THE JUBILEE OF BALACLAVA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXII, Issue 13575, 22 October 1904, Page 5

THE JUBILEE OF BALACLAVA.

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE. INCIDENTS OF THE GLORIOUS DAY. ■ As the celcbiation ol iiimiversancs ann. jubilees is the ordoi in' the day. it i* ; cx ‘ port' d that some rtcfw will bo taken urxl v -pok to recosniis-.: tne ibikih anniversary of the Charge of the - Light Brigade, mid to bring fro Hi to mind again one' ot the most, heroic and glorious incidents Oi tnodem warfare. No doubt many flags wi! ! Uv from house-iops. bin. it has horn suggested that- besides that domnnotration, historical accounts of the incident (should bn read in the public mid private schools, sn that the brilliant daring displayed by British soldiers on the battle-field fifty years a no may be more firmly fixed in. the minds of the younger generation. Unfort unatelv. I hose who have personal recollections of I'm fr.mi.us cliarg-. or fd the events that immediately preceded or followed it, arc tew and , seat tercel. Occasionally, however, even in the colonies, grey-headed men are met who, in thcii green old age, can cast their minds back to Alma. Balaclava, and lukerman, and ,relate stories that make the blond quicken and the pulse heat faster. In Canterbury there are a small handful of men who are able to describe what they jaw in the Crimea in the ‘‘early fifties. In '.cllington. it i.s stated, one of those who actually look part in the charge is employed' as a- messenger in tho Government Buildings and nearly every ton n. rillag--and city in New Zealand claims us honoured! Crimean veteran, or, at. least, some one connected in some way with (he great campaign. A gentleman who arrived at Balaclava, a, few clays after tho engagement is able to supplement the interesting remarks made by Captain Whitby, unci published <-n Thursday. He says that the rash onslaught was at" that time almost, the sole topic of conversation throughout the’ whole oi the British army. When the soldiers, assembled round their tires and; in their tents at night, they discussed, the incident in all its bearings. There was not a. man who did not speak of the charge with pride. They felt that the glory belonged not only to the tew who lushed jar tne enemy's guns, but to the army and the nation. There was one no to of regret that went through the army, and wan sounded by officers and men, soldieis. and civilians. “ Poor Nolan ! 1 He was never more restless, never more vehement, ami never more ardently loved by. his men than on the day when ho danced out lightly on his splendid horse in advance oi the Hussars, with his flashing sabre, and fell one of the first An. opinion aviis expressed on all sides that a great mistake had been made. No one could believe that the charge had been pan of a plan, and it was conceded that the order had been misconstrued, accidentally nr otherwise. It was known that Nolan, always impetuous, felt sore because he felt that the cavalry had not been used as much, as they ought to have been. The feeling was not shared by him alone. Nearly all the other cavalry officers entertained the same feeling. They had been wading by their homes, which were “eating their heads off.” They believed that nothing on earth . could stop a cavalry charge ; certainly no battery such as the .Russians presented could stand the shock of a- charge of British horse. Nol-am ’ held this opinion, firmer than anybody. He was one of those men who Hold all their opinions' firmly, always being unable to sec the other s'ide of an argument. Besides that, he was continually expressing his opinions. He could not keep them to himself, and everybody knew exactly how he felt. It was reported Hurt after Alma he had. used very angry words. One thou stand- British cavalry,” ho exclaimed, “looking on at a beaten army retreating, gums, standards’, colours and all. with a wretched hor'le of Cossacks and '-coward*, who had' ; never struck a blow, ready to turn tail at the first trumpet —within a. ten minute*’ gallop of them—it is enough to drive one mad ! It is too disgraceful, too infamous! They ought'ail of them to Iks —Whether Nolan used these words or not, the gentleman says, they are the very words that everybody" would expect, him to nee. Ho had not recovered from his anger when Balaclava was fought, on October 25. and the opinion freely expressed at the lima was that, while still smarting under his supposed grievance and while still in ani angty mood, chance suddenly threw in his way" an opportunity to titovr the world what, his darling horsemen could do. He delivered the fatal order in such a. way that Lord Cardigan felt compelled, or, as some said, inclined, to charge- for the guns, and six hundred cavalry' redo headlong against the great Russian army. THE CHARGE. Dr Russell has done for the Light Brigade in prose what Tennyson has don© for it in poetry. As war correspondent for the “Timet',” he was present with, the troops, and saw the charge.. The account he sent to his journal was written in, the camp in front, of Sebastopol osi the night of fhe historic engagement. “ At ten minutes past eleven in the forenoon,” he says, “ our Light Cavalry Brigade advanced. The whole brigade scarcely made one effective regiment, according to the numbers of continental armies, and yet it was more, than we could spare. As they rushed towards the front, the Russians opened, on them from the guns in the redoubt on the right, with volleys of musketry and! rifles-. “ They swept proudly past, glittering in the morning sun in all the pride and splendour of war. We could scarcely believe the evidence of our senses! Surely that handful of men are not going to charge an army in position? Alu-s! it was but too true. Their desperate valour knew nr bounds, and far indeed was it removed from its so-called better part, discretion. They advanced in two lines, quickening their pace as they closed towards tho enemy. A more fearful spectacle* was never witnessed- than by those who, without. the power to aid, beheld their heroic countrymen, rushing to tho arms, of death. “At the distance of 1.200 yards, the whole line of the enemy belched forth from thirty iron mouths a ‘flood of smoke and flame, through which hissed the deadly balls. Their flight was marked by instant gap© in our ranks, by dead men. and horses, by steed* flying wounded or riderless across the plain. “The. first line is broken; it is joined by the second ; they never halt or check their speed an instant. With, diminished ranks, thinned, by those, thirty guns, which the Russians had laid with the most deadly accuracy, with a halo of flashing steel above their heads, and with a cheer which was ma.nv a noble fellows death cry, they flew into the- smoke of the batteries ; hue ere they were lost from view, the plain was strewn with their bodies and with the carcases of horses. They were exposed to an oblique fire from the batteries on the hills on both sides, as well as to a direct fire of musketrv. “ Through the clouds of smoke we could see their .fibres flashing as they rod© up to the guns and dashed between them, cuttingdown the gunners as tcey stood. We saw them riding through the guns, as 1 have said ‘ to our delight we saw them returnin'-'. Viler breaking through a column ol Russian infantry, and .scattering them like c-hall, when the*flank lire of the battery on. the hill swept them down, scattered and broken as they were. Wounded men and dismounted troopers firing Inwards us told the sad tale—demi-gods could not have done what wo had failed to do. “ At the very moment when they were about to retreat, an enormous maos of ‘Lancers was hurled on their flank. Colonel Slierwe.il. of the Eighth Hussars, saw the danger and rode his few men straight at them, cutting his wav through with fearful loss.

The other regiments turned and engaged in a desperate encounter. With courage too great almost for credence, they -were breaking their Avav through the columns which enveloped them, when there took place an act of atrocity without parallel in the modem warfare of civilised nationsThe. Russian gunneits. when the storm of cavalry passed, relumed to their guns. They saw their own cavalry mingled with our troopers, who had just ridden o\er them, -and, to the eternal disgrace of ths 11-ussian name, the miscreants poured a. murderous volley of grape and ca.ni.Stor on the mass of .struggling men and horses, mingling friend and foe in.one common ruin. . “It waft as much as our Heavy Cavalry Brigade could do to cover Dae retreat of the' miserable remnants of .that band of heroes as thev returned to the place ‘hey had lately quilted in all the pride of life. At thirtv-fivo minutes past eleven, not a British soldier, except the dead and dying, was left in front of those bloody Muscovite guns.” __________