It was in 0ctober 25, 1584, the climax of another battle during the Crimean war. But this one will not be another skirmises, not another hill captured, not another valley lost, for the military records this as the Battle of Balaklava..on this fateful day shall be regarded and long remembered by history as military blunder . For the poet it shall be remembered as the Charge of the Light Brigade. In just only twenty minutes, the charge of the Light Brigade was over.. the entire valley was littered with the dead bodies of brave soldiers , horses and the wounded. 0nly l95 cavalrymen survived .. all still mounted on their own horses except one who made it back to their safe line mounted on a captured Russian horse. This is what is left of the 66l who made the charge.
The charge went straight towards the Russians position. 0n the north of the valley- Vediukhine heights were l4 guns, 8 batallions of Russian infantrymen, on the causeway heights to the south were 32 guns, ll battalions of Russian infantrymen, at the end of the valley were 8 guns of Cossack horse artillery battery, several squadrons of Russian cavalry-cossacks.
Even General Liprande of the Russian forces greatly admired the exemplary bravery and courage displayed by the troops of the Light Brigade while under fire.
The charge of the Light Brigade stunned the whole world. Famous poet Lord Alfred Tenneyson was deeply moved that he was inspired to write a poem… which became also popularly known as The Charge of the Light Brigade. Later in l890 Thomas Edison was influenced by such fine works of poetry that he sent his agents to the the poet Laueate’s home to record his voice on wax clylinder. In l936, a motion picture was made with Errol Flyn in lhe lead role , which garnered multi awards.
Though there was no formal investigation being done to find out what really happened, this did not prevent historians to get their own informations by interviewing the families and relatives of the survivors. This is what they found; the members of the Light Brigade did not heared any trumpet call for the charge, even the senior general staff officers were surprised of the tactical movement of the Light Brigade which is composed of the l8th and llth Hussars, 4th and l3th Light Dragons and the l7th Lancers because there was no command given for the Light to make the Charge.
“This is the story. British Commander Lord Fitzroy James Raglan, ordered General George Cathcart’s 4th Infantry Division to recover the three Advance Redoubts – defensive fieldworks , which was captured by the Russians in earlier battle but Cathcart refused.
So Commander Raglan then ordered the Cavalry Brigade Commanded by Lord George Lucas to recover the redoubts if the opportunity arose.
When the Russians prepared to remove the guns, Raglan sent Captain Lewis Nolan with the order to prevent it. Upon receipt of the order, Lucas requested for further elaboration, being unable to see the positions that were visible to Raglan, who occupied higher ground. Nolan made a violent gesture towards the redoubts and with sarcasm replied.. there my Lord is your enemy, there are your guns. Lucas decided not to further ask more because he knows Nolan bad temper.
Lucas in turn give order to the Light Brigade under Lord James Cardigan, his brother-in-law and a bitter enemy to advance down to the valley towards the main Russian position, when infact the target is supposedly the isolated redoubts guns emplacements. Cardigan protested but Lucas declared that the command of Raglan were peremtory.
The Light Brigade consist of five regiments. They advance in three lines;. Cardigan led the formation alone. Lucas led the two regiments. As the light Brigade pushes their charge close to the Russian ranks… guns and cannons explode around them. Noland galloped past Cardigan gesticulating wildly, trying to say something but his words were not understood by Cardigan and the rest of the soldiers near him because of the thundering , deafening cannon fired around them. Cardigan and the rest of the Light Brigade continued to ride past the Russian lines. Nolan was seen felled by splinters from the cannon shells which shattered his heart.
They could have been all massacred but another unit acted on their own initiative made a diversionary attack and slackened the cannon fire.
Cardigan defended his action. Lucas also refused to take the blame. With Nolan dead he can not explained his side .A sweater brand was named Cardigan and was distributed around the world.
Filled with dust and buried in the military war archives was the after battle report of Balaklava that the Charge of the Light Brigade was an error of transmission of orders and no officers was ever charged or held responsible for such a disaster.
Most of the survivors were awarded with medals and given honors , while six were awarded the highest ever given… the Victoria Cross. The story of the charge became a classic study material in many war colleges of the generals in many nations of the world. The Charge of the Light Brigade was an attacked without a clear given command… there was a mistake… there was a misunderstanding in the communication.”
Daily we encounter, we experienced being misquoted, misunderstood or the other way around, the result is we are all hurt and the friendship or relationship suffers. In the bible, we have plenty of stories like the charge. Jesus Christ himself was misunderstood in many words he says. In John chapter 2 verse 20 Christ body is confused to the earthly temple . In John chapter 3 verse 4 the new birth is confused to is confused to the earthly temple . In John chapter 3 verse 4 the new birth is confused to physical birth . In John chapter 4 verse l5 the water of Life is confused with the physical water.. In John chapter 4 verse 33 spiritual nourishment is confused with food. In John chapter 6 verse 52 receiving Christ Spirit is confused with eating His Body and drinking His blood . In John chapter 6 verse 22 Christ departure is confused to suicide.
What are the causes of misunderstanding a message? Not having all the facts ( Joshua 22:ll-l2), lack of instructions ( Acts 8 : 30- 31 ), distorted message ( psalm 56:5, 2P3:1b), bad attitude and emotions ( Matt. L3:l4-l5 2Cor6: 4, Prov 30:33, Prov l0:l2),hidden motives ( jas 4:3, Prov l7:l9) foolish individuals and misleading assumption.
How are we going to respond to a misunderstanding situation? lCor l2:l, Lk l9:ll, Matt 5”l7,Josh 22:l0-l3. Uncorrected misunderstanding can lead to a very undesirable outcome. If remain unresolved can cause to dwell in the unimportant and miss the important. (Gal. 2:2.)
