"There is no retreat from here men, you must die where you stand"

"Ay, ay, Sir Colin, and needs be we'll do that"

The thin red line at Balaclava made Campbell a hero to the Victorian public as his Highland Brigade was the only barrier between 2000 Russian cavalry and the British base of operation. He was also aided by William Russell

who described his 500 Highlanders formed two ranks deep as a "thin red streak topped with a line of steel". Campbell had accepted the command of the Highland Brigade shortly after the war was declared, he would serve in the first division with Henry Bentinck, a Guardsmen

with no experience of combat who commanded the Guards Brigade under the command of the Duke of Cambridge. At 35 the Duke was the youngest divisional commander in the army and also had no combat experience.

Soon after the allies landed on Crimea they were faced with the task of clearing 40,000 Russians from the Alma heights. The French attacked the left scaling what the Russians believes were impenetrable heights turning their flank.

The British initially attacked with the light division but during the advance the officers lost control of the men as clumps of soldiers began to form. In an effort to regain control the officers ordered the men to charge, and they were successful in pushing the Russians back.

However, a counter charge drove the Britons back as they had lost all cohesion, it fell to the 1st Division to clear finish the job. Campbell kept order among his men and led them from the front and aided by superior rifle fire cleared the heights.

Without Campbell's steady hand it is likely the whole allied army would have been driven back into the sea as the Duke did not have the will to win. The Guards Brigade suffered heavy casualties and the Duke wanted to save them Campbell said he would rather see them dead then flee

At Balaclava his Highland regiment was vital in the defence of the British rear but played a small part in the rest of the battle. After this he was granted a division of Scottish troops and set about besieging Sebastopol. He cared deeply for the lot of his men and set about

improving their conditions and trying to fight the ever looming threat of cholera. When the time came to storm the city the allied commanders saw it fit to exclude perhaps their most able officer from the process. He and his men were held in reserve on the first day of the

attack and he watched furiously as the men threw themselves in a disorganised mob at the Russian fortifications and in turn fled back to their starting point. On the second day it was his turn but the Russians had withdrawn

The government did all it could to stop Campbell assuming overall command of the British army in Crimea and even tried to send him to Malta as governor, which he took great offense to saying that he would only remain because he say himself as a servant to Queen Victoria.

Cordington was chosen who was another Guardsman with no experience of war who Campbell had rescued at Alma, the choice was deeply unpopular with the men, the public, the French and the Queen. Campbell, however was unpopular with the the men of Horse Guards and Parliament

@Peter_Nimitz, @Irkutyanin1