Battle of Inkerman (1854): The Soldiers' Battle in the Crimea

The Battle of Inkerman was fought on 5 November 1854 during the Crimean War, when a large Russian army attacked the British right flank on the heights east of Sevastopol. Fought in thick fog over broken, scrub-covered ground, it was decided by small groups of soldiers rather than by generals, earning it the name “the Soldiers’ Battle”. The arrival of French reinforcements turned the tide, and the Russians retreated with very heavy losses.

Background

By early November 1854 British and French armies were besieging the Russian naval base at Sevastopol. The Russian commander, Prince Alexander Menshikov, had received reinforcements and planned to break the Siege of Sevastopol by attacking from outside. A first attempt at Balaclava on 25 October, remembered for the Charge of the Light Brigade, had failed to drive the allies from their supply port.

The weakest point of the allied line was the British right, on the Inkerman ridge above the Chernaya River. It was held by the British 2nd Division, only lightly entrenched, with other divisions some distance away.

The Russian plan

The Russian plan, overseen by General Peter Dannenberg, was for two columns to converge on the ridge at dawn. General Fyodor Soimonov was to advance from Sevastopol with about 19,000 men, while General Prokofy Pavlov brought around 16,000 from across the Chernaya by the Inkerman bridge. A third force of about 20,000 under Prince Peter Gorchakov was to demonstrate near Balaclava to pin down the French.

The plan was complex and poorly coordinated. Two grand dukes, sons of Tsar Nicholas I, were present to watch, adding pressure on the commanders for a quick success. Soimonov took a different route from the one expected, so that the columns crowded onto a narrow front instead of attacking from two directions.

The battle

The Russians attacked early on 5 November in fog and drizzle. British pickets fought delaying actions, and General John Pennefather, commanding the 2nd Division because its usual commander was injured, chose to push his small units forward to meet the enemy rather than fall back.

Neither side could see more than a short distance. Companies and even individual soldiers fought on their own, often with the bayonet, in ravines and thickets. Soimonov was killed early in the fighting.

The most bitter struggle centred on the Sandbag Battery, an empty emplacement on the right of the British position. The Guards Brigade, under the Duke of Cambridge, fought over it repeatedly, and the position changed hands several times. General Sir George Cathcart led part of his 4th Division down into a ravine on the flank, was cut off and killed.

By mid-morning the British were close to exhaustion and running short of ammunition. Two heavy 18-pounder guns brought up from the siege lines began to silence Russian artillery. Then French troops under General Pierre Bosquet, including Zouaves and Algerian riflemen, arrived and attacked the Russian flank. By early afternoon Dannenberg ordered a retreat into Sevastopol.

Casualties

Losses were severe for an engagement of only a few hours. Figures vary between sources, but the Russians are usually reported to have lost around 10,000 to 12,000 men killed, wounded and missing. British casualties were about 2,500, including several generals, and the French lost about 1,700 to 1,800.

Many wounded were evacuated by sea to the hospitals at Scutari, where Florence Nightingale and her nurses had arrived only the day before.

Key people

General Peter Dannenberg (1792-1872) commanded the Russian attack on the day and was blamed for its failure. General John Pennefather (1798-1872), a tough Irish veteran of Indian campaigns, held the British line by aggressive local counter-attacks. General Pierre Bosquet (1810-1861) brought the French reinforcements that decided the battle and later became a Marshal of France. General Sir George Cathcart (1794-1854), a veteran of Waterloo, was the most senior British officer killed. He is buried on the hill near Sevastopol later called Cathcart’s Hill.

Consequences

Inkerman was a clear defensive victory for the allies, and the Russian field army made no further major attempt to relieve Sevastopol for many months. But the battle also showed how thinly the British were stretched. The allied commanders abandoned plans for an early assault on the city and settled into a winter siege.

That winter proved disastrous. A great storm on 14 November wrecked supply ships off Balaclava, and the British army suffered terribly from cold and disease in the months that followed.

Timeline

• 1854, 25 October: The Russians attack at Balaclava but fail to take the British supply port.
• 1854, 26 October: A smaller Russian probe against the same ridge, later called “Little Inkerman”, is repulsed.
• 1854, 4 November: Florence Nightingale’s nurses arrive at Scutari.
• 1854, 5 November, dawn: Russian columns attack the Inkerman ridge in fog.
• 1854, 5 November, mid-morning: French reinforcements under Bosquet reach the battlefield.
• 1854, 5 November, early afternoon: The Russians retreat into Sevastopol.
• 1854, 14 November: A great storm wrecks allied supply ships off Balaclava.

Why it matters

Inkerman ended Russia’s best chance to break the siege of Sevastopol in 1854 and confirmed the close cooperation of the British and French armies. Its confused, fog-bound fighting also became a lasting example of how battles can be decided by the courage and initiative of ordinary soldiers.