The Sardinian Expeditionary Corps

Book excerpt: The Anglo-French-Ottoman Siege of Sevastopol, the Russian Naval Base in the Crimean, had been underway since October 1854. It had begun with the French and British landing at Eupatoria on 14 September 1854. The late joining of the Sardinian Expeditionary Corps (entering the war against Russia, on 26 January, 1855), arrived at Balaklava over May. The army of the Regno di Sardegna-Piemonte: the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, was by the standards of the time, seen as modern, and one of the best in Europe. The Sardinian troops were relatively battle experienced, having been involved in the first wars of Italian unification in 1848. A total of 18,061 men, 3,963 horses, and mules, four fortress, and six field batteries, and war fleet came under the Sardinian command. These men showed great gallantry at the Battle of Tchernaya (16 August, 1855), and great engineering skills at the Siege of Sevastopol. Arrival of a large number of fresh experienced troops, at a time when the gruelling siege, and winter had taken a terrible cost on the Anglo-French-Ottoman Armies at Sevastopol, was likely timely. Within a month, the Russians retreated from Sevastopol bringing the siege to a conclusion, on the 9 September, 1855. Culminating with the Russian evacuation of the city, blowing up their forts and sinking their ships, on 11 September. The Sardinian Army continued to serve on the Crimean Peninsula till their embarkation in June, 1856.