Chapter 817 General Attack (1)

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 voices of the French soldiers.

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 fortress, but it also gave the Russian army a good opportunity to fool them in the face. Almost every day, the coalition forces had to pay between 250 and 300 lives in the frontline trenches.

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 destroyed even more.

Under the continuous and violent bombardment of the coalition forces, not only the surface buildings of Nikolay Bastion and Vorontsov Bastion suffered devastating blows, but the city of Sevastopol was also bombarded to the point where not a single intact house could be found.

The entire 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. pinterest

Thors

Tai recalled: "The enemy's bombardment became more fierce every day, causing us hundreds of casualties every day, but their bombardment could never destroy our morale. On the contrary! Even if we were guarding a building that had already Half-destroyed, Sevastopol was basically a ghost town with no significance beyond its name, but we were still prepared to fight to the last man. We moved the supplies from the warehouse to the north shore, in the streets. Roadblocks have been erected on top, 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 had convinced him of this, but he thought the day of the general attack 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 seek revenge, and he made adequate preparations for this. However, the coalition forces did not launch an attack on that day, which somewhat disappointed the Russian army and relaxed its vigilance.

At five o'clock in the morning on September 8, the coalition 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 had taken action. They believed that the enemy's navy might also participate in the general offensive.

The Russian observation post was not mistaken. According to Pelissier's plan, the coalition navy will indeed participate in this general attack. They will 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.

It's just that even if the coalition navy joins the bombardment according to the original plan, it probably won't draw much of the Russian army's attention. Because Kornilov knew very well that the main channel of Sevastopol Port was full of mines and the coalition fleet could not get close at all, so their bombardment only served to harass

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 forces. He even ordered the troops to change the previous guard change arrangement and let the security forces complete the guard change in advance.

I have to say that Kornilov's adjustment was really critical, because the reason why Pelissier suddenly stopped the artillery bombardment at ten o'clock and then did not immediately put the troops into 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 lesson from Mailan last time, all the first-level commanders of the French army adjusted their watches in advance and sent out general attack signals to their respective units on time.

At twelve o'clock at noon, uu read a book; the French drummers began to beat the drums, the bugles had also sounded, and the military band began to play "La Marseillaise", followed by a burst of "Long live the Emperor!"

Shouting, about 9,000 men of the infantry division commanded by General McMahon rushed out of the trenches together, followed by the rest of the French infantry.

Under the leadership of Zhuov's division, they rushed towards the Nicholas Bastion and used planks and ladders to descend into the trenches. It's just that the confident French were quickly hit in the head! pinterest

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. They lost more than a thousand people in just five minutes.

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 not much different, 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. possible……