Crimea Painting

[SergeantFirstClass]

I have a print of this in my home. It's also my home bar area. This is the print called the "Thin Red Line"


Oddly, later in the day after this action took place (Seaforth Highlanders under Captain Colin Campbell), the charge of the Light Brigade happened. This was the highlight of the day.....Battle of Balaclava.

[macwilkin]

I have a print of this in my home. It's also my home bar area. This is the print called the "Thin Red Line"


Oddly, later in the day after this action took place (Seaforth Highlanders under Captain Colin Campbell), the charge of the Light Brigade happened. This was the highlight of the day.....Battle of Balaclava.

It wasn't the Seaforths, though...it was the 93rd (Argylls). A correspondent for the Times reported that the Argylls stood like a "thin red streak tipped with a line of steel" against the Russian cavalry at Balaklava. The phrase has been shortened in popular culture to "The Thin Red Line" and the great Kenneth Alford, bandmaster for both the Argylls and the Royal Marines, as well as the author of the world-famous "Colonel Bogey" march from The Bridge on the River Kwai wrote a march with that same name.

And I believe Sir Colin was a general, not a captain.

http://www.aboutscotland.com/argylls/93bala.html

Cheers,

Todd

[Nervous Jock]

It wasn't the Seaforths, though...it was the 93rd (Argylls). A correspondent for the Times reported that the Argylls stood like a "thin red streak tipped with a line of steel" against the Russian cavalry at Balaklava. The phrase has been shortened in popular culture to "The Thin Red Line" and the great Kenneth Alford, bandmaster for both the Argylls and the Royal Marines, as well as the author of the world-famous "Colonel Bogey" march from The Bridge on the River Kwai wrote a march with that same name.

And I believe Sir Colin was a general, not a captain.

http://www.aboutscotland.com/argylls/93bala.html

Cheers,

Todd

Indeed the Argylls and i believe this is reflected in the style of the dicing on their Glengarry's, as with many events, other brave men of the day are forgotten, in this case the Turks who held the line with the 93rd

[davim19]

We can't forget the Royal Marine Artillery and Royal Marine Light Infantry who were also involved.

The Highland Brigade had a very successful campaign in the Crimea, they not only held the line at Balaklava, but also led the second charge up the hill up the Alma, attacked the port at Kerch and served in the trenches at Sebastopol.

I re-enact the Crimea as an infantryman in the 19th Foot and intend to one day put together a full 93rd uniform as a talking piece for our displays.

[Nervous Jock]

[QUOTE=davim19;436930]
The Highland Brigade had a very successful campaign in the Crimea, they not only held the line at Balaklava, but also led the second charge up the hill up the Alma, attacked the port at Kerch and served in the trenches at Sebastopol.
[QUOTE]


Reflected in the "Forward the 42nd" painting

[Cawdorian]

A bit of trivia - this regiment wore the Campbell of Cawdor/District of Argyll tartan kilt.

If I'm wrong on this, someone (Todd) please correct me.

[macwilkin]

The 93rd was also engaged at the Battle of New Orleans on 8 January 1815, and almost succeeded in breaching Jackson's line:

On the left three light companies, among them the 93rd, stormed a redoubt on the river bank from which the whole enemy line could have been turned. But there too the Brigade Commander was killed, and the advance came to a standstill. The 93rd alone pushed out into the centre until they were only 1OO yards short of the ditch. Their Commanding Officer was killed. His successor would neither advance nor retire without a clear order. So there they stood rock-like, in close order, being slowly destroyed by the concentrated fire of the whole American line, until Lambert, the surviving General, after a careful survey, at last withdrew them. They came back with parade-ground precision, leaving three-quarters of their total strength killed or wounded and having laid the foundations of an immortal legend: a reputation for disciplined and indomitable courage. An American observer later commented; 'It was an act of cool determined bravery'. The British had nearly 2,000 casualties that day, of whom 557 were from the 93rd. The Americans behind their parapet had 6 killed and 7 wounded.

-- http://www.aboutscotland.com/argylls/93norleans.html

Regards,

Todd

[Coemgen]

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd & thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

[davim19]

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd & thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

The best piece of fictional propaganda ever written.
The cannons to the left had been captured by the Chasseurs d'afrique, the cannons to the right were the captured Turkish guns and hardly fired at all.

The man who wrote this based it upon an article written by a correspondant who turned up just in time to see the last stragglers return from the charge which actually suceeded with relatively few casualties. The brigade took the guns that they charged spiking many of them and drove off the Russian cavalry behind said guns. The casualty figures were less than half what the infantry lost at any of the other battles.

Unfortunately everyones view is based upon a poem written 3 days after the event, based upon reports by two men (William Howard Russell and Lord Raglan) who both failed to see what happened.

[Graywolf]

And once again reality intrudes on "poetic license". Okay, we can all agree Braveheart - good movie not histirically accurate. The Patriot - Braveheart in America -not historically accurate. The Charge of the Light Brigade - excellent poem - not historically accurate.

I could continue forever. Point is this - to get men into battle, to be the "thin red line" - sometimes the thought and not the fact is more important. However, we all need to know the fact also.

Thanks for the update, correction, whatever you want to call it.