Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,994
"This is not war, this is madness!"
On October 25, 1854, during the Crimean War, near the British supply port of the town of Balaklava...
...a battle.
Part of the Russian troops besieged in Sebastopol broke out of the fortress, joined forces with reserves brought from Russia and are now attacking under the command of General Pavel Liprandi...
... in a strength of 23,000 men the British and their allies under Field Marshall Lord Fitzroy Somerset, 1st Earl of Raglan...
...which are slightly weaker in numbers with a total strength of 20,000 men.
During the battle, the Russians manage to capture some Ottoman cannons...
... on what the British call the Causeway Hills.
This defeat rankles Lord Raglan - in those days, losing cannons to the enemy in battle was almost as ignominious as losing a flag!
Raglan therefore orders the unused British cavalry to be used to recapture the guns from the Russians before they can transport them away as booty.
His order, which is already very unclear in itself, runs through the chain of command of Raglan's chief of staff, General Richard Airey...
... to the aide-de-camp Captain Louis Edward Nolan...
... further who passed it on to George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan...
... hands over the commander of the cavalry division and he in turn hands this over to his brother-in-law James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan...
... the commander of the light cavalry brigade.
From passing to passing, the command becomes more and more garbled.
In addition, all three participants, Nolan, Lucan and Cardigan are related to each other, hate each other with fervor and there is no willingness among them to help or even support each other in a comradely manner.
Cardigan, who is now supposed to carry out the matter, is confused - he doesn't know what to recapture.
The guns in question are on the Causeway Hills, which Cardigan cannot see from where he is. He asks Nolan to explain.
But Nolan just waves his saber wildly and snaps at Cardigan with barely concealed contempt:
"There, sir, is the enemy! And there, sir, are your guns!"
As luck would have it, Nolan pointed the point of his saber at another well-fortified Russian Don Cossack gun emplacement at the end of the northern valley.
A frontal cavalry attack on these - wrong! - But position means: The riders have to take almost a one-kilometer route through an uncovered valley, the three surrounding ranges of which are occupied by the enemy and at the end of which an entrenched artillery position awaits...:
When Cardigan Nolan points out the expected slaughter among his riders from crossfire from three sides, he replies something like "Orders are orders!"
**continued next post**
On October 25, 1854, during the Crimean War, near the British supply port of the town of Balaklava...

...a battle.
Part of the Russian troops besieged in Sebastopol broke out of the fortress, joined forces with reserves brought from Russia and are now attacking under the command of General Pavel Liprandi...

... in a strength of 23,000 men the British and their allies under Field Marshall Lord Fitzroy Somerset, 1st Earl of Raglan...

...which are slightly weaker in numbers with a total strength of 20,000 men.
During the battle, the Russians manage to capture some Ottoman cannons...

... on what the British call the Causeway Hills.
This defeat rankles Lord Raglan - in those days, losing cannons to the enemy in battle was almost as ignominious as losing a flag!
Raglan therefore orders the unused British cavalry to be used to recapture the guns from the Russians before they can transport them away as booty.
His order, which is already very unclear in itself, runs through the chain of command of Raglan's chief of staff, General Richard Airey...

... to the aide-de-camp Captain Louis Edward Nolan...

... further who passed it on to George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan...

... hands over the commander of the cavalry division and he in turn hands this over to his brother-in-law James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan...

... the commander of the light cavalry brigade.
From passing to passing, the command becomes more and more garbled.
In addition, all three participants, Nolan, Lucan and Cardigan are related to each other, hate each other with fervor and there is no willingness among them to help or even support each other in a comradely manner.
Cardigan, who is now supposed to carry out the matter, is confused - he doesn't know what to recapture.
The guns in question are on the Causeway Hills, which Cardigan cannot see from where he is. He asks Nolan to explain.
But Nolan just waves his saber wildly and snaps at Cardigan with barely concealed contempt:
"There, sir, is the enemy! And there, sir, are your guns!"
As luck would have it, Nolan pointed the point of his saber at another well-fortified Russian Don Cossack gun emplacement at the end of the northern valley.
A frontal cavalry attack on these - wrong! - But position means: The riders have to take almost a one-kilometer route through an uncovered valley, the three surrounding ranges of which are occupied by the enemy and at the end of which an entrenched artillery position awaits...:

When Cardigan Nolan points out the expected slaughter among his riders from crossfire from three sides, he replies something like "Orders are orders!"
**continued next post**