• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

The Trooper

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jan 30, 2021
Messages
1,049
Reaction score
1,127
The British heavy metal band Iron Maiden has always been one of my favorites, and they recorded an iconic song 'The Trooper'.



Bassist Steve Harris penned this classic about The Charge of the Light Brigade during the Thin Red Line's deployment to the Crimean Peninsula and its 25 October 1854 Battle of Balaclava (some may find familiar Lord Tennyson's epic poem).

Iron Maiden's 'The Trooper' opens as follows:
You'll take my life, but I'll take yours too
You'll fire your musket, but I'll run you through


So those opening lines led me to wonder which muskets those darn Russians used to mow down all those courageous British troops...?

Cursory online research revealed the following regarding the British weapons used:

The British infantry fought with the Brown Bess musket in some form from the beginning of the 18th Century.
As the Crimean War broke out, the British Army’s infantry was being equipped with the new French Minié Rifle, a muzzle loading rifle fired by a cap (all the British divisions, other than the Fourth, arriving in the Crimea with this weapon). This weapon was quickly replaced by the more efficient British Enfield Rifle.
The new rifle was sighted up to 1,000 yards, as against the old Brown Bess, wholly inaccurate beyond 100 yards.


[cite:]
https://www.britishbattles.com/crimean-war/battle-of-balaclava/
and

https://www.militaryheritage.com/enfield1853.htm
But I have not found much information as to which muskets the Russians used at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War; so does anyone happen to know anything about the enemy weapons during the Battle of Balaclava?
 
Last edited:
I remember the battle of baklava, when there was not enough of it to go around after dinner! I think the Russian army used a smooth bore musket, maybe a French pattern with a back action lock?
 
Can't say I enjoyed the music video.

If anyone wants to hear a much better version of the "Charge of the Light Brigade", follow the link below and choose, "Charge of the Light Brigade". It was sung by the 3D's, a folk song group back in the 1960's.

While your there, also select "Gunga Din". They did a great job with that poem. Even you folks who don't like poetry will get a new feeling about the power of some of these old classic's.

https://sonichits.com/video/The_3_D's/Gunga_Din
 

Latest posts

Back
Top