The Battle of Inkerman, Crimean War, shown by military
artists Lady Butler, Robert Gibb and Thomas Jones Barker, published by Cranston
Fine Arts, the military print company.
Battle
of Inkerman, 5th November 1854. A
Russian Sortie from Sebastopol attacked the British forces on the heights
of Inkerman, Although the British defence line was fairly weak. It
withstood the Russian heavy attacks. The heavy fighting caused large losses
for the Russians (over 12,000 men) and they withdraw, the British lost
2,500 and the French 1,000 troops.
The siege of Sebastopol teemed with tragic episodes and
Inkerman was one of the most tragic of them. As Henry
Russell says, "The Battle of Inkerman admits no
description. It was a series of dreadful deeds of daring,
of sanguinary hand to hand fights, of despairing rallies, of
desperate assaults in glens and valleys, in brushwood glades and
remote dells, hidden from all human eyes." The
besiegers were themselves threatened with investment, and once
more it was necessary to defend, at all costs, the communication
with the sea. Worn out by continual fighting, half starved
and exposed to the severities of a Russian winter, the British
faced the enemy reinforced by fifty thousand men. The
attack was sudden and fierce, and the Muscovites were at last
confident that they would drive the invaders into the sea.
Under cover of darkness they stole out of the city and in
silence approached the British right. A shot from a
surprised picket was the first warning, and the soldiers sprang
from their sleep into a hand to hand fight against overwhelming
numbers. Shoulder to shoulder they stood firm and resolute
while the Russian batteries hurled death among them. A
detachment charged up the hill to a redoubt in possession of the
enemy. Again and again they were repulsed and again and
again they came on until this little fort had about it a rampart
of dead. The Duke of Cambridge led the Guards to the
assault and a few hundred Coldstreamers held the redoubt against
six thousand. They fought till the ground was wet with
blood, and ammunition was exhausted. Then clubbing rifles
they burts through the enemy's ranks and regained the Household
Brigade. Cathcart's division advanced over the body of
their leader, pierced by a bullet as he gave the word of
command. With the courage of despair the Russians fought,
meeting heroism with heroism. Their reserves seemed
inexhaustible. No sooner was one regiment destroyed than
anotherappeared. And so the struggle went on - the
bloodiest in history. It looked as though the sheer weight
and numbers of the enemy must prevail. But Canrobert was
at hand. With Zouaves, infantry, and artillery he assailed
the flanks of the Russians, till with a wail of despair they
broke and fled, leaving us the victory and our heaped up slain. (extract
from British Battles 1898)
Grenadier
Guards at Inkerman At Inkerman, "the soldier's battle",
the Guards took 1,331 men into action. Tremendous was the conflict that
the Guards and Adam's brigade waged about the Sandbag Battery, that
"symbol of victory", as Hamley calls it, and the Fore Ridge. It
fell to the centre companies to occupy the battery, their right flank
companies thrown back along the ridge facing the Tchernaya plain and the
left facing the general Russian advance. "A continued struggle,"
says Sir F Hamilton, who was present, "and hand-to-hand combat now
ensued, the men fighting with the desperation of those who know their is
no support if they fail, and being often at such close quarters, that
having no opportunity of reloading, they would make use of the butt ends
of their muskets." On came Pauloff's Russians, hurling themselves in
successive waves against the battery, mown down by the steady fire f the
Grenadiers and the Scots Guards. So, to and fro, for six long hours the
terrific conflict at the Sandbag Battery was waged, and many an incident
of individual heroism bore testimony to the magnificent courage of the
Guards. At one time, in the heat of the conflict, the headquarters and
colours of the regiment, carried by Lieutenants Verschoyle and Turner,
being halted near the battery, several officers impetuous led their
companies in pursuit of the enemy, and after fighting desperately, retuned
to the hill by a circuitous route.
It is believed that the
Grenadiers were the only corps to carry their colours into action that
day. In the thick of the fight, gallant Captain Peel of the Navy joined
the Grenadiers, who were now reduced to about 100 officers and men at the
battery. At the close the Grenadiers had but 236 effective officers and
men on the field. Three officers (Lieutenant-Colonel Pakenham, and
Captains Sir R Newman, and the Honourable Henry Neville) were killed, and
six (including Colonel F W Hamilton, the historian of the regiment)
wounded, while of non-commissioned officers and rank and file, 101 were
killed and 124 wounded.
