Charge of the Light Brigade

the crest of a hill behind the British lines and overlooking the battlefield outside the Black Sea port of Balaklava in the Crimea. Perhaps you can hear the occasional discharge of a heavy gun in the distance. Those guns are British guns which only a short time ago were captured by the Russian troops of Tsar Nicholas the First. With this turn of events on this 25th of October 1854,

a big step has been taken by the Russians toward tracking the alive siege of Sevastopol. This siege, as the world knows, has been in progress for more than one month, or it was on September 14th that the British and French armies with some help from their Turkish allies landed on the Crimean Peninsula and in circle the fortress city of Sevastopol.

But any hope of a quick capitulation by the Russians has come to an end with today's dramatic upset. It's now a question of whether even the siege of Sevastopol itself can be maintained. The Russians have launched a relieving action here at Balaklava, which, if it continues, would seem to have every prospect of success.

We're set up just behind the back. October 25th, E. Balaklava. The charge. CBS takes you back 96 years to the Battle of Balaklava in the Crimean War, and the celebrated charge of the British light cavalry.

All things are, as they were then, except for one thing. with all the modern facilities of radio presence and CBS Newsmen reporting from the scene. You are there. You are there, it's based on historical fact and quotation.

And now, October 25th 18th, and in the Turkish Allies. The Russians have succeeded in taking three Allied defense positions down in the valley below our observation point. There seems to be a lull now in the battle.