At ten minutes past eleven our Light Cavalry Brigade advanced. The whole Brigade scarcely made one effective regiment, according to the numbers of continental armies; and yet it was more than we could spare. They swept proudly past, glittering in the morning sun in all the pride and splendour of war. They advanced in two lines, quickened their pace as they closed towards the enemy. At the distance of 1,200 yards the whole line of the enemy belched forth, from thirty iron mouths, a flood of smoke and flame. The flight was marked by instant gaps in our ranks, by dead men and horses, by steeds flying wounded or riderless across the plain. In diminished ranks, with a halo of steel above their heads, and with a cheer which was many a noble fellow's death-cry, they flew into the smoke of the batteries; but ere they were lost from view the plain was strewed with their bodies. [Illustration: PLAN OF BALAKLAVA _SHEWING THE_ CAVALRY ACTION OF OCT 25th 1854. Table of Killed & Wounded +-----------------+------------------++------------------+---------+-+ | | OFFICERS || MEN | HORSES | | | | Killed | Wounded || Killed | Wounded | Killed | | | | | || | | | | | { British | 13 27 || 142 | 197 | 361 | | | { | | || | | | | |Allies { French | 2 | 4 || 21 | 33 | 79 | | | { | | || | | | | | { Turkish | 3 | 7 || 285 | -- | | | +--------+---------++--------+---------+---------+ | | Total | 18 | 38 || 678 | 450 | | | +--------+---------++------------------+---------+ | | | | Russian 700 Killed & Wounded | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ Total Numbers on the Field +-------------------+--------++--------+-+ | | MEN || GUNS | | | | || | | | { British | 9,900 || 24 | | | { | || | | |Allies { French | 4,800 || 12 | | | { | || | | | { Turkish | 400 || 8 | | | | || | | | Russians | 18,500 || 40 | | | +--------++--------+ | | Total | 33,600 || 84 | | | +--------++--------+ | +----------------------------------------+