For Russia, the Crimean War is such a significant event that there is even a monument to the Inkerman battle. But what is this historical event? Many years have passed since then. Not every modern person can tell about this event. We will try to fill this gap.
More than a century and a half ago, the famous battle of Inkerman took place. Under the leadership of Generals Soimonov and Pavlov, the British army was attacked. November 5, 1854 - the official date of the Inkerman battle. The British were in a hopeless situation, only the intervention of the French General Bosquet saved them. The Russian army was forced to retreat due to heavy losses. The general assault on Sevastopol had to be postponed for a day.
Backstory. Causes of the Inkerman battle
In England and France, they were already talking with might and main about the victory over Balaklava, which looked more like a rout, and the defeat of one of the English brigades. The Crimean campaign was extremely disappointing. Capitals of England andFrance wanted an immediate attack on Sevastopol in order to rehabilitate itself. Subsequently, this battle was called the Battle of Inkerman.
Assumptions
The command of the Russian army had long guessed that Sevastopol would be stormed. General Menshikov was well informed about all the actions of the enemy from deserters. It became clear that the fourth bastion, the fourth battalion of the Volynsky regiment and two companies of the sixth rifle battalion (consisting of 800 soldiers) were not enough to repel an enemy strike. But the strengthening of the army was not possible, since the bastion did not have sufficiently stable defensive fortifications that could accommodate a large garrison. Sending fighters to be shot would be stupid.
Intelligence
At the end of October, a trial sortie was carried out from Sevastopol to Sapun Mountain to see if it was possible to attack this territory in force. For this purpose, the Russian army allocated a detachment of six battalions of the Butyrsky and Borodinsky regiments with four light guns. The operation was carried out under the leadership of the commander of the Butyrsky regiment, Colonel Fedorov. The Russian army, having passed the Kilen-balka, headed for the English division of Lesya-Evens. The English troops, seeing the advance of the Russians, grouped their 11 battalions with 18 guns. Bosque sent five battalions to help. Despite the numerical and technical superiority of the enemy, as well as the difficult terrain, Fedorov's detachment still attacked the French and British troops, which was an absolute mistake. Colonel Fedorovwas seriously injured, the loss of the Russian army amounted to 270 people, including 25 officers.
Were the forces equal
It is worth saying that both sides had different advantages before the Inkerman battle - Russia outnumbered the enemy in numbers, and the British occupied a rather advantageous position. The hills between the Black River and Kilen-balka were part of the plateau. Between the upper reaches of the Kilen-balka and the cliffs of Sapun-mountain there was an extremely advantageous position, covered from the side of Sevastopol by two ravines, one of which flowed into the Kilen-balka, and the second (Kamenolomny) headed for the Chernaya River. The only advantageous position for the attack was between these ravines. It was not possible to use the space from the Quarry Ravine to the Balaklava road during the Inkerman battle because of the steep cliffs on Sapun Mountain. Capturing this mountain was extremely difficult, as many obstacles had to be overcome.
Disagreements within the Russian army
It is worth noting that one of the obstacles in the Inkerman battle of the Crimean War for Russia was the inconsistency of the actions of the leadership. General Dannenberg was a fairly experienced soldier. Even in his youth, he participated in the iconic battles of the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Russian campaign of 1813-1814. Dannenberg was directly involved in the elimination of uprisings in Poland and Hungary. During the outbreak of the Eastern War, General Dannenberg took part in the battles on the Danube front. He and his troops were defeated in the Oltenitsky battle with Turkey, for whichhe was accused of a failed battle.
If you look objectively, the blame for the lost battles lies not with Dannenberg, but with the main command. The general was awarded by the sovereign himself with all kinds of awards for attacking the enemy’s protected position near the Oltenitsky quarantine. During the landing of the allies in the Crimea, the commander of the Russian troops, Prince Gorchakov, instructed Dannenberg to enter the Crimea with the troops entrusted to him, moving in a forced march. The order was executed.
Menshikov, for unknown reasons, did not particularly like Dannenberg. When he learned about the fourth infantry corps approaching the Crimea, he began to express his extreme dissatisfaction with his colleagues about the general among the commanders of the Crimean army. Dannenberg and other generals responsible for leading the troops were unfairly excluded from drawing up the overall strategy and the final plan of offensives. Dannenberg finds himself in an unpleasant situation - he had to manage the troops, about whose strategy he knew nothing. The general was removed from strategic actions before the start of the battle. Then, reporting on the Inkerman battle in the Crimean War, General Menshikov claimed that he had ordered Dannenberg to lead the troops. Therefore, he should be blamed for the loss.
Strategy
The offensive plan of the Inkerman battle was drawn up. The garrison of Sevastopol was preparing a detachment under the leadership of Major General Timofeev - the Minsk and Tobolsk regiments with twelve light guns (about fivethousand soldiers). Timofeev's detachment was supposed to leave bastion No. 6, as soon as confusion and confusion began on the positions of the enemy, and strike at the left flank of the enemy troops. Additional troops were provided on the Mekenziev Mountain to protect Bakhchisarai. In total, there were six battalions with 36 guns (about 4 thousand people).
As a result, about 60 thousand people participated in the Inkerman battle during the Crimean War. The main role was played by the detachments of Pavlov and Soymonov. Both commanders made a significant contribution to the preceding Danube campaign. The remaining garrisons were distributed among the allies in the center and on the left flank. The soldiers, impressed by the victory in the Battle of Balaklava and delighted by the arrival of eminent generals, were ready to give their lives for the victorious outcome of the battle for Sevastopol.
Start
In short, the Inkerman battle was accompanied by a number of mistakes at the planning stage. It was completely ignored that the bridge at Inkerman was to be restored by Pavlov's detachment. In addition, he could not go on the offensive together with Soymonov's detachment. Also, Pavlov's detachment had to move along the uncomfortable and blurry Sapper road, which could not but affect the outcome of the Inkerman battle. Before the start of the battle, there was heavy rain, which negatively affected all nearby roads. General Soimonov wanted to start the battle as soon as possible and launched the attack earlier than expected.
The attack began from bastion No. 2, continued near Kilen-beam, descended into the ravine, the soldiers crossed the river and continued climbing to Sapernaya washed out by rainroad. At about six o'clock, Russian soldiers led the detachments into battle order. This happened not far from the camp of the second British division under the command of General Lesie-Evens.
Track of battle
The offensive plan of the Inkerman battle on both sides did not coincide with reality. The British missed the Russian attack that had begun. The enemy troops did not attach any importance to the suspicious noise in the Russian camp. Despite the confusion, the British quickly got their bearings, and Lesie-Evens' division was soon on full alert. Brown's division also entered the battle. One of its units with six guns reinforced the army of Lesi-Evens, and the other with the same number of guns entrenched itself in the west of the Kilen-balka River.
A little later, Bentinck's troops, John Campbell's, and Cathcart's 4th Division came into play. Air's troops from the third division guarded the trenches, and Colin-Kempbel's troops with part of the crews of the fleet - in the fortresses of Balaklava. Because of this, twelve thousand British soldiers were concentrated in one direction for several hours. But this did not become an obstacle for the Russian army, which defeated the troops of General Pennefather. The Russian army managed to capture the enemy's fortification and inflict damage on the guns located there.
Short term advantage
Jägers of the Russian Tenth Regiment defeated the advanced English regiments - the brigades of Pennefather and Buller. Soldiers from the Yekaterinburg regiment, who were in Soymonov's reserve, having moved to the beginning of Kilen-balka, struckby the brigade of General Codrington. The battalions of our army carried out the capture of the enemy battery. But the advantage of the Russians at this stage was short-lived - the enemy fought back.
Sad result
Yekaterinburg regiment was driven back from the epicenter of the battle. The forces of the rangers were also running out - the attack was too strong for them. After some time, several Russian commanders were out of order. Fedor Soimonov, the great Russian general who participated in this battle, tragically passed away. His troops were commanded by Major General Vilboa, who soon also could not participate in the battle due to his injuries. The commanders of the troops Pustovoitov and Uvazhnov-Aleksandrov were also wounded, the latter of whom died from his wounds. The commander of the tenth artillery brigade, Colonel Zagoskin, tragically passed away.
Of course, due to the death of almost the entire leadership team, confusion began, the huntsmen began to retreat. The cover was provided by soldiers of the Butyrsky and Uglitsky regiments with sixteen guns of the seventeenth regiment under the leadership of General Zhabokritsky. Under the protection of artillery pieces, the Russian troops began to retreat. In this situation, the only hope was for Pavlov's detachment, which was delayed for unknown reasons.
The situation is changing
Suddenly, the situation on the battlefield has changed dramatically. General Pavlov arrived at the scene of the battle with his 16,000-strong detachment.
The catastrophe was planned already indetachments of the British - their losses grew before our eyes, the threat of complete defeat hung in the air.
But then the eight thousandth detachment of the French General Bosque arrived in time for the British. The final result of the Inkerman battle was influenced by the technical superiority of the enemy - the French had more powerful guns, which significantly exceeded the Russians in terms of firing range.
At about 11 am, the commanders of the Russian army gave the command to retreat. The retreat led to irreparable consequences - Russian soldiers were "mowed down" by the allies with the help of their advanced artillery.
The passivity of part of the troops could not but affect the course of the battle. The numerous regiment of General Gorchakov was quite capable of attracting part of the French troops, but due to the lack of a direct order, this did not happen.
Results
The consequences of the Inkerman battle were as follows - the enemy's losses were limited to five thousand dead soldiers, and the Russian army lost about twelve thousand people. General Soymonov also died tragically, who was mortally wounded in the stomach.
Conclusions and consequences. Historical Significance
The assault on Sevastopol was thwarted, but the price was too high.
Employees of Emperor Nicholas I said that the news of the defeat near Inkerman had a negative impact on the general situation in the yard.
Increasingly, it was said that the whole campaign is a failure, so nothing good will come of it. Military circles began to recognize that it was important not tonot only military prowess, but also the technical advantage that England and France had.
Nicholas I also felt the brunt of pressure from outside, writing to Prince Mikhail Gorchakov after the insulting defeat near Inkerman that the most terrible event in this war would be to lose Sevastopol, where so many great generals and ordinary soldiers died.
No one thought to admit defeat in this war, but victory was also in great doubt. But Nicholas I could not see all the consequences of this battle and the entire war as a whole. They fell on the shoulders of his son Alexander.
