2-913-985 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Action at Balaclava - Charge of the Scots Greys, October 25, 1854. Crimean War: '...the moment when the command was given to charge the Russian columns...The numbers [of Russian soldiers] opposed to the Scots Greys were in the proportion of six to one; and the enemy, opening their ranks before the gallant Greys, received them in their midst, and then closed in upon them. For several minutes the bearskins disappeared from sight, but at last the belligerent circle sprang asunder, similar to a bursting shell, and the red coats appeared, driving before them, in headlong flight, the routed enemy. The struggle had been a fearful one, and at first the Russians, encouraged by their formidable numerical superiority, fought furiously. Daunted, and at length routed by the heroic bravery of these 280 British sabres, the enemy galloped back in disorder...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.