Struggle in Russia

"Do you think that old guy really won the battle?" Nakhimov asked Kornilov.

Kornilov snorted, shook his head slowly, and said, "I don't know, although the spoils brought back were pitiful, and few prisoners were caught, it didn't look like he had beaten the enemy. But if To really occupy the throat of the Balaclava region can be called a victory, but..."

When he said it was just, Kornilov glanced meaningfully at the crowd of carnival parades in the city. Most of the people, including Cossacks and sailors, were singing and dancing. They were all drunk and looked like a group of demons dancing.

In his heart, Kornilov strongly disagrees with this. He believes that soldiers should have the appearance of soldiers and the discipline of soldiers. How can they fight when they are drunk?

But Menshkov doesn't care. He believes that there must be alcohol to celebrate victory. How can we have fun without alcohol?

As the commander-in-chief of the Crimean theater, Menshkov ordered the revelry, even if Kornilov and Nakhimov disagreed.

Fortunately, Kornilov was still able to control the situation in Sevastopol. Under his strict orders, not all the city defense troops participated in the carnival. Most of the revelry in Sevastopol was the troops that Menshkov brought from Ukraine.

"Has anything happened between the English and the French?" Kornilov asked.

Nakhimov shook his head and said, "I don't know. After the Battle of Balaklava, the enemy stepped up their reconnaissance. It is almost impossible for my people to get close. And that old guy's troops are now scattered. , I can't take care of anything else when I'm busy celebrating!"

Kornilov sighed. The current situation gave him a headache. It was a good thing that Menshkov arrived with 60,000 reinforcements. After all, the military strength near Sevastopol was greatly enhanced. When facing the coalition forces Not to be stretched.

But the old eunuch's idea was completely different from that of him and Nakhimov. The old **** believed that the current military strength of the Russian army in the Sevastopol area was enough to compete with the coalition forces, and advocated taking the initiative.

Of course, the old eunuch's original words were to annihilate the coalition forces in one fell swoop, but he didn't mention it much after the Battle of Balaclava. He probably knew the performance of his subordinates' hot eyes.

Kornilov and Nakhimov advocated sticking to Sevastopol, slowly dealing with the coalition forces, consuming and killing the coalition forces as much as possible, and then the coalition forces would naturally retreat without fighting.

As for the frontal defeat of the coalition forces, Kornilov and Nakhimov believed that the difficulty was too high, and it was completely unrealistic based on the current strength and equipment of the Russian army.

Naturally, the old **** couldn't get along with them. After some quarrel, neither of the two sides accepted the other, so they just went their separate ways.

Here we must mainly thank Nicholas I, thank the tsar for being suspicious and for the power of the emperor. Even if Menshkov was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Crimea theater, he did not hand over all the command to the old eunuch.

The tsar handed over the main force of the Russian army, including more than 60,000 reinforcements from Ukraine and more than 30,000 temporarily recruited from Crimea, to Menshkov's command.

The Black Sea Fleet and naval infantry of Sevastopol were about 36,000 people, and about 20,000 local volunteers were handed over to Kornilov and Nakhimov.

That is to say, because of the differences between the military chiefs, the Russian army in Crimea was officially divided into two groups. That is, the main offensive group headed by Menshkov, and the defensive group headed by Kornilov and Nakhimov.

These two groups will work independently without interfering with each other for the next period of time, and Menshkov is ready to concentrate his forces to take advantage of the victory of the Battle of Balaclava to annihilate the coalition forces in one fell swoop.

So after celebrating the victory for a day, Menshkov decisively ordered the troops to start attacking the Cossack Hill position on the right flank of the British army.

The mountain is V-shaped, 2,500 meters long, and connects the east of Sevastopol and the area along the Cholnaya River from north to south.

Five thousand hungover Russians walked out of Sevastopol, one foot high and one foot low, marching east under the command of Colonel Fedorov, then turned south and climbed Cossack Hill.

At that time, the 2nd Division commanded by the British Army Dressie Evans was stationed at the foot of the mountain and was stepping up digging trenches.

At that time, the British army was relatively scattered, and most of them were busy with construction. Evans was able to dispatch about 2,600 troops. The good news is that the British army’s observation posts were very powerful, and they discovered the movements of the Russian army in time. The drunk Russians were taught a lesson with the Mignet rifle from a distance.

Although Colonel Fedorov had a large number of people, he was still armed with an old-fashioned musket, which could neither hit nor hit very far, and suffered a lot in the face of a few British troops.

Evans responded very quickly, and immediately called in eighteen artillery pieces, which were aimed at the Russian army, causing Fyodorov to leave hundreds of dead and wounded soldiers and retreat in a hurry.

This is actually a test by Menshkov. No matter how stupid he is, he will not think that 5,000 people can handle the British army. This very unsuccessful reconnaissance operation was actually a preparation for the next full-scale attack.

According to Menshkov's plan, in a few days, he will launch an all-out attack and drive the coalition forces into the sea in one fell swoop!

The coalition army did not realize this, because the Russian army's test was too clumsy, and they were busy repairing the Turks, and they couldn't care about wrestling with the old **** for the time being.

Yes, Britain and France are very dissatisfied with Turkey's performance. All the bad points in the Battle of Balaclava are actually with the Turks. If they weren't too useless, there would be no such thing at all. UU Reading www.uukanshu.com

The British accused the Turkish army of being too cowardly as the root cause of this defeat, and also accused the Turkish army of looting and stealing, not only robbing the surrounding villages but also stealing the property of the British cavalry.

In British parlance: "The Turks carried out cold-blooded atrocities against the unfortunate villagers around Balaclava, slitting the men's throats and looting their cupboards."

Life was even worse for the Turks, who were brutally abused, often beaten, cursed, spat on and mocked by the British.

In the eyes of the British army, the Turks were no different from slaves, and were ordered to dig trenches or transport heavy supplies between the port of Balaclava and the forward positions.

Because of their beliefs, most of the British and French soldiers could not eat the rations they were given, so they often had to work on their stomachs to give their lives to the British and French soldiers. So much so that more than half of the 4,000 Turkish soldiers who landed in Balaclava died of malnutrition.

Ironically, the Turkish commander, the Egyptian Rustem Pasha, told the Turkish soldiers: "Be patient and obedient, don't forget that the British and French soldiers are the guests of the great Sultan, warriors who came to defend the dignity of the Ottoman Empire. Don't be offended!"