Just as Nicholas I was following Gorchakov's orders to prepare for a decisive battle in the Crimean Peninsula, Menshikov in the Crimean Peninsula was supervising on a high ground on the Alma River.
A defensive position built by his Russian Imperial soldiers.
As for why Prince Menshikov built a defensive position near the Alma River, this matter can be traced back to more than a week ago.
At that time, Prince Menshikov was sitting leisurely at the headquarters of the Sevastopol Fortress, waiting for news from the Caucasus (Prince Menshikov also served as the governor of the Caucasus), but what was waiting for him was his Cossacks.
The cavalry regiment reported to him that the British and French forces had landed near Kalamita Bay.
After receiving the news, Menshikov was first surprised by the landing of the British and French forces. In Menshikov's opinion, the best strategy was for the British and French forces to continue heading north. Why did they come to the Crimean Peninsula?
The wise saying is to take care of things as they come. Seeing that it was impossible to get the coalition forces to leave the Crimean Peninsula, Menshikov had no choice but to ask the head of the Cossack Cavalry Regiment how many British and French troops there were.
"They have set up many tents near Kalamita Bay, and you can't see the end of it! There must be at least 70,000 to 80,000 people!" the head of the Cossack Cavalry Regiment thought of Menshikov in not very fluent Russian.
Reporting.
"You can't see the end at a glance? 70,000 to 80,000?" Menshikov muttered to himself. He thought that he only had more than 50,000 troops (for the Sevastopol Fortress) and suddenly felt a burst of pressure.
With only more than 53,000 men under his command, Menshikov had no possibility of attacking.
In order to prevent the British and French forces from continuing to advance southward (Kalamita Bay is located south of the Sevastopol Fortress), Prince Menshikov summoned his staff to ask their opinions.
After two days of intense discussions, it was decided to deploy defensive positions on the Alma River.
The reason is that the terrain on the south bank of the Alma River is higher than the terrain on the north bank of the Alma River. The Russian Empire only needs to destroy the bridge leading to the south bank of the Alma River at the appropriate time. If the coalition forces want to come over, they must first swim through the Alma River.
Ma River, and then carry out climbing operations, and finally reach the high ground on the south bank of the Aar River.
While the coalition troops were swimming and climbing, the Russian Imperial Army could easily kill the coalition troops.
Of course, Prince Menshikov himself also knew that it was a blessing to be able to hold on to the defensive position with the troops he had, and the counterattack would have to be left to the arrival of reinforcements.
Therefore, Menshikov wrote another letter asking for help to Nicholas I. The letter exaggerated (Menshikov believed) the number of British and French coalition forces (140,000), and also clarified that he was determined to fight with the fortress to the death.
The determination to live and die together.
Although the letter did not directly seek assistance from Nicholas I, every sentence revealed Nicholas I's intention to ask for help.
After writing the letter, Menshikov handed the letter to one of his adjutants and ordered him to deliver it to Nicholas I. In order to prevent the letter from being intercepted, Menshikov also specifically asked the adjutant to divert to the Caucasus, and then from
Caucasus Return to St. Petersburg.
The adjutant who received the letter quickly drove his horse away from the Sevastopol Fortress, and then Menshikov called in his two naval vice-admirals Kornilov and Nasimov.
Prince Menshikov asked Kornilov and Nasimov how they should resist the British and French fleet if it sailed into the Sevastopol Fortress.
"Your Majesty the Governor, the best solution now is to sink the ship!" Lieutenant General Kornilov immediately responded to Menshikov.
"Shipwreck?" Menshikov glanced at Kornilov in confusion and asked, "Did we sink the ship, or did Britain and France sink the ship?"
"Of course we are the ones who sunk the ship!" Lieutenant General Kornilov replied to Prince Menshikov: "We can sink all the ships docked at the port into the entrance of the fortress. In this case, the British and French fleets will be helpless.
Come in!"
Prince Menshikov nodded with satisfaction. Lieutenant General Kornilov's method is indeed an effective method for the current Russian Empire.
Just do what he said, Prince Menshikov immediately ordered Kornilov and Nassimov: All ships anchored in the port of Sevastopol Fortress, except warships, were to be sunk.
As soon as Prince Menshikov's order was issued, Kornilov and Nasimov immediately took action and requisitioned all civilian ships and troop transport ships docked at the Sevastopol Fortress, and then sank them all to the Fortress.
Entrance to Vastopol Fortress.
The port of Sevastopol Fortress was barely blocked, and the relieved Prince Menshikov was able to continue to send additional troops to the Alma Heights.
Only 10,000 people were left in the Sevastopol Fortress to protect the fortress. The remaining 43,000 people were all concentrated on the Alma Heights to build fortifications.
He ignored the farce and only sent a small number of Cossack cavalry to survey the specific number of British and French forces in Kalamita Bay. During this period, the Cossack cavalry also had a brief confrontation with the British light cavalry.
After several days of deployment, the Alma Highlands have initially formed an effective defensive position.
As for the British and French coalition forces, Menshikov roughly figured out their total number of 90,000 to 100,000 people.
Gu Qi
Of course, this is without counting the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire.
After all, in the eyes of Prince Menshikov, the offensive capabilities of the Ottoman Empire should be said to be at a negative level, and the Kingdom of Sardinia is probably at the same level as the Ottoman Empire.
These two teams are already very good if they do not bring down the average level of England and France.
Although the British and French coalition forces are now three times his size, Menshikov is still confident that he can wait for reinforcements to arrive during the British and French coalition's offensive.
In order to defend the last barrier of the Sevastopol Fortress, Menshikov also deliberately dismantled some of the heavy artillery deployed in the Sevastopol Fortress and placed them on the commanding heights upstream of the Alma Heights.
However, Menshikov did not have any arrangements on the cliff facing the sea. Menshikov believed that this area is very steep and no one should climb up here.
Nearly a hundred artillery pieces and naval guns were placed at various commanding heights under the command of Menshikov. After everything was ready, Menshikov, who had unprecedented confidence, decided to send a small force to carry out a small attack on the British and French forces.
A large-scale probing attack, the Cossack Cavalry Regiment and Menshikov's 17th Division (full strength of 10,000 men, actual strength of 6,000 men) became the main force of the probing attack.
The coalition forces that had been staying in Katami Bay also began to break camp and move southward after receiving food from Yevpatoria.
A huge team started to set off in a mighty manner. The army on the far right side of the team, close to the sea, was the French Empire's army, consisting of three divisions (the First Division, the Second Division, and the Guards Division) and two regiments (the Zuave Regiment).
The troops lined up nearly 7 kilometers in length and began to advance.
The armies standing on the left side of the French army are the Sardinian Army, the Ottoman Army and the British Army, which means that the French Imperial Army is at the innermost of the coalition forces, while the British Army is at the outermost of the coalition forces.
By the way, the initiator of the formation was not Marshal Saint-Arnaud, but Commander Raglan. The reason why Commander Raglan did this was to restore the bad consequences they left for the friendly forces when they landed.
impression.
The Kingdom of Britain, which is a mighty maritime overlord, would actually pull its hips in such a way during land landing operations, which is simply astonishing.
On the sea not far from the land, supply ships and medical ships from Britain and France are following the coalition forces. They will provide the most favorable support for the coalition forces.
In addition to the above, there is an equally large supply convoy behind the dense queue, which provides the most timely support for the coalition forces.
Of course, most of these supplies were "borrowed" by the coalition forces from nearby Tatar farms.
Among the four logistics supply convoys, the French Empire is still the one with the best order among all the convoys. The one with the worst order is not the Ottoman Empire, which is famous for its plunder, but the British Kingdom, which is famous for its wealth.
In addition to food such as bread and fruit wine, there were also living things such as sheep, goats, and oxen in the supply convoys of the British Kingdom. These were also things that the British soldiers kindly broke into the farm owner's house and borrowed them.
It was precisely because the British Kingdom held a huge flock of sheep that the entire coalition force was dragged down by the British Kingdom and had to move forward slowly. Coupled with the chaos of the British Kingdom's own logistics management system, this also led to
The British logistics department could not effectively restrain the animals it collected. From time to time, cattle and sheep escaped from the control of the British logistics department and ran into the Ottoman Empire's supply convoy without authorization, causing the Ottoman Empire's supply convoy to fall into chaos.
The team had to stop and wait for the reorganization to be completed before moving on.
The procession moved on and off, and soon passed from morning to noon.
At noon, with the scorching sun shrouding the sky, the marching teams of Sardinia, Ottoman, and Britain began to break up, and some thirsty soldiers gradually began to fall behind.
As for the French Empire, the thirsty soldier skillfully took off the water bag hanging from his waist, took a sip of boiled water, then re-covered the water bag and continued moving forward.
When the time gradually approached one o'clock, the weather became even hotter, and most British soldiers could not bear the hot weather (British military uniforms were still thickened, and the stubborn Commander Raglan did not follow Marshal St. Arnaud's instructions.
I will change the military uniforms on you into summer clothes.) The pace gradually slowed down.
Commander Raglan, who was sweating profusely, also found Marshal Saint-Arnaud and suggested that he take a rest.
"Commander Raglan, you should change your military uniforms to a different style. I think the young men in your army are almost fainting from the heat! Look at you now..." St. Arnaud on the horse
The marshal dissuaded Commander Raglan earnestly.
Commander Raglan glanced at the Duke of Cambridge, who was also sweating beside him. He nodded and said to Saint Arnaud: "I will make this request to London! However, the most important thing now is rest!"
Marshal Saint-Arnaud squinted his eyes and looked up at the scorching sun in the sky, then pointed ahead and said to Commander Raglan: "Commander Raglan, walk one kilometer further and you will reach the Bulgarnac River! We will