Struggle in Russia

The heavy artillery of the coalition army is indeed very powerful, causing relatively large losses to the Russian army. Such as the Victoria Bastion on the Victoria Ridge. It was hit by concentrated fire from the British and French troops. The commander of the bastion was Captain Pipando before it was hit by coalition artillery fire. When Kornilov arrived at noon, the commander had already changed. Three, the current commander became Second Lieutenant Larov.

"Your Excellency, Victoria Bastion should have 215 officers and soldiers, and there are currently 117 officers and soldiers. I am Second Lieutenant Larov, I salute you!"

Kornilov looked at the young officer in his early 20s with pale yellow hair. At this time, he was covered in gunpowder smoke, and the very Prussian-style coal-bucket-shaped pointed leather helmet on his head had a hole in it, and it looked like he had been cut by a sharp blade.

Under the golden helmet belt is a face wrapped in **** gauze. It can be seen that he is seriously injured and seems to be blind in one eye.

"Take a rest, second lieutenant." Kornilov said in a deep voice, "I should pay tribute to you, your performance is very heroic, you are the best warriors I have ever seen, I will inform your majesty about your heroic deeds, That's enough for a Saint Georgie Medal!"

The young lieutenant saluted again respectfully, and said excitedly, "Thank you, but I think my three officers are more worthy of the Order of St. Georgi. I'm really nothing compared to them!"

Kornilov nodded and asked, "Where's Captain Pipando? Is he still alive?"

"Report to the general, captain... The captain was hit by a grenade and died heroically with about seven or eight brothers..."

Kornilov's mood became heavier and heavier, he looked around the bastion, patted Lieutenant Larov's shoulder heavily, and said loudly: "Then we should insist on fighting and avenge our fallen comrades-in-arms. , Lieutenant, I will support you a hundred people and promote you to captain, my order to you is to stick to this place, you must firmly hold the Victoria Valley, and you must not let the enemy get close to Sevastopol!"

Second Lieutenant Larov replied loudly: "Promise to complete the mission, General. I will swear to live and die with my position. The enemy can only cross over my body if they want to pass through the Victoria Ravine!"

Kornilov patted Lieutenant Larov on the shoulder again. He didn't say anything, but he seemed to have explained everything.

Of course, not all the officers and soldiers of the Russian army are as brave as Lieutenant Larov and the soldiers of the Victoria Bastion, and there are also cowards who are frightened.

For example, near noon, the coalition fleet also joined the artillery operation, lined up in an arc outside the Sevastopol estuary, and fired artillery at Sevastopol from there.

During the six-hour artillery bombardment, the coalition forces invested a total of 1,240 cannons, while the Russian coastal fort had only 150 cannons.

"It was the most horrific sight of artillery shelling I have ever seen," Henry James, a merchant sailor with a coalition logistical supply fleet watching the battle in the distance, wrote in his diary: "Several warships fired continuously, listening to It was like beating a big drum... We saw the shells hit the water like hail at the foot of the fort, creating huge waves."

The coalition shelling produced a lot of smoke, so that the Russian gunners could not even see the position of the coalition ships. Most of the Russian gunners were very brave. Although the coalition shells exploded above their heads, they still aimed at the smoke shrouded in smoke. The coalition fleet in the center fought back fiercely at the position where the flames came out.

Of course, there are not no cowards, such as the tenth bastion, which is the key target of French ships. An artillery officer recalled that he saw some soldiers who had been commended for their heroic fighting at the beginning of the shelling. Gotta run away.

"I was swayed by two emotions," he recalled. "On the one hand, I wanted to run home to protect my family, but my sense of responsibility told me to stick to it... In the end, the emotions of being a man prevailed over the emotions of being a warrior. A sense of responsibility, so I left the battery and went to my family."

However, because Kornilov and Nakhimov spent a lot of time and money on the coastal forts, and all the forts were well protected, the damage caused by the coalition fleet was not as great as the losses suffered by them.

Because of the existence of mines, the coalition ships could not get close enough to attack the coast, and only a few large-caliber heavy artillery could threaten the Russian fort. Before the war, the coalition navy also dismantled a lot of heavy artillery to support the army.

As a result, there are fewer and fewer artillery pieces that can pose a sufficient threat to the Russian army. On the contrary, although the number of artillery pieces of the Russian army's coastal fort is relatively small, because it is erected on high ground and most of them are heavy artillery pieces, the shooting accuracy and lethality are much higher than that of the coalition fleet.

The coalition fleet fired a total of about 50,000 shells that day, but it did not cause any substantial damage worth mentioning. When they lifted anchor and left, they counted the losses and found that they had instead sunk a frigate~www.readwn.com ~And five other ships were badly damaged and had to be returned to port for repairs. About 130 sailors were killed and 750 wounded.

The coalition navy did not perform well, and the results achieved by the coalition army were even less satisfactory.

The French army had just made some progress on the forward position of the hometown ridge fort, and its main arsenal was bombed. I don't know whether it was caused by the Russian artillery fire or the error of the gunner's operation. Anyway, it was a muddled account.

As for the British army, they caused considerable damage to the Victoria Bastion and the small battery below the home ridge. Most of the more than 1,100 Russian troops killed in these two positions were killed.

However, the British army's own losses were not small, and their forts were also ploughed by the heavy artillery and mortars of the Russian army, and more than a thousand people were killed or injured.

After observation, the British found that their heavy artillery had limited lethality, at least not enough for the well-defended bastions. For example, the 68-pound Lancaster cannon that was borrowed from the navy beforehand was very unreliable when firing grenades, and could not touch the solid fortifications of the Russian army at all.

According to the British's own recollection, the shells of this kind of cannon were still too light, they would sink directly into the soil when they landed, and the range was not far enough, causing more damage to their own artillery positions than to the enemy, even if the soldiers were repeatedly asked to Slowing down the rate of fire still had little effect, and hitting enemy fortifications was as pointless as hitting soft pudding.

The heavy shelling losses on the first day made the coalition very alert. It was obvious that they were not prepared enough, and the artillery was not enough. Those old-fashioned artillery that could not fire new high-explosive shells proved to be of little significance. The Allied Forces have to do more preparations...