Struggle in Russia

After the Allies had occupied the mamelon fort and the quarry, the conditions were finally ripe for an attack on the Nicholas Bastion. It's just that it's not that simple to capture the strong Nicholas Bastion!

First of all, the coalition forces had to carry a ladder and rush through an open field of several hundred meters on the uphill road. During this period, they had to brave the heavy artillery fire of the Russian army Nikolai Bastion and Vorontsov Bastion, crossed trenches and deer villages, and at the same time suffered from heavy fire. Fire attack from the third bastion on the flank.

When they reached the fortress, they had to climb the ladder down the trench, and then from the bottom of the trench to the outer wall of the bastion. At this time, the Russian army was waiting for them condescendingly, and the concentrated fire at close range was enough to make most of them no longer able to climb the trench.

Even if they were lucky enough to climb the outer wall of the bastion, they still had to repel the Russian troops guarding the parapet, resisting the counterattack of a large number of Russian troops hiding behind obstacles in various places of the fortress, and they had to hold on until their reinforcements arrived.

According to the plan of the coalition forces, the French army will first attack the Nicholas Bastion, and once they have silenced the Russian artillery fire, the British infantry will immediately begin to charge the Vorontsov Bastion.

At the insistence of the French commander-in-chief Pelissier, the offensive will be limited to the Nicholas and Vorontsov bastions, with the aim of capturing the entire Inkerman Hill and opening the final route to Sevastopol. a portal.

In fact, strictly speaking, attacking Vorontsov Bastion was a bit redundant, although he and Nikolai Bastion held the Dock Valley and Vorontsov Valley together, making it impossible for the coalition to attack Sevastopol directly.

But as long as the Nicholas Bastion is captured, the French can transport their cannons to the Nicholas Bastion and start bombarding the Vorontsov Bastion. At that time, the Russian army will definitely have no way to support it and can only give up this Bastion. .

But Raglan stubbornly believed that it was necessary for the British to find a target to charge, even if it meant very large and completely unnecessary losses. He believes it is important to make this offensive symbolic, that the British and French forces join hands and win together on the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo!

Of course, the coalition also estimated that the attack would suffer heavy losses. The French officers and soldiers were told that half of them would be killed before reaching the Nicholas Bastion, so that the French top brass had to promise high bounties. Stimulate the soldiers to participate in the first wave of the attack.

As for the British, they didn't spend any extra money, except that all the troops ordered to take part in the charge were called "verlorenhoop", a word derived from the Dutch word for "lost troops", as you can imagine How desperate the British soldiers were at the charge.

In a tense and pessimistic atmosphere, the French soldiers began to prepare for the next day's battle miserably. Some people tried to sleep for a while, but they couldn't sleep. Others were cleaning guns or muttering to themselves, while others simply hid in secluded corners and prayed.

An ominous premonition hung over the camp, and many soldiers wrote their names and home addresses on a card and hung it around their necks. If they were killed, comrades or enemies could notify their families.

Some people are nervously writing letters to say goodbye to relatives and friends, and then handing the letters to the priests who are in the army. If they die in battle, the priests will help them send the letters.

It’s just that not all coalition soldiers were ready to die. There were many deserters in the French and British troops that night, including not only soldiers but also officers, because they did not dare to face the upcoming fierce battle. They chose to surrender to the enemy.

Among them, a corporal of the French army staff sent a detailed French offensive plan to the Russian army, so that the Russian army knew the French offensive plan well. Kornilov knew the exact location and strength of each French battalion later in the day.

The Russians also received warnings from British deserters, one of whom escaped from the 28th (ie North Gloucestershire) Regiment.

However, even without these deserters, the Russian army was more vigilant because of the noisy preparations on the British positions on the evening of the 17th.

Lieutenant Colonel James Alexander of the 14th Regiment of the British Army recalled: "The soldiers couldn't sleep because they were too excited. The whole camp was like a playground. It was brightly lit, and there was a buzzing of words everywhere. The Russians Must have noticed."

The Russian army had indeed noticed and was ready for battle, the orderly of General Golev, the commander of the bastion, recalled that all the bastions and defensive positions were ordered to strengthen their preparations that night, the voices and footsteps in the trenches. The sound, the rumbling of the wheels of the cannon wheels, never ceased for a moment.

Golev then ordered his soldiers to return to their combat positions immediately, set up cannons, polished bayonets, and prepared them on the parapet.

The French had been scheduled to attack before dawn, first with a three-hour shelling at three in the morning, and then the infantry after sunrise. But on the night of the attack, Pelissier suddenly changed his battle plan. He believed that after sunrise, it was impossible for the Russian army to not notice that they were preparing to attack, and would definitely send more reinforcements to Nicholas Bastion. Will cause big trouble for their offense. So he moved the infantry charge forward by three hours, charging at three in the morning.

The battle plan that has been temporarily changed is more than that. I don’t know why Pelissier suddenly dismissed Bosquet, on the grounds that Bosquet questioned the plan of letting the infantry charge without shelling the enemy in the new battle plan. .

It's just that this reason is very lame, and the more likely reason is that Pelissier kicked out Bosquet, who was deeply loved by the soldiers and had a high prestige, in order to take all the military exploits.

This sudden change caught the French army by surprise~www.readwn.com~ For example, General Mairan, who was about to lead the 97th regiment to attack the first wave, was very dissatisfied with this. He rushed away angrily and left a sentence : "There is nothing to do now, but to die!"

But having said that, during the offensive that day, the general Myron made a fatal mistake. He mistakenly used the tail flame of a grenade as his own charge signal, which made the 97th regiment advance fifteen minutes. launch a charge.

At this time, other French troops were not ready. For example, the 95th regiment next to the 97th regiment was caught off guard by this change. Only to watch Myron and his soldiers launch a suicide charge.

After receiving Mailan's order, the 97th Regiment rushed forward and hit the deadly Russian artillery fire at one end. The French army was immediately beaten up, and even Mailan himself was hit by the artillery fire. Seriously injured but refused to retreat, just shouted at the 95th regiment behind him:

"Go forward, the 95th regiment!"