Struggle in Russia

Because the French army "lost its chain" and the British army was unable to launch a large-scale offensive alone, they chose to launch an attack on some Russian bastions on the night of April 19. However, the British soon discovered that the Russian army was not generally tenacious. After three consecutive assaults, a large number of officers and soldiers of the 77th Regiment, including Colonel Thomas Edgerton, were either killed or wounded, and they had no choice but to retreat in embarrassment. return.

So Raglan could only turn around and ask for the cooperation of the French army again. In his report to the Secretary of War, Lord Panmure, on April 24, he said: "We must persuade Canrobert to capture Mamelon. , otherwise we won’t be able to achieve any success or security moving forward.”

Similarly, it is also important for the French army to capture the mamelon head fortress, otherwise they will not be able to move forward.

After some less intense bargaining, Canrobert was convinced, but at this moment he handed over the command to Pellissier. The new French commander-in-chief had exactly the same idea as Raglan and was ready to Concentrated on taking Sevastopol, the French army began to attack the mamelon head fort and the "quarry pit" with all their strength.

The joint offensive began on June 6. The coalition forces first shelled the Russian army's outer positions. This shelling continued until six o'clock the next night, and then the infantry began to charge.

According to the plan, Raglan and Pellissier would meet on the battlefield and then separately give the signal to attack.

However, when the pre-arranged time arrived, Raglan was embarrassed to find that Pelissier was still sleeping. Far away, the irascible straight male commander was about to take a nap before the war started. Who would have thought that... Slept to death.

No one in the French army dared to wake up the commander-in-chief. It was not until more than an hour later that he slowly woke up, and then he quickly ordered the French army to start attacking.

Inadvertently, Pellissier also created a military meme - the famous lion being commanded by a donkey came from this incident. Because at that time, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Army's Engineers, Totelie, once said that "the French army is an army commanded by a lion and a donkey." However, this joke later fell on the British army in World War I. Their performance back then was better than what it is now. What else does the French army want...

The signal for the French attack was sent by Bosquet.

At that time, he lectured to each company, and each time the troops responded with cheers, shouts, and singing in unison.

If you just look at the state of the soldiers, they look more like they are attending a grand wedding than about to engage in a life-and-death fight.

The large army began to move forward slowly, marching down the ravine and passing through the French fort, facing the mamelon fortress.

At this time Bosquet turned to Mrs. Fanny Duberry who was accompanying her and said: "Madam, Paris only knows exhibitions, balls and celebrations; but by half-past one, half of these brave people will be dead!"

The French army, led by Zouave's division, rushed towards the mamelon fortress without any order at all, so the Russian army beat them back with a volley of artillery fire. Many soldiers ran away in panic, and the officers had to catch them one by one to regroup and attack again.

This time, the French army braved the sharp rain of bullets from the Russian rifles and plunged into the trench under the mamelon fort. They scrambled to climb up the wall while the Russian army fired from a high position. The battle was too fierce. So much so that the Russian troops equipped with new breech-loading rifles had no time to reload their ammunition and could only lift rocks and throw them down.

The French army was also furious. They almost climbed up the four-meter-high protective wall one by one, and then pounced on the Russian army who threw stones. The two sides fought in a melee, biting and fighting each other. In the end, the French army relied on their numerical superiority. The advantage was taken over the parapet.

At this time, the Russian artillery on the Nikolay Bastion fort opened fire. The scale was unimaginable!

Pieces of flames exploded continuously, one after another. The Russian gunners were very skillful in their operations, waving their sickles like the god of death to harvest the lives of the soldiers of the Zhuav Division.

A group of brave French soldiers began to attack the Nicholas Bastion fort. They rushed to the trench in front of the fort tower, but there was no way to cross. While they were hesitating, Russian artillery fire and volleyballs rained down. As a result, the French army collapsed, turned around and fled to the mamelon fortress.

It's just that the mamelon head fortress is currently covered by Russian artillery fire, and there is no way for anyone to stand. So the French army could only continue to retreat until they retreated to their trenches and waited for the Russian artillery fire to stop.

The only good news for the French army is that the Russian army is short of troops. The Nicholas Bastion Fort adjacent to the Mamelon Fortress was unable to spare its troops to recapture the Mamelon Fortress. After the fierce shelling, After only a few rounds of back and forth, the French army captured the mamelon fortress at the cost of 6,000 casualties.

On the other side, the British army's attack on the quarry pit was also not smooth. Even if the Russian army only had a small force stationed in the quarry pit fortress, the British attacking troops often just rushed into the quarry because they could get the support of the sharp bastion. The pit fortress will be repelled by the Russian counterattack.

The two sides continued to see each other throughout the night. The Russian army inflicted huge casualties on the British army under the cover of artillery fire. In the end, the Russian army gave up the quarry pit fortress after killing 5,000 British troops.

The coalition suffered more than 10,000 casualties in just one night, which stunned Raglan and Pellissier. It's just that compared to the two of them, the people below are much calmer.

For example, after the two sides raised a white flag to cease the war, General Fayi and the Russian General Poluski walked to the no-man's land between the two sides' positions. After a few formal official speeches, the conversation between the two sides became friendly. uuread a book

The topic involved Paris, St. Petersburg and the last difficult winter. After the bodies of the fallen soldiers were cleaned up, the two sides exchanged cigars. People who didn't know the inside story thought it was a few friends getting together to smoke during a hunting break.

A large bottle of champagne was even brought over by several soldiers at the behest of General Fahy, who proposed a toast to peace. General Poluski accepted the offer gladly, and then they even drank and talked.

Six hours later, the corpses and wounded were finally cleared away. After both sides checked that no soldiers were left in the no-man's land, the white flag was lowered on the position. According to Poluski's suggestion, the Russian army left the Nikolai Bastion Fortress. A blank bomb was fired, signaling the end of the truce.

For the coalition forces, the conditions for launching an attack on the Nicholas Bastion Fortress after occupying the mamelon fortress and quarry pit were basically met. Raglan and Pelissier agreed to launch the most powerful attack on the Russian army on June 18, the fortieth anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo...