Struggle in Russia

I have to say that Kornilov is indeed an outstanding general. Historically, although the coalition forces were exhausted and depleted when they arrived in Sevastopol, the defense line deployed by Menshikov actually had big problems.

The Russian army completely retreated into the city of Sevastopol, leaving most of the Chornaya River outside the city and the Inkelman Mountains to the coalition forces. The Russian army only built a fort on the top of Inkelmann Hill.

Of course, this has a lot to do with the different strategies of Kornilov and Menshikov. Historically, Menshikov happened to be in Sevastopol when the coalition forces landed in Crimea, and was naturally given full command by Nicholas I.

This guy didn't take the coalition forces seriously. He knew that the first wave of coalition forces that landed at Kalamita Bay was as high as 50,000, but this guy just went to Alma with more than 30,000 people like a fool. He fought a decisive battle with the coalition forces.

You know the result, of course. He was beaten so hard by the coalition forces that he couldn't even take care of himself.

Ordinarily, after this lesson, old eunuch, you should understand how cruel reality is, and build a line of defense honestly and defend well!

But this guy was wrong. Kornilov was only given 15,000 men to guard Sevastopol. The old man and the Russian troops who came from all over the country for reinforcements once again fought against the coalition forces on Inkelman Mountain. front.

It can be seen that from the beginning to the end, Menshikov probably never thought about defending well. He always thought about how to defeat the coalition forces, drive them into the sea or simply eliminate them.

This idea is of course a good idea, but the problem is that it far exceeds the actual capabilities of the Russian army. Because the coalition forces not only have better weapons and equipment than the Russian army, but also have higher morale than the Russian army. More importantly, their military strength is not inferior.

Tell me, old eunuch, why can you win such a battle?

Kornilov was completely different now. He judged the situation carefully and knew that the few troops he had on hand were simply not enough to defeat or even destroy the enemy. The only thing he could rely on was solid defense.

Therefore, he attached great importance to building forts and trenches from the beginning. Not only did he build a dense spider web-like trench system in the city of Sevastopol, he also built a solid defense line based on bastions and forts at dangerous and key geographical points outside the city.

When the British and French forces arrived at the foot of Inkelmann Mountain and looked up at this hill, what they saw was a defense system as prickly as a hedgehog.

On Inkelmann Mountain, in addition to the bastions and forts built on Cannonball Hill and Home Ridge on the top of the mountain, a smaller bastion was also built on Victoria Ridge, which was connected to the bastion on Home Ridge across the Victoria Ditch. Together with the fort, they blocked the road leading to the city of Sevastopol under the Victoria Ravine.

If the coalition forces want to rush to the city of Sevastopol from here, they will first be hit by crossfire from the Russian army, and they will really be torn off a layer of skin!

In addition, Kornilov also deployed enough men and horses on the Sapoon Highlands. It would be impossible to threaten the Russian bastions and forts on the ridge of his hometown from this direction without paying a heavy price.

Kornilov's defensive configuration completely covers all the dangerous places outside the city. Unless the coalition forces have no intention of coming to Sevastopol, they will definitely encounter a bloody encounter!

Looking at the coalition forces, after arriving at the foot of Inkelman Mountain, Raglan and a group of generals glanced at the small hill with binoculars and were all dizzy!

damned! Which 250-year-old said Nancheng's defense was weak?

If all this is called weak defense, what does it mean to have complete defense? If the southern part of the city is equipped with this level of defense, then the northern part of the city must not be built into a fortress group by the Russians!

Anyway, after seeing this kind of defense configuration, the coalition generals' hearts went cold. They were originally planning to march straight in and take Sevastopol in one go, thinking that the Russians would be in a mess against them when they suddenly descended on them. Return.

But what they saw before them told them that it was impossible to capture Sevastopol by sacrificing a few hundred people. With this level of defense, tens of thousands of people would have to be added. This is only possible if the coalition's firepower is strong enough and they are fully prepared to attack the enemy.

Otherwise, it will be a replica of the Battle of Telegraph Hill. No matter how many troops they have, they will not be able to fill this chasm, okay!

So on the one hand, the coalition forces contacted Istanbul and Bulgaria, requesting more troops and more heavy artillery, and on the other hand, they also began to prepare for the siege.

Burgoying, the commander-in-chief of the British Army Engineers, shared the same view as the French. If you want to destroy the enemy's fortress, you must use heavy artillery. However, the heavy artillery of the coalition forces is really not enough. We can only ask for it from the Navy.

It can be imagined that the distance from Balaklava Port to the foot of Inkelman Mountain is already very far, and the road traffic conditions are not good. The most important thing is that the heavy artillery is naturally very heavy and must be dismantled before transportation.

This whole process of going back and forth didn't last for ten days and a half, and I couldn't get over it at all. As a result, the coalition forces could only station troops at the foot of Inkelman Mountain and look at the Russian troops on the mountain from a distance.

However, compared with the Russian army on the mountain, the life of the coalition forces at the foot of the mountain was not easy. On the one hand, the reason was that supplies were tight and it was difficult to eat enough. After all, Balaclava port is too small and its material throughput is too limited.

Many coalition soldiers didn't even have tents, and all their tents and bedding were thrown away at the landing site at Kalamita Bay. At this time, the navy was busy dismantling heavy artillery and had no time to help them transport tents and other small items.

Not only is food and housing a problem, drinking water is also a big problem for the coalition forces. If you want to have a clean water source, you either have a well or you have to be close to a river.

As mentioned before, the water wells were either poisoned or filled up by the Russian army, and a few wells could not meet the needs of 40 to 50 thousand people.

As for being close to the water source, to the north of the coalition forces is the Chornaya River, but the problem is that if they want to get water, they must bypass the high ground of Inkelman Mountain where the Russian army is stationed. Moreover, Kornilov had already made arrangements for this and deliberately deployed more than 3,000 Cossack light cavalry by the river.

They cooperated with the Russian artillery on the sandbag fort to firmly block the river bank, so that the coalition forces who wanted to get water had to stay away from the line of Inkelmann Mountain, otherwise the cavalry on the riverside would rush over to harass them, and the forts on the mountain would shell fiercely.

This forced the coalition forces to run to the upper reaches of the Chornaya River several kilometers away to fetch water, and a round trip was tiring enough.

At this time, the weather was relatively muggy, causing widespread heat stroke among the coalition forces. Heat stroke, coupled with the cholera that had been plaguing the coalition forces, almost killed most of the coalition forces' lives. There was no way they could conquer Inkelman Mountain in one go...