Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/370

348 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. chap, the advance of the Light Brigade without yet ' being able to foresee its actual destination, the Odessa battalions — those battalions which stood on the spot to which Lord Eaglan had directed the attack — retreated at once from the forward posi- tion they had occupied on the Causeway Heights, and formed square a good way to the rear. The Light Brigade continued to move forward ; and, for a time, Lord Lucan was anxiously fol- lowing its advance with a portion of his Heavy Dragoons ; but afterwards (though still holding his Heavy Dragoons in readiness to cover his Light Cavalry during a portion at least of its anticipated retreat) he judged that it was his duty to save the rest of his squadrons from the disasters which the Light Brigade was incurring, and determined that Lord Cardigan's attack must thenceforth remain unsupported. Lord Cardigan persisted in his advance down the valley ; and then followed the rest of the operations which constitute the ' Light Cavalry ' Charge.' It was in advancing down the length of the valley that our Light Cavalry incurred their main losses, and were reduced to a third of their strength ; but the remnant of the brigade seized the battery at the foot of the valley, overthrew the main body of the Eussian cavalry, and forced their way back through the rest of them, owing much of their immunity in retreat to the brilliant achievement of D'Allouville and his famous ' Fourth Chasseurs d'Afrique.' Emboldened by the disaster which our Light