Battle of the Great Redan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Battle of the Great Redan |
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| Part of the siege of Sevastopol (Crimean War) | |||||||
 The Attack on the Redan by Robert Alexander Hillingford |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 British Empire |
 Russian Empire |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 James Simpson General John Campbell † Colonel Lord West Colonel Lacy Yea † |
 Mikhail Gorchakov |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 11,000 | 7,500 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| ~6,000 killed or wounded | ~1,500 killed or wounded | ||||||
The Battle of the Great Redan was a major battle during the Crimean War. It took place between British forces and Russia. The fighting happened on June 18 and September 8, 1855. This battle was part of the long Siege of Sevastopol.
During the battle, the French army successfully captured a nearby fort called the Malakoff redoubt. A redoubt is a small, enclosed fort or outpost. However, a British attack on the Great Redan, another important Russian fort, was pushed back. The Redan was a large, V-shaped defensive wall. Even though the Redan became famous, some people thought the Malakoff fort was more important for winning the siege.
Contents
Why the Battle Happened
In 1853, Russia attacked the Ottoman Empire. Russia wanted to gain more land. However, the Ottoman Empire pushed them back. In early 1854, Britain and France told Russia to stop attacking. Russia refused, and so Britain and France declared war.
The British and French navies went into the Black Sea. Their goal was to destroy the Russian fleet. After attacking a smaller naval base, they focused on Sevastopol. This was Russia's main naval base.
The allied forces landed at Eupatoria. They defeated the Russian army at the Battle of Alma. Then, the allies marched to Sevastopol and began a siege. A siege is when an army surrounds a city or fort to cut off supplies and force it to surrender. Russia tried to break the siege but failed.
For a while, the French were hesitant to attack the strong Russian forts. But in May 1855, a new French commander, Pélissier, took charge. He agreed with the British commander, Lord Raglan, that they should attack the Russian defenses. This led to three major attacks in the summer of 1855. The last of these attacks finally broke through the Russian lines.
By spring 1855, the British controlled the middle part of the allied battle line. The British "right attack" faced the Russian "Bastion No. 3," known as the "Great Redan." A bastion is a strong part of a fort that sticks out. The British "left attack" faced "Bastion No. 4," called the "Flagstaff Bastion."
First Attack: June 6–9, 1855
The first allied attack aimed to gain ground and move their trenches closer. After several days of heavy shelling, both the British and French attacks succeeded. The allies held their new positions against strong Russian counterattacks.
The British attacked an area called "The Quarries." This allowed them to move their lines close enough to attack the Great Redan. At the same time, the French attacked the Mamelon. This helped them get closer to the Malakoff fort.
Second Attack: June 17–18, 1855
After their success in early June, the allies decided to try a big attack on the entire Russian line. On June 17, their cannons fired for hours, silencing the Russian guns. An attack was planned for June 18.
Lord Raglan wanted to shell the Russian forts for two more hours. This would destroy any repairs and keep the defenders down. But the French commander, Pélissier, wanted to attack at dawn without more shelling. Raglan agreed to attack soon after the French began.
The British attack force had three brigades. A brigade is a large group of soldiers. The plan was for one brigade to attack the right side of the Great Redan. Another brigade would attack the left side. Then, a third brigade would attack the Redan itself.
However, the French dawn attack went very wrong. The Russians had repaired their defenses and were ready. The French made mistakes and were spotted while moving into position. The Russians immediately sent out patrols to fight the French. Knowing they were discovered, the French commanders attacked too early. Most French units had not reached their starting points. They were caught in open areas and suffered heavy losses.
Lord Raglan saw the French being defeated. He launched the British attack to draw Russian attention away. This would allow the French to retreat. Only two British brigades advanced. They were caught in heavy crossfire and suffered many casualties. Both their commanders were killed. The attack was stopped. The British lost 1,433 soldiers. Most of these losses happened very close to their starting line.
After this failed attack, the French decided not to attack again until they had dug their trenches much closer. This took six weeks. The allies used the time to move troops across the River Chernaya. This led to a Russian counterattack in August. There was also another long bombardment, but no attack followed because the French were not ready.
Third and Final Attack: September 7–9, 1855
With the French trenches now closer, the allies planned another attack for September 3. The plan was for the French to attack the right side first, from the Little Redan to the Malakoff. Up to 25,000 French soldiers would be involved. Then, the British would attack the Great Redan in the center. Once the Redan was taken, the French would attack the Flagstaff and Central Bastions.
On September 7, the shelling began and continued until noon on September 8. The French then launched their attack on the Malakoff and Little Redan. They were successful at first. The signal for the British to attack was given: the flag of St. George was raised over the Mamelon. The British then began their assault on the Great Redan.
The British attack force came from the Light and 2nd Divisions. Each division sent forward a small group of skirmishers. A skirmisher is a soldier who fights in small, scattered groups. Behind them were brigades divided into two lines for assault and support.
The two main brigades were led by Acting Brigadier General Charles Ash Windham and Brigadier General Horatio Shirley. Under intense Russian fire, Shirley's brigade was forced back. But Windham's brigade bravely stormed the Great Redan. They broke through the Russian Vladimirski Regiment. Windham was promoted for his courage in leading the attack.
Major Augusta Welsford led a group carrying ladders. He was in the first wave of the attack. He had to cross 400 meters of open ground while bullets flew around him. He reached a ditch in front of the fort. He then climbed a ladder placed against the counterscarp. A counterscarp is the outer wall of a ditch. As he rose above the edge of an embrasure (an opening in a wall for a gun), a cannon fired from inside. It killed him instantly.
Another officer from Nova Scotia, William Buck Carthew Augustus Parker, also crossed the open field under fire. He successfully climbed the wall and got inside the fort. He tried to stop the British retreat but was hit by bullets and fell into the ditch.
Windham's men had captured the Redan and driven out the defenders. A signal was sent to the French General la Salles to attack the Flagstaff Bastion. However, la Salles did not attack quickly. The guns from the Flagstaff Bastion fired on the approaches to the Great Redan. This stopped British support troops from coming forward.
For two hours, Windham's men held the Great Redan. The British soldiers fired heavily on the Russian reserve line. The local Russian commander, Colonel Ventsel, could not rally his panicked troops. But as the senior officer, he ordered other Russian regiments to charge with bayonets. A bayonet is a knife fixed to the end of a rifle.
The British troops in the Redan had been fighting for hours and were low on ammunition. With the French not attacking on their left, and 3,000 Russians charging with bayonets, Windham ordered his men to pull back to the ditch. The Russians reoccupied the Redan. The French 1st Corps finally launched a weak attack, but then stopped.
The French attacks on the Malakoff and Little Redan were successful at first. The Malakoff was a tower surrounded by a moat. This made it easier for the French to hold it against Russian counterattacks. But the two Redans were mostly open walls. They were hard to defend from the back. Neither the French nor the British could hold these positions for long.
James Simpson, the British Army commander, planned another attack for the next morning. But at 11:00 PM, the Russians blew up their magazines (places where ammunition is stored) and retreated from the Great Redan. British soldiers occupied it at dawn. The Siege of Sevastopol was over. The Russian Black Sea Fleet was destroyed.
Casualties
In the first attack on June 18, 1855, the British had 1,433 casualties. This included 155 killed, 1,126 wounded, and 152 missing. About half of those wounded were only slightly hurt.
In the second attack, the British suffered 2,447 casualties. This included 385 killed, 1,886 wounded, and 176 missing. About two-thirds of those wounded were only slightly hurt.
Russian casualties for these battles are combined with the French attacks. On June 18, the Russians had 4,352 casualties. On September 8, they suffered 11,692 casualties.
Legacy
The Battle of the Great Redan left a lasting mark:
- A ship was named "Hero of the Redan."
- Some golf holes are called "redan holes" because of their design.
- Many places were named after the battle, including:
- The Redan Inn (now The Quarterdeck) in North Berwick
- Redan Inn in Chilcompton, Somerset
- Redan Street, Shepherd's Bush, London
- Redan, a suburb in Ballarat, Australia
- Redan Street, St Kilda, Victoria, Australia
- Redan Road, Caulfield North, Victoria, Australia
- The Redan Pub in London, which has a picture of the battle on its sign.
- The Redan public house in Norwich, originally named The Hero of the Redan after Charles Ashe Windham.
- The Redan, an area in Maryhill, Glasgow, named after a former pub.
- Redan Hill Road, Aldershot in Hampshire
- A monument to British soldiers was built at the battlefield the next year. It was destroyed in World War II.
A memorial also exists for Sergeant Thomas Edwin Roberts of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, from Holywell, North Wales.
