Struggle in Russia

With Raglan's death, the coalition's new siege of Sevastopol could only come to an end. The coalition proved one point with 20,000 living lives - it is definitely not that easy to conquer Sevastopol.

Because there was nothing to do with the strong fortifications of the Russian army, the only thing the coalition could do was to continue digging trenches and trenches to besiege Sevastopol.

To be honest, it was very monotonous and tiring, and it was simply endless torture for the coalition soldiers!

For example, General Bosquet's adjutant, also the son of French Marshal de Castellane, wrote to his father: "My dear father, I feel that all my letters should begin with the same sentence - that is Nothing new! That means we continue to dig trenches, continue to organize fort. Drinks around the campfire every night, and two companies of soldiers are sent to the hospital every day..."

The tired and exhausted soldiers of the two armies generally had a feeling that the siege would go on forever. They were very frustrated and desperate to end the war as soon as possible, so all kinds of strange ideas came out one after another.

For example, Prince Urusov, a good friend of the great writer Tolstoy, was a master chess player. He personally tried to persuade Kornilov to decide through a chess game to decide where the most fiercely contested trench should belong. one side.

After being categorically rejected, it was Tolstoy's turn to appear. He suggested that the outcome of the war should be decided by a duel, and whoever won would be the victor.

These absurd proposals Kornilov certainly could not agree to, but the fact that these strange proposals came out shows that the warring parties are really exhausted.

Compared with the Russian army, the morale of the coalition army was even lower, because they found that the Russian army was constantly repairing new fortifications even though it was hit by devastating continuous artillery fire, and even made the existing fortifications stronger.

Obviously, this will be more difficult to overcome, so the coalition soldiers are worried that they will be thrown out by the generals as cannon fodder to die, and they are also worried that the war will not end in a short time. Maybe they will have to cross in Sevastopol. It's the second winter.

Almost every soldier wrote to his family how much he missed home and how much he wanted to go home, and even the mid-ranking officers began to say to their families, "I have made up my mind to go home no matter what, I cannot and will never again. Endure one winter. I know that if I spend another winter here, within a year I'll be a useless, feeble old man. I'd rather be a living donkey than a dead lion!"

Soldiers began to envy those comrades who had lost a leg or an arm in previous battles, according to a British officer: "Many people would be happy to lose an arm, as long as they can get out of here, it doesn't matter if they lose a leg or a hand. !"

But the reality is desperate, the coalition soldiers have no way to go home, they can only be immersed in despair and depression, unable to extricate themselves. So many people began to doubt this war, and began to dislike and question this war.

French army priest Andre Damas said that a soldier of Zhuav's division had a strong suspicion of the war, because when they arrived in Crimea, they were told that they were fighting barbarians and protecting the justice of the weak. Act of.

But in the process of clearing the dead and wounded on June 18, he helped a seriously wounded Russian officer who, in gratitude, took a leather pendant from his neck and gave it to him, embossed on it. with the motif of the Virgin and Child.

"This war has to end," he told Father Damas. "It's a cowardly war. We are all Christians, we all believe in God, and no religion will make us so brave. But why should we Fight, how about you die and live?"

To tell the truth, the situation of this soldier of Zhu Afu's division is still good, he is only suspicious of the necessity of war, compared with those who suffer from trench fatigue, his full of doubts will not cause bad consequences.

The former is much more troublesome! When the siege never ended, the soldiers were exhausted and mentally broken because of the long-term life under continuous shelling and lack of sleep.

In their memoirs, many people described in detail the scenes of "trunk madness". For example, a battle-hardened Zhuav soldier suddenly jumped up in the middle of the night, grabbed his weapon and started hysterically calling for support, fighting against an enemy that did not exist at all.

Initially this happened occasionally, but over time it started to become more common and more contagious!

And most of these symptoms first appeared on the bravest and strongest soldiers. Many officers recalled that some of the most experienced and brave soldiers suddenly went crazy, or jumped up and down like a neurotic. Or just rush to the Russian army and raise your hands to surrender, or even the most extreme ones will end up killing themselves!

Many veterans seemed to be doing fine. They had been drinking, playing cards and chatting with their comrades in the tent just a moment ago, but suddenly said that they had had enough, picked up their guns and went out and shot them in the head.

The place with the lowest morale and the most collapse in the coalition army is the field hospital. The huge number of casualties has created a large number of wounded soldiers. Most of them are groaning in pain day after day. How can one feel better living in such an environment?

Perhaps the only good news on the coalition's side is that there is no stubborn and disregarding monarch in command ~www.readwn.com~ When Nicholas I realized that Sevastopol could not be captured for a while, he The restless heart was active again.

He gave Kornilov an order, hoping that Kornilov would organize a final offensive to break the coalition's front. In his opinion, as long as he succeeded, he could shake the will of the coalition and strive for a decent end to the war for Russia. .

Kornilov was naturally not so confused. He wrote back to Nicholas I and said: "It is extremely stupid to attack an enemy who has an advantage in numbers and has seen solid fortifications. Doing so is tantamount to suicide!"

But Nicholas I was by no means an obedient master. He insisted that the defenders of Sevastopol had to do something. The reason for the attack is that he believes that the coalition forces are still increasing their troops. If they do nothing, they will only be passively beaten in the future.

He even threatened Kornilov that he would not send new reinforcements to Sevastopol if he didn't attack quickly, on the grounds: "Otherwise, all the reinforcements I send you will be like in the past. Fall into the bottomless pit of Sevastopol like that!"