Captain William Pechell and men of the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot in winter dress, 1855

Captain William Pechell and men of the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot in winter dress, 1855.

 During the first true winter at the siege of Sebastopol, trench warfare had begun just as the cold began to set in. After an already weakened allied army by Cholera and other camp bound diseases, the British troops were ill prepared for the winters of the Crimean and so thousands lost limbs to frostbite.

The main reason so many were affected is that between the British fleet anchored at Balaklava in the south of Crimea while the army besieged Sebastopol in the North, the roads were poor and ill maintained meaning many of the British supplies sat rotting at the harbour in Balaclava including the British winter uniform. This meant the cold was a constant threat to the troops and until the railway between Balaklava and Sebastopol in 1855, winter wear could not be acquired.

This photograph shows men in their newly delivered winter clothes looking rather unimpressed. This is because by the time the clothes got there it was, it was early July and so far too hot to wear them. This is just one example of the many failures by the British aristocratic officer class resulting in more casualties than necessary.

Too little too late. While the French, a full time battle hardened army fighting in Algeria since 1854 were well organised, well educated, and well lead. This would gain the British compliment by the Russians later in the siege with the title ‘Lions lead by donkeys’

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