Struggle in Russia

It took half a month for the coalition troops to prepare for the actual attack on the fortress from the arrival of Sevastopol.

During this period, the main work of the British army was to dismantle naval guns, mainly 68-pound cannons, from battleships. The main job of the French army was to dig trenches. They braved the fire of the Russian army and slowly moved closer to the fortifications on the outskirts of Seestopol.

This work is arduous and particularly critical. After all, all people are flesh and blood, and no one can withstand the fierce artillery fire of the enemy. Even if there are so many people who are not afraid of death, the coalition forces do not have so many people and horses to consume so much.

Every night, the French army would organize about 1,000 soldiers with shovels and pickaxes to dig quietly into the Russian positions under the cover of stones. Digging hard.

To be honest, this is very dangerous, because the eyes and ears of the Russian army are very sensitive. Whenever the French army starts to work, the cannons of the Russian army start to fire violently, which greatly slows down the progress of France. It took half a month for them to get close to the position of 1,500 meters on the front line of the Russian defense.

This position is still a bit too far for launching a charge, and it is just enough for the coalition's heavy artillery to hit the Russian defensive positions, which is barely enough for the coalition.

So why not keep digging the trenches forward?

The reason is very simple. The Russian army mobilized a large number of mortars and concentrated their firepower to violently bombard the sappers of the coalition digging trenches. Unlike howitzers and cannons, mortars with curved ballistics are naturally suitable for hitting targets behind the cover. It can be said that if It's not that the Russian army's artillery shells are limited, the French army's behavior of digging trenches is more like delivering vegetables.

By October 13, the French army had finally repaired five forts and deployed about fifty artillery pieces. Following the French army, the British army also began to build trenches. About 500 soldiers were responsible for the construction, and more than 2,000 soldiers were responsible for guarding the fort.

The reason why so many people were assigned to guard was because the Cossack cavalry harassed the British enough, and they often tortured the British engineers to cry.

On October 16th, although the British forts had not been fully repaired, the coalition decided to launch an attack immediately, because while they were building forts and digging trenches, the Russians were not idle, so there was no need to worry about being harassed by the coalition. The general construction of various fortifications, and the already strong defensive fronts were operated in a tight and airtight manner.

Seeing this, Raglan and Conrobel knew that they couldn't wait any longer, otherwise the Russian army's defense level would increase by one point for each day of delay, and they would have no way to take the other side even if they risked their lives.

Compared with the pessimism of the senior generals of the coalition army, the grassroots soldiers of the coalition army are relatively optimistic about the prospect of the upcoming battle. Mainly, the heavy guns removed from the battleships gave them great confidence. Most of the army soldiers had never seen such heavy and large-caliber guns (68-pound guns weighed about 4.8 tons).

All the soldiers felt that the Russian army would be blasted into **** if they could not hold out for 48 hours, and Sevastopol would only be left with a pile of rubble.

Henry Clifford, staff officer of the British Light Infantry Division, said in a letter to his family: "On October 16, our battalion began to bet on how long the Russian army could hold. Very few people were able to hold for a few hours. , so the odds are high. Some older, more cautious officers estimate that the Russians might be able to hold on for 48 hours, but this is an extreme view. A soldier wants to sell a pocket watch made in Paris that he robbed from a Russian squire Give it to me for only twenty shillings. And my friend tried to persuade me not to buy it, he said that after 48 hours such a watch will be as much as the Russian prisoner wants, and it is worthless at all!"

In the early morning of October 17, just after the morning fog dissipated, the Russian military observation post found that a large number of people were busy around the coalition fort. Obviously, the enemy's attack would start soon.

Before the coalition forces could open fire, the Russian artillery opened fire first. More than a hundred artillery pieces fired violently, and a large number of projectiles hit the surrounding area of ​​the coalition fort with smoke and dust.

Soon the coalition began to fight back, including seventy-three British artillery pieces and fifty-three French artillery pieces roaring together.

The shelling reached its climax within minutes, with the muffled roar of gunfire, the screeching of shells rolling in the air, and the deafening explosion of shells as they landed, completely drowning out the bugle and snare drums.

The entire Inkerman Mountain was submerged in a huge black smoke, and the thick smoke wafted over the battlefield, making the sky change color.

Because of the lower gun positions of the coalition forces, the artillery could not aim at the target at all, and it was even difficult to see the target. The artillerymen could only guess the location of the target, and then prayed to God that they could hit it.

This terrible shelling lasted for twelve hours. The sound of the shells flying wildly never stopped. The soldiers only heard the rumbling and roaring in their ears. The ground beneath their feet trembled constantly. The day was like night, and there was smoke everywhere, and even the city of Sevastopol, far away from the battlefield, was drowned in smoke.

From the very beginning of the shelling, Kornilov and his bodyguards patrolled Mount Inkerman. They went first to the battery on the Home Ridge, the most dangerous location.

This is the key target of the coalition artillery fire. The lieutenant with the flag who accompanied Kornilov to inspect recalled: "The ridge fort in my hometown was covered by the enemy's bullet rain~www.readwn.com~ The scene inside the bastion was terrifying and badly damaged. The entire artillery team was knocked down by howitzer fire, and the stretcher team was transporting the dead and wounded, but there were still piles of people lying on the ground, with stumps and broken arms everywhere, it was **** on earth!"

After visiting the hometown ridge fort, Kornilov continued to advance and reached the Saporn Heights, where Kornilov met Nakhimov, who was injured in the face in the previous shelling , while talking to Kornilov, the blood on his face ran down to his neck, staining the white ribbon of the Cross of St. George he was wearing.

While the two commanders were talking, the lieutenant holding the flag suddenly saw a school officer walking towards them, and he was startled because he had "no eyes, no mouth and no nose"!

Of course, this is impossible. The real reason is that the officer's facial features are covered by a blur of flesh and blood. Just in the shelling just now, a sailor was hit by a solid bullet next to him, and the whole person was blown up. A piece of minced meat, flesh and blood smeared the schoolmaster's face!

While wiping off the flesh and blood on his face, he asked the frightened lieutenant Zhiqi if he had cigarettes. When Lieutenant Zhiqi handed the cigarette tremblingly, the school officer took a sip with satisfaction, and then Glancing at the location of the coalition's fort, he slowly exhaled a mouthful of smoke and said, "Thank you!"