THE SARDINIAN EXPEDITIONARY CORPS -- Crimean War

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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 September 14, 1854. The late joining of the Sardinian Expeditionary Corps (entering the war against Russia, on January 26, 1855), arrived at Balaklava in 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 fortresses, six field batteries, and a war fleet came under the Sardinian command. These men showed great gallantry at the Battle of Tchernaya (August 16, 1855), and great engineering skills at the Siege of Sevastopol.

Arrival of a large number of fresh experienced troops, at a time when the grueling 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 September 9, 1855. Culminating with the Russian evacuation of the city, blowing up their forts and sinking their ships, on September 11. The Sardinian Army continued to serve on the Crimean Peninsula till their embarkation in June, 1856.