A SUPERB & RARE
"SANDBAG BATTERY"
CRIMEA & TURKISH CRIMEA
FOUR CLASP
'CASUALTY PAIR'
ALMA, BALACLAVA, SEBASTOPOL, INKERMAN
To:
WILLIAM BEARD
of
"THE GRENADIER GUARDS"
KILLED-IN-ACTION
5th NOVEMBER 1854
'BATTLE OF INKERMAN'
(Officially Impressed)
NOTE: By a totally incredible and somewhat "spooky" coincidence,
(which we are still getting over)
the same day that we bought this superb four clasp medal we later called on a regular client (40 miles away) who amazingly had a Turkish Crimea Medal with the Victorian Chisel Engraved initials W.B on the rim.
Clearly this man was Killed-in-Action but it's looking as if someone, perhaps a proud member of William Beard's family, went to the trouble of preparing a Turkish Crimea medal with his initials on it! It could of course have been prepared for someone else with the same initials,but
in any case, he's fully entitled to it, so it's a really nice and totally original Victorian engraved matching extra which greatly compliments this brave man's British medal !
GRENADIER GUARDS
( The Famous Action at 'The Sandbag Battery' ) 
Inkerman has been described as “The Soldier’s Battle”. This is a reference to the sheer ferocity of the fighting, and the importance of the role of individual battalions and companies. Even small parties of men who fought in isolation in the freezing and foggy conditions and individual soldiers who were thrown on their own initiative, contributed to victory in this ultimately challenging battle.
This epic winter struggle was physically further confounded not just by the atrocious weather but by familiar and shocking errors of equipment supply, in that the men had only been issued with ill fitting Left Footed Boots!
Inkerman was also a particularly iconic battle for the Grenadier Guards, who were the only regiment to take their colours into the battle, but with some apprehension that the Russians might capture the colours of Queen Victoria’s premier Foot Guard regiment. 
The Grenadiers suffered more than 100 dead within their total casualties of 9 officers and 225 men.
One of the regiment’s companies, carries the title “The Inkerman Company” in memory of their sacrifice in this battle.
Captain Percy of the Grenadier Guards received the Victoria Cross for his conduct in the battle, in particular for extracting 50 men of his regiment from the midst of the Russians.
Soimonoff’s attack formed the first part of the battle. Some of his regiments were very severely battered and lost such a high proportion of officers, that they took no further part in the war.
While the initial struggle of the battle had been intense it could not compare with the severity of the fighting that began with the arrival of Pauloff’s force from across the Tchernaya River.
Pauloff’s force of 15,000 men advanced down the axis of the post road towards the northern and north eastern sides of Home Ridge and Fore Ridge. The main focal points of the battle became the Barrier, The Sandbag Battery and the crest of the ridge above them.
The Russians launched 7,000 men against the Sandbag Battery, which was defended by 2,000 British soldiers. So began a ferocious six hour struggle which saw the battery change hands repeatedly during the attack.
Pauloff’s attacking line stretched from the post road to the Sandbag Battery.
As the Russians advanced, the wing of the British 30th Regiment who were holding The Barrier with 300 men, leaped over the wall and attacked with the bayonet.
After a savage fight the leading Russian battalions were driven back down the slope. A further five Russian battalions were also assailed by the British 41st Regiment under Brigadier Adams, who, advancing in extended order and with intense fire, drove this column back to the banks of the Tchernaya River.
General Dannenberg now took command of the two Russian forces, Pauloff’s troops from the field army and the 9,000 men in Soimonoff’s reserve, and began a sustained and ferocious attack on the Second Division’s positions on Home Ridge.
At this time support was coming up for Brigadier Pennefather, the Guards Brigade arriving from its camp to the South and General Cathcart approaching with his Fourth Division.
The British troops who were holding The Barrier abandoned the position to the Russians for a time, but Pennefather sent forward men from the 21st Royal North British Fusiliers, the 63rd Regiment and the Rifles to retake it. The Barrier then remained in British hands for the rest of the battle in spite of repeated and determined assaults by the Russians.
Brigadier Adams held the Sandbag Battery with 700 men, supported by the 1,300 men of the Guards Brigade. The Russians launched an attack on his position with 7,000 men, beginning a series of charges and countercharges which saw the ground changing hands several times as the fighting raged up and down the hillside. 
THE SANDBAG BATTERY (UPPER LEFT POSITION) AS IT IS TODAY.
THIS IS A REALLY CLASSIC ITEM AND A 'MUST HAVE' PAIR OF MEDALS FOR THE SERIOUS CRIMEA ENTHUSIAST.
BOTH MEDALS EF , ORIGINAL RIBBONS.
£2950
The defence of the Sandbag Battery during the Battle of Inkermann took place in thick fog against overwhelming odds and is one of the epics of British military history. On that day the Brigade of Guards, of which the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards formed part, lost 44 men killed, which was half it's officers and men, but not a single prisoner or an inch of ground "