On the 5th November 1854 a smaller British and (yes) French army beat off an assault by the Russians at Inkerman in the Crimea. It was known as “The Soldier’s Battle” as men fought small engagements due to poor visibility in dense fog.
The Russians had massed 32000 men on the Allied flank and headed for the 2700 man 2nd Division, commanded today by the aggressive Pennefather. Instead of falling back in the face of superior numbers, he advanced. The British had their rifles to thank this day as they took a terrible toll on the musket armed Russian Infantry, who were hemmed in by the valley’s bottle neck shape. The British 2nd Division pushed the Russians back onto their reinforcements and should have been routed by the Russians’ numbers, but the fog and the British Light Division saved them. Three successive Russian commanders were killed in this engagement.
The Russians other 15000 men approached and assailed the Sandbag Battery, but they were routed by 300 British defenders vaulting the wall, blunting the lead Battalions, who were then attacked in the flank. More Russian attacks ensured the Battery exchanged hands several times.
The British 4th Division was not as lucky. Arriving on the field, its flanking move was itself flanked and its commander, Cathcart, killed. This enabled the Russians to advance, but not for long. They were soon driven off by French units arriving from their camps and made no more headway.
The battle was lost and they had to withdraw.
This was the last time the Russians tried to defeat the Allied troops in the field. Despite this reverse, however, the Russian attack had seriously stalled the Allies from capturing Sevastopol. They had to instead, spend one harsh winter on the heights overlooking the city, before it fell in September of 1855.
The British suffered 2573 casualties, the French 1800 and the Russians 11959.
A fat and meddling pope died today of his excesses in 1285
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On the 28th March 1285 Pope Martin IV died in Perugia, Italy.
He was born in Brie in France, was short and fat and was renowned for eating to excess. He had been pope for 4 years. He had not accomplished his two objectives: to reunite Christiandom’s two halves under Rome(there was a Byzantine church in Constantinople) and to make the French king’s brother, Charles,King of Naples and Sicily, ruler in the East. He had been his patron.
Pope Martin excommunicated the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII and made Charles’ invasion a Crusade. Charles’ expedition failed and the Byzantine Empire and its church would last for another 160 years(1453).
As a consequence of his Crusade, King Charles lost his kingdom to the king of Aragon. Pope Martin reacted by excommunicated him too. Charles never regained his kingdom, dying in 1285, aged 59.
Three months later the obese Pope Martin IV died of dyspepsia after eating another of his gargantuan meals. Dante put him in his Inferno along with the other gluttons. -
@wittmann:
after eating another of his gargantuan meals.
Interesting choice of adjectives.
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Morning Marc.
I try my best to use gargantuan as much as possible these days.
I know it means so much to all of us. -
@wittmann:
I try my best to use gargantuan as much as possible these days.
I know it means so much to all of us.sounds like a gargantuanish plan to me wittmann… :-)
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