Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/309

 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 287 In the absence of any general who might come chap. to take in person the direction of these combat- ' ants, Lord George Paget, as we saw, was the senior officer on our left ; on our right, Colonel Shewell. From before the 230 English horsemen thus The retreat • i, ... of the thrust into the very rear oi the enemy s position, Russian the bulk of that powerful body of Russian horse which numbered itself by thousands was strangely enough falling back. We now know that the retreat was much more general than our people at the time could perceive, and that, excepting Jeropkine's six squadrons of Lancers, almost the whole of the enemy's cavalry had been not merely beaten but routed.* Apparently also, as indeed might well be, these fugitive squadrons carried panic along with them as they rode ; -J* for away, on the eastern slopes of Mount Hasfort, where hut says that the movement was a ruse of General Ryjoff's to draw the English on. ' The English cavalry,' he says, ' ap- ' peared more than 2000 strong. Its impetuous attack induced ' Lieutenant-General Ryjoff [the commander of the Russian ' cavalry] to turn back upon the route to Tchorgoun to draw ■ the enemy. ' General de Todlehen, however, discards that way of explaining the retreat, and says frankly that our Light Cavalry utterly overthrew the hulk of the Russian cavalry. Using the word ' Cardigan ' in a sense importing the Light Brigade, he says : ' Cardigan flung himself against the Don ' Cossack battery which was in advance, sabred the gunners, ' then charged our cavalry, utterly overthrew it [fa ctdbuta], ' and advanced far beyond the line of the redoubts in pursuit ' of our cavalry, which retreated towards Tchorgoun.' + See the plan taken from General de Todleben. To eyes accustomed to such things, it expresses an almost headlong retreat more forcibly than words.
 * Lipraudi, in his despatch, admits the retreat of his cavalry,