The Crescent of the Sultan

When the news of the defeat of Perc's army and the death of his commander was sent back to Schonbrunn Palace, Joseph II was rarely silent.

If Frederick's defeat can be covered up by the huge disparity in the strength of the enemy and our own, then the defeat of the Prince of Coburg is simply unavoidable. Thirty thousand people fought against 25,000 people, and the coach died on the battlefield. This is not good for Austria's prestige. A serious blow.

You must know that Joseph II was not only the Archduke of Austria, but also the Holy Roman Emperor.

Defeat was not only a military threat to him, but also a political challenge.

Germany was already severely divided, with more than 300 states spread over less than a million square kilometers of land. Prussia liked to fan the flames from behind, and its reforms in the Austrian Netherlands were not very effective. Smoothly, these require military defense.

In view of this, it was impossible for Joseph II to send more troops to the Balkans. Moreover, the Ottomans did not seem to be as weak as Catherine said, although the Russians' record far exceeded that of Austria.

In June 1788, Austria negotiated a separate peace with the Ottoman Empire. The two parties agreed to an armistice and kept the original borders unchanged.

When Austria withdrew from the war, King Gustav III of Sweden took advantage of the fact that the main force of the Russian army was deep in the Russian-Turkish battlefield and used the Anyara conspiracy as an excuse to declare war on Russia.

The situation on the entire battlefield seemed to have been completely reversed.

On the southern battlefield, Potemkin's troops were alone in the depths. On the northern battlefield, it was easy for the Swedes to take over Russian Finland. The only thing they could count on was to use the Svatar Fortress to stop the Swedes.

Faced with Gustav III's robbery, Catherine publicly declared: "Gustav must "prove his remorse", unconditionally pardon all traitors, and agree to abide by peace under the guarantee of Congress. Only then will she "Forgive" him for this "disgusting aggression." "

However, the performance of the Russian army was seriously not worthy of Yekaterina's confidence. Since April, the entire Izmail Fortress has been besieged for nearly a hundred days. The Russian army took countless lives, but it has never been able to conquer it. .

The closest to victory was the general offensive in early June. Potemkin brought in nearly 150 cannons and blasted the Izmail Fortress, and the entire outer perimeter of the northern wall of the fortress was blown open.

Seeing the opportunity in front of him, Potemkin immediately devoted all his troops and attacked the northern city wall with all his strength. Muhammad Ali, who was guarding the Izmail Fortress, quickly led the reserve team to support.

The Russian charges were blocked again and again, and the Ottoman army rushed to build new fortifications until Potemkin received the news that the Austrians had withdrawn from the war. He knew that it was impossible to capture the Izmail Fortress.

On June 19, 1788, Potemkin began to retreat. At Rumyantsev's suggestion, he divided his army into three columns and two lines used as front rearguard.

During the march, in order to relieve the pressure on soldiers and logistical supplies, Potemkin launched a grass-cutting operation.

Although the walls had been cleared and the country had been cleared, there were still a large number of Romanians living outside the city. They became the targets of Russian plunder, and the entire northern Romania was almost a white land.

When the Russian army had just arrived in Pokhrad, news of the fall of Komlac had already arrived, and the Ottoman army was still advancing towards Bilgorod, and Ottoman rangers also appeared in the direction of Kahur and Galati. This means that it is not only the supply lines that are threatened, but may even cause the annihilation of one's own army.

Northern Romania was in the heat of June, but Potemkin felt a chill in his heart. When did he step into the little lieutenant's trap without even realizing it?

From Odessa to Izmail, he did not make a wrong decision, and every battle with the Ottoman army was real.

The only thing I have to say is that compared to the past, he advanced too fast this time. It seemed so easy from the expulsion of the Ottoman army from the territory to the siege of Izmail. He thought this was the further decline of the Ottoman Empire, but unexpectedly it was a trap by the enemy. Potemkin looked at the starry night sky and sighed deeply.

"Potemkin, have you decided on the direction of retreat?" The person who came was none other than Rumyantsev. He was not as sarcastic as Potemkin imagined, but asked anxiously about the situation, which made Potemkin feel a little relieved. some relief.

"We still have troops left behind in Odessa and Chisinau. I have ordered them to reinforce Birgorod and try to hold on until we withdraw."

"I have an idea, Potemkin, that lieutenant who defeated the Austrians in Sibiu a few days ago cannot possibly arrive so quickly. The Ottoman troops currently deployed in this area are just his pawns to delay us. . We have an army of 60,000, and we can definitely eat them."

"What do you mean?" Potemkin's tone became a little urgent. If he could deal a devastating blow to the Ottoman army, he could still win victory for His Majesty.

"We will set out from now on, discard all the cannons, leaving only a small number of howitzers, quickly penetrate into the Anko area, eat the Ottoman army in Kahur, and then go north along the river to jump out of the Ottoman encirclement."

"That's it, Rumyantsev." Potemkin nodded.

After three days of rapid march, the Russian army successfully arrived in the Anko area. The Ottoman army in the Kahur area was not aware of such a large-scale movement. It can only be said that Yusuf Pasha was really not suitable for fighting.

After a short rest, Potemkin led the Russian army to attack the Ottoman army.

"Anton Love, you lead two cavalry brigades to detour behind the Turks and be ready to charge at any time."

"Prigav, let your horizontal column quickly engage the enemy and suppress the Ottoman army. Repnin, expand the column into a horizontal column and prepare to shoot while moving."

"Kadijie, deploy artillery positions and bombard the enemy's rear."

The Russian army quickly completed its deployment and launched the attack. The sudden attack threw the Ottoman army into chaos. The commander who stayed here, Ahmed Pasha, hurriedly got up from the bed, pushed away the Romanian woman he had just snatched, put on his pants and walked out.

"You idiots are doing something..." Before Ahmed Pasha could finish his words, a cannonball hit next to him. Pasha screamed, mounted his horse and ran away.

A small number of Ottoman soldiers who saw their coach running away also started to play death racing. The vast majority of soldiers did not have this luck. The chaotic formation and poor command allowed the Russian army to easily defeat the Ottoman army.

By sunset, the battle was over. Sixty thousand Russian troops attacked 20,000 Ottoman troops. The Russian troops won a great victory, wiping out 7,000 enemy soldiers and taking 5,000 prisoners. As for Ahmed Pasha, he ran all the way to Galati and stopped there. Since he neither gave an order to retreat nor pointed out the direction of escape for his soldiers, when he gathered his troops, the Pasha was surprised. He was found to have two thousand men with him.

When Cahul fell, the news that the encirclement had been breached reached Napoleon, who was marching. A rare flash of anger flashed across his brown eyes, and he ordered: "The whole army speeds up, target Cahul."

There are probably a few chapters left in the Russo-Turkish War. After writing the difficult military description, it’s time to start farming. Book club: 866261215. You can add it. It’s wrong in the introduction.