Struggle in Russia

Just when Nicholas I fell ill, the coalition was making the final offensive preparations. Yes, Pelissier once again persuaded the British to give Sevastopol a fatal blow.

At this time, the trenches of the French army had gradually reached the position of the deer village in front of the Nicholas Bastion. The French army paid a heavy price for this, and the cumulative casualties reached 3,000!

At this time, they were only the last 20 meters away from the trench in front of the Nicholas Bastion, and the Russian soldiers could hear the voices of the French soldiers.

On the other hand, although the British had more rocks at the front of the position, they also made great efforts to approach the Vorontsov Bastion, and finally dug to a position 200 meters in front of the bastion trench.

Standing on the parapet of Vorontsov's bastion, the Russians could clearly see the faces of the British soldiers, and even if the British nodded slightly, the Russian riflemen could easily hit them in the head.

Such a close distance certainly gave the coalition an opportunity to attack the Russian fortress, but it also gave the Russian army a good opportunity to smear their faces. Almost every day, the coalition had to pay 250 to 300 lives in the trenches on the front lines.

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 attack, but they have to launch a general attack!

Under such circumstances, the British government finally agreed to the request of General James Simpson, who had just succeeded Raglan as the commander of the British army, and agreed to launch a general offensive with the French army.

The coalition forces set the date of the attack on September 8. Unlike the previous attack on June 18, the coalition infantry finally had sufficient artillery preparations before the charge.

Since September 5, the coalition forces have been shelling the Russian defense lines, and about 50,000 shells can be fired every day. Moreover, because the coalition fronts are advancing as a whole, the position of the artillery is further forward, and the heavy artillery fires close to the Russian army. The fortress is more damaged.

Under the continuous and violent bombardment of the coalition forces, not only the surface buildings of Nikolai Bastion and Vorontsov Bastion were devastated, but the city of Sevastopol was also bombarded so that no intact houses 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 there was no intention of surrendering or giving up their positions. pen fun library

Thors

Tai recalled: "The first day the enemy shelling was more intense and could cause us hundreds of casualties every day, but their shelling could never destroy our morale, on the contrary! Even if we were guarding a building that had already Half-destroyed Sevastopol, basically a ghost town with no significance other than the name, but we were prepared to fight to the last man, we moved the supplies from the warehouse to the north bank, in the street Barricades have been erected, ready to turn every bombed house into an armed fortress!"

Kornilov was also convinced that the coalition was about to launch a general offensive, and the continuous artillery bombardment had made him sure of this, but he thought that the day of the general offensive would be 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 a third of the French army.

Kornilov believed that the French would choose this day to take revenge, and he was well prepared for this. It's just that the coalition did not launch an attack that day, which somewhat disappointed the Russian army and relaxed its vigilance.

At 5:00 a.m. on September 8, the coalition artillery began again, and the frequency of shelling reached an astonishing 600 rounds per minute, which continued until 10:00 a.m. before it suddenly stopped.

But what puzzled Kornilov was that the coalition infantry did not charge immediately, which was completely different from their previous habit.

At this time, the observation post in Sevastopol reported that the Allied navy had moved, and they believed that the enemy navy might also be involved in the general offensive.

The Russian observation post was not mistaken. According to Pelissier’s plan, the navy of the coalition forces would indeed participate in this general offensive. They would be responsible for shelling the coastline of Sevastopol and attract the attention of the Russian army.

However, this shelling operation was temporarily abandoned because the weather suddenly changed on September 8, and a strong northwesterly wind blew. The huge wind and waves forced the Allied Navy to abandon the operation.

It's just that even if the coalition navy joins the artillery bombardment as originally planned, it probably won't involve much of the Russian army's attention. Because Kornilov knew very well that the main channel of the port of Sevastopol was covered with mines, and the coalition fleet could not approach at all, so their shelling only harassed

effect.

He knew that only the ground troops could really threaten Sevastopol, so he stared at every move of the coalition ground troops, and he even ordered the troops to change the previous arrangement of changing the guards and let the guard troops complete the changing of the guards ahead of time.

It has to be said that Kornilov's adjustment is too crucial, because the reason why Pelissier suddenly stopped the shelling at ten o'clock, and then did not immediately rush into the troops to charge, was to confuse the Russian army.

Pelissier was preparing to launch a surprise attack when the Russian army changed the guard at twelve o'clock, and crushed the Russian army in one fell swoop!

To this end, he invested ten and a half divisions, five and a half divisions attacked the Nicholas Bastion, and the other five attacked the other Bastions and the city walls. The French army participated in the attack up to 35,000 troops.

And learning from the lessons of the last Mairan, the first-level commanders of all the divisions of the French army checked the table in advance and sent the general attack signal to their respective units on time.

At 12:00 noon~www.NovelMTL.com~ the French army drummers began to beat the drums, the bugle had also sounded, and the military band began to play "Marseilles", with a burst of "Long live the emperor"

Shouting, the infantry division commanded by General McMahon about nine thousand men rushed out of the trench, followed by the rest of the French infantry.

Led by Zhuav's division, they rushed towards the Nicholas Bastion, using planks and ladders to descend to the trenches. It's just that the confident French were soon hit in the head! pen fun library

The defenders of Nikolai Bastion, who had postponed the changing of the guard according to Kornilov's order, had already made preparations. All of a sudden, the guns fired in unison, and bullets and shells rained down on the French, letting Zhuav, who was on the front line, rush to the front line. Teachers suffered heavy losses. They lost more than a thousand people in just five minutes.

It's just that the French army was numerous and powerful, and the sufficient offensive force allowed them to ignore these losses. They rushed to the Nicholas Bastion frantically, almost filling the trenches in front of the Bastion with their own bodies!

The British suffered almost the same, except that their attack distance was farther, and their troops were not as large as the French, so the price paid was naturally heavier.

It's just that no matter how many losses, the coalition forces have no intention of retreating at all. They attacked the Nikolai Bastion and the Vorontsov Bastion frantically one after another, and the two Bastions were in danger and could fall at any time. possible……