The Thin Red Line (1854 battle)
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| Battle of the Thin Red Line | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Crimean War | |||||||
 1881 painting of the Thin Red Line by Robert Gibb |
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| Combatants | |||||||
| United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | Russia | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Sir Colin Campbell | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | 25,000 | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Crimean War |
|---|
| Sinop – Petropavlovsk – Alma – Sevastopol – Balaclava – Inkerman – Eupatoria – Taganrog – Chernaya River – Kars – Malakhoff – Kinburn |
The Thin Red Line was a famous military action by the British Army's 93rd (Highland) Regiment during the Crimean War. The 93rd and two other Highland regiments, led by Sir Colin Campbell commander of the Highland Brigade , took part in actions at Alma and Sevastopol before routing a Russian cavalry charge on October 25, 1854, at Balaklava.
The Russian cavalry force of 2,500 rode down the road to Balaklava. It was early morning and the sole force that lay between the oncoming cavalry and the disorganized and vulnerable British camp was the 93rd regiment.
Campbell is said to have told his men, "There is no retreat from here, men. You must die where you stand." Sir Colin's aide John Scott is said to have replied, "Aye, Sir Colin. If needs be, we'll do that." Campbell formed the 93rd into a line two deep — the "thin red line". Convention dictated that the line should be four deep, but the line had to be stretched. Campbell had the regiment wait until very close quarters before the first line fired. The Russians continued to advance, and Campbell had his men wait until no more than 50 yards lay between the Highlanders and the charging Russians to fire the second volley. This broke the Russian charge. At that, some of the Highlanders started forward for a counter-charge, but Sir Colin stopped them with a cry of "93rd, damn all that eagerness!"
It was The Times correspondent, William H. Russell, who wrote that he could see nothing between the charging Russians and the British base of operations at Balaklava but the "thin red streak tipped with a line of steel" of the 93rd. Popularly condensed into "the thin red line", the phrase became a symbol for British sangfroid in battle.
The battle is fictionally characterized in Robert Gibb's 1881 painting of the same name, which is housed at the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders regimental museum at Stirling Castle, in Stirling, Scotland.
Rudyard Kipling wrote the poem 'Tommy' that has the lines: Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an` Tommy, 'ow's yer soul? / But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.; Tommy Atkins being the popular slang for a British Army Private soldier. This may also be the source for the title of James Jones' book, 'The Thin Red Line'.
Author James Jones used the phrase "The Thin Red Line" as the title for a novel about American soldiers fighting in Guadalcanal during World War II. The book was subsequently adapted into two feature films, one in 1964 and most recently, in 1998.
George MacDonald Fraser describes both this battle and the Charge of the Light Brigade in his fictional book Flashman at the Charge, with his usual attention to historical accuracy.
The deriving term The Thin Blue Line is sometimes used to denote police officers.
Is also the basis for the famous Scottish war song Scottish Soldier (the Green Hills of Tyrol) by Andy Stewart.
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[edit] Outside Link
http://www.oed.com/learning/word-stories/red-line.html Note that if this is correct, the original quote is "The Russians on their left drew breath for moment, and then in one grand line dashed at the Highlanders. The ground flies beneath their horses' feet; gathering speed at every stride, they dash on towards that thin red streak topped with a line of steel." From 1854 Times 14 Nov.
The first documented written use of thin red line was "1877 W. H. RUSSELL Brit. Exped. Crimea (new & rev. ed.) III. 156 156 The ground flew beneath their horses feet; gathering speed at every stride, they dashed on towards that thin red line tipped with steel."
