The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-30 00:00:00

MEMORANDUM ON THE BATTLE OF
INKERMAN.

We learn from numerous communications by the
last mail from the army that the account of the
battle of Inkerman contained in Lord Raglan's
public despatch has excited strong feelings of sur-
prise and dissatisfaction among an important part
of the forces engaged in that memorable action.
The accounts already received from many other
sources have already enabled the Ministers of the

Crown in Parliament, and the public throughout
Europe, to do full justice to the heroic achieve-
ments of the brigade of the Guards on that day ;
but, in order to remove all uncertainty as to the
conduct of these gallant troops, we publish the
following authentic account of the position and,
Movements of the Guards in the battle, which will
effectually remove the erroneous impression that
any part of the Brigade wore " obliged to retire"
in the course of the action :

"The Brigade of Guar's were the fr3t on the scene

of action on the right, and in advance of the Second Di-
, vision, and not tie Light, Division, as might be inferred
from the latter being mentioned first in the official de-
spatch. The Grenadier 9.,A1 Scots Fusilier Guards, upon
the first a'a-rn being given by the advanced pickets of
the Second Division, fell in, and marched off without a
moment's de'ay towards the extreme right of the Second
Division. The Grenadiers led the advance, the Fusi-
liers followirg. These two regimen's—one in support
of the other, neither of them being as that time above
400 strong—immediately advanced in front of the align.
inent of the second Division, and perceived that the
Russians had just taken possessiou.of a sandbag bat-
tery, out of which they had driven a small picket of
the 55th Regiment. The Grenadiers came down to the
charge and drove the Russians out. So quickly had
the advance of the Guards been effected that the Gre-
nadiers succeeded in driving the Russians out of this
small work, which was 700 yards in front of the right
of the Second Division alignment, before that division
had been able to send any troops to support its own
picket. Having reached the battery, and cleared it of
the Russians, the centre of the Grenadiers occupied
it, while their right and left flanks were thrown back
nearly at right angles, so as to line the ridge of the
long projecting tongue of land at the extremity of which
the sandbag battery was erected. The Soots Fusiliers
continued the line on the left of the Grenadiers, their left
also thrown back towards, but not meeting, the right of
the Second Division. These two regiments, and subse-
quently the Coldstreams, now commenced an action.
against almost overwhelming numbers of the enemy,
who were at one time trying to turn the right, at another
the left flank of the Guards, and constantly sending up
fresh troops to drop before the iron line opposed to them.
"The official despatch states that the Brigade of Guards
went to the front and took up most important ground
on the right of the Second Division • it was, in fact,
700 yards in its front. It is also stated that powerful
columns of infantry attacked with vigour the Brigade of
Guards ; yet, notwithstanding this and the acknow-
ledged importance of the position, no reinforcement came
up to the assistance of these two weak battalions. The
Russians, finding they made no impression on the fron t
of the Guards, attempted to turn their right flank, and
came up the hill in a large mass to the right rear of the
Grenadiers. To prevent this the Grenadiers withdrew
about 50 or 100 yards, 'so as to keep the enemy in their
front, and at that moment the Coldstream Guards made
their appearance on the field ; and the Grenadiers
feeling that they had a support, extended a little to their
proper right, and charged the enemy clear of the sand-
bag battery a second time, also driving them away from
the side of the hill up which they had come to turn the
right flank. The Grenadiers and Fusiliers now took
up their position as before ; the Coldstreams formed
line in continuation of the left of the Fusiliers ; the 20th
Regiment also formed line to their left again ; but still
this line did not touch the Second Division position.
It was now about half-past 9 a.m. The hottest fire was
kept up against the repeated attacks of the advancing
columns. The ammunition already began to fail; the
men made use of that of their dead and wounded com-
rades, and in some instances of that of dead and wounded
Russians. A fresh supply at last came np from the
rear, which enabled the men to keep up this unequal
contest for three more hours, not a man of the brigade
quitting ranks but by order, to reinforce sometimes the
right, sometimes the left, acoording tomhere the Rus-
sians appeared most numerous. During this prolonged
and determined attack, part of the Fourth Division
arrived from the right rear, and, keeping on the side
of the hill on the extreme right of the Brigade of Guards,
commenced a manoeuvre to outflank the Russian left.
Part of the Brigade of Guards joined in this move-
ment ; the remainder, much reduced by casualties
and the advance on the right, as above described,
continued to maintain themselves in their former position,
with the right of the Grenadiers resting on the battery.
Again the ammunition was beginning to fail, many fire-
locks would not go off, and were exchanged for others
on the field. The Russians at last advance i in very great
force against the centre of the English position, in front
of which the Brigade of Guards were considerably ad-
vanced, and the enemy for a time succeeded in forcing
it. The Coldstreams, seeing this movement, and seeing
that their left flank would he turned, faced their men
' fours left,' and continued in a parallel line with the
Russians till they reached the Second Division align-
ment, followed by part of the Fusiliers, where they both
I halted and fronted.

"The Grenadiers, now only 100 strong, with their
two colours, and the right flank of the Fusiliers, not
seeing the advance of the Reskirins against the centre of
the position, in consequence of the thick brushwood
that interposed arid the undulating nature of the ground,
continued to maintain themselves against the ever-re-
peated attacks of the Rusr,ian divisions opposed to them,
notwithstanding the inereasing failure of their ammuni-
tion. It was now about half-past 12. The brigade had
been uninterruptedly under fire fer between fire and six
hours, when the Russ:sns having advanced in great
force towards the centre of the English position,
the left of that attack brought their right shoulders
forward, and were seen coming down upon the rear of
the small remnant of the Grenadiers and few Fusiliers.
Thus circumstanced, those men who still hail any
Ammunition were ordered to fire to the front, while
the remainder charged through the advancing line
that was coming down upon them in rear, broke it,
and, with their colours in safety, took up their posi-
tion on the extreme right of the position, not in
rear of (as has been stated), but in line with parts
of several regiments of the Second Division, which
were then in a breastwork in front of the Second
division encampment. It was not till a few minutes
later—that is, at about half-past 12 or 1 o'clock—that
the French regiments for the first time came up to that
part of the field where the Brigade of Guards had been
for six hours. Men of different regiments of the line
were during the whole morning most gallantly fight-
ing in the ranks with the Brigade of Guards, but
only two or three companies of the line, as reinforce.
ments, came up to or near the sandbag battery to
assist in keeping possession of it during the whole
day. The Guards were now soon served out with fresh
ammunition, and were again ready to meet the enemy
as soon as their services might be required. After
remaining in the breastwork abovemeutioned about an
hour, they were ordered by the Duke of Cambridge
`e unite with the remainder of the brigade (that
lad advanced with the Fourth Diviqion to outflank

the Russian left), and which was now in the centre
of the Second Division encampment. This was done,
and the brigade lay down in line rear of the bat-
teries, against which the Russians opened, for above
an hour more, a heavy fire '•onr large field pieces. The
brigade while in this position lest several more men.
About 3 p.m. the firing ceased ; the troops marched to
their respective encampments at half•past three ; and the
Russians, having withdrawn all their artillery, were
seen retiring in considerable disorder across the valley of
the Tchernaya, leaving 7,000 or 8,000 killed and
wounded on the field ; some say 10,000."