Although Peter Gorchakov was not a famous general, he carried out the tasks assigned by his superiors without compromise. He carefully arranged the defense line in full compliance with Kornilov's requirements, and even led to Sevastopol under Telegraph Hill.
A large number of mines were laid on the road. He even destroyed the roadbed simply for him, making it impossible for any vehicle to pass.
When the 80,000 coalition troops arrived at the Alma River again, the scene they saw made them shudder. There were trenches all over the mountains and plains, with three layers inside and three layers outside. The flat land on both sides of the river bank was even dug into pits, not to mention people walking on them when running horses.
It's easy to sprain your feet.
Fighting on this kind of terrain is simply fatal, and according to Kornilov's request, the Black Sea Fleet specially dismantled some of its heavy artillery to support the Telegraph Hill defense line.
When the coalition forces had just formed their formation on the other side of the river, they were mercilessly attacked by the heavy artillery on Telegraph Hill. For a while, the men and horses were thrown into chaos.
Raglan and Saint-Arnaud had to order the troops to retreat and reorganize. After a whole morning of tossing, the coalition forces once again arrived at the Alma River. They began to cross the river again under fierce Russian artillery fire.
This time the British and French troops finally reached an agreement, and there was no scene like last time where the French fought against the British troops alone but watched the show on the spot.
The coalition forces lined up in a row, investing 30,000 troops in one go, preparing to conquer Telegraph Mountain in one go. Looking from a distance on the top of Telegraph Mountain, you can see the coalition forces all over the mountains and plains, with red British troops and blue French troops stepping on them.
The nodes of the drum move forward step by step.
Raglan and Saint Arnaud's original intention was to invest an absolutely large force to defeat the Russian army in one fell swoop. That's why they invested more than 30,000 troops, but they forgot one thing. The space on the battlefield is really limited. Throwing 30,000 troops into it can be said to be a huge loss.
People are crowded and people are touching each other.
Such a dense formation is a natural target for the Russian army. The riflemen and artillerymen do not need to aim accurately, they can just fire their guns.
For a time, the Russian army opened fire, desperately pouring firepower at the coalition forces. It was so violent that the coalition forces beat them to the ground with corpses on their backs.
In just one hour, the coalition forces rushed to the other side of the river and suffered at least 5,000 casualties.
Please note that this is not the end, but the beginning of the coalition's nightmare. The other side of the river is full of traps and mines, further confusing the coalition's position. Even if they manage to organize a few waves of offensives, they will suddenly stop just before they reach the big hills and cliffs.
Stop, unable to move forward any more.
After three hours of fierce fighting, the coalition forces were finally unable to withstand the Russian firepower. As the forward troops began to collapse, a chain reaction was immediately triggered. The coalition forces who were lucky enough to survive turned around and ran away, escaping across the river again in a panic.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, when Raglan and Saint-Arnaud had to withdraw their troops, they discovered that the casualties had reached more than 15,000 people.
In other words, before the coalition forces saw the shadow of Sevastopol, they lost nearly 30,000 people on the banks of the unknown river Alma.
This kind of death and injury efficiency is simply terrifying, because even though the coalition forces only launched two attacks in two days, they lost 30,000 people in two days. What kind of casualty rate is this?
Anyway, both Raglan and Saint-Arnaud were stunned. Looking at the hill not far away in front of them, they couldn't figure out why such a not-so-dangerous hill was so difficult to climb.
In fact, it’s not that Telegraph Hill is dangerous, but that the tactics of the coalition forces are too useless. Both Raglan and Saint-Arnaud are still stuck in the Napoleonic era, using completely outdated tactics to deal with completely new enemies. This is not looking for abuse.
What is it?
It's just that the coalition forces can't just give up. Both Raglan and Saint Arnaud know that if they don't want to be infamy for thousands of years, the only way is to grit their teeth and cross Telegraph Hill!
They were so furious that they turned around and invested another 20,000 people in one breath to continue the attack. It should be said that they had learned a certain lesson and knew that too many people might not be effective, so they restrained themselves and only invested 20,000 people.
On this day, the performance of the coalition forces was a little better. They finally reached the front of the big hill again, and for a time they had a hand-to-hand battle with the Russian army.
However, because crossing the river consumed too much energy and the Russian artillery fire was too fierce, they were never able to attack Telegraph Hill in an echelon. As long as the Russian army withstood the first wave, it would not be special even if the coalition forces continued to rush up from behind.
horrible.
The battle lasted the whole day, and the coalition forces almost lost another 10,000 people. The Russian army also paid a corresponding price of nearly 3,000 casualties. This was the largest casualty caused by the coalition forces to the Russian army since the war began.
However, it was the coalition forces that could not withstand it first. Two consecutive days of brutal fighting resulted in the loss of almost one-third of the coalition forces. Such a terrible casualty rate was a particularly fatal blow to the morale of the coalition forces.
So much so that Raglan and St. Arnaud had to stop the attack and rest in place. This rest took three days until a new batch of coalition reinforcements arrived at the scene and brought precious supplies shipped from Bulgaria.
, morale was relieved.
Then the coalition forces launched another fierce attack, with the original prescription of 20,000 people in a dense formation. Anyway, Peter Gorchakov was not surprised, because the coalition forces had done this over and over again, and they would never do anything else.
of.
This attack by the coalition forces finally lasted for three days, and they had to stop to catch their breath after losing another 20,000 troops and annihilating 5,000 Russian troops.
Let's put it this way, the coalition forces on the Alma River have lost nearly 50,000 people, which is equivalent to the entire first wave of coalition troops landing in Crimea.
Such tragic casualties caused an uproar in London and Paris, with parliamentarians denouncing Raglan and Saint-Arnaud as incompetent and strongly criticizing the plan to land in Crimea.
It's just criticism, but the war has already started. If we just retreat like this, all the losses will be in vain. Britain and France, who have no way out, can only continue to increase their strength, gritting their teeth and stamping their feet and adding 100,000 troops!
Naturally, the Russians did not know this news. Peter Gorchakov was busy reorganizing the defense line and repairing the fortifications. Although he had completed the tasks assigned by Kornilov, since the coalition forces were so incompetent, they could not even cross the telegraph mountain.
If he doesn't go, there's no reason for him to just let the other party pass, right?
Continue to hold on and continue to kill more effective forces of the coalition forces. These are military medals!
As for Kornilov, he is very satisfied with Peter Gorchakov's performance, which bought him a lot of time. These valuable time can help him continue to strengthen Sevastopol's defense, and even
Spare energy to make some other related arrangements...