British Re-enact Charge of the Light Brigade
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By ALEXANDER MERKUSHEV, Associated Press Writer
BALACLAVA, Ukraine - Britain's Prince Philip and saber-waving cavalry re-enactors commemorated the charge of the Light Brigade on Monday, 150 years after the doomed British assault against Russian cannons in a Crimean War battle immortalized by the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson.
The incident, known around the world through the poem's ringing beginning of "Half a league, half a league, half a league onward," was one of the grimmest offensives of the war. Of the more than 600 soldiers who charged against Russian cannon, 110 were killed. In addition, 475 horses were lost, a significant blow to the cavalry.
The plunge into what Tennyson characterized as "The Valley of Death" was due to a confused order, and the charge came to be seen, through the poem, as the epitome of courage and obedience despite mistakes of command.
"Was there a man dismayed?/Not though the soldiers knew/Someone had blundered," Tennyson wrote. "Theirs not to reason why/Theirs but to do and die."
On Monday, about 30 British Lancer troops and re-enactors rode across the plain where the Russian cannon had been positioned. No cannons were placed in the field from which they once discharged fatal volleys.
A bugle believed to have been used to start the charge was blown for the commemoration ride, and a small, white wooden cross was erected in the field afterward.
"Many people lost their lives that day ... no great victory to either side," said Lord Cardigan, a descendant of the battle's cavalry commander, who rode with the lancers in civilian dress.
In a separate commemoration, the prince and other dignitaries marked the anniversary in a ceremony at an obelisk above the plain.
About 200 British tourists watched, along with a contingent of local residents, who appeared variously perplexed and delighted by appearance of horses and dignitaries. Children ran up to the horses excitedly, while the adults hung back with little comment.
A few Ukrainian naval sailors attended the ceremonies, but no one in Russian uniforms was seen.
The Crimean War was sparked in November 1853 by a dispute between the Islamic Ottoman Empire and Christian Imperial Russia in part over control of the Christian holy places in Jerusalem and Nazereth. Britain and France entered the war on the side of the Ottomans in early 1854 after the Russian navy sank the Ottoman fleet.
Fighting ended with Russia's defeat and the fall of Sevastopol in September 1855 and the Treaty of Paris was signed the following year.
