While the coalition forces were busy opening up the "Second Front", Leo Tolstoy followed his troops into the city. He described everything in detail in his book "The Story of Stopol Beyond Seychelles".
See and hear.
In his eyes, Sevastopol was a busy place. Every day, various projects were carried out in an orderly manner from morning to late at night. All Russians in the city were contributing their efforts to the upcoming war.
This is not a lie, because Sevastopol is completely different from other cities in Crimea. It is not so much a city as a fortress barracks.
At this time, the city had approximately 40,000 to 50,000 permanent residents, most of whom were connected to the naval base in various ways.
Many sailors and their families have been living here since the port was built in the 1780s, and even three generations of the same family have served the Black Sea Fleet.
Life in this city is very monotonous. On the streets in the city center, you rarely see people wearing anything other than navy uniforms.
The city does not have outstanding museums, flower galleries, concert halls or opera houses or any other cultural life facilities that a normal city has.
Almost all the buildings in the city are related to the military, such as the Black Sea Fleet headquarters, naval schools, arsenals, military barracks, ship repair yards, military hospitals, and military franchised stores and warehouses. The only libraries are repaired by the Black Sea Fleet officers.
of.
This fortress consists of two parts - the North City and the South City, separated by a port embedded in the land. Ships are the only means of transportation to communicate between the North and South cities.
There is an elegant neoclassical style building in the south city, which is almost the residence of the city's top personnel, such as senior military officers and officials. The north city is another world, where is the residence of ordinary sailors and fishermen in the city. All the houses
They are all semi-rural, much like the countryside outside Moscow. Vegetables are grown in the gardens of each house or pigs and other livestock are raised.
As for the majority of navy sailors and junior officers, they generally live in the west of Nancheng Military Port. Most of them are simple cabins, and most of them are built next to fortifications. The clotheslines for women to dry their clothes are hung in their cabins and fortresses or
between the outer walls of the bastion.
Like Tolstoy, visitors to Sevastopol will be deeply impressed by the strange intertwining of military camps and urban life, beautiful towns and dirty camps.
Yevgeny Yershov is a young artillery officer. He came to Sevastopol in early autumn. He was deeply impressed by the local residents who still lived their daily lives normally despite the threat of the approaching coalition forces.
Write a letter telling your family and friends:
"There's a strange feeling here, as people continue to go about their normal lives - a young woman is walking outside pushing a stroller, merchants are still doing business, children are running and playing in the streets, while forts and fortresses are being built around them
trench……"
Before the allied forces besieged Sevastopol, people here caroused endlessly, drank and gambled, as if they were in a carnival. The pubs were packed every day, and there was an endless stream of skilled female customers.
Even the news that the coalition forces had landed in Crimea could not dampen the confidence of the residents of Stopol outside the Seoul, from top to bottom.
Almost all junior officers believed that they could defeat the Allied forces and create a brilliant victory no less than that of 1812. Especially when the news of the victory in the Battle of the Alma came, almost all officers did not take the Allied forces seriously.
Here, this made Kornilov and Nakhimov so anxious that they had to impose strict military discipline, and repeatedly explained the seriousness of the situation to all officers and soldiers, stressing again and again that "anger does not last"
Equal to power”!
This blind optimism continued until the Allied navy began bombarding the Alexander and Constantine Fortresses in Sevastopol.
These two fortresses are like two arms stretching out to the ocean, guarding the seaport of Sevastopol. Constantine Fortress is located in the north city, while Alexander Fortress is located in the south city. In the narrow seaport between the two fortresses
It was filled with mines to prevent the coalition navy from breaking into the harbor.
In fact, since the coalition forces landed, the Black Sea Fleet has placed mines on the main waterways outside the port, completely blocking the outlet to the sea.
The coalition's bombardment of Sevastopol was not very intense, because during the previous reconnaissance, a French frigate of the coalition struck a mine outside the port and was blown into two pieces, so the coalition navy did not dare to get too close to the Sevastopol.
Vastopol only used the heavy artillery on the battleships to harass the Russian forts from a distance.
Strictly speaking, this round of shelling was not intense and did not cause any losses to the Russian army. The only advantage was that it let the Sevastopol defenders know that the war was really coming. At this time, Simferopol in the north reported
When the news came, the useless governor Vladimir Pestel ordered the entire city to be evacuated. He himself loaded all the belongings into a cart and fled in panic toward Perekop.
The governor's sudden escape caused a lot of trouble for Kornilov. He caused a lot of panic, causing many wealthy businessmen and municipal officials of Sevastopol to follow and prepare to escape.
The husband finally stabilized the situation after forcefully shooting several deserters.
At this time, whether the entire Sevastopol or the entire Crimea can be defended completely depends on three people: Kornilov, Nakhimov and Totlebian.
It's just that Kornilov was actually unsure about whether he could hold Sevastopol. The reason was very simple. Even though he had done a lot of preparations before, Sevastopol's defense facilities were still far from adequate.
It's perfect, but more importantly, the troops he has at hand are very limited.
He told his wife: We only have 5,000 sailors and 15,000 naval infantry that can really be used in combat. As for the other 30,000 volunteers who were temporarily recruited, they have a variety of weapons and even some use spears.
A ragtag group of people. The front line I need to defend is long and very scattered. What's worse is the lack of contact with each other. If we can hold it, it will be an out-and-out miracle...
Compared with the poor equipment of the soldiers, the work of strengthening fortifications is not perfect. Even if Kornilov and Nakhimov personally supervise it, there are still a lot of problems, and many places are just making do.
.
At the beginning of the project, the Russian army discovered that they did not have suitable and sufficient tools, not enough shovels and hammers, so they had to temporarily go to Odessa to buy them, and on the other hand, they went to cut wood outside the city and make wooden shovels to make up for it.
The newly built fort is entirely made of soil, firewood bundles and gabion nets. Although it looks good, only God knows whether it can withstand heavy artillery attacks...