Inexplicably, Bojanev's battery opened up on the skirmishers, to the detriment of both friend and foe - maybe it was that Uhlan uniform again. As a result Sgt Major Smith found himself dismounted, and there were still individual and collective gauntlets to be run but most of the survivors who broke through the Uhlans' cordon made it back. Not least, thanks to the 4th Chasseurs d'Afrique, who shortly after the withdrawal of the Heavy Brigade had on their own initiative driven the position gun battery off the Fedioukine Heights in a brilliantly conceived and executed cavalry operation at the cost of 10 killed, 28 wounded and 3 taken prisoner. Sadly the immensely talented Captain Dangla was amongst those killed. Subsequently the 1st Chasseurs d'Afrique deployed a squadron as sharpshooters to damp down the Russian infantry and ensure that the guns did not return.
The final casualty count for Cardigan's Brigade was surprisingly light. Out of 664 who charged, 110 were killed, (16.5%) including 7 who died of their wounds. 130 were wounded, and 58 were taken prisoner. A total count of 298 or 45%. 60 years later, such figures would have been treated as a resounding success. Additionally 362 horses (54%) were either killed or put down. As a realistic estimate, about 160 cavalrymen would have been hit during the charge, 80 afterwards. The Russian artillery probably fired about 190 projectiles at them during the 7.5 minute charge, or one every 2.3 seconds.
Was the 'Charge' ever sounded? - 150 years on, discussions on the subject can still become heated. The fact that there is no lack of eyewitness reports on record both for and against, only fuels the controversy. Given the circumstances, a bugle call would have been superfluous and probably would not have been heard anyway in the general furore and clamour as the Charge closed in. That is not to say that Brittain would not have sounded it - he was obviously extremely reliable as Cardigan's very positive attitude towards him proves - but he had been seriously wounded sometime after sounding the gallop. The general consensus has been that this was fairly soon after, but this has not been borne out in research by descendants Des and Brenda Brittain. Brenda has letters to her great grandfather from survivors stating that 17th Lancer 'characters' Corporals Morley and Nunnerley, who were both unhorsed, were carrying wounded lying close to the guns out of danger, including Bill Brittain. Nunnerley himself stated this in a 1904 newspaper article. Brenda also has an eyewitness report that Bill had a canister ball taken out of his back in Scutari Hospital, where he later succombed to bed sores. Bearing in mind that the effective range limit for canister was around 200 metres, he could well have been up with Cardigan when the 'Charge' phase theoretically was reached. But of course, we'll never be certain.
