On November 5 (October 24 in the Old Style) 1854, the allied armies of Britain and France clashed in a deadly encounter with the Russian Empire’s troops near the town of Inkerman, close to Sevastopol.
The battle took place during the Crimean War, which began in October 1853.
After landing in Crimea on September 14, 1854, the Allies defeated Russian forces on the Alma River near the village of Burluk (now Vilino), securing positions in Balaklava and around Sevastopol. According to the Russian command’s plan, this new battle was intended to thwart the Allies’ planned assault on the city scheduled for November 6.
Russian forces, numbering between 19,000 and 35,000 and commanded by General F. Soymonov, attacked British positions defended by approximately 3,000 to 8,000 troops. Notably, the battle took place not in Inkerman itself but south of it, on the plateau between the Kilen Valley and the valley of the Chernaya (Black) River. This was the most advantageous path for an attack from Balaklava, but also the most dangerous if it failed.
The morning Russian assault was concealed by dense fog. Climbing the wet and steep slopes of the ravine, the Russian regiments took the British forces by surprise. The thick fog hindered command communication, and the battle had a somewhat chaotic nature, with skirmishes often occurring between units smaller than a company (100–300 men).
General Soymonov’s detachment initially pushed the British from their fortifications but could not hold them and ultimately retreated. A potential second Russian offensive could have shifted the battle’s course and handed victory to the Russians. However, due to the fog, the Russian commander was unaware of the precarious position of the British, who had sustained heavy losses. Soymonov instead awaited reinforcements from General P. Pavlov with his 16,000-strong contingent. The British, meanwhile, received reinforcements as well.
At one point in the battle, a strange and improbable chain of events occurred: the Russian commander Soymonov was shot by a British rifleman. Colonel Pristovoitov took over as commander but was killed within minutes. After him, Colonel Uvazhnov-Aleksandrov assumed command, only to be killed by dwindling British fire as well. By the time Pavlov’s reinforcements arrived, the Russian forces were effectively leaderless.
The British forces were joined by the French, though with limited strength — about 8,000 troops — as the bulk of the French forces were defending Balaklava, where battles had also begun.
The entry of the French troops shifted the course of the battle. The outcome was determined by superior weaponry — the French and British were armed with long-range, fast-firing rifles using Minie balls, while the Russian forces were still equipped with outdated smoothbore muskets.
At 11 a.m., the Russians signaled a retreat to their previous positions, and it was at this point that they suffered their heaviest losses from French grapeshot.
In terms of casualties, the Russian forces lost approximately 2,988 dead, 6,151 wounded, and 1,590 missing, while the allies sustained 462 dead, 1,952 wounded, and 198 missing in the British contingent, and 130 dead and 750 wounded among the French.
The Russian army was defeated in this battle, though the allies’ heavy losses forced them to postpone the planned assault on Sevastopol, scheduled for the following day.
The Battle of Inkerman highlighted not only the technological but also the organizational shortcomings of the Russian Imperial Army: the Russian headquarters did not even have a map of the Sapun Ridge and Kilen Valley plateau, where the fighting took place, and unit commanders were unfamiliar with the terrain, often losing their way. Moreover, the counterattack was launched amidst passivity from other Russian units, notably the reserves under General Osyp Zhabokrytsky’s command.