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The advance up the slope was in the teeth of the enemy s artillery fire The river crossing had aggravated the earlier deployment confusion, so that in

places British officers vainly tried to separate their regiments To make matters worse, Brigadier General George Buller, commanding the left-hand brigade of the Light Division, seems to have suffered a temporary brainstorm The Light Brigade was already screening the left flank of the advance, but he ordered the 77th (2/The Middlesex Regiment) to wheel left and form a hard shoulder If this may be considered odd, what came next stretches credulity to the limit, for he ordered his two remaining regiments to form square, as though cavalry was about to attack them The fighting Irishmen of the 88th (1/The Connaught Rangers) did so with a very bad grace, but the 19th (1/The Green Howards) ignored the order, realising that it would simply make them a sitting target for the Russian guns, to which they were closest Instead, they joined Brigadier General Sir William Codrington s brigade, consisting of the 7th (1/Royal Fusiliers), the 33rd (1/The Duke of Wellington s Regiment), and the 23rd (1/Royal Welch Fusiliers) In addition, thanks to the confusion caused by intermingling, a large part of the 95th (2/The Sherwood Foresters) had also attached themselves to the brigade On the right of the Light Division s advance, a two-column battalion of the Kazan regiment counter-attacked the 7th A murderous fire fight ensued in which the new Minie bullet proved its worth (see the sidebar Very clever They call it technology, you know! ), penetrating to the depth of two or even three ranks of the dense Russian formations Despite enduring crippling losses, the Russians stood their ground and began to take a steady toll of the Fusiliers Raked by cannon and musket fire, Codrington s brigade closed in remorselessly on the summit As the Russian gunners strove to get their weapons away, the 23rd swarmed over the breastwork of the Great Redoubt Half-eaten picnics, top hats, fans, and other impedimenta belonging to Sevastopol s recently departed gentry littered the area Codrington s brigade allowed themselves to relax while inspecting this debris Menshikov, a good soldier, knew very well that attacking troops were at their most vulnerable just after they have taken an objective, and he launched the Vladimir regiment in a counter-attack Codrington s men rallied quickly and were shooting away the head of the Vladimir column when a strange incident took place An apparently desperate staff officer galloped along the line shouting, Don t fire! For God s sake don t fire! The column s French! This was nonsense, of course, but the strange officer then ordered a bugler of the 19th to sound the cease fire Other buglers along the line took up the call and firing died away The officer then ordered another bugler to sound retire, which was also taken up The troops looked round, expecting to see the 1st Division coming up to support them, but the slopes were bare of all but their own casualties At that moment, the Vladimir opened fire The British lost the Great Redoubt as the Russians pressed their line sullenly down the slope, exchanging fire as they retreated

The reason for the 1st Division s absence (see the preceding section) was that while its commander, the Duke of Cambridge, may have been a nice enough chap, he didn t know what to do His division contained the Guards and the Highland Brigades, regarded as the best in the army, but he had hesitated until sharply ordered to move off by General Richard Airey, Raglan s principal staff officer The division crossed the river with the Guards on the right and the Highlanders on the left Within the Guards Brigade, commanded by Major General HJW Bentinck, the Grenadier Guards were on the right, the Scots Fusilier Guards in the centre, and the Coldstream Guards on the left While ranks were being dressed after the crossing, Bentinck received a call for urgent assistance from Codrington Foolishly, he addressed his next order to the Scots Fusilier Guards alone: Forward! Forward, Fusiliers! What are you waiting for With equal foolishness, the young officers carrying the Colours set off up the slope at a cracking pace, so that the companies on either side began to trail back into an irregular arrowhead The Russians were swarming over the breastworks of the recaptured redoubt, pressing the thinning line of the 23rd back down the slope The British Guardsmen had reached a point just short of the 23rd when the unknown staff officer (see the previous section for his first appearance) put in another appearance, shouting Retire! Fusiliers, retire! Whether he meant the 23rd or the Scots Fusilier Guards remains unknown The 23rd, having lost more men to the fire of the Vladimir, took it to mean them and withdrew through the ranks of the guardsmen, several of whom were bowled over It was now the turn of the Scots to receive the Russians fire Simultaneously, the regiment s senior officers came to the conclusion that the retire order applied to them, too The withdrawal was hurried and disorderly The Grenadiers and the Coldstream now commenced their advance up the slope Once more the strange staff officer put in an appearance, shouting warnings to retire and avoid firing on the French This time, no one paid him the slightest attention His identity remains a mystery to this day, though the possibility exists that he was a Russian whose task was to cause confusion The two Guards regiments wheeled inwards against both flanks of the Vladimir s column and opened a tremendous fire at only 90 metres (100 yards ) range The deadly Minie rounds sent the Russians tumbling by the dozen The Scots Fusilier Guards, despite having lost 171 men killed or wounded, including 11 officers, completed their rally quickly They came up to take their place in the centre of the brigade s line and fired devastating volleys into the head of the enemy column The Vladimir gave ground and slowly the Guards pushed them up the hill When the Guards had advanced to within 35 metres (40 yards) of the Great Redoubt, they received the order to charge The French heard their cheer a mile away They bundled the Vladimir out of the position, although the Russians rallied and continued to fire