Siege of Taganrog

Siege of Taganrog

Part of: Crimean War

date	June 3 to November 24, 1855
place	Taganrog , Russian Empire , in the Sea of ​​Azov
output	strategic victory of the allies

Parties to the conflict
Russia	France United Kingdom
Commander
Yegor Tolstoy Ivan Krasnov Yevgeny Pfeilizer-Frank	Edmund Lyons Armand Joseph Bruat Béral ​​de Sedaiges
Troop strength
3,200 men 3 warships: Унылая ( Trüb ), Секстант ( sextant ) and Акерманъ ( Akkerman ) 2 barges as a floating battery 3 armed barges	2 gunboats ( Recruit and Danube ), 12 armed barges and one armed raft ( Lady Nancy ) One gunboat ( Mouette ) and 4 barges
losses
470 dead and injured, including civilians All three warships	One wounded 3 prisoners 1 gunboat captured and destroyed

The Siege of Taganrog is the name used in some Russian historiographical works for a series of Anglo-French naval operations in the northeast Sea of ​​Azov between June and October 1855. During the Crimean War , the British and French put into practice their strategy of destroying the supply lines for the main Russian army that ran through the Sea of ​​Azov. Taganrog was one of the main reloading points of the Russian army and was attacked and destroyed as a military depot on June 3, 1855. This happened as part of a series of attacks on all Russian supply stations with the exception of Rostov-on-Don , which was inaccessible to the warships because of the surrounding shallows.

foreplay

As the Crimean War entered its third year in the spring of 1855, the British and French decided to begin their operations in the Sea of ​​Azov. In doing so, they were guided by the idea that in this way the Crimea could be separated from Russia more quickly and the Russian supply lines via sea to the ports on the Taman peninsula could be interrupted earlier. This strategy required occupying the Kerch Strait , which was tackled in a coordinated attack by Anglo-French soldiers and warships.

Taganrog at the far northeast end of the Sea of ​​Azov was envisaged as a potential target for the attack. Taganrog lies on a headland that protrudes slightly into the Sea of ​​Azov and formed an excellent base of operations for the British and French for operations against Rostov-on-Don. The capture of Rostov-on-Don would have allowed the Allies to threaten the rear of the Russian armed forces.

The plans were drawn up and the British and the French provided 16,000 ground troops and around 40 smaller warships for the "Azov campaign". Meanwhile, the governor-general of Taganrog Nikolai Adlererg had been replaced by Yegor Tolstoy , an aging but agile general who had already served in the Russian army in the battles against the Turks . Tolstoy took up his command in Taganrog in April 1854 at the side of Ivan Krasnow , the commander of the local Don Cossacks , and brought his troops into position. He had the three Sotnias (corresponds to company strength) 180 Моршанская дружина (Morshansk entourage) , 184 Спасская (Spasskaya) and 188 Борисоглебская (Borisoglebskaya) as well as a garrison of about 630 men at his disposal. A 250-man “house guard” unit was recruited from the local civilian population. Taganrog, however, lacked any form of modern defensive structure or significant artillery.

Lineup

The Allied force that first attacked Taganrog on June 3, 1855, consisted of the following ships:

• HMS Recruit (Lieutenant George Fiott Day , with Captain EM Lyons and his staff): paddle-wheel gunboat with 6 guns
• HMS Danube (Lieutenant RP Cator): nominally unarmed paddle-wheel barge that had been upgraded to a gunboat and was towing Lady Nancy into position
• Mouette (Captaine du Corvette Lallemand): Aviso with 2 cannons
• 1. Launch of the Royal Albert (Lieutenant JD Curtis): Each launch was equipped with a 24-pound single-boat howitzer and a launcher
• 2nd launch from HMS Royal Albert (Lieutenant TMS Pasley)
• 1st launch from HMS Hannibal (Mr. AF Hurt, helmsman)
• 2nd launch from HMS Hannibal (Lieutenant JH Crang)
• 1st launch from HMS Algiers (Mr. JC Wilson, First Mate)
• 2nd launch from HMS Algiers (Lieutenant FGC Paget)
• 1st launch from HMS Agamemnon (Lieutenant TL Gaussen)
• 2nd launch from HMS Agamemnon (Lieutenant TJ Young)
• 1st launch from HMS St. Jean d'Acre (Lieutenant EW Turnour)
• 2nd launch from HMS St. Jean d'Acre (Lieutenant TJ Young)
• 1st launch from HMS Princess Royal (Lieutenant John Murray)
• 2nd launch from HMS Princess Royal (Lieutenant WHJones)
• four similarly equipped French launches
• Lady Nancy : a raft fitted with a 32 pounder on deck
• Gig landed by Lieutenant Cecil Buckley and Boatswain Henry Cooper

The HMS Sulina (unarmed barge under Mr. CH Williams, First Mate ) and the HMS Medina (unarmed steam mail ship under Lieutenant Commander HB Beresford) towed the launchers in front of the city with the Danube , but did not approach Taganrog. Likewise, the French Aviso Dauphin , who also dragged the devices into position, but stayed away from the city. The light troops were divided into two groups; one under the command of Commander Coles was to bomb the depot, and a second under Lieutenant JFC Mackenzie, Royal Marine Artillery, landed and covered Buckley and Cooper.

Actions against Taganrog

Destruction of the depot

On May 24, 1855, the British and French began their operations in the Sea of ​​Azov. They landed troops on both sides of the Kerch Strait, quickly capturing the cities of Kerch and Jenikal . As a result of these operations, naval forces destroyed the Russian coastal batteries in the Bay of Kamishevaya and invaded the Sea of ​​Azov.

On the evening of June 1, 1855, the Anglo-French squadron consisting of five paddle steamers and 16 armed barges, which had been parked by the main Allied fleet in Sevastopol, went under the joint command of Captain Edmund Lyons (the son of Rear Admiral Edmund Lyons ) and Capitaine Béral ​​de Sedaiges anchored 8.5 miles off Taganrog in 18 feet of water. On June 2nd, the HMS Recruit was sent ahead to scout Taganrog and explore the shallows in front of the city. On June 3, the recruit returned to the city and, under the parliamentary flag, called for the military depot to be surrendered for destruction, the withdrawal of local forces from within a five-mile radius of the city and the evacuation of the civilian population. The British paddle steamer Danube , the French Aviso Mouette , and many of the smaller launches of ships operating elsewhere were accompanied by the recruit .

The ultimatum was of Tolstoy's Plenipotentiary for important missions Baron Ewgeni Pfeilizer Frank of the former governor, nephew Otto Hermann von Pfeilitzer-Franck , and the poet Nikolai Fedorovich Schcherbina who covered the event on 21 June 1855 in the Moskovskiye Vedomosti reported answers, . After an hour of negotiations, Pfeilizer-Frank returned to the ambassadors with Tolstoy's reply, in which the demands were rejected. As a result, the Recruit took down the white flag and opened fire on the city. The Danube and the Mouette that were towing the Lady Nancy advanced along with the armed launches and joined the bombardment. A gig then landed Lieutenant Cecil Buckley and boatswain Henry Cooper, who set fire to the military buildings and camps in Genitschi in the same way as before on May 29th. The Lady Nancy raft and some of the launches provided cover for the raid squad. Both seamen received the Victoria Cross for this mission and because of his seniority and the alphabetical priority of his name, Buckley was the first to be awarded the Victoria Cross. The entire storage facilities for grain, wood and tar, as well as all the ships in the port (including the Russian gunboat Akkerman and other warships under construction) and ships to be repaired, as well as the customs houses and government buildings, went up in flames.

Tolstoy claimed in his official report that the Allies had landed a larger force at the Old Stone Steps (Каменная лестница) and the Greek Church in the center of Taganrog. The subsequent shelling was allegedly repulsed by the Cossacks and the volunteer corps.

The Allies suffered only one loss during the entire operation. Royal Marine Artillery gunner C. Evans was wounded when he was hit in the face by a musket ball while manning the howitzer on the Princess Royal's launch. The Russian losses were considerably higher. In addition to the loss of human life, the Akkerman gunboat in the port and a four-month supply for the main Russian army in Sevastopol were destroyed.

The Allied squadron had reached their destination and moved on. They attacked Mariupol on June 5th and Gheisk on June 6th with similar devastating effects. Until mid-June, every single coastal town in the Sea of ​​Azov was exposed to the attacks in order to destroy the supplies and thus withdraw them from the main Russian army.

Ongoing operations

Bombardment of Taganrog on June 3, 1855

After the destruction of their supply bases in the Sea of ​​Azov, the Russians relocated another 14 Sotnias (squadrons) Don Cossacks to the region in order to protect the various other coastal cities. This increased the number of Cossack Sotnias in this area to a total of 16. Attempts were made to fortify Taganrog and other strategically important points. In Taganrog this work mainly consisted of the filling of an artillery position from earth. On July 19, Commander Sherard Osborn led a reconnaissance mission aboard HMS Jasper, observing the construction of the artillery battery. Captain Lyons had since been replaced as commander, having died on June 17th in the siege of Sevastopol . The Jasper fired two grenades at the battery but caused no reaction and so withdrew. The Jasper was soon to become the only loss of Allied warships when she ran aground on July 23 on the Krivaya Spit near the present-day Ukrainian city of Sjedowe , 15 miles west of Taganrog. At this point she had just destroyed a Russian fortress and taken the captured cannons on board as a prize. So she had a lot more depth than usual and ran aground. Other sources report that local fishermen removed various buoys that marked the depth of the water, driving the British ship into coastal waters. After a day of unsuccessful attempts to bring water under the keel again, during which the ship was exposed to fire from a division of Cossacks, the crew was taken on board the HMS Swallow and the Jasper abandoned and sunk. Don Cossacks subsequently boarded the wreck and captured the two 24-pound howitzers, 60 shells from the magazine and some trophies such as the ship's flag. The cannons were sent to Taganrog Cathedral, which served as a military base for the Russian army, and from there to Cherkassk , where they were permanently mounted on the coastal batteries. Some sources claim the Cossacks blew up the shipwreck afterwards. Five years later, Lieutenant George Lydiard Sulivan, the commander of the HMS Fancy , dived to the wreck of the Jasper , recovered her 68-pound cannon and placed an explosive charge to completely destroy the wreck, despite the destruction of the magazine and the fire by the HMS Swallow was still in a usable condition.

On August 5, 1855, Osborn arrived off Taganrog to destroy the newly built battery with the HMS Vesuvius , the HMS Grinder and the HMS Wrangler . The squadron drove away the garrison troops by means of sustained fire, thus covering a landing force that took control of the battery guns, took some as prizes and pierced the rest and sank them into the sea. The British then blew up the battery position before retreating. A few days later, the Taganrog garrison was reinforced by the 4,000-strong reserve brigade of the 15th Infantry Division under Major General Leyna (Лейна), adding to the already large number of Cossacks who were already bound to defend the city. In early September, the squadron of HMS Recruit , HMS Curlew and HMS Fancy survived a storm unharmed as they prepared to attack a Russian detachment consisting of two gunboats and 16 barges converted into floating batteries in the mouth of the Don. However, as they approached the site on September 13, they found that the storm had dispersed the Russian defenders. A small crew of three Wrangler crews attempting to destroy some fishing boats on a small lake was caught and ambushed by Cossacks near Mariupol. The patrols lasted until October and the last patrol of the year scouted Taganrog on November 20, but found not a single ship in port. On November 24, Osborn withdrew his remaining ships from the Sea of ​​Azov to protect them from the freezing sea and to let them hibernate in a warmer climate.

Aftermath

Russian troops left Taganrog on June 21, 1856 and life in the city began to normalize after that. The Crimean War had cost the city more than a million rubles, and the local infrastructure had been seriously damaged. Twenty mansions were completely destroyed and 74 others were damaged to varying degrees. 189 other structures, mainly granaries and warehouses, had burned down and 44 were damaged. Tsar Alexander II therefore exempted the citizens of Taganrog from any tax payments for the year 1857. 163 soldiers from Taganrog were awarded medals or orders of merit for their services in defense during the siege.

The aim of the Allies was to "keep the coastal region in a constant state of alert and their [the Russians] forces in constant motion" This produced the desired effect that the Russians thought an invasion possible, although the Allies had no intention of doing so. In any case, this state of constant fear of invasion permeated Russian historiography, particularly in the Soviet era, to the point where it contradicts Western historiography. The illustration described above results from standard English works such as Kinglake.

Other Russian sources, penned by professional soldiers, agree with the Allied version of the events, for example the second edition of the Istoriya 3-go dragunskago Ingermanlandskago polka 1704-1904 by Genishta and Borissevich: “For their part, the enemy did not undertake any serious action Operations and holed up in Kerch, Jeniche and other places. In any case, the Allied squadron invaded the Sea of ​​Azov and for a whole year launched attacks on coastal cities: Berdyansk, Arabat, Genischesk, Taganrog, Mariupol, Anapa and others. The destruction of the camps combined with looting and barbaric attacks on the unarmed inhabitants formed the focus of the hostile ventures. "

photos

• 

  Ivan Varvakis ' estate , known as the House with Bullets since the building was filled with ammunition and cannonballs during the siege in 1855.

• 

  Monument to the defenders of Taganrog from 1855.

• 

  The Lady Nancy raft with the raid on June 3, 1855.

• 

  Russian engraving about the June 3rd bombing.

• 

  Another Russian engraving about the same event

• 

  Cannonball in the wall of St. Nicolas Church in Taganrog, which was probably fired on August 5, 1855 when the battery was destroyed.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} The Edinburgh Gazette , June 29, 1855
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} P. Filevski, Taganrog Encyclopedia , Moscow 1898
3. ↑ DK Brown, "Before the Ironclad", chapter "Gun boat operations and the Black Sea 1855"
4. ^ A. Lambert, "The Crimean War: British Grand Strategy against Russia, 1853-56", pages 247-250
5. ↑ JS Virtue: The Illustrated History of the War Against Russia . 2nd Edition. 1857, p. 345 (English, [1] ).
6. ^ "Destruction of Russian Stores at Taganrog", in: The Illustrated London News , July 14, 1855
7. ^ Coastguards of Yesteryear - Articles: The Attack on Taganrog June 1855 at www.coastguardsofyesteryear.org, accessed August 29, 2019.
8. ^ William Laird Clowes, Clements Robert Markham, Alfred Thayer Mahan and Herbert Wrigley Wilson: The royal navy, a history from the earliest times to present . S. Low, Marston, Co., London 1855.
9. ↑ Report by Commander Sherard Osborn dated June 21, 1855, reprinted in "British Battles of the Crimean War 1854-6", Pen and Sword 2014
10. ↑ ^{a b} B. Perrett "Gunboat !: Small Ships At War", Chapter 1
11. ^ ^{A b} The New York Times , August 30, 1855
12. ^ ^{A b} The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld .: 1846--1861), Saturday December 15, 1855, p. 2
13. ^ ^{A b} David T. Blackmore: Warfare on the Mediterranean in the Age of Sail: A History, 1571-1866 . McFarland, 2011, ISBN 0-7864-5784-8 , pp. 324 .
14. ^ ^{A b} Charles Duke Yonge: The History of the British Navy: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time . 3. Edition. R. Bentley, 1866, p. 346-47 .
15. ↑ “ There in the cathedral we saw the flag of Her Majesty's Gunboat Jasper, which was lost nearby in the 1855 war. ", Edward Howard Seymour: My Naval Career and Travels . Smith, Elder & Company, 1911, pp. 267 .
16. ↑ ^{a b} The identity of the ships emerges from P. Dukkers, "The Crimean War at Sea", Pen and Sword 2011, in particular from Chapter 8 "Scouring the Sea of ​​Azoff, Summer 1855"
17. ↑ Full text of "The Victoria cross, an official chronicle of the deeds of personal valor achieved during the ..."
18. ^ Arthur William Alsager Pollock: The United Service Magazine
19. ↑ John Martin Grehan Mace: British Battles of the Crimean Wars 1854-1856: Despatches from the Front, Pen and Sword, January 22, 2014
20. ↑ Alexander William Kinglake: The Invasion of the Crimea: Its Origin and an Account of Its Progress Down to the Death of Lord Raglan , Cambridge University Press, December 9, 2010
21. ↑ THE GRAND DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR'S HUSSAR REGIMENT IN THE CRIMEAN WAR

literature

Additional sources according to the tsarist interpretation:

• "Оборона Таганрога и его окрестностей" (Defense of Taganrog Area) by Ivan Krasnov, St. Petersburg, 1862
• "История Таганрога" (Taganrog Encyclopedia) by (Pawel Filewski), Moscow, 1898

Coordinates: 47 ° 12 ′ 15 ″  N , 38 ° 56 ′ 32 ″  E