Battle of Inkerman, 5th November 1854.  A Russian Sortie from Sebastopol attacked the British forces on the heights of Inkerman, Although the British defence line was fairly weak. It withstood the Russian heavy attacks. The heavy fighting caused large losses for the Russians (over 12,000 men) and they withdraw, the British lost 2,500 and the French 1,000 troops. The siege of Sebastopol teemed with tragic episodes and Inkerman was one of the most tragic of them.  As Henry Russell says, "The Battle of Inkerman admits no description.  It was a series of dreadful deeds of daring, of sanguinary hand to hand fights, of despairing rallies, of desperate assaults in glens and valleys, in brushwood glades and remote dells, hidden from all human eyes."  The besiegers were themselves threatened with investment, and once more it was necessary to defend, at all costs, the communication with the sea.  Worn out by continual fighting, half starved and exposed to the severities of a Russian winter, the British faced the enemy reinforced by fifty thousand men.  The attack was sudden and fierce, and the Muscovites were at last confident that they would drive the invaders into the sea.  Under cover of darkness they stole out of the city and in silence approached the British right.  A shot from a surprised picket was the first warning, and the soldiers sprang from their sleep into a hand to hand fight against overwhelming numbers.  Shoulder to shoulder they stood firm and resolute while the Russian batteries hurled death among them.  A detachment charged up the hill to a redoubt in possession of the enemy.  Again and again they were repulsed and again and again they came on until this little fort had about it a rampart of dead.  The Duke of Cambridge led the Guards to the assault and a few hundred Coldstreamers held the redoubt against six thousand.  They fought till the ground was wet with blood, and ammunition was exhausted.  Then clubbing rifles they burts through the enemy's ranks and regained the Household Brigade.  Cathcart's division advanced over the body of their leader, pierced by a bullet as he gave the word of command.  With the courage of despair the Russians fought, meeting heroism with heroism.  Their reserves seemed inexhaustible.  No sooner was one regiment destroyed than anotherappeared.  And so the struggle went on - the bloodiest in history.  It looked as though the sheer weight and numbers of the enemy must prevail.  But Canrobert was at hand.  With Zouaves, infantry, and artillery he assailed the flanks of the Russians, till with a wail of despair they broke and fled, leaving us the victory and our heaped up slain. (extract from British Battles 1898)