Bono, Johnny Turk!
figured in the heaviest fighting - were on their way back to their regular positions on the Tchernaya when during the night of 19th February they were caught in the heaviest snowstorm of the winter and suffered heavy additional casualties from frostbite.
The Turks mourned 88 killed and suffered 288 wounded; losses from the French detachment were 4 killed and 8 wounded. These casualties were from the naval gun detachments in action in the forefront of the land defences where they incurred warm praise from Osman Pasha. 13 Tartar spectators lost their lives.
As soon as the combattants had cleared the field, there were deplorable scenes when Tartar civilians rushed out from the town and mutilated enemy dead. It is only fair to say that some Turkish troops were also involved, but when two of them approached Oman Pasha holding up severed heads, he immediately had them arrested and flogged as an example to the rest of the Army. But the damage had been done - the incident was blown up and widely reported back at the Siege, and took much of the gilt off Turkish rehabilitation in the eyes of those seeking an excuse to remain prejudiced against them.
The Battle of Eupatoria has routinely over the years received no more than at best a paragraph or two in British histories of the War, and only slightly more in French ones, yet it was an action with far reaching strategic significance. It confirmed that allied total command of the sea would ensure that this threat to the Russian flank would remain for the duration of hostilities. For the allies, possession of Eupatoria meant that the total investment of Sevastopol remained a viable option. For the Russians, they could not afford to commit unlimited resources from their vast army to the Crimea, for fear of a lightning allied thrust from Eupatoria closing the neck of the Crimea at Perekop.
And for the Turks, their Army had regained its self esteem and to some extent its reputation; most French and British realised this, although others including the high command would stubbornly refuse to make further use of their fighting abilities in local operations.
My thanks are due to Mr Tony Margrave of the Crimean War Research Society, who generously provided me copies of his collection of Operation Orders and After Battle Reports by commanders participating in the Battle of Eupatoria
Sources:
C Hibbert (1961) The Destruction of Lord
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