Struggle in Russia

While the British army was busy reorganizing their formation and accusing and condemning the Turks, the Russian infantry occupied the first to fourth forts on the causeway heights. After destroying the cannon mounts, they abandoned the fourth fortress.

Seeing that the passage had been opened, Menshikov immediately ordered General Ryzhov's cavalry to move to the northern canyon of Balaclava behind these fortresses, and launched a charge towards the defense line of the 93rd Highland Brigade.

At this moment, the moment that decided the fate of the British army or the coalition forces arrived. If Ryzhov can quickly break through the 930th Brigade's defense line, then the coalition forces will have nothing to prevent the Russian army from breaking into Balaklava, and the coalition's logistical supplies will definitely be finished by then.

But what is incomprehensible is that the 93rd Highland Brigade of the British Army only built a line of defense that could not be called solid at all, but it blocked the charge of the Russian light cavalry!

At that time, Ryzhov's first wave of four cavalry squadrons, about 400 cavalrymen, began to charge, charging straight towards the Highland Brigade from the causeway heights.

Campbell ordered his soldiers to line up in two rows, forming a thin line of defense instead of the square formations that infantry usually used to block cavalry. Fanny Duberry, who was watching, was very puzzled and frightened. He said:

"Bullets started flying, and the Russian cavalry was rushing down the hillside, crossing the canyon and heading straight into the Highland Brigade's position. Ah! The situation was urgent! Facing the oncoming cavalry, how could that slender line of defense resist so many enemy troops? The enemy rushed so fast, yet they stood there motionless!"

However, the reason why Campbell put up such a formation is that he knew that it was very difficult to stop the enemy with the troops he had on hand. The only way was to rely on the high-speed and high-precision advantages of the Minie rifle at hand. Although a first-line defense line was weak, But it can maximize its firepower. As long as he can block the impact of the Russian cavalry, reinforcements will soon come to support him.

The Russian cavalry was getting closer and closer. Campbell rode his horse along the defense line while shouting to the soldiers. He ordered everyone to stand still and die here.

According to the memories of Lieutenant Colonel Sterling of the 93rd Brigade, he felt that Campbell was not lying when he said these words, and it seemed that he really intended to fight to the end.

"The Times" reporter Russell was also watching the battle on the high ground. To him, the 93rd Brigade's defense line looked like red streaks on the tip of a steel rope. He saw that the defense line composed of British soldiers in red did not move at all, but the Russian cavalry began to hesitate.

At this time, the distance between the two sides was only the last one thousand meters. Campbell issued an order to fire, and the British army's first salvo started. After the smoke cleared, Sergeant Munro of the 93rd Brigade saw that the Russian army was still charging, and then the British army immediately launched the second round of salvo from the top of the second row of soldiers.

At this time, the Russian army began to appear confused and changed direction and rushed towards the flank of the British army. The British's third volley was even closer, hitting the flank of the turning Russian cavalry, forcing the Russians to turn around and retreat.

The cavalry of the four squadrons of Ryzhov's first echelon were repelled in this way. They could have changed history, but they lacked confidence and let this opportunity go, so that the Russian army could no longer threaten Balaklava.

Seeing that the charge of the first echelon was not going smoothly, Ryzhov immediately sent his main force of 2,000 hussars and Cossacks to launch a second attack on the British army.

But it was too late. At this time, the British heavy cavalry brigade had arrived on the battlefield to support the 93rd Brigade. These 700 heavy cavalry slowly climbed up the hillside, keeping in step and in neat formation, and then about 10 meters away from the enemy. A hundred meters away, he waved his sword and started to charge.

The vanguard of the British Heavy Cavalry Brigade was the Scottish Gray Knights and the Inniskillings Regiment, the 6th Dragoons. They collided head-on with the charging Russian cavalry and were completely surrounded. Fortunately, the British 4th and 5th Dragoon Regiments that followed soon joined the melee.

The cavalry on both sides were tightly entangled in the trembling, and there was no room to use their swordsmanship. All they could do was to raise their swords and swing their sabers to chop at any place they could reach, just like a street fight.

Sergeant Major Henry Franks of the 5th Dragoon Regiment witnessed Private Harry Herbert being attacked by three Cossacks at the same time:

"He struck one of them in the back of the neck with his sword, causing him to fall down immediately. The second man saw this and ran away. Then Herbert stabbed the third man in the chest with his sword, but the blade was three inches away from the hilt. It broke... He threw the heavy hilt at the Russian cavalry and hit him in the face. The Cossack immediately fell to the ground..."

Major William Forrest of the 4th Dragoon Regiment also recalled: "A Russian hussar slashed at my head, but it was blocked by my brass helmet, leaving me only a slight scratch. I immediately attacked him I cut it off, but I didn’t feel it hurt him much, just like he didn’t hurt me. I didn’t know who hit me on my shoulder. Fortunately, it wasn’t too serious. It just scratched the soft armor and slightly injured my shoulder. ."

It seems that this battle is very fierce. Two regiments of cavalry are fighting against each other, which is dizzying. But what people didn't expect was that it was fierce, but the casualties were really not worth mentioning. Only a dozen people were killed on both sides together, and another 300 people were injured, most of them on the Russian side.

This fierce battle came to an end after ten minutes, because the Russian army collapsed first. They turned their horses and fled towards the northern canyon, while the British army pursued them until they were encountered by the Russian army at Fejiuk. The artillery bombardment on Sea Heights and Causeway Heights was withdrawn.

However, the British heavy cavalry also completed their mission, and they bought enough time. When they returned from riding, the British reinforcements outside Sevastopol finally arrived on the battlefield, and then the French reinforcements also arrived.

If this battle ended like this, there would be nothing bad about the British army not to mention a complete victory. But as the Russian cavalry retreated, Raglan, who was watching the battle on Sarborne Heights, noticed that the Russians were dragging away the cannon from the British fort on Causeway Heights.

Suddenly Raglan couldn't stand it, because it was said that the Duke of Wellington had never lost an artillery piece in battle, which was the myth and highest honor of the British Army. Raglan and his staff believed that it would be a slap in the face if the British cannons were captured by the Russians and displayed as trophies on the streets of Sevastopol!

Raglan immediately issued an order to the cavalry commander Lord Lucan, asking him to recapture the fortress on the causeway heights and try his best to prevent the Russian army from taking away the cannon. As a result, the British cavalry, which had just won a great victory, was immediately pushed forward by Raglan. Fire pit!