Chapter seven hundred and seventy seventh copper wall
I have to say that Kornilov was indeed an outstanding general. Historically, although the coalition forces were depleted and exhausted when they arrived in Sevastopol, the defense line deployed by Menshikov actually had big problems.
The Russian army completely retreated into the city of Sevastopol, handing over the Chornaya River outside the city and most of the Inkelman Mountains to the coalition forces. The Russian army was only on the top of the Inkelman Mountains.
A fort was built.
Of course, this has a lot to do with the different strategies of Kornilov and Menshikov. Historically, Menshikov happened to be in Sevastopol when the coalition forces landed in Crimea, and was naturally taken over by Nikolai
I was given full authority to command.
This guy didn't take the coalition forces seriously. He knew that the first wave of coalition forces that landed at Kalamita Bay was as high as 50,000, but this guy just went to Alma with more than 30,000 people like a fool.
He fought a decisive battle with the coalition forces.
You know the result, of course. He was beaten so hard by the coalition forces that he couldn't even take care of himself.
Ordinarily, after this lesson, old eunuch, you should understand how cruel reality is, and build a line of defense honestly and defend well!
But this guy was wrong. Kornilov was only given 15,000 men to guard Sevastopol. The old man and the Russian troops who came from all over the country for reinforcements once again fought against the coalition forces on Inkelman Mountain.
front.
It can be seen that from the beginning to the end, Menshikov probably never thought about defending well. He always thought about how to defeat the coalition forces, drive them into the sea or simply eliminate them.
This idea is of course a good idea, but the problem is that it far exceeds the actual capabilities of the Russian army. Not only does the coalition have better weapons and equipment than the Russian army, but it also has higher morale than the Russian army. More importantly, its military strength is not inferior.
Tell me, old eunuch, why can you win such a battle?
But Kornilov is completely different now. He judged the situation carefully and knew that the few troops he had on hand were simply not enough to defeat or even destroy the enemy. The only thing he could rely on was solid defense.
Therefore, he attached great importance to the construction of fortifications and trenches from the beginning. Not only did he build a dense spider web-like trench system in the city of Sevastopol, but he also built a solid defense line based on bastions and forts at dangerous and key geographical points outside the city.
When the British and French forces arrived at the foot of Inkelmann Mountain and looked up at the hill, what they saw was a defense system as prickly as a hedgehog.
On Inkelman Mountain, in addition to the bastions and forts built on Cannonball Hill and Home Ridge on the top of the mountain, a smaller bastion was also built on Victoria Ridge, which was connected to the bastion on Home Ridge across Victoria Ditch.
Together with the fort, they blocked the road leading to the city of Sevastopol under the Victoria Ravine.
If the coalition forces want to rush to the city of Sevastopol from here, they will first be hit by crossfire from the Russian army, and they will really be torn off a layer of their skin!
In addition, Kornilov also deployed enough men and horses on the Sabon Highlands. It would be impossible to threaten the Russian bastions and forts on the ridge of his hometown from this direction without paying a heavy price.
Kornilov's defensive configuration completely covers all the dangerous places outside the city. Unless the coalition forces have no intention of coming to Sevastopol, they will definitely encounter a bloody encounter!
Looking at the coalition forces, after arriving at the foot of Inkelman Mountain, Raglan and a group of generals glanced at the small hill with binoculars and were all dizzy!
Damn it! Who is this to say that Nancheng's defense is weak?
If all this is called weak defense, then what is complete defense? If the south of the city is equipped with this level of defense, then the north of the city must not be built into a fortress group by the Russians!
Anyway, after seeing this kind of defense configuration, the coalition generals' hearts went cold. They were originally planning to march straight into Sevastopol in one go, thinking that the Russians would be in chaos when they suddenly descended on them, and they would not fight if they didn't.
Return.
But what they saw in front of them told them that it was impossible to capture Sevastopol at the expense of a few hundred people. With this level of defense, at least tens of thousands of people would have to be filled in. The coalition firepower must be strong enough to do this.
This is only possible if you are well prepared to tackle tough challenges.
Otherwise, it will be a replica of the Battle of Telegraph Hill. No matter how many troops they have, they will not be able to fill this chasm, okay!
So on the one hand, the coalition forces contacted Istanbul and Bulgaria, requesting more troops and more heavy artillery, and on the other hand, they also began to prepare for the siege.
Burgoying, the commander-in-chief of the British Army Engineers, shared the same view as the French. If you want to destroy the enemy's fortress, you must use heavy artillery. However, the coalition's heavy artillery is really not enough. You can only ask for it from the navy.
It can be imagined that the distance from Balaclava Port to the foot of Inkelman Mountain is already very far, and the road traffic conditions are not good. The most important thing is that the heavy artillery is naturally very heavy and must be dismantled before transportation.
This whole process of going back and forth lasted ten days and a half, and it was impossible to get through. So the coalition forces could only station their troops at the foot of Inkelmann Mountain, and look at the Russian troops on the mountain from afar.
However, compared with the Russian army on the mountain, the life of the coalition forces at the foot of the mountain is not easy. On the one hand, the reason is that supplies are tight and it is a bit difficult to have a full meal. After all, the Balaclava port is too small and the material throughput is too limited.
Many soldiers of the coalition forces did not even have tents, and all their tents and bedding were abandoned at the landing site at Kalamita Bay. At this time, the navy was busy dismantling heavy artillery and had no time to help them transport tents and other soft goods.
Not only is food and housing a problem, drinking water is also a big problem for the coalition forces. If you want to have a clean water source, you either have a well or you have to be close to a river.
As mentioned before, the wells were either poisoned or filled up by the Russian army, and a few wells could not meet the needs of 40,000 to 50,000 people.
As for being close to the water source, to the north of the coalition forces is the Chornaya River. But the problem is that if they want to get water, they must bypass the high ground of Inkelman Mountain where the Russian army is stationed. And Kornilov has already made arrangements for this.
More than 3,000 Cossack light cavalry were deliberately deployed along the river.
They cooperated with the Russian artillery on the sandbag fort to firmly block the river bank, so that the coalition forces who wanted to get water had to stay away from the line of Inkelmann Mountain, otherwise the cavalry on the riverside would rush over to harass them, and the forts on the mountain would shell fiercely.
This forced the coalition forces to run to the upper reaches of the Chornaya River several kilometers away to fetch water, and the round trip was tiring enough.
At this time, the weather was relatively hot and muggy, causing widespread heatstroke among the coalition forces. Heat stroke, coupled with the cholera that had been plaguing the coalition forces, almost killed most of the coalition forces' lives, and there was no way they could conquer Inkelman Mountain in one go.