Battle of Plevna
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| date | July 20 to December 10, 1877 |
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| place | Pleven , now Bulgaria |
| output | Russian victory |
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| Commander | |
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Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolajewitsch |
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Zimnicea - Nikopol - 1st Shipka Pass - Elena - 2nd Shipka Pass - Pleven - Lovech - 3rd Shipka Pass - Kızıl Tepe - Alaja - Gorni-Dubnik - Kars - Tashkesen - 4th Shipka Pass - Plovdiv
The Battle of Plevna (Pleven) from July 20 to December 10, 1877 included a decisive siege and several battles in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 . The Russian troops tried three times (July 20, July 30 and September 11, 1877) to storm the city and suffered heavy losses. Russian and from August 1877 Romanian troops had surrounded the fortress for several months. The Ottoman commander Osman Pasha enjoyed great esteem among his compatriots for his successful resistance and stopped half the Russian army on their advance for four months. The Russian Tsar Alexander II himself was present at the fighting and the fall of the city on December 10th.
prehistory
After the Russian invasion of the Balkans, Osman Nuri Pasha, the Turkish commander of the Vidin fortress , received orders to lead his strong garrison to Nikopoli on July 13th . On the way back, however, he was attacked by the Russians and turned with his army to Plevna, which he considered a suitable position for defense and to start a counterattack. On July 17th, Osman's troops had entered Plevna and immediately began work on fortifications on the north and east sides of the city, where the Russians were expected to approach. A first attack on Plewna by the Russian 5th Division under General Schildner-Schuldner on July 20, 1877 was repulsed by Osman Pascha. At that time the Turks had not set up any redoubts , but their armament was very modern at the time.
The second battle opened on July 30th after the Russian IX. Army Corps under General Nikolai von Krüdener had arrived completely to deal with parts of the XI. Army Corps under Lieutenant General Schachowskoi had united and the attack troops had increased to over 36,000 men with 176 cannons. The 31st Infantry Division under Lieutenant General Weljaminow should include the Turkish position between Bukowlek and Griwitzki right to the east, the 16th Infantry Division under Skobelev attacked from the south and Schachowskis troops tried to put in the southeast at Radischewo. All of these attacks were thrown back by around 23,000 Turkish defenders. The second Russian attack ended in disaster - 168 officers and 7,167 men were killed and wounded, while the Turks lost no more than 1,200 men.
On September 1, the Russian generals Alexander Imeretinski , Skobelew and Vladimir Dobrowolski united their troops with around 27,000 soldiers for the battle of Lovech . Osman Pasha moved out of Plevna on September 3 with 20 battalions to strengthen the garrison in Lovech , but he only reached the city after it fell to the Russians and had to retreat to Plevna. Osman Pascha let the opportunity for an effective counterattack slip by, although he had been reinforced by Hifzy Pascha with 12,000 men.
The Third Battle on September 11th and 12th
On September 4, after being reinforced by Immertinsiki's troops, the Russian Western Army counted 107 battalions with 82,000 men, 61 squadrons and 30th Cossack Sotnias with 11,000 horsemen and 444 guns, of which the Romanians provided 42nd battalions, 32 squadrons and 120 guns. This power was opposed to a Turkish army with around 43,000 men and 58 guns in the fortification of Plevna . The bombardment began on September 6th. The third battle of Plevna began after four days of bombardment of the Turkish lines on September 11th. The Romanians under General Cernat were to take action against the Griwitza Redoute and Krüdener's corps against the Radisewo section. The IV Army Corps under Lieutenant General Zotow was to be deployed between the Galitz Redoute and the Tutschenitza Gorge . Prince Immertinsky and General Skobelew, supported by the cavalry brigade under General Leontjew, had to attack the Krschin front with the 16th and 30th Infantry Divisions. The sector between the Kartushaven Gorge and the right bank of the Vid was assigned to Lieutenant General Katalei's 3rd Guard Division . The positions between Biwolar and the right bank of the Vid were entrusted to the two divisions of General Ganetzki's grenadier corps . On the Turkish side, after the wounded generals Emin Pascha, Rifaat and Sabri Pascha, the defense in the western section of the Tutschenitza Gorge was assigned to Colonel Riza Bey. Tahir-Pascha, Osman's chief of staff, was entrusted with the organization of the western section of the fortress, where Colonel Baghlar Baschi was in command. The tsar watched the attacks of his troops from a hill near the village of Grivitsa (Гривица). The Russians achieved the greatest concentration of troops in the center. Here, however, they erroneously began the attacks at 10 a.m. instead of 3 p.m. as agreed, because in the fog they thought the Turkish troops were being attacked. Because of the premature attack, the Russian troops in the center were unsuccessful and had to withdraw again.
General Michail Dmitrijewitsch Skobelew commanded the left wing and captured several entrenchments with great losses, but lost them again the following day. The Russians had broken through the Turkish defenses and, with the two Russian regiments from Vladimir and Suzdal, split the Turkish troops in half. The third attack of the day began at 3 p.m. and was deliberately placed on the name day of Alexander II in order to dedicate the victory to him. The attack was carried out from the center and from both wings. The attack on the right wing was supported by Romanian troops and took place against the most strongly fortified Turkish positions. However, this attack ended with heavy losses of around 5,000 dead and wounded. Despite the numerical superiority, the Russian and Romanian troops failed to take the city, which continued to prevent the Russian troops from strategically developing. The total Russian-Romanian losses during the fighting between September 7th and 12th off Plevna amounted to about 350 officers and 15,200 men; those of the Turkish defense were given at 3,000 to 4,000 men.
After the third battle, Osman Pasha and his troops would have had the opportunity to retreat, but the Sultan's orders forbade him to give up Plevna. Osman Pascha was one of the first to rely on redoubts and trenches . He no longer relied on active actions in the defense of Pleven, as his troops, which were not adequately supplied, were to remain intact for a successful defense.
The siege
Since the Russians could not take the strong fortress of Pleven by storm until September 17th, they decided to siege the city, which was not completely enclosed until October 6th. General Totleben was entrusted with the overall management of the siege work in front of Pleven. The troops of General Josif Gurko received the order to interrupt the rear connections of the Turkish army under Osman Pasha standing at Pleven and to complete its enclosure. On October 24th, General Gurko won the battle of Gorni-Dubnik over Turkish reinforcements . On November 2, the Russian Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich called on the Turks in Plevna to surrender, but on November 12, Osman Pasha rejected this request.
Ammunition and food for the Turkish defenders became scarce. On the night of December 9th (November 28th) 1877, the Ottomans tried to break through the siege ring, but failed. The attempt to break out killed 6,000 Turks and Osman Pasha was wounded in the leg. Shortly afterwards the besieged Ottomans surrendered. Totleben said modestly: "I did not defeat the Ottoman, but hunger."
After a five-month siege, the 34,000-strong Turkish army of Nuri Pascha Osman had to surrender to the Russian army at Pleven on December 10, 1877 . Of the Turkish prisoners, only 10,000 later returned home. The Russians lost a total of about 30,000 men in the fighting for Plevna.
Conclusion and consequences
On December 12th, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich, Prince Carol and General Skobelev entered Plevna at the head of their troops. The capture of the fortress and the destruction of the Ottoman elite troops of the Pleven garrison were decisive for the outcome of the war. After attending the fall of Plevna, Tsar Alexander II returned to Saint Petersburg on December 15, 1877, where he was received with great jubilation on the 22nd.
The initially successful and effective war tactics of Osman Pasha caused a sensation and was henceforth studied and taught at European military schools.
The Romanian steel crown , also called the Plevna crown, was created from the steel of a cannon captured by the Ottomans near Pleven . In the Bulgarian national consciousness, the battle at the Shipka Pass is anchored even more deeply, but militarily it is by orders of magnitude less important than the battle for Pleven.
A large panorama picture is also dedicated to the Battle of Pleven, the size of which corresponds to the Peasant War panorama of Bad Frankenhausen .
literature
- Anton Springer: The Russo-Turkish War 1877-1878 in Europe , published by Karl Konegen, Vienna 1892
- Rupert Furneaux: The Siege of Plevna. 1958
- Francis Vinton Greene: Russian Campaigns In Turkey 1877-78. New York 1879
- Frederik William von Herbert: The Defense of Plevna 1877. London 1911
- Henry Montague Hozier: The Russo-Turkish War. ISBN 9785518965386
- Gustav Schroeder : The fortified camp in front of Plevna and the Russian-Romanian. Attack of the same from 19.6. until December 10th, 1877. 1878
- Thilo von Trotha: Tactical Studies On The Battles Around Plevna. 1896
Individual evidence
- ↑ Brockhaus-Lexikon, Leipzig 1886, Volume 13, p. 944
- ↑ The Battle of Pleven. Radio Bulgaria, December 13, 2007 ( Memento of January 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ).