Fusiliers' Museum,
Lancashire
History : Time Line : Battle of Inkerman
The Battle of Inkerman (one of the battles of the Crimean War) began on 5th November 1854, and became a battle honour for both the Lancashire and Royal Fusiliers.
Contemporary accounts describe Inkerman as ‘a soldier’s battle’ due to the dense fog which meant that the soldiers had to act individually.
“Colonels of Regiments led on small parties and fought like subalterns, captains like privates. Once engaged every man was his own general”
Of the 20th it was said that –
“There ensued a combat maintained for some time by the industrious use of the firelock … But a change of temper came on; and on that thought of the bayonet, these men of the 20th seemed all to have but one will. Despite hostile masses on their flanks, they were glowing with that sense of power which is scarce other than power itself … After nearly a century these men once more delivered their old “Minden yell”. Disregarding alike the force on their right and the force on their left, they sprang at the mass in front, and drove it down the hillside … Despite their forlorn condition, Colonel Horn’s division was never forced back to the crestwork. Sometimes losing, sometimes gaining ground, it remained fighting out front.”
By the winter of 1854 , the conditions under which the British Army lived and fought had gone from dreadful to atrocious. On 14th November the whole of the Crimean peninsula was swept by an appalling blizzard. Offshore, the fleet of ships carrying winter stores, including all the medical supplies, boots 40,000 greatcoats and shelters for the troops was wrecked. Thousands of troops suffered from frostbite and related ailments. By the end of November, cholera was rife in the British lines, killing 60 men a day. A letter from a soldier of the 2Oth was published in The Times –
“We have no firing to cook with, but when we come across a tree we down it for fuel. We are poisoned with vermin and dirt; the men are dying with cold and exposure … Our officers are noble fellows, and they do all they can to alleviate the sufferings of the men”
The newspaper became known as ‘The Thunderer’ because of its outspoken views of the war.
The battle of Inkerman was hard fought and the 20th suffered more casualties than any other formation besides the Guards. Despite the heavy losses, the British line managed to beat of the Russian’s attempts to break the communication to the sea.
Information taken from For England and St George and The Oxford Book of History
