LITMIR.BIZ

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Light Brigade, and the other, the 5th Dragoon Guards, was in the Heavy

       Brigade.

      I don't mean that I was in the charges, too-no; I wasn't born then!

       But I am very proud to belong to two regiments that were there.

      Hussar regiments are called light cavalry, because they used to have small, light-weight men who could ride far and fast to scout the enemy. Dragoons were heavy troopers on big, strong horses, who by their weight and long swords could deliver an overwhelming charge upon an enemy.

      A Brigade consists of three regiments. Two Brigades make up a

       Division. So the Cavalry Division in the Crimea was made up of a Light

       Brigade and a Heavy Brigade.

      On October 25th the Light Cavalry Brigade got the order to charge the

       Russian artillery, which was supported by the infantry and cavalry.

      It was a hopeless task. The order had really been given by mistake. But that did not matter to men who were accustomed to obey. They charged, and, though it cost them a great number of gallant lives, they carried out their duty with such bravery and dash as to command the highest praise even from their enemies, and they won for British soldiers the name of being ready to sacrifice their lives to carry out their orders, even though the job looked hopeless. That is why Scouts to-day have as their motto the single word,

      "BALACLAVA"

      to remind them that if they get an order which it is a bore or even a danger to perform, their duty is to do as their brave fathers did at Balaclava, and carry it out cheerily and well.

      Now I will tell you about the charge of the Heavy Brigade,

      * * * * *

      "THE THIN RED LINE."

      You have often heard the British Army talked of as "the thin red line." Well, it got that title at Balaclava. Four hundred men of the 93rd Highlanders and a battalion of Turks were posted to guard the road leading to the harbour of Balaclava, when the Russians, some twenty thousand strong, proceeded to attack them. The Turks didn't like the look of things, so they turned tail and bolted but the brave Sir Cohn Campbell, who was in command of the Highlanders, said to them:

      "My lads, remember there is no retreat from here. You must die where you stand."

      And the gallant fellows meant to do it if they had to die—but they were not the sort to say die before they were dead They formed a line—a "thin red line," as it was afterwards described—on a small rising ground, and received the first charge of the Russian cavalry with so well-aimed and deadly a fire, at close range, that it put the others off charging for a while.

      The British Commander-in-Chief, seeing their danger, sent a message to the Heavy Brigade of cavalry, who were camped in the neighbourhood, to go to their assistance.

      The "Heavies" were already parading just outside their camp, when suddenly there appeared over the rising ground, within half a mile of them, the head of a big force of Russian cavalry quietly advancing towards them. Rather a startling apparition when the squadrons were all moving out of camp to form up on parade.

      But the General—General Scarlett—did not lose his head or hesitate for a moment.

      The enemy were on the left flank of the squadrons as they were moving out. He ordered them to wheel into line to the left, and, without the usual first orders to "Trot" and then to "Gallop," he directed his trumpeter to sound "Charge!" and he at once turned his horse towards the enemy, and started, with his staff officer and orderly, at a gallop to lead the attack.

      "DO OR DIE."

      The Brigade saw what was wanted. They did not wait to form into one line—that operation would have taken time—but each squadron wheeled up, and, closing in towards its neighbour, galloped forward to back up the General in the charge.

      The Scots Greys, in red tunics and bearskins, mounted on their grey horses, were in the front line with some of the Irish Inniskilling Dragoons, and close behind them came the 5th Dragoon Guards and the 1st Royal Dragoons, with their red tunics and shining helmets.

      There were not more than three hundred of them altogether, while the

       Russian column amounted to some twelve thousand. 'It looked as if the

       British must be smashed up by such overwhelming odds.

      [Illustration: This sketch map stows the positions of the British and

       Russian Forces in the charge of the Heavy Brigade at Balaclava.]

      But the General knew that he must do his best to save "the thin red line" from being overridden, and the men knew that they had got the order to "charge," and it was their business to carry out the order, and not to look at the danger in doing it. So they charged.

      The Russians were not less astonished than the British had been; instead of surprising the British, they were themselves surprised.

      For a minute or two they hesitated. No officer gave any command, no one knew quite what to do, and in another minute the bolt burst upon them.

      General Scarlett and his staff came—bang, smash!—right through their front ranks, followed immediately by the crashing weight of the Greys and the wildly cheering Inniskillings.

      The shock of this charge rolled the foremost ranks of the Russians down underfoot as it ploughed its way into the centre of the column, and gave a sort of backward surge to the whole mass-for the Russian force was simply a big, square mass of men and horses.

      Our charge, being made by a very small body, only broke into the central part of the Russian front, so the two flanks of their line wheeled forward like two arms to enfold it. But just as they were in the act of doing so they were caught by our second line of Royal Dragoons, 5th Dragoon Guards and Inniskillings; and were rolled up and ridden over in an awful confusion.

      These heavy blows seemed to send the great Russian mass staggering backwards, when at this critical moment two more squadrons of Heavies, belonging to the 4th Dragoon Guards, suddenly plunged into the right flank of the Russian column, and completed its break-up.

      It reeled again, and in a few minutes more was gradually melting and spreading over the hills behind in hurried flight from the battlefield. And the thin red line was saved.

      The whole fight had lasted only eight minutes, the British loss was fifty killed and wounded, while the Russians lost about four hundred.

      This battle, like Trafalgar and like many other British victories, showed that, with good, plucky leaders, backed up by men who can be trusted to obey their orders, we could attack overwhelming forces against us and come out victorious every time.

      Without discipline it could never have been done.

      * * * * *

      THE LOYALTY OF JACK TARS.

      Sir Christopher Myngs was one of the tough sea-dogs of the British

       Navy in the old days.

      He was killed in action at sea in 1666. He had been wounded by a bullet in the throat, but he held the wound together with his fingers and went on fighting till a second shot struck him, and he shortly afterwards died of his wounds. He was a splendid leader, brave and strict, and beloved by his men.

      His body was brought ashore to be buried in London, and at the funeral a party of sailors came up to the carriage in which Sir W. Coventry sat, and the leader of them, with tears in his eyes, asked him to beg of the King to give them an old ship which they might use as a fire-ship, and with which they might sail into the middle of the enemy's fleet and set fire to it.

      They would, of course, all lose their lives in doing this, but they did not mind so long as they could avenge

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