General Liprandi, inspecting men of the Light Brigade taken prisoner, asked them in English: ‘ What did they give you to drink?’ William Kirk of the 17th Lancers answered back: ‘ You think we were drunk? By God, if we had as much as smelt the barrel, we would have taken half Russia by now.’Īfter the charge, one survivor returned to the tent he had shared with nine others – and found himself alone now. This historic engagement occurred in 1865 during the Crimean War - at the same time of our own. There was a massacre at a British fortress in Northern India that prompted revenge. Russian officers called it a ‘wild charge’ and decided the whole brigade must have been made drunk before being sent against the guns. The Charge of the Light Brigade - 600 British Lancers who challenged the Russian Army of 25,000 and prevailed in the battle - but at great cost and casualties. It was like riding into the mouth of a volcano.’Īs what remained of the Light Brigade disappeared into the smoke and belching flames of the Russian guns, it seemed that these magnificent cavalrymen had charged into hell itself. ‘ When the last volley went off, the flame, the smoke, the roar, were in our faces. Lances and sabres were lowered to the ‘engage’. When the brigade was eighty yards from the gun line, officers and men spurred their horses to the final dash. ‘ Our pace increased amidst the thickest shower of roundshot and shell, whistling and cracking overhead. ‘ My horse was hit by a ball in the neck, which covered me with a shower of blood from the wound.’ Men and horses fell dead or mutilated at every stride. The barrage of roundshot and shell was constant and deafening. The Charge Of The Light Brigade (1936) (689) 1 h 13+ Errol Flynn and Patrick Knowles are two brothers whose love for the same woman at a perilous Foreign Legion outpost in India leads to the famous 'charge' against Surat Kahn. ‘ The men in my squadron were nearly all cut down, including a sergeant who had his head blown off.’Īs they brought their mounts to the gallop and headed straight for the muzzles of the guns ahead, these cavalrymen also came under fire from enemy guns on both flanks. ‘ The cannons in front were visible as streaks of fire two feet long in the centre of a gush of thick white smoke.’ Survivors described what one man called ‘that ride of horrors’: Despite the cracks of shells bursting overhead and the shrieks of troopers pierced by burning metal shards, the most macabre sound was the wet ‘slosh’ of a twelve-pound iron roundshot passing through a man’s chest, leaving little of the torso intact. It took seven minutes to ride Hell’s mile. The smell of acrid smoke and horses breathĬertain death for many, because the Russians had cannons ahead of them, and cannons on both flanks. Not to be outdone by Tennyson’s rhythmic beat, Iron Maiden’s opening riff sounds like the thunder of galloping hooves: Steve Harris was inspired by Tennyson when he wrote the lyrics for The Trooper. His verses caught the public imagination with their rhythm that echoed the beat of the hooves: #The charge of the light brigade full#The best-known cavalry charge in history is commemorated by the best-known poem in the English language: The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Directed by Michael Curtiz Writing Credits Cast (in credits order) verified as complete Produced by Music by Max Steiner Cinematography by Sol Polito. Those who survived took a bloody revenge on the enemy. In the slaughter that followed, many fell to roundshot and shell fired from the front and both sides. 666 cavalrymen armed with sabre and lance charged down a mile-long valley, straight at the muzzles of Russian cannons. This film chronicles the events that led to the British involvement in the Crimean War against Russia, the siege of Sevastopol and the fierce Battle of Balaclava on Octowhich climaxed with the heroic, but near-disastrous cavalry charge made by the British Light Brigade against a Russian artillery battery in a small valley which resulted in the near-destruction of the brigade due to error of judgment and rash planning on part by the inept British commanders. This film followed an earlier version The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland.At Balaklava on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, the Light Brigade made the most magnificent and most brutal charge in military history. Director Tony Richardson used one of the biggest blunders in British military history to offer commentary on the ongoing Vietnam War.
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