Battle of the Chernaya The Battle of the Chernaya ( Battle of Tchernaïa , Сражение у Черной речки , Сражение у реки Черной ) was a battle by the Chernaya River fought during the Crimean War on August 16 , 1855 . The battle was fought between Russia n troops and a coalition of French , Sardinian and Ottoman troops . The Chernaya River is on the outskirts of Sevastopol . The battle ended in a Russian retreat and a victory for the French , Sardinians and Turks . Planning . The battle was planned as an offensive by the Russians with the aim of forcing the Allied forces ( French , British , Sardinian , and Ottoman ) to retreat and abandon their siege of Sevastopol . Czar Alexander II had ordered his commander in chief in the Crimea , Prince Michael Gorchakov to attack the besieging forces before they were reinforced further . The Czar hoped that by gaining a victory , he could force a more favorable resolution to the conflict . Gorchakov didn ’ t think that an attack would be successful but believed the greatest chance of success to be near the French and Sardinian positions on the Chernaya River . The Czar ordered the hesitating Gorchakov to hold a war council to plan the attack . The attack was planned for the morning of August 16 in the hope to surprise the French and Sardinians as they had just celebrated the Feast day of the Emperor ( France ) and Assumption Day ( Sardinians ) . The Russians hoped that because of these feasts the enemy would be tired and less attentive to the Russians . The Battle . 58 , 000 Russian troops in two army corps under Prince Michael Gorchakov fought against 28 , 000 French and Sardinian troops under French General Aimable Pélissier and Italian General Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora . Although the British correspondents were amazed at the courageousness and impetuosity of their attack , the assault of the Russian army was handicapped by poor organization and lack of experienced soldiers which , due to Sevastopol , forced their corps to consist mostly of militia . In the cover of the morning fog , the Russians advanced on Traktirburg with 47 , 000 infantry , 10 , 000 cavalry and 270 cannon under command of general Liprandi on the left and general Read on the right . The two generals had been ordered by Gorchakov not to cross the river until given explicit orders . Annoyed that things weren ’ t happening fast enough , Gorchakov sent a note to his generals with the words " " Let ' s start it . " " By this , Gorchakov only meant that the Russians should start to deploy their forces . Unfortunately his generals interpreted his words as his order to attack and they acted accordingly , although reserve forces were still en route to the battlefield . The attacking Russians immediately met stiff resistance from the French and Sardinians . Read ’ s forces crossed the river near Traktirburg but without cavalry and artillery support , they were easily stopped by the French on the Fedjuchin Heights . Read then ordered his reserve formation , the 5th Infantry Division , to attack the Heights but in stead of launching a coordinated assault , he fed them piecemeal in to the fray . Going in regiment by regiment , the assaulting reserve troops accomplished nothing . Seeing this Gorchakov ordered Read to deploy the entire division against the French . This forced the French back up the hill but the Russians could not capture the Heights . In the following retreat general Read was killed . Upon the death of Read , Gorchakov took personal command of the right and ordered 8 battalions of Liprandi ’ s left wing to reinforce the right wing . These forces came under fire from the Sardinians and were driven back . At 10 o ’ clock in the morning , Gorchakov concluded that the situation was hopeless and ordered a general retreat . The bravery of Sardinian troops and the French soldiers of the 50th , 82nd , 95th , 97th of line ; the 19th Chasseurs at foot ; and the 2nd and 3rd Zouave s was especially noted . Tolstoy . Russian Count Leo Tolstoy was a participant in the Battle of the Chernaya River . He witnessed as the Russians crossed the river and started up the hillside in the morning sunlight . Tolstoy saw Russian soldiers being killed in clusters as shells exploded around them . Before the morning was over , the Russians were forced to retreat . They left thousands of their dead comrades behind . Tolstoy was depressed and angered by the slaughter . He believed much of it was due to incompetent generals and staff . Tolstoy vented his anger by composing some satiric stanzas . His humorous song soon gained widespread popularity among the Russian soldiers . It is the only piece of verse Tolstoy is known to have written .