page_title: Battle of the Great Redan
section_title: Third and Final Offensive, 7–9 September 1855
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of the Great Redan / Third and Final Offensive, 7–9 September 1855
caption_attribution_description: English: British Attack Redan Crimean War
context_page_description: The Battle of the Great Redan was a major battle during the Crimean War, fought between British forces against Russia on 18 June and 8 September 1855 as a part of the Siege of Sevastopol. The French army successfully stormed the Malakoff redoubt, whereas a simultaneous British attack on the Great Redan to the south of the Malakoff was repulsed. Contemporary commentators have suggested that, although the Redan became so important to the Victorians, it was probably not vital to the taking of Sevastopol. The fort at Malakhov was much more important and it was in the French sphere of influence. It was when the French stormed it after an eleven-month siege that the final, somewhat unnecessary attack on the Redan was made.
context_section_description: With the French having dug forward the allies planned to launch another attack, and the plan was set on 3 September. The attack would open with the French 2nd Corps assaulting the right sector, from the Little Redan to the Malakoff with up to 25,000 men. The British would then assault the Great Redan in the centre, and with that taken the French 1st Corps would assault the Flagstaff and Central Bastions.
  On 7 September the bombardment opened, and continued until noon of the 8th. The French 1st Corps then launched their attack on the Malakoff and Little Redan, which were initially successful. The signal for the British to begin their assault (the flag of St. George raised over the Mamelon) was then made and the British then assaulted the Great Redan.
  The British assault force was drawn from the Light and 2nd Divisions. Each division placed part of a battalion (200 men each) forward as skirmishers and held a brigade divided into two lines (assault and support) of two battalions (all of 500 men). Behind them the other brigade of the division was in reserve, and a final reserve consisting of 1st brigade, Highland Division with 1st brigade, 4th Division attached was behind them. On the left attack were the 1st and 3rd Divisions, and 2nd brigade of the 4th Division. Only the covering battalions, first assault line and half the supporting assault line (10 battalions) were engaged.
  The two lead brigades were under the command of Acting Brigadier General Charles Ash Windham (known as the Hero of the Redan) and Brigadier General Horatio Shirley. In the face of devastating Russian fire, Shirley's brigade was driven back by a crossfire from the left, but Windham's brigade stormed the Great Redan and the broke the Vladimirski Regiment. Windham was promoted Major General out of turn for 'his distinguished conduct in having with the greatest intrepidity and coolness headed the column of attack which assaulted the enemy's defences'
  Major Augusta Welsford commanded a ladder party in the initial wave the assault on the Great Redan. He crossed a broad open space of 400 metres while against a hail of bullets.  He made it to a ditch in front of the work and proceeded to climb one of the ladders which had been placed against the counterscarp.  As he rose above the lip of an embrasure at the top, a gun was fired from within which blew his head off. Welsford was highly regarded in his regiment.
  The other Nova Scotian officer, William Buck Carthew Augustus Parker also crossed the 400 metres field under fire, successfully scaled the counterscarp, got inside the work, and made a vain attempt to stem the mounting British retreat before a hail of bullets swept him into the ditch.
  Windham's brigade had stormed and occupied the Redan, routing the defenders, and the signal (signal rockets fired from the Lancaster Battery) was made to General la Salles, commanding the French 1st Corps, to assault the Flagstaff Bastion (which the British left attack would co-operate with). However, la Salles failed to promptly launch his attack and the guns of the Flagstaff Bastion swept the approaches to the Great Redan, stopping the British supports coming forward. For two hours Windham's men held the Great Redan, and the British infantry put a heavy fire on the Russian reserve line.
  The local Russian commander, Colonel Ventsel of the Vladimirski Regiment, was unable to rally his panicked troops, but as senior officer on the ground ordered the Selenginski and Iakutski regiments to make a charge with the bayonet. The British troops occupying the Redan had been fighting for hours and were short on ammunition. With the French on the left not launching their attack, and 3,000 Russians in close order columns coming on with the bayonet. Windham ordered a withdrawal to the ditch in front of the Great Redan. The Selenginski reoccupied the Redan, and repulsed some minor attacks by the British infantry. The French 1st Corps finally launched a faltering attack, but halted it.
  The French attacks on the Malakoff and Little Redan and the British attacks on the Great Redan were initi
caption: British attack the Great Redan
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