Sevastopol was taken over by the Germans for two years in WW ll, however they held out for about a year and the Germans suffered terribly there. The Russians 'liberated' it one year before the end of the war and stayed for the next 47 years as unwanted masters. The city was basically destroyed during those battles but many historic buildings were rebuilt in the original classic style. Of course there are many 'Stalinist' type buildings put up in the 50's and 60's. It is now about 60% Russian with a somewhat uneasy partnership on ownership of this jointly operated naval base.
Today we went on a six hour tour in Sevastopol to the site of a famous military action that took place here 153 years ago, part of the Crimean War, the Charge of the Light Brigade. It was the stuff of legends, and utter confusion combined with stupidity. During those days, officers in the British Army, [and I suppose other Armies] got their rank and commission by literally buying it. If you raised and supplied the men, uniforms and horses, you were a Colonel. A junior officer could have his father buy him a commission and send him abroad. The end result was the officer ranks were often populated with complete flakes. There were some very clever generals of course.
The ordinary soldiers were usually low class poor folk who joined the Army to get fed and clothed. They were of course subject to severe reprimand and punishment for disobeying an order. So the scene is set...we have some idiots in charge and oafs following orders blindly. To add to the intrigue and mystery of this action there are many questions unanswered about personality conflicts between certain leaders.
We were anchored again today, second day in a row and it does complicate things immensely. It takes so long to organize people into groups and march us to the loading pontoon and stumble into our seats. The end result is that tours start late and end late. That usually means that lunch is late and dinner becomes an iffy thing.
Regardless we were off the ship and into the bus by noon, in this case a city bus holding 36 of us. The guide was another good looking lady who knew her history and spoke very good English. This time we could see out of the windows but it was raining. The first stop was a Panorama of the 'Defence of Sevastopol' that took place in 1854-1855.
England, France, Turkey, Austria and Sardinia were ganged up on Russia to try and diminish its fleet and influence in the Black Sea. The siege lasted for 349 days. The fall of Sevastopol in September 1855 led to peace negotiations and 'The Treaty of Paris'.
50 years after the battle, 1905 the Russians opened a museum to hold a Panorama, painted to depict the great defensive battle. The end result is a completely circular building with a wall that is 14 m x 115m. It is an amazing thing, half painting and half realistic pieces of buildings, guns, debris etc.
It took three years to paint with 20 artists, opening on the 50th anniversary of this action. I believe a more common name for this type of circular depiction is a diorama, but here it is called a panorama. Next we visited some reconstructed gun defences overlooking the city.
In WW ll the building was hit by a bomb and basically destroyed. It was rebuilt and 17 Russian artists were employed for again, three years, to re-do the scenes. It was reopened on the 100th anniversary of the first defence, October 16, 1954. It really is a work of art, albeit a different form of art.
The next stop was to visit the submarine pens built through a mountain at Balaclava, [this town in itself is an important military location. Here, the famous 'Thin Red Line' of British troops stopped a Russian advance]. It was so eerie walking through the submarine tunnels with walls 4 1/2 feet thick under a mountain with 300 feet of rock above you.
It is really not the nicest of places to visit but it gave the other side of the cold war picture. The tunnel was also constructed so that it could shield and house civilians in the event of a nuclear attack. [From the USA!, today's visitors]. It was built in the late 50's and took nine years to build and it was used up until 1991.
Whilst in the quaintsy resort town of Balaclava we had an absolutely smashing lunch in a very attractive restaurant. The Europeans certainly know a bit about good living if you have a little money.
After lunch we wandered down to the promenade which would be lovely on a sunny day in short pants. Today was not such a day. Some people had silk long johns on [?], and our table companion had his flannel shirt. I had my cardigan and a jacket. Fellette had three layers on.
Next we visited the hill overlooking the famous valley where the 'The Charge of The Light Brigade took place'.
There are many books written about that debacle, I have read a few and am still not sure what happened, but today I understand it a little bit better. From the hill where we stood, and the commanders stood, everything is clearly visible and laid out for anybody to see in all directions, all the Russian guns were visible and it looks so simple. Yet, minutes before when we were down in the valley floor, the lay of the land was not so clear. Small hills and rises obstructed certain positions.
Regardless, there was a battle going on and confusion was king. A dispatch rider was sent to tell the Light Brigade [that is light cavalry] to charge the Russian guns. The wrong guns were charged and the Brigade was severally mauled. The reports of 600 dead are apparently overstated and 'only' 1/3 of the 700 odd men were killed, wounded or captured. Our port lecturer read aloud Lord Tennyson's poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade" the other day to about 250 of us while talking on Sevastopol.
Now to the sweaters etc... There were two 'Lords' at the battle whose names live on. One was Lord Cardigan who asked for a garment to be made for him that was literally a sweater that had buttons on the front. Now called a cardigan, I am wearing one as I write this.
The other was Lord Raglan who must have been a fashion buff and had a garment made that had a different configuration on the sleeves. Hence raglan sleeves.
The last item that came about as a result of that cold Crimean winter was the Balaclava, basically a skull cap that comes down over your entire head leaving just eye, nose and mouth holes. It is great in freezing temperatures. It was used in the British and Canadian army for some time before skiers adapted it then the terrorists found it handy. Hence the balaclava.
As a further aside, the Victoria Cross (Canada and Britain's highest award for military bravery) is made from the melted down bronze from Russian guns captured during the Crimean war. Unfortunately, Britain also had some cannons captured there as well. The capture or loss of heavy guns is considered either a great accomplishment or a very severe loss.
Back on the ship and off to sunny Santorini, Greece, [we hope it's sunny, we missed it the last week].
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