Battle of Inkerman The Battle of Inkerman was fought during the Crimean War on November 5 , 1854 between the allied armies of Britain , France and Ottoman Empire against the Imperial Russia n Army . The battle broke the will of the Russian Army to defeat the allies in the field , and was followed by the Siege of Sevastopol . The role of troops fighting mostly on their own initiative due to the foggy conditions during the battle has earned the engagement the name " The Soldier ' s Battle " . Prelude . The allied armies of Britain , France , Sardinia , and the Ottoman Empire had landed on the west coast of Crimea on September 14 , 1854 , intending to capture the Russian naval base at Sevastopol . The allied armies fought off and defeated the Russian Army at the Battle of Alma , forcing them to retreat in some confusion toward the River Kacha . While the allies could have taken this opportunity to attack Sevastopol before Sevastopol could be put into a proper state of defence , the allied commanders , British general Lord Raglan and the French commander Canrobert could not agree on a plan of attack . Instead , they resolved to march around the city , and put Sevastopol under siege . Toward this end the allies marched to the southern coast of the Crimean peninsula and established a supply port at the city of Balaclava . However , before the siege of Sevastopol began , the Russian commander Prince Menshikov evacuated Sevastopol with the major portion of his field army , leaving only a garrison to defend the city . On October 25 , 1854 , a superior Russian force attacked the British base at Balaclava , and although the Russian attack was foiled before it could reach the base , the Russians were left holding a strong position north of the British line . Balaclava revealed the allied weakness ; their siege lines were so thin they did not have sufficient troops to man them . Realising this , Menshikov launched an attack across the Tchernaya River on November 4 , 1854 . Battle . Assault . On November 5 , 1854 , the Russian 10th Division , under Lt . General F . I . Soymonov , launched a heavy attack on the allied right flank atop Home Hill east from the Russian position on Shell Hill . The assault was made by two columns of the 35 , 000 men and 134 field artillery guns of the Russian 10th Division . When combined with other Russian forces in the area , the Russian attacking force would form a formidable army of some 42 , 000 men . The initial Russian assault was to be received by the British Second Division dug in on Home Hill with only 2 , 700 men and 12 guns . Both Russian columns moved in a flanking fashion east towards the British . They hoped to overwhelm this portion of the Allied army before reinforcements could arrive . The fog of the early morning hours aided the Russians by hiding their approach upon the British position . Not all the Russian troops could be fitted on the narrow 300 - meter - wide heights of Shell Hill . Accordingly , General Soymonov had followed Prince Alexander Menshikov ' s directive and deployed his some of his force around the Careenage Ravine . Furthermore , on the night before the attack , Soymonov was ordered by General Peter A . Dannenberg to send part of his force north and east to the Inkerman Bridge to cover the crossing of Russian troop reinforcements under Lt . General P . Ya . Pavlov . Thus , Soymonov could not effectively employ all of his troops in the attack . When dawn broke , Soymonov attacked the British positions on Home Hill with 6 , 300 men from the Kolyvansky , Ekaterinburg and Tomsky regiments . Soymonov also had a further 9 , 000 in reserve . The British had strong pickets and had ample warning of the Russian attack despite the early morning fog . The British pickets , some of them at company strength , engaged the Russians as they moved to attack Home Hill . The firing in the valley also gave warning to the rest of the Second Division , who rushed to their defensive positions . De Lacy Evans , commander of the British Second Division , had been injured in a fall from his horse . Accordingly , command of the Second Division was taken up by Pennefather , a highly aggressive officer . Pennefather did not know that he was facing a superior Russsian force . Thus , Pennefather abandoned Evans plan of falling back to draw the Russians within range of the British field artillery which was hidden behind Home Hill . Instead , Pennefather ordered his 2 , 700 strong division to attack . When they did the Second Division faced some 15 , 300 Russian soldiers . Russian guns bombarded Home Hill , but there were no troops on the crest at this point . The Second Division in action ; the Russians in the valley . The Russian infantry , advancing through the fog were met by the advancing Second Division , who opened fire with their Pattern 1853 Enfield rifles , whereas the Russians were still armed with smoothbore musket s . The Russians were forced into a bottleneck due to the shape of the valley , and came out on the Second Division ' s left flank . However , the rifed Minié balls of the British rifles were proving deadly accurate against the Russian attack . As the Russians emerged from the bottleneck and the fog the Russians were mowed down by British rifles . Those Russian troops that survived were pushed back at bayonet point . Eventually , the Russians were pushed all the way back to the Russian artillery positions . The Russians launched a second attack , also on the Second Division ' s left flank , but this time in much larger numbers and led by Soymonov himself . Captain Hugh Rowlands , in charge of the British pickets , reported that the Russians charged " with the most fiendish yells you can imagine . " At this point , after the second attack , the British position was incredibly weak . If Soymonov had known the condition of the British , he would have ordered a third attack before the British reinforcements arrived . Such a third attack would have certainly have succeeded , but Soymonov could not see in the fog and , thus , he did not know of the desperate situation of the British . Thus , Soymonov was persuaded to await the arrival of his own reinforcements — General Pavlov ' s men who were making their way toward the Inkerman battlefield in four different prong attacks from the north . However , the British reinforcements arrived in the form of the Light Division which came up and immediately launched a counterattack along the left flank of the Russian front , forcing the Russians back . During this fighting General Soymonov was killed by a British rifleman . Russian command was immediately taken up by Colonel Pristovoitov who was shot a few minutes later by enemy fire . At this point , Colonel Uvazhnov - Aleksandrov assumed command of the Russian forces . Shortly after , Uvazhnov - Aleksandrov was also killed in the withering British fire . At this point , no officer seemed keen to take up command and Captain Andrianov was sent off on his horse to consult with various generals about the problem . The rest of the Russian column proceeded down to the valley where they were attacked by British artillery and pickets , eventually being driven off . The resistance of the British troops here had blunted all of the initial Russian attacks . General Paulov , leading the Russian second column of some 15 , 000 attacked the British positions on Sandbag Battery . As they approached , the 300 British defenders vaulted the wall and charged with the bayonet , driving off the leading Russian battalions . Five Russian battalions were assailed in the flanks by the British 41st Regiment , who drove them back to the River Chernaya . Home Hill . General Peter A Dannenberg took command of the Russian Army , and together with the uncommitted 9 , 000 men from the initial attacks , launched an assault on the British positions on Home Hill , held by the Second Division . The Guards Brigade and the Fourth Division were already marching to support the Second Division , but the British troops holding the Barrier withdrew , before it was re - taken by men from the 21st , 63rd and Rifle regiments . This position remained in British hands for the rest of the battle , despite determined attempts to take it back . The Russians launched 7 , 000 men against the Sandbag Battery , which was defended by 2 , 000 British soldiers . So began a ferocious struggle which saw the battery change hands repeatedly during the attack . Fourth Division in action . When the British Fourth Division arrived under General George Cathcart , they were finally able to go on the offensive . They launched a renewed attack against the Russians and on their flanks . However , the flanking troops were caught in the rear by an unexpected Russian counter - attack and Cathcart was shot from his horse and killed , leaving his troops disorganised and the attack broken up . The courage of Cathcart and his men had the unexpected effect of encouraging other British units to charge the Russians . This gave the Russian army an opportunity to gain a crest on the ridge . However , as the Russian troops were coming up , they were attacked and driven off by newly arrived soldiers from the French camps . The French poured reinforcements into the entire line , reducing the Russians ' advantage in numbers . Defence of Home Hill by the British and French forces . At this point in the battle the Russians launched another assault on the Second Division ' s positions on Home Hill , but the timely arrival of the French Army and further reinforcements from the British Army repelled the Russians attacks . The Russians had now committed all of their troops , and had no fresh reserves with which to act . Two British 18 - pounder guns along with field artillery bombarded the 100 - gun strong Russian positions on Shell Hill in counter - battery fire . With their batteries on Shell Hill taking withering fire from the British guns , their attacks rebuffed at all points , and lacking fresh infantry , the Russians began to withdraw . The allies made no attempt to pursue them . Following the battle , the allied regiments stood down and returned to their siege positions . Aftermath . Despite being severely outnumbered , the allied troops held their ground , becoming a marvel of each regiment ' s tradition and tenacity . The amount of fog during the battle led to many of the troops on both sides being cut off , in battalion - sized groups or less . Thus , the battle became known as " The Soldier ' s Battle " . The Russian attack , although unsuccessful , had denied the allies any attempt at gaining a quick victory in the Siege of Sevastopol and condemned the allied armies to two terrible winters on the heights . Following this battle , the Russians made no further large - scale attempts to defeat the allies in the field . Alexander Kinglake obtained the official casualty returns for the battle . By his account allied casualties were : 2573 British , of whom 635 killed , and 1800 French , of whom 175 killed . Russia lost 3286 killed within a total ( including men taken prisoner ) of 11 , 959 casualties .