Battle of the Great Redan The Battle of the Great Redan was a major battle during the Crimean War , fought between British forces against Russia on June 18 and September 8 , 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 Sebastopol . 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 . Background . Britain , France and Ottomans invaded the Crimea and decided to destroy the Russian naval base at Sevastopol . They landed at Eupatoria on 14 September 1854 , intending to make a 35 mile triumphal march to Sevastopol the capital of the Crimea , with 50 , 000 men . The Great Russian Redan ( Bastion # 3 ) was one of the large Russian fortifications that ringed the city of Sebastopol . The Redan was the centre of the defences the British forces were attacking . It became a symbol of the attempt to capture the city and eventually a symbol of its fall . First Siege . The British made two unsuccessful attacks on the Redan . The first attack was on 18 June when a massive assault was made on the Redan , but failed . 2000 British soldiers reported killed , including John Campbell . The Allied troops were easily driven back to their fortification where they stayed for the next two and a half months . Second Siege . During the second siege , the attack was directed against the Redan in two columns . General Campbell led the left attack with 500 men of the 4th Division and a reserve of 800 under Colonel Lord West ; Cornel Yea with a smilar force from the Light Division led the right . General Campbell on the left was killed before he could get a few yards beyond the parapet of the forward trench . The charge was under the command of Brigadier Charles Ash Windham ( known as the Hero of the Redan ) . In the face of devastating Russian fire , he was the only officer to penetrate the battery . For ' his distinguished conduct in having with the greatest intrepidity and coolness headed the column of attack which assaulted the enemy ' s defences ' , he was made a major - general . 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 meters 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 meter 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 . Another hero of this attack was Lieutenant - General William Godfrey Dunham Massy , C . B . " Redan Massy " - to give the gallant colonel of the 5th Lancers the sobriquet by which the British Army best knows him - entered the service in October 1854 . Going out to the Crimea he joined the troops before Sebastopol , and was under fire at the battle of Tchernaya . He commanded the Grenadiers of the 19th Foot at the assault on the Redan on September 8 , 1855 , where his extreme gallantry won him the admiration of all England . In the attack he was dangerously wounded by a bullet which shattered his left thigh , received other less serious wounds , and was left wounded on the field , with the result that the night after the assault he fell into the hands of the Russians . They , however , believing him mortally wounded , did not trouble to remove him . Brought back some hours later to the British camp , Lieutenant Massy , as the gallant general then was , for nearly six months was confined to his camp stretcher , his fortitude and patient endurance , coupled with the splendid heroism he had shown at the attack on the Redan , winning him recommendation from the Commander in Chief in a special despatch and promotion to Captain References . Endnotes Literature