Duty

Anyone will take up an easy job whose success is guaranteed. Many will also take up a task which though difficult, is not impossible to accomplish. But how many are willing take up a challenge that they know is doomed for failure, only out of devotion to duty? Not many I think.

In the movie The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King, when the nation of Rohan is mustering its troops to march against the might of Mordor, a cavalry captain looks at the inadequately small force, and remarks to his king, "We cannot win."

"No, we cannot."
King Thedoen replies "But we must fight."

Or recall the story of Abhimanyu in the Mahabharata, who takes the battle to the impenetrable chakravyuha of the enemy, knowing quite well that he will not be coming back.

Such devotion to duty is of course the stuff of fiction and mythology.

Correction. Such devotion to duty is also a fact of history. It has been recorded time and again. And one such incident was the heroism of the British cavalry in the Crimean war, immortalised by Lord Tennyson in his poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade.

This incident took place on 25 October, 1854, during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War. Because of a miscommunication, Major General Lord Cardigan, the commander of the British Light Brigade, led around six hundred men in a near suicidal cavalry charge against Russian positions. The attack led the British cavalrymen into a valley defended by the Russians with canons placed at its back as well as both of its sides. .

Before charging into what was sure death, the soldiers must have realised that someone in the chain of command had probably made a terrible mistake. Yet no one objected. No one disobeyed. When they charged into the valley, the canons in front fired on them. They were fired upon by the canons and infantry men on both sides as well. Yet they carried on.

In the words of Tennyson,

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd ?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

They reached the Russian lines, killed a number of the enemy, and turned back, only to be shot at once more, from the back and both sides,

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

Theirs not to make reply/ Theirs not to reason why/ Theirs but to do and die. Immortal lines from Tennyson quoted by generations. History. Fact. Not legend or myth.