Struggle in Russia

On the other hand, the coalition forces were finally less frightened after receiving reinforcements. Even though military discipline was still in a mess, they finally regained their position.

Then the coalition held another military meeting to discuss again how to act next. But the funny thing is that Raglan still advocates staying put and waiting for more reinforcements and sufficient supplies before taking action.

It's just that this time, neither the French nor the British wanted to listen to his nonsense. After a quarrel, although they still didn't come to a definite conclusion, the coalition believed that they should strengthen their reconnaissance, and on the one hand, figure out Sevastopo My situation, on the other hand, also see if there are any changes in the Russian army on Telegraph Hill.

This so-called enhanced reconnaissance is very interesting, because the coalition did not go out personally, but bribed the local Tatars to help.

They believed that the coalition forces would not be particularly defensive against these locals, and it would be particularly suitable for them to explore the Russian army's true status.

It can only be said that this idea is really fanciful. The reason is very simple. Kornilov is now very angry with the Tatars and thinks that these are very unreliable. Treating them like Duke Vorontsov with such preferential treatment is simply a white-eyed wolf. The only way to truly and completely control Crimea is to tighten control over the Tatars and immigrate as many people as possible.

Therefore, the Tatars who were bribed by the coalition forces would naturally not get any benefits when they encountered the Russian army who was waiting for them. Acting suspiciously, they were quickly arrested and publicly shot.

In order to explain to the coalition forces, the Tatar spies who rarely escaped death could only fabricate lies to deal with it. They told the coalition forces that the Star Fortress north of Sevastopol was impregnable, and that the Russian army was fully engaged in defense here.

There are almost no decent fortifications in the south of Sevastopol. It can be said that there is almost no defense at all!

To be honest, this information is quite deceptive. It was completely imagined by Tatar spies based on wrong impressions. Only someone who has never been to Sevastopol can say this!

Whether currently or historically, the defenses in the southern port area of ​​Sevastopol are much stronger than those in the north.

And from the perspective of military common sense, the coalition forces landed at Kalamita Bay north of Sevastopol. They were heading south to attack Sevastopol. If they want to attack the South Port of Sevastopol, the coalition forces will have to make a detour.

To be honest, this is a bit baffling. If you want to attack the South Port of Sevastopol, you might as well not go as far as Kalamita Bay to land before. Landing directly at Balaclava and Kamish, south of Sevastopol!

How simple would it be to simply capture these two ports and quickly attack north.

It's crazy to attack Sevastopol like the coalition did from north to south and then turn around. If they do this, they will not only expose their logistics supply lines to Russian attack, but also have to capture Balaclava and Kamish. If something goes wrong, they will not be able to rely on both ends. What kind of thing? Only a military strategist would make such a decision!

In fact, the reason why the coalition forces are so inexplicable in Crimea is very simple, that is, internal disagreements and the main commanders have been unable to make up their minds.

Judging from the landing of the coalition forces at Kalamita Bay, their initial idea was to quickly move south after landing and directly attack the North Port of Sevastopol.

This is only reasonable. However, after a series of situations after the landing, the coalition lost confidence in storming the North Port of Sevastopol. There are probably two reasons. One is that attacking the North Port of Sevastopol requires the support of the coalition navy and the navy is needed to suppress Sevas. Fort north of Topol.

According to the plan of the coalition navy, they planned to break into the port of Sevastopol directly, and then directly attack the Russian position in North Port from the port, so that the Russian army would be attacked from both sides.

However, this move was destroyed by Kornilov and Nakhimov's decisive shipwreck and blocking of the port. The coalition navy had no way to break into the port. Naturally, it was impossible to talk about supporting the coalition army attacking North Port.

Another reason was the wrong intelligence of the Tatars, which caused the coalition forces to misjudge the defense situation of the north and south ports of Sevastopol, mistakenly believing that the south port was easier to attack.

But this is understandable, because since the birth of the city wall, siege operations have been particularly difficult. Even with the advent of artillery in modern times, to be honest, the threat to the city wall from artillery firing solid bullets is far less than what books say. .

According to the military doctrine of this era, in siege operations, trenches must first be dug to a place not too far from the city wall, which can cover one's own artillery to bombard the opponent's defenses. Then, under the cover of artillery fire, the infantry can launch an attack.

For example, the French army particularly liked this set of tactics, so they did a lot of work for the British and persuaded the British to abandon their original plan to quickly capture the North Port of Sevastopol and instead advance steadily step by step.

Sir John Burgoying, the British engineer commander in chief, particularly praised this plan. His reasons were not ordinary. He said: If the North Port of Sevastopol is attacked, five hundred people may be lost. Such a "heavy" loss The losses are completely unacceptable, so it is better to launch an encirclement operation from the south of Sevastopol steadily and strangle the Russian army step by step.

To be honest, this reason is really inexplicable. The coalition forces lost tens of thousands of people in the battle of Telegraph Hill. Please note that the fortifications there are not as good as Sevastopol.

Where did Burgoing get the confidence that he would only need to lose 500 men to attack the North Port of Sevastopol? Was his math taught by his physical education teacher?

What's more, according to him, it is the best strategy to attack the city from the south and surround and strangle the Russian army step by step. But the question is, is this really possible?

At least it seems impossible from history. The Russian army was not completely trapped. They held on for more than a year and caused heavy casualties to the coalition forces.

However, the coalition forces could not control this in the end. A week later, after another batch of reinforcements of about 20,000 people arrived in Crimea, the coalition forces once again approached the Alma River.

This time, the strength of the coalition forces was as high as 80,000, which was almost three times the number of the Russian forces on the opposite side. The pressure for Kornilov and Peter Gorchakov is not ordinary.

"The task I give you is to hold on for at least another week!" Kornilov gave the order expressionlessly. "You must try to protect yourself as much as possible and kill a large number of enemy forces."

To be honest, this order is a bit unreasonable. There are more than 20,000 people versus 80,000 people. You have to stick to it for a week without losing too much. This is too contradictory!

It's just that Kornilov doesn't care because he now needs more time to recruit troops to improve the defense facilities around Sevastopol...