned that he felt himself unfitted to exercise its command.