Battle of the Great Redan

Battle of the Great Redan
Part of the Crimean War
The Attack on the Redan by Robert Alexander Hillingford
Date 8 September 1855 Location Sevastopol, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire Coordinates: 44°37′01″N 33°31′01″E / 44.6170°N 33.5170°E / 44.6170; 33.5170 Result Successful Russian tactical defence, but strategic defeat
Belligerents
British Empire	Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
James Simpson General Sir John Campbell † Colonel Lord West Colonel Lacy Yea †	Mikhail Gorchakov
Strength
(8 September 1855) 11,000 men	(8 September 1855) 7,500 men
Casualties and losses
18 June: 1,443 killed, missing and wounded; 8 September: 2,447 killed, wounded and missing	ca. 4,000, see below

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.

Russia attacked the Ottoman Empire in 1853, aiming for territorial aggrandisement, but their invasion was repulsed. In early 1854 the British and French governments issued an ultimatum to Russia that they should cease their aggression against the Ottomans, but this was refused, resulting in a state of war existing between these states. The Anglo-French navies entered the Black Sea with the intent of destroying the Russian fleet. After destroying the secondary naval base at Odessa their attention turned to the main Russian base at Sevastopol.

Landing at Eupatoria, the allies swept aside the Russian army at the Battle of the Alma. The allies then marched to Sevastopol and invested it. Russian attempts to break the siege failed, and the French refused to make aggressive movements against the Russian fortifications, even refusing to attack after the "second bombardment". This changed on 16 May 1855 when Pélissier assumed command of the French Army, and agreed with Lord Raglan that the Russian fortifications should be assaulted. This led to three allied offensives in the summer of 1855, the last of which overwhelmed the Russian defenses.

By spring of 1855 the British controlled the central sector of the allied line. The British "right attack" faced the Russian "Bastion No. 3" commonly called the "Great Redan". The British "left attack" faced "Bastion No. 4", called the "Flagstaff Bastion" by the British. On the left the French 1eme Corps faced Bastions no. 4, 5 and 6 (it being an angle in the Russian line the British and French sectors met at Bastion No. 4) and the right the French 2e Corps faced Bastions No. 2 (Little Redan) and No. 3 (Malakoff).

The first allied offensive was intended to gain ground and advance the parallels. After several days of bombardment the two attacks, one British and one French, were completely successful and the allies held all their gains against heavy Russian counterattacks. The British attack was against "The Quarries" and was carried out by parts of the Light and 2nd Divisions (right attack). They advanced the lines sufficiently that the Great Redan was within attack range. A simultaneous attack on the Mamelon by the French enabled them to advance their parallels against the Malakoff.

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Wikipedia