Struggle in Russia

The Alma River is not a natural moat. In fact, this river is not even a knee. It can be easily crossed by people or carriages.

It is precisely because the river is more like a sewer that Kornilov did not focus his defense on the river bank, but used the Black Gold Mountains behind the river bank and the attached hills to set up defensive positions.

Kornilov built three large fortresses on Black Gold Mountain, namely the big fortress, the second fortress and the third fortress, and a large number of field guns and cannons were arranged in the fortresses. Among them, the field guns are responsible for blocking the Alma River and are used to attack the enemy's infantry and cavalry, while the cannons are mainly used for anti-artillery.

In order to defend against the enemy's attack, the artillerymen in the fort almost carried out detailed ranging and marking on both sides of the Alma River, and each gun was tested. .

In charge of guarding the Alma line was Duke Pyotr Dmitrievich Gorchakov. The duke also came from the famous Gorchakov family, was Leonid's cousin and the elder brother of Duke Mikhail.

It's just that compared with his famous cousin and younger brother, Peter Gorchakov seems to be unknown. At this time, he is in charge of the Borodino infantry division and is the division commander of the division.

Of course, being anonymous is also relative. Compared with those two brothers, he is really mean. But how bad can the people who can command the Borodino division be bad?

After all, Borodino is not an ordinary place. This is the place where Russia and Napoleon desperately fought. Although the Russian army was completely defeated by the French army in the Battle of Borodino that year, it also served the purpose of consuming and attacking the French army objectively, creating conditions for the subsequent victory.

Therefore, this battle is not generally valued in Russia. Not only is there a monument in the local area, but also an elite infantry division was specially named, and later it was used to name a former dreadnought-class battleship. If the Russians think this battle is a shame, how can they be so concerned?

Kornilov's task for Peter Gorchakov was to guard the Black Gold Mountain defense line, temporarily block the British, French, and Turkish forces on both sides of the river bank, and try to kill the enemy's living forces if possible.

It should be said that Kornilov is still very awake. He knows that the Alma River and the Black Gold Mountain defense line alone cannot stop the pace of the coalition forces. It is only a matter of time before the strength of the coalition forces breaks through the line of defense.

It is unrealistic to expect Peter Gorchakov to hold the defense line. The main mission of the Alma River defense line is to delay and kill the enemy's active forces as much as possible, so as to buy more time for Sevastopol to prepare the defense line.

To tell the truth, even here, Kornilov thinks it is not easy to achieve. After all, the coalition forces have an absolute advantage, and they can also get plenty of artillery support from the navy. It is easy to rely on the Borodino Division and a small number of Cossack cavalry to kill and injure each other in large numbers.

In fact, the coalition was very optimistic about breaking through the Alma River line. The two commanders of the coalition, Marshal Raglan of the United Kingdom and Marshal Saint Arnault of the French army, approached the river for a look, and agreed that defeating the enemy in front of him was easy.

"My plan is to launch a pincer attack on the Russian army, our army will attack the high ground on the left flank of the Russian army, and your army will outflank from the right flank, annihilating the Russian army in the hilly area in one fell swoop!"

Raglan agreed with San Arno's plan. Today, he went to the river to carefully observe the deployment of the Russian army and was very impressed by the three fortresses of the Russian army. According to Saint Arnault's plan, the French army was in charge of the left flank of the Russian army, and the terrain there was so dangerous that the Russian army built two fortresses, which was a solid bone.

Even if there is naval artillery support, it is not so easy to go down in one fell swoop. Since the French army likes to gnaw on bones, let them gnaw on them. He just happened to flank the flanks comfortably, and when the French army and the Russian army are both defeated, he will come on stage and lay the victory in one fell swoop.

Easy and comfortable, why not do it?

So Raglan agreed without hesitation, and for fear that Saint Arnault would go back on it, he wrote it into the coalition's memorandum.

In fact, he didn't have to worry about France's repentance, because Saint Arnault just wanted to bite the bullet. He knew that the meaning of this war for France was to wash away the shame of the Napoleonic era. The harder it is to bite down, the more it can show the current power of France. He doesn't even bother to pinch soft persimmons!

I have to say that in terms of morale, the French have outstripped the British army too much. The French army as a whole is holding back a lot of energy, and they all want to wash away the shame of the year in one fell swoop. The British army was different. They were so proud that they didn't realize how hard the war would be.

This can also be seen from the preparations for the battle on both sides. According to Raglan and St. Arnault's plan, the attack would be launched at five o'clock the next morning. But the preparations of the British were really poor. On the one hand, their logistical supplies were very poor, and they had not been able to get enough food, ammunition and other supplies to reach the banks of the Alma. Been procrastinating and procrastinating.

On the other hand, the morale of the British army itself was not high, and there was generally no enthusiasm for fighting.

So the original plan to launch an attack at 5 o'clock was delayed again and again, and until 10 o'clock in the morning, the British were still standing still. This made it impossible for the French to launch an attack alone. After all, even if Saint Arnault thought about the shame, he was not arrogant enough to think that he could win without the British.

Because of the dawdling of the British army, UU read www.uukanshu. The com French simply brewed coffee and chatted, which not only made Saint Arnault feel helpless and speechless, but also allowed him, who had been in bad health, to breathe a little.

Yes, the field marshal was in a mess. Since arriving in Istanbul, he was in a state of unhappiness. He couldn't breathe after a little exertion. Most of the time, he could only lie on a camp bed and command the battle.

Especially after landing in the Crimea, San Arno's health got worse and worse, and he kept holding on. The British helped him buy more rest time, and he was happy to see it.

It was barely half past ten, and the British were finally ready. But Raglan changed his mind. He told Saint Arnault: "The Russian cavalry is much more than us, and it may not be realistic to try to outflank the flanks. I think it's just a matter of lining up the front and pushing them to defeat them!"

St. Arnault was speechless for a while, but because of the diligence of the British, it was impossible for the Russian army to outflank the flanks even if they wanted to outflank them. As long as the British don't do any more shit, thank goodness!

As a result, the new battle plan was temporarily issued to the divisions and brigades. Fortunately, it did not cause more confusion. When the clock struck eleven, the coalition was finally ready to launch an attack...