The Battle of Balaklava Part 1 - The Redoubts
Part of the problem for the British when switching to the right of the line had meant that they retained much responsibility for guarding against attack from the landward side. True, Bosquet's Observation Corps was dug in on the Sapoune Heights, but its function was to protect the flank of the armies on the plateau, and its sheer height at 450 ft above the Balaklava Plain was sufficient to rule out effective defence against surprise enemy incursions from the Traktir Bridge area towards Balaklava. To protect their base therefore the British hastily threw up two defensive lines.
The outer line took the form of a series of six scratched out earthworks over-dignified with the designation 'redoubts' built along the line of the Causeway in the vicinity of the Worontzoff Road.
No 1 Redoubt was constructed on the crest of Canrobert's Hill, so named because Canrobert had puffed his way up it to gain a view of the approaches to Balaklava towards the end of the Flank March. It was situated just over a mile NW of Kamara Village. Redoubts Nos 2 3 and 4 were astride the road; No2 lay 1000 yds north westward from No 1, there were 500 yds from 2 to 3 and 800 yds from 3 to 4. A start had been made on Redoubts No 5 and 6 in roughly the same straight line and separation distance, but by the 4th week in October they had not been constructed and were unmanned.
Redoubts 1 to 4 were manned by 1500 Turkish troops borrowed from Bosquet's force. The British hoped they were getting seasoned veterans of Omar Pasha's Army on the Danube, but in the usual way of such arrangements, they got the dross, for the most part ill-trained colonial conscripts from Tunisia, originally earmarked for base camp duties, and with no combat experience. However they were classified 'Turkish Infantry' for the purpose of the transaction - 600 (one battalion) went to the Canrobert Hill redoubt, and 300 each to the others. The fragile earthworks of the redoubts were no way near Totleben class, but were stiffened up by ten 12 pdr position guns, three each in Nos 1 and 4, and two each in the other two. These were manned by Turkish artillerymen landed specifically for the purpose. Since they had no knowledge or experience of British 12 pounders, they were allocated W Battery gunners to assist them, two in No 1 and one in each of the others. There was also a British sapper in No 4, who was supervising the construction of 5 and 6 Redoubts.
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