With the death of Raglan, the new round of siege of Sevastopol by the coalition forces can only come to an end. The coalition forces have proved one thing with 20,000 living lives-there is absolutely no way to capture Sevastopol.
so easy.
Since there was nothing they could do against the strong Russian fortifications, the only thing the Allied forces could do was to continue digging ditches and trenches to besiege Sevastopol. At most, they could shell out more at intervals.
To be honest, this is very monotonous and tiring. It is simply endless torture for the coalition soldiers!
For example, General Bosquet's adjutant and the son of French Marshal de Castellane wrote to his father: "My dear father, I feel that all my letters should begin with the same sentence - that is
There is no new progress! In other words, we continue to dig trenches and organize forts. We drink around the campfire every night, and two companies of soldiers are sent to the hospital every day..."
The exhausted soldiers of both armies generally felt that the siege would last forever. They were frustrated and eager to end the war as soon as possible, so all kinds of strange ideas came to mind.
For example, Prince Urusov, a good friend of the great writer Tolstoy, was a chess master. He personally tried to persuade Kornilov to decide where the most fiercely contested trench between the two sides should belong through a game of chess.
One side.
After being rebuffed, it was Tolstoy's turn, who suggested that the outcome of the war should simply be decided by a duel, and whoever wins would be the winner.
Kornilov would definitely not agree to these ridiculous suggestions, but the reason why these strange suggestions came out clearly shows that both warring parties are really exhausted.
Compared with the Russian army, the morale of the coalition forces was even lower, because they found that even though the Russian army was hit by devastating and continuous artillery fire, it was still constantly repairing new fortifications and even making existing fortifications stronger.
Obviously this will be more difficult to conquer, so on the one hand, the coalition soldiers are worried that they will be thrown out as cannon fodder by the generals, and on the other hand, they are also worried that this war will not end in a short time, and they may have to cross the border in Sevastopol.
It’s the second winter.
Almost every soldier wrote to his family about how much he missed home and wanted to go home. Even mid-level officers began to say to their families: "I have made up my mind to go home no matter what. I cannot and will not go home again."
Endure one winter. I know if I live another winter here, within a year I will become a useless, feeble old man. I would rather be a living donkey than a dead lion!"
Soldiers began to generally envy their comrades who had been injured and lost legs or arms in previous battles. According to a British officer: "Many people will be happy to lose an arm. As long as they can get out of here, it doesn't matter if they lose a leg or an arm."
!”
It's just that the reality is disappointing. The coalition soldiers have no way to go home and can only be immersed in despair and depression. As a result, many people began to doubt this war, and began to hate and question this war.
French army chaplain Andre Damas said that a soldier of the Zouave Division had strong doubts about the war because when they arrived in Crimea, their superiors told them that they were fighting barbarians and protecting the weak and just.
Act of.
But during the process of cleaning up dead and wounded soldiers on June 18, he helped a seriously injured Russian officer. Out of gratitude, the officer took a leather pendant from his neck and gave it to him, with an embossed stamp on it.
With the image of the Madonna and Child.
"This war must end," he told Father Damas. "This is a coward's war. We are all Christians. We all believe in God. No religion will not make us so brave. But why should we fight against each other?"
Fighting to the death, shall we decide whether we will live or die?"
To be honest, this soldier of the Zouave Division is in relatively good condition. He only doubts the necessity of war. Compared with those suffering from trench fatigue, his doubts will not have bad consequences.
The former was much more troublesome! When the siege battle never ended in sight, the soldiers were exhausted and suffered a mental breakdown due to lack of sleep after living under continuous bombardment for a long time.
Many people described in detail the "trench madness" scenes in their memoirs. For example, a group of battle-hardened Zhuav soldiers suddenly jumped up in the middle of the night, grabbed their weapons and began hysterically calling for support, fighting against an enemy that did not exist.
At first, such incidents still happened occasionally, but as time went by, they became more and more common and contagious!
And most of these symptoms first appeared in the bravest and strongest soldiers. Many officers recalled that inexplicably some of the most experienced and brave soldiers suddenly went crazy, or jumped up and down like a psycho.
Either rush directly to the Russian army and raise your hands to surrender, or even the most extreme ones will take their own lives with their own hands!
Many veterans seemed to be fine. One moment they were drinking, playing cards and chatting with their comrades in the tent, but suddenly they said they had had enough, picked up their guns and went out and shot them in the head.
The place where the morale of the coalition forces is the lowest and most collapsed is the field hospital. The huge number of casualties has created a large number of wounded soldiers. Most of them are bloody and missing arms and legs, groaning in pain day after day. How can you feel good living in such an environment?
Can you get up?
Perhaps the only good news for the coalition forces is that there is no arbitrary monarch who does not care about the actual situation. When Nicholas I realized that Sevastopol would not be captured for a while, his restless heart
Becoming active again.
He gave Kornilov an order, hoping that Kornilov would organize a final offensive to break through the coalition's front. In his opinion, as long as it succeeded, it could shake the will of the coalition and strive for an honorable end to the war for Russia.
.
Kornilov was naturally not so confused. He wrote back to Nicholas I: "It is extremely foolish to attack an enemy who has a numerical advantage and has solid fortifications. Doing so is tantamount to suicide!"
But Nicholas I was by no means a master who listened to others. He insisted that the Sevastopol garrison must do something. He urgently needed a hearty victory, so he once again forcefully ordered Kornilov to do something.
The reason for attacking was that he believed that the coalition forces were still increasing their troops, and if nothing was done, they would really only be passively beaten in the future.
He even threatened Kornilov that if he did not attack quickly, he would not send new reinforcements to Sevastopol on the grounds that: "Otherwise, all the reinforcements I sent you will be like in the past
Fall into the bottomless pit of Sevastopol like that!"