24 Hours at Balaclava: Voices from the Battlefield

by Robert Kershaw

The Battle of Balaclava, 1854, is one of the Crimean War’s stand out battles. The Russians took advantage of an ill-manned area near Balaclava, forcing the British back to the Thin Red Line. A heroic and unlikely victory from the heavy brigade’s charge halted the Russian advance, putting them on the defensive. However, that was before a misinterpreted order from Raglan led to a final Allied cavalry charge, and one of the most famous and ill-fated events in British military history.

Here acclaimed military historian Robert Kershaw creates a vivid, intimate account of this famed battle, using human stories from eyewitness accounts, diaries and letters to illustrate the 24 hours of the Battle of Balaclava, and to place the reader shoulder to shoulder with the cavalry as it charged.

Genres: History

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2019

About the author

Born in 1950 and a graduate of Reading University, Robert Kershaw joined the Parachute Regiment in 1973.

He served numerous regimental appointments until selected to command the 10th Battalion The Parachute Regiment (10 PARA). He attended the German Staff College (Fuhrungsakademie) spending a further two years with the Bundeswehr as an infantry, airborne and arctic warfare instructor. He speaks fluent German and has extensive experience with NATO, multinational operations and all aspects of operations and training.

His active service includes several tours in Northern Ireland, the First Gulf War and Bosnia. He has exercised in many parts of the world and served in the Middle East and Africa. His final army appointment was with the Intelligence Division at HQ NATO in Brussels Belgium.

On leaving the Army in 2006 he became a full-time author of military history as well as a consultant military analyst. He has written a paper on the military impact of HIV AIDS for Cranfield University and more recently was the historical editor for ParaData, an on-line archive for the Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces.

Reviews

[Emerson Stokes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kershaw’s wonderful accounts of battles, charges and clashes provide a vivid description of the events during the Battle of Balaclava. Unlike the British, his skill certainly hasn’t dwindled since his book on Waterloo. Personal accounts sprinkled all throughout the book show what men were thinking on the battlefield and after it as well as giving a more in-depth view of what the battle might have looked like compared to Raglan’s top-down point of view.

[TG · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one. I love to study military history and i allways had a soft spot for 19th century warfare.
This book delivers. It's simple, the writing style its not boring at all, have a few maps so you can try to follow the action and it is focused only in this battle so maybe a bit of background knowledge on the war as a whole is needed.
I'd like maybe a bit more maps an details on them but if you already read about the war and this battle you know what's going on.
Five stars.

[Olle Bergman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best book of this genre that I’ve read.

[Mat]

Militär Historia * undoubtedly one of the year's most readable books