"On October 25, 1854, acting in defense of their base at Balaklava during the Crimean War, the Light Brigade of the British Cavalry Division made the most magnificent and most brutal charge in military history. Almost seven hundred men armed with sabre and lance charged straight at the muzzles of Russian cannons. In the slaughter that followed, many fell to round-shot and shell fired from the front and from both sides. Those who survived took a terrible revenge on the enemy." "In this detailed account of the charge and the bloody melee that followed, Terry Brighton - a writer with unique access to regimental archives - draws on twenty years of research to tell the story in the words of the survivors themselves for the first time."--BOOK JACKET.