300px|thumb|Den tynde røde linje. 93. Highlanders stopper det russiske kavalleri. Maleri fra [[1881 af Robert Gibb]]
'''Den tynde røde linje''' (en:''The Thin Red Line'') er et berømt sammenstød mellem ''93. Sutherland Highlanders'' fra den britiske hær, og russisk kavaleri, under slaget ved Balaklava under Krimkrigen.

93. Sutherland Highlanders og to andre ''Highland'' regimenter stoppede et stormangreb fra russisk kavaleri, der truede den britiske forsyningsbase ved havnen Balaklava. Den britiske styrke var under kommando af ''Sir Colin Campbell''.

Den russiske styrke på 2,500 kavalerister angreb ad vejen mod Balaklava. Det var tidlig morgen, og den eneste styrke der var imellem russerne og den sårbare britiske forsyningsbase var 93. regiment.
Da russerne nærmede sig, formerede Campbell 93. regiment i en langstrakt linje af infanterister, der kun var to mand dyb. Doktrinen dikterede ellers at linjen skulle være fire mand dyb.
Campbell fik regimentet til at vente til fjenden var meget tæt på før første linje affyrede deres rifler, og anden linje afskød først deres rifler da russerne blot var 50 meter væk. Den sidste salve brød det russiske angreb.

{{Infobox Military Conflict
|image=300px 
|caption=1881 painting of the Thin Red Line by Robert Gibb
|conflict=The Thin Red Line (part of the Battle of Balaclava)
|partof=Crimean War 
|date=October 25, 1854
|place=Balaklava, Russia (Balaklava, Ukraine)
|result=Decisive British Victory - Russian Cavalry Repelled 
|combatant1=United Kingdom
|combatant2=Ingermanlandsky Hussars (Russian Empire)
|commander1= Sir Colin Campbell (subordinate to Lord Raglan)
|commander2=General Rijov (subordinate to General Pavel Liprandi)
|strength1=2200 infantrymen 
|strength2=2500 cavalrymen
|casualties1=None
|casualties2=Unknown, around 200+ killed or wounded
|}}
 

'''The Thin Red Line''' was a famous military action by the 93rd (Highland) Regiment at the Turkish infantrymen, led by Sir Colin Campbell, routed a Russian Highland Brigade had taken part in actions at Alma and Sevastopol.

==The battle==
The Russian cavalry force of 2500 rode down the road to Balaklava.<ref>This original Russian cavalry force divided itself into two smaller groups, and only about 400 of them were involved in the "Thin Red Line" incident. These 400 Russians were the Cossacks and Ingermanlandsky British camp was the 93rd regiment.<ref>The 93rd Highlanders involved in the "Thin Red Line" incident probably numbered no more than a few hundred infantrymen. This was part of a larger British, French and Turkish force at Balaclava which was approximately 20,000 strong.</ref>

Campbell is said to have told his men, "There is no retreat from here, men.  You must die where you stand." Sir Colin's aide John Scott is said to have replied, "Aye, Sir Colin. If needs be, we'll do that." (Campbell's relationship with his men was almost family-like.)  Campbell formed the 93rd into a line two deep — the "thin red line". Convention dictated that the line should be four deep, however Campbell, a grizzled veteran of 41 years military service, had such a low opinion of the Russian Cavalry that he did not bother to form 4 lines, let alone a square, but to meet the charge head on with the 2-deep firing line.   Contrary to popular belief, the 93rd discharged 3 volleys and not one at point-blank (as was the case at Minden in 1759) at 800 yards, 500 yards and 350 yards respectively. However, despite the casualties inflicted, the Hussars and Cossacks would undoubtedly have run over the British line. It was providence that saved them; the Russian commander, seeing so thin a line of British infantry, concluded that this was a diversion and that there was a much stronger force behind the 93rd, and ordered the cavalry to withdraw.<ref>B. Perret, "At All Costs!"</ref>

At that, some of the Highlanders started forward for a counter-charge, but Sir Colin stopped them with a cry of "93rd, damn all that eagerness!"<ref>B. Perrett, "At All Costs!" Cassel Military Paperback, 1994</ref>.   <!-- <--!WRONG WRONG WRONG NONE OF THIS IS CORRECT - the russians wheeled away at 350 yards as stated by multiple sources, including Perrett's 'At All Costs!' and not because they were scared. Whoever edited this was a real anglophile. I have made changes as necessary-->

It was ''The Times'' correspondent, William H. Russell, who wrote that he could see nothing between the charging Russians and the British base of operations at Balaclava but the "thin red streak tipped with a line of steel" of the 93rd.  Popularly condensed into "the thin red line", the phrase became a symbol for British sangfroid in battle.

The battle is fictionally characterized in Robert Gibb's 1881 painting of the same name, which is housed at the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders regimental museum at Stirling Castle, in Stirling, Scotland.

It is also commemorated in the assembly hall of Campbells former school Sir John Moore who was dismembered by a cannonball during the Napoleonic Wars while fighting Napoleon in Spain and encouraging Spanish resistance.

==Later uses of the term==

Rudyard Kipling wrote the poem "Tommy" that has the lines 'Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Tommy, 'ow's yer soul? / But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,' Tommy Atkins being slang for a common soldier in the British Army.

Author James Jones wrote a novel about American soldiers fighting in The Thin Red Line. The book was adapted into feature films in 1964 and in 1998.