Struggle in Russia

From the time the coalition forces arrived at Sevastopol to the actual attack on the fortress, it took half a month to prepare.

During this period, the main work of the British army was to disassemble naval guns from battleships, mainly 68-pound cannons. The main task of the French army was to dig trenches. They braved Russian artillery fire and slowly moved closer to the fortifications outside Stopol outside the Seoul.

This work is arduous and particularly critical. After all, all people are made of flesh and blood. No one can charge with the enemy's ferocious artillery fire. Even if there are people who are not afraid of death, the coalition does not have so many men and horses that can be consumed in this way.

Every night, the French army would organize about a thousand soldiers with shovels and pickaxes to quietly dig into the Russian positions under the cover of stones. The officers were responsible for measuring and calibrating the direction, while the soldiers shook off their arms. Digging hard.

To be honest, this is very dangerous, because the Russian army's eyes and ears are very sensitive. Every time the French army starts working, the Russian army's artillery begins to fire violently, which greatly delays the French process. It took them half a month to barely get close to the 1,500-meter position at the forefront of the Russian defense.

This position is still a bit too far for launching a charge, and it is just enough for the coalition's heavy artillery to hit the Russian defensive positions, which is barely enough for the coalition.

So why not keep digging trenches forward?

The reason is simple. The Russian army mobilized a large number of mortars and concentrated firepower to violently bombard the coalition engineers digging trenches. Unlike howitzers and cannons, mortars with curved trajectories are naturally suitable for hitting targets behind shelters. It can be said that if It's not that the Russian army's artillery shells are limited, the French army's behavior of digging trenches is more like delivering food.

By October 13, the French army finally repaired five forts and deployed about fifty artillery pieces. Following the French army, the British army also began to build trenches. About 500 soldiers were responsible for the construction, and more than 2,000 soldiers were responsible for guarding the forts.

The reason why so many people were assigned to guard was that the Cossack cavalry were harassed so much by the British that they often tortured the British engineers to the point of crying for their parents.

By October 16, although the British forts had not been completely repaired, the coalition forces decided to launch an attack immediately, because while they were building forts and digging trenches, the Russian troops were not idle either. They did not have to worry about being harassed by the coalition forces. In addition to the general construction of various types of fortifications, the already very strong defensive front was operated to be airtight.

Seeing this, Raglan and Canrobel knew that they could no longer wait, otherwise the Russian army's defense level would increase by one point with every day of delay, and by then they would be unable to do anything to the opponent even if they risked their lives.

Compared with the pessimism of senior coalition generals, the grassroots soldiers of the coalition are relatively optimistic about the prospects of the upcoming battle. Mainly the heavy artillery removed from the battleship gave them great confidence. Most army soldiers had never seen such a heavy and large-caliber artillery (a 68-pound gun weighed about 4.8 tons).

All the soldiers felt that the Russian army would be bombed into rubble if it could not hold out for 48 hours, and Sevastopol would only be left with a pile of rubble.

Henry Clifford, staff officer of the British Light Infantry Division, said in a letter to his family: "On October 16, our battalion began to bet on how long the Russian army could hold on. There were very few people who bet on how long the Russian army could hold on. , so the odds are very high. Some older and more cautious officers estimate that the Russian army may be able to hold on for 48 hours, but this is already an extreme view. A soldier wants to sell the Paris-made pocket watch he snatched from the Russian squire Give it to me for only twenty shillings. But my friend tried his best to persuade me not to buy it. He said that after 48 hours, Russian prisoners will get as many watches as they want, and they will be worthless at all!"

Early in the morning on October 17, as the morning fog had just dissipated, the Russian observation post discovered that a large number of people were busy around the coalition fort. It was obvious that the enemy's attack would begin soon.

Before the coalition forces could open fire, the Russian artillery opened fire first. More than a hundred artillery pieces fired fiercely, and a large number of projectiles filled the sky around the coalition fort with smoke.

Soon the coalition forces also began to fight back, including 73 British artillery pieces and 53 French artillery pieces roaring together.

Within minutes the bombardment reached its climax. The low roar of the cannon fire, the scream of the shells rolling in the air, and the deafening explosion of the shells as they hit the ground completely drowned out the sounds of bugles and drums.

The entire Inkelmann Mountain was submerged in a huge black smoke. The thick smoke floated over the battlefield and changed the sky.

Because the coalition's artillery positions are lower, the artillery cannot aim at the target at all, and it is even difficult to even see the target. The artillerymen could only guess at the target's location and pray to God for a hit.

This terrible bombardment lasted for twelve hours, and the sound of crazy flying shells never stopped. The soldiers only heard the roar in their ears, the ground under their feet continued to tremble, and the sky was filled with thick smoke that obscured the sun. The day was like night, and there was gunpowder smoke everywhere. Even the city of Sevastopol, far away from the battlefield, was submerged in smoke.

From the beginning of the bombardment, Kornilov took his bodyguards to patrol Inkelman Hill. They first went to the most dangerous location, the fort on the ridge of their hometown.

This is the key target of the coalition's artillery fire. The flag-bearing lieutenant who accompanied Kornilov during the inspection recalled: "The home ridge fort was covered by the enemy's bullets. The scene inside the bastion was horrifying and severely damaged. An entire artillery team was destroyed." The howitzer fire knocked them down, and the stretcher teams are carrying away the dead and wounded, but there are still piles of people lying on the ground, with broken limbs and broken arms everywhere, it is simply hell on earth!”

After inspecting the fort on the ridge of his hometown, Kornilov continued to move forward and arrived at the Sapoon Heights. Here Kornilov met Nakhimov. Nakhimov's face was injured in the previous shelling. , while talking to Kornilov, the blood on his face flowed down to his neck, staining the white ribbon of the St. George's Cross he wore red.

While the two commanders-in-chief were talking, the flag-bearing lieutenant suddenly saw a school officer walking towards them. He was startled because this person "had no eyes, mouth, or nose"!

Of course, this is impossible. The real reason is that the five senses of this school officer were covered in a blur of flesh and blood. In the shelling just now, a sailor was hit by a solid bullet next to him, and his whole body was blown into pieces. A piece of fleshy foam covered the face of the school officer!

While wiping off the flesh and blood on his face, he asked the frightened flag-bearing lieutenant if he had any cigarettes. When the flag-bearing lieutenant tremblingly handed over the cigarette, the school officer took a big puff of it with satisfaction, and then He glanced at the location of the allied fort, slowly exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "Thank you!"