Struggle in Russia

The heavy artillery of the coalition forces was indeed very powerful and caused relatively heavy losses to the Russian army. For example, the Victoria Bastion on Victoria Ridge. It was hit by concentrated fire from the British and French troops. The commander of the bastion before it was hit by allied artillery fire was Captain Pipando. When Kornilov arrived at noon, the commander had already changed. Three times, the current commander has become Second Lieutenant Larov.

"Your Excellency, General, Victoria Bastion should have 215 officers and soldiers, and there are currently 117 officers and soldiers. I am Second Lieutenant Larov. I salute you!"

Kornilov looked at this young officer who was only in his early 20s and had light yellow hair. At this time, he was covered in gunpowder smoke, and the Prussian-style coal bucket-shaped pointed leather helmet on his head had a hole in it, and it looked like it had been cut by a sharp blade.

Under the golden helmet belt is a face wrapped in bleeding gauze. It can be seen that he is seriously injured and seems to be blind in one eye.

"Relax, Lieutenant." Kornilov said in a deep voice, "It is my duty to pay tribute to you. You have performed very bravely. You are the most outstanding warriors I have ever seen. I will inform His Majesty of your heroic actions. That’s enough for one Order of St. George!”

The young second lieutenant saluted again respectfully and said excitedly: "Thank you, but I think my three officers are more worthy of the Order of St. George. I am really nothing compared to them!"

Kornilov nodded and asked: "Where is Captain Pipando? Is he still alive?"

"Report to the general, captain... The captain was hit by a grenade and died heroically for his country along with about seven or eight brothers..."

Kornilov's mood became heavier and heavier. He looked around the bastion, patted Second Lieutenant Larov heavily on the shoulder, and said sonorously: "Then we should continue to fight and avenge our fallen comrades. , second lieutenant, I will support you with a hundred men and promote you to captain. My order to you is to stick to this place, you must firmly hold the Victoria Valley, and you must not let the enemy get close to Sevastopol!"

Second Lieutenant Larov replied loudly: "I promise to complete the mission, general. I will swear to live and die together on the same position. The enemy can only cross over my body if they want to pass through the Victoria Canyon!"

Kornilov patted Lieutenant Larov heavily on the shoulder again. He didn't say anything, but it seemed that everything was explained clearly.

Of course, not all officers and soldiers of the Russian army are as brave as Second Lieutenant Larov and the soldiers of Victoria Bastion, and there are also some cowards who are frightened out of their wits.

For example, near noon, the coalition fleet also joined the bombardment operation, forming an arc outside the entrance to Sevastopol and firing at Sevastopol from there.

During the six-hour bombardment, the coalition forces invested a total of 1,240 cannons, while the Russian coastal forts had only 150 cannons.

"This is the most horrific shelling scene I have ever seen," Henry James, a merchant sailor of the Allied logistics supply fleet who was watching the battle on the distant sea, wrote in his diary: "Several warships fired continuously, listening to It was like beating a big drum... We saw the shells hitting the water at the foot of the fortress like hail, setting off huge waves."

The coalition's shelling produced a large amount of smoke, which made it difficult for the Russian gunners to even see the position of the coalition ships. Most of the Russian gunners behaved very bravely. Even though the coalition's shells exploded just above their heads, they still aimed at the smoke shrouded in smoke. The coalition fleet in the center emerged from a flaming position and fought back fiercely.

Of course, there are not no cowards, such as the Tenth Bastion, which was the key target of the French warships. An artillery officer recalled that he saw some soldiers who had been awarded for their bravery were frightened when the bombardment began. Gotta run away.

“I was torn between two emotions,” he recalled. “On the one hand, I wanted to run home to protect my family, but my sense of responsibility told me that I must persevere... In the end, my emotions as a man defeated my emotions as a warrior. I had a sense of responsibility, so I left the fort and went to find my family.”

However, because Kornilov and Nakhimov spent a lot of effort and money on the coastal forts, and all the forts were tightly protected, the damage caused by the coalition fleet was not as great as the losses they suffered.

Because of the existence of mines, coalition ships cannot get close enough to attack the coast. Only a few large-caliber heavy artillery can threaten the Russian forts. Before the war began, the coalition navy also dismantled many heavy artillery to support the army.

As a result, there are fewer and fewer artillery pieces that can pose a sufficient threat to the Russian army. On the contrary, although the Russian coastal forts have a smaller number of artillery, because they are set up on high ground and most of them are heavy artillery, their shooting accuracy and lethality are much higher than those of the coalition fleet.

The coalition fleet fired a total of about 50,000 artillery shells that day, but it did not cause any substantial damage worth mentioning. When they weighed anchor and left, they counted the losses and found that they had sunk one frigate and five more. The ship was severely damaged and had to be returned to port for repairs. About 130 sailors were killed and another 750 were injured.

The coalition navy performed poorly, and the results achieved by the coalition army were even less satisfactory.

The French army had just made some progress on the forward position of the home ridge fort when their main arsenal exploded. I don’t know whether it was the Russian artillery fire that ignited it or the gunner’s error in operation. Anyway, it’s a confusing account.

As for the British army, they caused considerable damage to Victoria Bastion and the small forts below the ridge of their hometown. Most of the more than 1,100 Russian soldiers who died died in these two locations.

However, the British army's own losses were not small. Their own forts were plowed by Russian heavy artillery and mortars, resulting in more than a thousand casualties.

After observation, the British army found that the lethality of their heavy artillery was actually very limited, at least not enough against well-defended bastions. For example, the 68-pound Lancaster cannon borrowed from the Navy in advance had poor reliability when firing grenades, and could not penetrate the Russian army's solid fortifications at all.

According to the British's own memories, the shells of this kind of cannon are still too light and will sink directly into the soil when they land. Moreover, the range is not far enough, causing more damage to their own artillery positions than to the enemy, even if the soldiers are repeatedly asked to Slowing down the rate of firing has little effect. The shells hitting the enemy's fortifications are as meaningless as hitting soft pudding.

The heavy losses in the bombardment on the first day alarmed the coalition forces. It was obvious that their preparations were not rigorous enough and there were not enough artillery. Those old artillery that could not fire new high-explosive bombs proved to be of little significance. They wanted to capture Sevastopo. The U.S. coalition forces have to make more preparations...