On December 6, 1761, Kohlberg was taken. It is a fortress and port on the Baltic Sea coast. During the Seven Years War, it was twice unsuccessfully besieged by Russian troops: in 1758 and in 1760 together with the Swedes. In 1761, the corps under the command of Peter Alexandrovich Rumyantsev, as a result of the third, four-month long siege, the fortress was finally taken. We decided to tell you about the five most impregnable fortresses that were taken by Russian troops. {Jcomments on}
The capture of the Kolberg fortress
The Kolberg fortress, as mentioned above, was taken by Russian troops on December 16, 1761. This was the third attempt that turned out to be successful. In the two previous assaults, Russian soldiers had failed.
The capture of the Kolberg fortress
The first attempt at mastering Kohlberg was made shortly after Zorndorf. General Palmbach with a 10-thousandth corps laid siege to the fortress on October 1, 1758, and was able to reach the moat, capturing a covered path. Rafts were made to force the ditch, but repeated attempts to take the fortress by storm failed, despite the reinforcements received from the main army. The siege was lifted after 13 days. The second attempt was led by General Demidov, who had a corps of 15,000 at his disposal. At the same time, a squadron of 27 ships of the line and frigates, 17 smaller ships and transport ships, as well as nine Swedish ships of the line bombarded the city from the sea. At the same time, a three-thousandth landing force landed for the assault on Kolberg from land. To help the besieged, Frederick II sent General Werner's 6,000th corps. At the news of the approach of the Prussians, the besiegers were confused: some of them escaped on ships that immediately sailed, some fled by land. The Prussians got 600 prisoners, as well as six abandoned guns, seven mortars, supplies of provisions and ammunition. In honor of this event, commemorative medals were minted in Prussia.
On August 24, 1761, General Rumyantsev's corps, consisting of 24 infantry battalions, two dragoon and two hussar regiments, as well as thousands of Cossacks (about 15 thousand people in total) took a position south of Kohlberg. On September 7, a united Russian-Swedish fleet of 24 battleships arrived at Kohlberg. On September 11, siege weapons arrived. On September 18, Rumyantsev stormed two separate fortifications, one of which, on the seashore, was taken, the second, which passed from hand to hand several times, remained with the Prussians, costing the Russians more than a thousand people killed. Somewhat later, Rumyantsev sent a detachment to disrupt the communication between Kohlberg and Stettin, where significant Prussian stores were located. Thus, it was possible to completely cut off the connection between Kohlberg and Stettin, making it impossible to deliver food,ammunition and reinforcements for the defenders of the fortress. At that time, the Prince of Württemberg helped defend the fortress. Hunger and lack of ammunition forced him to leave the defenders of the fortress. On November 11, the prince's corps, leaving the camp, tried to enter the rear of the Russian troops near the walls of the fortress. This attempt was thwarted by Rumyantsev, who divided his forces into two corps: siege and observation. The latter inflicted a defeat on the troops of the Duke of Württemberg on November 12. This victory finally decided Kohlberg's fate. The garrison defended itself for some time, but on December 16 it was forced to surrender, having depleted food supplies. This attempt was thwarted by Rumyantsev, who divided his forces into two corps: siege and observation. The latter inflicted a defeat on the troops of the Duke of Württemberg on November 12. This victory finally decided Kohlberg's fate. The garrison defended itself for some time, but on December 16 it was forced to surrender, having depleted food supplies. This attempt was thwarted by Rumyantsev, who divided his forces into two corps: siege and observation. The latter inflicted a defeat on the troops of the Duke of Württemberg on November 12. This victory finally decided Kohlberg's fate. The garrison defended itself for some time, but on December 16 it was forced to surrender, having depleted food supplies.
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The capture of the fortress Noteburg
The Swedish fortress Noteburg was taken by Russian troops in the fall of 1702 during the Northern War. This was done in order to conquer the outlet to the Baltic Sea.
A. E. Kotzebue. The assault on the Noteburg fortress on October 11, 1702 (1846)
Initially, Peter I planned to “get Oreshek (that was the name of the ancient Russian fortress on the site of the Swedish Noteburg) on ice” in the winter of 1702. Later (due to the unpreparedness of the operation, as well as the onset of the thaw), he postponed the siege to the autumn of the same year. The siege was prepared by Peter I carefully and in great secrecy. Peter spent the summer of 1702 in Arkhangelsk, as if in anticipation of an alleged attack by the Swedes. He took his son Alexei to Arkhangelsk, a large retinue, and from there he conducted active diplomatic correspondence. The enemy should never have assumed that the target of the 1702 campaign was Noteburg. In the course of secret machinations, siege troops were transferred to Noteburg.
On the morning of September 26, 1702, the advance detachment of the Preobrazhensky regiment, numbering 400 people, approached the fortress and began a firefight. Even before dark they were joined by two guard battalions. On September 27, the entire siege army arrived at Noteburg. In total, the besiegers had 12.5 thousand soldiers directly at the fortress and over 20 thousand on the close approaches to it, 51 siege weapons, not counting a large number of field artillery and ship cannons from ships that entered Lake Ladoga. The Russians dragged 50 ships from Lake Ladoga to the Neva and took a fortification on the other side of the Neva. The Swedes' attempt to recapture it was unsuccessful. On October 12, a bombardment was launched, which partially damaged the walls of the fortress. However, by October 22, almost all siege weapons were out of order due to the poor training of the gunners. By order of Peter I, the Russians went to the assault,without breaking through full-fledged breaches. The bloody assault on October 22 lasted for 13 hours at intervals. And the Swedes were defeated in this battle. Peter gave the Swedish garrison the most honorable conditions, they could freely join their troops stationed in Narva. The same freedom - to go wherever they want or to stay - was given to the entire population.
The capture of the Vyborg fortress
The siege of Vyborg is one of the events of the Great Northern War. During the numerous Russian-Swedish wars, Vyborg was the main bridgehead for the Swedish troops, and then the forward base from which the Swedes threatened the newly founded St. Petersburg. In an effort to secure it, the 13,000-strong Russian army surrounded the Swedish fortress of Vyborg. After the arrival of reinforcements from St. Petersburg and a large number of siege artillery, the Swedish garrison of Vyborg began to negotiate surrender and on June 9, 1710 surrendered the city.
Back in the 1470s, the entire city was surrounded by a stone fortress wall with nine towers and two bastions, an earthen rampart and a moat filled with water. Novgorod princes and Russian tsars, including Ivan the Terrible, repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, tried to take this fortress. Peter I also failed here in 1706, but this did not break his resolve, and immediately after the Poltava victory, he again turns his eyes to Vyborg.
Plan of Vyborg fortifications, 18th century
In the severe frost on March 16, a 13,000-strong army with cavalry, cannons and a wagon train set out from Kotlin Island on an exceptionally difficult 130-kilometer campaign. Six days later, the Russian army approached Vyborg, quickly cleared the entire territory in front of the fortress and began siege work. It was necessary to dig trenches, install siege weapons, equip housing. Severe frosts and stony, frozen ground, as well as constant shelling from fortress guns made this work dangerous and extremely difficult. In addition, stocks of ammunition and food were rapidly melting. Peter I knew about the plight of the army. He gathered a flotilla of 270 ships, loaded them with provisions, ammunition, and new troops. The Neva in 1710 was opened on April 28, and the whole flotilla immediately set off. I had to hurryas the Swedish fleet was preparing to go to Vyborg to help the garrison of the fortress. Peter I himself led the ships through ice jams. In a small ship, he walked ahead of the flotilla, showing the way to the others. Several ships were severely damaged by impacts on the ice and returned. The rest stubbornly continued on their way, constantly risking being covered with ice or ending up at the shore occupied by the enemy. This grueling and extremely dangerous voyage lasted for about 10 days. On the evening of May 8, the flotilla approached Vyborg. But there was another serious obstacle ahead - the fairway leading to the fortress was being shot through by the Swedish coastal batteries. Knowing that the Swedes were also waiting for their squadron, Peter I ordered all our cargo ships to raise the Swedish flags, and the sailors to change their clothes so that they looked like the Swedes. For greater persuasiveness, our ships even fired blank charges at Russian coastal batteries. This trick was completely successful. The Swedes rejoiced at the arrival of reinforcements for a long time, and when they discovered their mistake, they opened hurricane fire with cannonballs and buckshot, but it was too late. Not a single Russian ship was damaged.
Our troops were reinforced with fresh formations, received heavy artillery for the siege of the fortress, a lot of ammunition and food. Having familiarized himself with the course of siege work, Peter I personally drew up a plan for the assault on the fortress, providing for close cooperation between the army and the navy, land and sea artillery. The Russian command created a fortified position near Transund of bombarding ships and coastal batteries, and old ships were sunk in the fairway. The Swedish squadron, having arrived at the Vyborg Bay on May 16, did not dare to attack the Russian fortifications and left. The fortress was blocked from land and sea. This undermined the morale of the defenders of Vyborg. Intensive work began on May 14 to complete all preparatory activities. Trenching was completed, and siege batteries of 98 guns and 26 mortars were installed. By May 28, preparations for the assault were completed. Everything was ready for a decisive assault, which was scheduled for June 9th. However, the assault was not required. The commandant began negotiations for surrender and handed the keys to the fortress to the winners.
The capture of the Bendery fortress
In July - September 1770, the 33,000th Second Russian Army under the command of Count Pyotr Ivanovich Panin besieged the Bendery fortress, which was defended by an 18,000th Turkish garrison. The Don Cossack regiment took part in the siege, in the ranks of which the future leader of the Cossack-peasant uprising Emelyan Pugachev fought. On the night of September 15-16, 1770, after a two-month siege, the Russian army began an assault on the fortress. Those who climbed the rampart first were promised a reward: officers - a rank in one step, and soldiers 100 rubles each. The attack began with an explosion of "glob de compression" (literally, "squeezed ball") weighing 400 pounds of gunpowder. The fortress was taken after a heavy and bloody hand-to-hand combat, and inside the fortress, battles were fought for almost every house. The Turks killed 5 thousand people, 2 thousand were taken prisoner, 2 thousand fled. During the attack, the Russians lost more than one fifth of the entire army (over 6 thousand people). The storming of Bender became the bloodiest battle for Russia in the war of 1768-1774.
View of the fortress in 1790
Capturing the fortress of Izmail
The storming of Izmail - the storming of the Turkish fortress after the siege in 1790 by Russian troops under the command of Alexander Suvorov during the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791. This fortress was considered impregnable at that time. While examining the fortress, the commander concluded that it had no weak points. As he later admitted, "it was possible to decide to storm such a fortress only once in a lifetime." Realizing the complexity of the assault, Suvorov gave the order for careful preparation for the attack. For six days, the troops were trained to storm the models of the high fortress walls of Ishmael. Near Izmail, in the area of the present village of Safyany, in the shortest possible time, earthen and wooden analogs of the ditch and walls of Izmail were built - the soldiers trained to throw a moat with a fascinator, quickly put up ladders, after climbing the wall, they quickly chopped and chopped the scarecrows installed there,imitating defenders. Suvorov inspected the exercises and was generally satisfied: his proven troops did everything right.
Suvorov planned to start the assault at five o'clock in the morning on December 22 in a new style, about two hours before dawn. Darkness was needed for the surprise of the first blow and the capture of the shaft; then, fighting in the dark was unprofitable, since it was difficult to control the troops. Anticipating stubborn resistance, Suvorov wanted to have at his disposal as much daylight hours as possible. The assault began, and in the coming daylight it became clear that the rampart had been taken, the enemy had been driven out of the fortress tops and was retreating into the inner part of the city. Russian columns from different sides moved towards the city center. A new battle began. Especially fierce resistance lasted until 11 am. Several thousand horses, leaping from the burning stables, raced through the streets in fury and increased the confusion. Almost every house had to be taken with a fight. To support the infantry and ensure success, Suvorov ordered 20 light guns to be brought into the city to clear the streets of the Turks with grapeshot. At one o'clock in the afternoon, in essence, the victory was won.
However, the fight was not over yet. The enemy tried to attack individual Russian detachments or settled in strong buildings like citadels. At two o'clock in the afternoon, all the columns entered the city center. By 16 o'clock the last defenders were killed, some of the exhausted and wounded Turks surrendered. The noise of the battle ceased, Ishmael fell. The losses of the Turks were enormous - they amounted to 29 thousand people killed. The losses of the Russian army amounted to 4 thousand people killed and 6 thousand wounded.
Natalia Grebneva