SOLDIERS returned to the scene of one of their regiment's most famous engagements - and almost ended up fighting it again.

Members of the Green Howards had travelled to the Ukraine to visit the 19th Century battlefields of the Crimean War.

But they ended up under guard in a modern military barracks after being arrested by a unit from the Ukrainian army.

The 12-strong group, including the colonel of the regiment, Brigadier John Powell, were retracing the Green Howards' path in the Crimean War, taking in the sites of the battles on Alma and Inkerman.

While on a ridge overlooking the Inkerman battle ground, they were arrested by camouflaged Ukrainian soldiers.

The group was taken to a military barracks and held in the guardroom as arguments raged.

After 45 minutes, the party was released and allowed to continue on its tour of the historic sites.

Major Roger Chapman, curator of the Green Howards Museum, in Richmond, North Yorkshire, was among those arrested and is still baffled as to why.

He said: "We must have gone too close to a sensitive military spot - that's all we could think of. I couldn't help but think of the British plane-spotters who were arrested in Greece."

Several members of the party have ancestors who fought in the Battle of the Alma, including Edward Nicholl, whose great-great grandfather was wounded there. The group laid a wreath at the site of the Great Redoubt, where the regiment lost 200 men, a fifth of their number.