Eight hundred and seventeenth chapter general attack (a)
Just when Nicholas I fell ill, the coalition forces were making final preparations for the attack. Yes, Pelissier once again convinced the British and prepared to give Sevastopol a fatal blow.
At this time, the French army's trenches had gradually dug into the Luzhai position in front of the Nicholas Bastion. The French army paid a heavy price for this, with the cumulative casualties reaching 3,000 people!
At this time, they were only the last twenty meters away from the trench in front of the city wall of Nicholas Bastion. To put it bluntly, the Russian soldiers could hear the French soldiers speaking.
On the other hand, although there were more rocks at the front of the British position, they also made great efforts to get closer to Vorontsov Bastion, and finally dug to a position two hundred meters in front of the trench of the bastion.
Standing on the parapet of Vorontsov Bastion, the Russian army could clearly see the faces of the British soldiers, and even as long as the British raised their heads slightly, the Russian riflemen could hit their heads effortlessly.
Such a close distance certainly gave the coalition forces an opportunity to attack the Russian fortresses, but it also gave the Russians a good opportunity to fool them in the face. Almost every day, the coalition forces had to spend 250 to 300 dollars in the trenches on the front line.
A life.
This number is so terrifying that even the coalition forces cannot bear it. In a sense, it is not that the coalition forces want to launch a general offensive, but that they have to launch a general offensive!
Under this situation, the British government finally agreed to the request of General James Simpson, who had just succeeded Raglan as commander-in-chief of the British army, and agreed to launch a general offensive with the French army.
The coalition set the date of the attack on September 8. Unlike the previous attack on June 18, this time the coalition infantry finally had sufficient artillery preparations before charging.
The coalition forces have been shelling the Russian defense line since September 5, and can fire about 50,000 artillery shells every day. And because the coalition's front line is advancing as a whole, the artillery position is also further forward, and the heavy artillery is approaching and firing at the Russian army.
The fortress was even more damaged.
Under the continuous and fierce bombardment of the coalition forces, not only the surface buildings of Nikolay Bastion and Vorontsov Bastion suffered devastating blows, but also the city of Sevastopol was bombarded to the point where not a single intact house could be found.
The whole city seemed to have just experienced an earthquake, but under Kornilov's deployment, the morale of the defenders was still good, and they had no intention of surrendering or giving up their positions.
Tolstoy recalled: "The enemy's bombardment became more fierce day by day, causing hundreds of casualties to us every day, but their bombardment could never destroy our morale. On the contrary! Even if we defended
It was a half-destroyed Sevastopol, basically a ghost town with no significance other than its name, but we were still prepared to fight to the last man, and we moved the supplies in the warehouse to the north shore.
, built barricades on the streets, preparing to turn every bombed house into an armed fortress!"
Kornilov was also convinced that the coalition forces were about to launch a general offensive. The continuous shelling made him convinced of this, but he thought the day of the general offensive was September 7, because that day was the anniversary of the Battle of Borodino.
On that day in 1812, the Russian army achieved a decisive victory over Napoleon, wiping out about one-third of the French army.
Kornilov believed that the French would choose this day to take revenge, and he made adequate preparations for this. However, the coalition did not launch an attack on that day, which somewhat disappointed the Russian army and made them somewhat relaxed.
At five o'clock in the morning on September 8, the coalition's bombardment began again. The frequency of the bombardment reached an astonishing 600 rounds per minute, and it continued until ten o'clock in the morning before suddenly stopping.
But what confused Kornilov was that the coalition infantry did not launch a charge immediately, which was completely different from their previous habits.
At this time, the observation post in Sevastopol reported that the coalition navy was moving, and they believed that the enemy's navy might also participate in this general attack.
The Russian observation post was not mistaken. According to Pelissier's plan, the coalition navy would indeed participate in this general offensive. They would be responsible for shelling the Sevastopol coastal defense line to draw the attention of the Russian army.
However, this shelling operation was temporarily abandoned because the weather suddenly changed on September 8, strong northwest winds blew, and huge waves forced the coalition navy to abandon the operation.
But even if the coalition navy joins the bombardment according to the original plan, it probably won't draw much attention from the Russian army. Because Kornilov knows very well that the main channel of Sevastopol Port is full of mines, and the coalition fleet cannot get close at all.
, so their shelling only has a harassing effect.
He knew that the only coalition forces that could truly threaten Sevastopol were ground troops, so he closely watched every move of the coalition ground troops. He even ordered the troops to change the previous guard change arrangement and let the security forces complete the guard change in advance.
It has to be said that Kornilov's adjustment was really crucial, because the reason why Pelissier suddenly stopped the artillery bombardment at ten o'clock and then did not immediately commit troops to charge was to confuse the Russian army.
Pelissier prepared to launch a surprise attack when the Russian army changed the guard at twelve o'clock, and defeated the Russian army in one fell swoop!
To this end, he invested a huge force of ten and a half divisions, of which five and a half divisions attacked the Nicholas Bastion, and the other five divisions attacked other bastions and city walls. The French army participated in the attack with as many as 35,000 troops.
Moreover, having learned the lessons from Mailan last time, all French division-level commanders set their watches in advance and sent out general attack signals to their respective units on time.
At twelve o'clock at noon, the French drummers began to beat the drums, the bugles had also sounded, and the military band began to play "La Marseillaise". With a burst of shouts of "Long live the Emperor", the infantry division commanded by General McMahon had about 9,000 people.
They broke out of the trench together, followed by the rest of the French infantry.
Under the leadership of Zouave's division, they rushed towards the Nicholas Bastion and used planks and ladders to descend into the trench. However, the confident French were quickly hit in the head!
The defenders of Nikolai Bastion, who postponed the changing of the guard according to Kornilov's order, had long been prepared. For a moment, guns and artillery fired, and bullets and shells hit the French like raindrops, leaving Zhuav who was rushing at the front line.
The division suffered heavy losses. In just five minutes, they lost more than a thousand men.
It's just that the French army was outnumbered after all, and their sufficient offensive strength allowed them to ignore these losses. They rushed forward and rushed towards the Nicolai Bastion crazily, almost filling the trench in front of the bastion with the corpses of their own people!
The British's experience was similar, except that their attack distance was farther and their troops were not as large as the French, so the price they paid was naturally more severe.
However, no matter how much the losses were, the coalition forces had no intention of retreating. They launched frantic attacks on the Nikolay Bastion and the Vorontsov Bastion one after another. For a time, the two bastions were in danger and could fall at any time.