Struggle in Russia

The Zouave Division effortlessly recaptured the British fort occupied by the Russian army, and then pursued the Russian army to the St. Clement Valley at the foot of the mountain. Even because the running momentum was too fierce, the French army overran and rushed straight into the quarry ravine.

This place was crowded with soldiers of the Tarutinsky Regiment who had withdrawn from the mountains. When they saw Zhuav's troops rushing toward them, they huddled together in horror. Some soldiers tried to fire at the French army, but they hit themselves. people.

Fortunately, when the soldiers of the Zhuav Division saw the large number of Russian troops, they were worried that they would not be their opponents, so they quickly chose to retreat. Otherwise, this charge alone would collapse the Tarutinsky Regiment.

After returning to the fort, Zhuav's division found that the British army was in a very dangerous right flank facing the flanking attack of Pavlov's troops.

Dannenberg is directing the flanking attack by the Okhotsk, Yakutsky and Selenginsky regiments as well as Soimolov's remaining troops.

The battle was very cruel. Captain Wilson of the Coldstream Guards recalled that wave after wave of Russian troops rushed towards them with bayonets in hand. If they were not knocked down by bullets, they would engage in hand-to-hand, foot-to-foot, and gun-to-gun combat. Muzzle, butt versus butt struggle.

Facing a Russian force that far outnumbered them, the defenders of the Coldstream Guards were reinforced by six companies of Cathcart's 4th Division, led by General Torrance.

The newly arrived British troops were eager to join the battle (they missed the Battle of the Alma River and the Battle of Balaclava). When they received the order to attack the Russian troops near the fort, they chased them all the way down the hillside. Completely forgetting to obey orders, he was attacked from high altitude by the Russian Yakutsky and Selenkin regiments at close range. Cascart was killed in a hail of bullets, and his burial place was later named Cascart. Mountain

At this time, the Duke of Cambridge's Guards were down to the last hundred men in the fort, and their ammunition was all gone, but there were still two thousand Russian troops outside.

So the Duke of Cambridge proposed holding the fort to the end—a foolish sacrifice for a stronghold of no great strategic importance.

Fortunately, his staff convinced him in time: if the Queen's nephew and her Guards flag were brought to the Tsar, it would be a disaster for Britain!

So the Guards began to retreat. The soldiers slowly retreated, making sure to face the enemy head-on, holding bayonets in their hands to prepare for the enemy. When a soldier falls, whether dead or wounded, his comrades must immediately take his place.

Although the number of the Guards was getting smaller and smaller, they always maintained a tight formation and guarded the military flag without blinking an eye... Fortunately, the terrain was very steep, which prevented the enemy from attacking from the flanks.

Of course, from time to time, brave Russian troops would still rush up and try to seize the flag. At this time, two or three grenadiers would rush out to fight with bayonets until they were driven back.

At the critical moment, Beauchamp's men finally arrived. The French figure had never been so welcome to the British. The Guards soldiers shouted to the approaching French soldiers: "Long live France!"

The French soldiers responded: "Long live England!"

The Russian army was frightened by the sudden appearance of French soldiers, and immediately began to retreat, running towards Cannonball Hill in a panic. Some of the braver Russian troops tried to stay and consolidate their positions, but the overall morale of the Russian army was severely damaged. Being attacked by a joint force of French and British troops, holding on to their position felt like they had little chance of winning.

As a result, people kept sneaking away without the officers noticing, and soon there were not many Russian troops left in the fort.

For a while Dannenberg thought he could still win with superior artillery fire. He had nearly a hundred cannons, including twelve-pound field guns and howitzers, much more than the British army.

But at half past nine, the two eighteen-pounders ordered by Raglan finally arrived at the scene and began to fire fiercely at the Russian army.

Huge artillery shells exploded at the Russian artillery positions, forcing the Russian artillery to retreat.

However, even at this time, the Russian army was not completely defeated. They still had 6,000 people on the high ground and 12,000 people in reserve at the foot of the mountain. If they were organized well, there would be no chance of victory.

But in the end, Dannenberg decided to give up the attack and retreat, because he found that his organization and command sequence had completely collapsed, and no matter how many people there were, they would have no effect.

However, Menshikov, who was watching the battle from a position 500 meters behind the main force of Dannenberg, and Grand Duke Nicholas and Mikhail, who were ordered by Nicholas I to arrive in Crimea to supervise the battle, did not like this decision. , they unanimously asked Dannenberg to withdraw the retreat order.

But Dannenberg argued: "Your Highness, if you don't let the troops withdraw, then they will have to fight to the last man. I think this is extremely unfair and extremely cruel to the soldiers who have fought all morning. If you think My order is wrong, so why not take back the command from me and let you continue to direct the battle yourself!"

After the conversation ended, the two argued fiercely for a long time. As a result, each other was unhappy with the other. They both blamed the other party for the failure of the battle and were unwilling to take responsibility for the failure, because no matter how you look at it, the Russian army has an absolute advantage. , should not lose at all.

So Menshikov blamed Dannenberg, and Dannenberg put the responsibility on Soimolov. After all, the latter was dead, and a dead person cannot defend himself. In the end, the blame was placed on the soldiers, and the generals unanimously believed that the failure was caused by the soldiers' lack of discipline and chaos.

In fact, the reason why the Russian army failed is actually very simple: lack of command. The senior commanders were in chaos, and the mid-level and lower-level commanders lacked control. Especially Menshikov, the nominal commander-in-chief. To be honest, this guy did nothing during the battle. He had no idea, no command, and no one made any decisions. He was just like a passerby.

Even Grand Duke Nicholas said in a letter to Crown Prince Alexander: "After the battle started, we waited for Prince Menshikov near the Inkelman Bridge, but he did not leave the house until half past six. At that time, our troops The first position has been occupied. The prince and we have been staying on the right wing, and we have not seen any general reporting to him on the progress of the battle... The soldiers are not in order because there is no one to command them... All the disorder originates from Menshi Cove. What’s even more unimaginable is that he doesn’t have a combat headquarters, and there are only three people around him. With the way they work, if you want to know something, you don’t know who to ask!”

After receiving the order to retreat, the Russian army began to flee in panic. The officers had no way to stop this avalanche of human flesh. The British and French armies continued to harass the Russian army with shelling from behind, making the Russian army's chaos even worse...