On the 5th November 1854 a smaller British and (yes) French army beat off an assault by the Russians at Inkerman in the Crimea. It was known as “The Soldier’s Battle” as men fought small engagements due to poor visibility in dense fog.
The Russians had massed 32000 men on the Allied flank and headed for the 2700 man 2nd Division, commanded today by the aggressive Pennefather. Instead of falling back in the face of superior numbers, he advanced. The British had their rifles to thank this day as they took a terrible toll on the musket armed Russian Infantry, who were hemmed in by the valley’s bottle neck shape. The British 2nd Division pushed the Russians back onto their reinforcements and should have been routed by the Russians’ numbers, but the fog and the British Light Division saved them. Three successive Russian commanders were killed in this engagement.
The Russians other 15000 men approached and assailed the Sandbag Battery, but they were routed by 300 British defenders vaulting the wall, blunting the lead Battalions, who were then attacked in the flank. More Russian attacks ensured the Battery exchanged hands several times.
The British 4th Division was not as lucky. Arriving on the field, its flanking move was itself flanked and its commander, Cathcart, killed. This enabled the Russians to advance, but not for long. They were soon driven off by French units arriving from their camps and made no more headway.
The battle was lost and they had to withdraw.
This was the last time the Russians tried to defeat the Allied troops in the field. Despite this reverse, however, the Russian attack had seriously stalled the Allies from capturing Sevastopol. They had to instead, spend one harsh winter on the heights overlooking the city, before it fell in September of 1855.
The British suffered 2573 casualties, the French 1800 and the Russians 11959.
Watched Stalag 17(1953)Timeframe : Battle of the Bulge
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The movie mentions some of the events/problems of the BotB
Freaky Flashbacks
- Didn’t recall that Stalag 17 had a Sg. Schultz
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- Wonder if that is where they got the Sgt. Schultz idea for the Hogan’s Heros TV series. –"I know nothing! I know nothing.!"
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- Also noted a mousey German Private with spectacles in a coupla scenes.
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- Anyone recall Arty Johnson of the TV series Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In fame. He occassionally portrayed a WWII German Private whose main comment vas, “Veeeery interesting!” This is the character I believe he based his Nazi on.
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- Peter Graves, the second leader of the Mission : Impossible IMF(Impossible Missions Force) was the the sneaky Nazi spy in this movie. I wonder if it affected his career. I do not recall him in much of anything else between S17 and M:I.
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I have this movie. Its got alot of the same characters from the show. Its quite funny as well except when the Nazi informant gets shot by the Germans by accident.
I like Hogans Heros better i got seasons 1-4 on DVD
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Seen it many times. I do believe that I remember reading somewhere a long time ago that the show was based on this movie, at least in part.
Rob.
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Yep it was pretty much like the movie, characters and all.
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