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.
Favorite Battle?
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What is your favorite battle to study?
My favorite battle is Cannae in the 2nd Punic War.
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Hi Worsham. Nice choice. Bring a battle of antiquity, there is not much material on which to work though.
First reaction was Normandy. Then I thought: is that a campaign? D-Day and the build up that developed have always fascinated me: German superior quality in tanks and defensive tactics against Allied numbers and air superiority.Then I thought: Gettysburg!
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Not a very original answer, but Hood vs. Bismarck for sure.
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The battles around Con Thien from May-July of 1967.
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Towton 1461. 1/10 of all adult males of fighting age in England were involved.
Built up a huge database of participants and their arms.
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My favourites, for sentimental reasons, would be Stalingrad on land and Midway at sea because those were the two battles that originally sparked my interest in military and naval history. My introduction to Stalingrad was the “Stalingrad” episode of the TV series The World at War, and my introduction to Midway was the Charlton Heston movie of the same name. As I said, they’re sentimental favourites – but even with all the other battles I’ve learned about since then, they still both rank highly as battles that were of great historical significance, that have a lot to teach about the strategic, operational and tactical aspects of warfare, and which are riveting stories in their own right. And they both occured in the middle-to-late part of 1942 (with Stalingrad dribbling a bit into early 1943), which was the “deep war” phase of WWII: the phase after the period of initial Axis successes but before the period of Allied supremacy, the phase during which the ultimate outcome of the war was still in doubt for both sides.
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Fascinating Flashman. Have you been on one of the walks?
How long is that list: would you let me have a copy, if it is not too much bother? -
Battle of the Bulge, because of the movie LOL, even though it had almost nothing to do with the historical Battle of the Bulge.
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