Editing Battle of the Chernaya (section)

==The battle==
[[File:Battle of the Chernaya.jpg|thumb|305px|Battle of the Chernaya, the forces at the beginning of the battle and the Russian advance. The Russians are shown in brown, Frenchmen in red, Sardinians in blue, Turks in green, British in orange]]
[[File:Artgate Fondazione Cariplo - Induno Gerolamo, La battaglia della Cernaia.jpg|thumb|305px|''La battaglia della Cernaia'', [[Gerolamo Induno]].]]
58,000 Russian troops in two army [[corps]] under Prince Michael Gorchakov fought against 36,000 French and [[Sardinian Expeditionary Corps in the Crimean War|Sardinian troops]] under French General [[Aimable Pélissier]] and Piedmontese General [[Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora]]. Ottoman forces—six [[battalion]]s of infantry and one [[artillery battery]]—were commanded by {{ill|Władysław Kościelski|pl}} [(Ottoman name "Sefer Pasha").<ref>{{harvnb|Russell|1858|p=412}}</ref> Although the British correspondents were amazed at the courageousness and impetuosity of the Russian attack,<ref>{{harvnb|Russell|1858|p=404}}: "The rush of the Russians was splendid."</ref> the assault was handicapped by poor organization and lack of experienced soldiers which, due to Sevastopol, forced their corps to consist mostly of militia.

In the cover of the morning fog, the Russians advanced towards Traktir Bridge with 47,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry and 270 cannon under command of General [[Pavel Liprandi]] on the left and General {{ill| Nikolay Read|ru|Реад, Николай Андреевич}} on the right. The two generals had been ordered by Gorchakov not to cross the river until given explicit orders.  Annoyed that things weren't happening fast enough, Gorchakov sent a note to his generals with the words ''"Let's start it."'' By this, Gorchakov only meant that the Russians should start to deploy their forces. His generals interpreted his words as his order to attack and they acted accordingly, although reserve forces were still en route to the battlefield.{{sfnp|Figes|2010|pp=381-382}} 
[[File:Traktir Bridge after the Battle of Tchernaya, 1855, 'The Officers' Portfolio of the Striking Reminiscences of the War, from Drawings, Photographs, and Notes, Taken on the Spot.' (1856). NAM 1005006.jpg|thumb|Traktir Bridge after the Battle.]]
The attacking Russians immediately met stiff resistance from the French and Sardinians. Read's forces crossed the river near the Traktir Bridge but without cavalry and artillery support, they were easily stopped by the French on the Fedyukhin Heights (Федюхины высоты). Read then ordered his reserve formation, the 5th Infantry Division, to attack the Heights but instead of launching a coordinated assault, he fed them piecemeal into the fray. Going in regiment by regiment, the assaulting reserve troops accomplished nothing. Seeing this, Gorchakov ordered Read to deploy the entire division against the French. This forced the French back up the hill but the Russians could not capture the Heights. In the following retreat General Read was killed. Upon the death of Read, Gorchakov took personal command of the right and ordered 8 battalions of Liprandi's left wing to reinforce the right wing. These forces came under fire from the Sardinians and were driven back. At 10 o’clock in the morning, Gorchakov concluded that the situation was hopeless and ordered a general retreat.{{sfnp|Figes|2010|pp=382-383}}

The bravery of Sardinian troops and the French soldiers of the 50th, 82nd, 95th, 97th of the line; the 19th Foot Chasseurs; and the 2nd and 3rd [[Zouave]]s was especially noted. The Sardinian troops' valiant effort at the battle was a contributing factor to their inclusion at the negotiation tables at the end of the war; it was there that the [[Kingdom of Sardinia]] began looking for the aid of other European nations towards the [[Italian unification|Unification of Italy]].