Redcoats and black were inextricably mixed together, and over them like a play of rapid lightning was the flash of steel as the swords rose and fell.
Presently the Redcoats were seen emerging from the rear, having cut their way through the surging mass.

The flanks of the Russian column, however, were lapping them in, and it seemed that the little body would be annihilated, when the 4th and 5th Dragoon Guards, forming the second line of the Heavy Brigade, burst upon them like a torrent.
Smitten, as if by a thunderbolt, the Russian cavalry, men and horses, rolled over before the stroke, and the column, shattered and broken into fragments, galloped away to the shelter of their infantry, while a roar of triumph arose from long lines of the allies.
By this time the French infantry had arrived upon the ground, and Balaklava was safe.

Then came the episode by which the battle of Balaklava is best known, the famous charge of the Six Hundred.

An order was sent from Lord Raglan to Lord Lucan to advance the light cavalry farther.

Captain Nolan, who bore the order, was himself a light cavalry officer of great enterprise and distinction, and who had an unlimited faith in the powers of British light cavalry.