The Charge: The Real Reason why the Light Brigade was Lost

ISBN-10: 1844137341
ISBN-13: 9781844137343
Pages: 295
Language: English
Published: 2004
Publisher: Pimlico
Author: Mark Adkin

Description

The charge of the Light Brigade is one of Britain's best-known glorious military disasters. On 25 October 1854, during the siege of Sebastopol, the Light Brigade attacked Russian gun positions at Balaclava. The charge lasted 7 minutes; of 673 officers and men who went into action, 247 men and 497 horses were lost. This book shatters many long-held conceptions of how and why it happened, and who was to blame. Mark Adkin, a former professional soldier, has combined military expertise and detailed research of participants' accounts with a careful examination of the actual ground. His story switches carefully from the strategic and tactical problems of the battlefield to what it was like for the trooper riding down the valley or a Russian gunner serving his cannon. Through the novel use of sketches the reader can, at every stage, look down on the battlefield from the same position as that used by the British commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan.