"Ruined Pompeii is in good condition compared to Sebastopol"
Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad, 1867
The Crimean War of 1853- 1856 ended in 1856. I was born in 1956. I had never been to Sevastopol ( a Russian proper name), the "Venerable City", but that name became a symbol of that war, the unbelievable courage and defiance of its defenders and the utmost glorifying seal of the Russian territorial ownership of the Crimean Peninsula. It was after that war, that the Russian Royal Family started to build a set of summer palaces there. Mark Twain and a 'group of private American citizens' visited there the Russian Emperor Alexander II in 1867 and had a picnic with him and his family. According to Twain, they communicated in English. That was 11 years after the Crimean War ended. That is when united English, French, Turkish and later - Sardinian forces invaded the Crimea in a massive naval and ground expedition and after several battles with the Russian Army- besieged the Sevastopol for about a year. Come to think of it, it all started with the carefully concocted provocation: English and French diplomacy very skillfully pushed for the confrontation between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire purely for the political reasons: Napoleon III in France wanted to destroy the "Holy Union" of 1815 and the English were paranoid about 'Russia invading India'. The times when Russia was rightfully considered as the main savior of Europe from Napoleon's III uncle were ending. Thus after the Russian - Turkish war commenced and after the first Russian devastating naval and ground victories, the major European powers suddenly swiftly announced their support of the 'unique Turkish culture' against the Russian barbarians. The press of France and England opened an ugly anti - Russian campaign. French newspapers called for the 'crusade against the Russian Orthodox heresy". English popular commenters called the Russians 'Assyrians'. There was an interesting twist: there was a talk about 'sanctions' because 'Russians were interrupting the lucrative trade in the Black Sea'. Turned out, it was a slave trade: young women from Caucasus were traded on the Turkish harem markets. Russian navy intersected and freed those girls, which surely was bad for business. Despite the withdrawal of the Russian forces from the Danube district under the diplomatic pressure and the subsequent temporary occupation of those by the 'neutral' Austria, the main powers proclaimed war and sent an expedition.
It was a formidable force. English and French troops and the Navy were the best in the world. The artillery and rifles were excellent, the fleet had a lot of steamers, the supply was impeccable, the medical service was very advanced; officers and soldiers in both armies were hard core and experienced. They had the best commanders possible and the best high rank engineers and staff officers. I dare to state that those troops would be considered as formidable even now. On the other side, the Russian Army was badly and inadequately armed, the Navy had very small amount of steamers, the supplies were horrible and the medical service practically had to be rebuilt from the ground zero.
The Sevastopol siege, the battles of Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, Black River, the naval Allied expeditions to the Baltics, White Sea and the Pacific, the battle of Bomarzund on the Aland Islands, the Kamchatka battle-all took a horrible toll of casualties, both among the military and civilians. "Not all were killed by bullets, though," as the old song says. Cholera and gangrene, typhoid and dysentery, bad food and water, even the weather in the form of storms and freezing-all contributed to the demise. None of the supreme leaders of that battle survived either: Tzar Nicholas I died, Ivan Paskevich, the primary military commander of the Russian forces in the West- died, French Marechal Saint -Arneaut, the French Corps commander- died pretty soon after the invasion, English Commander Lord Bufort- Raglan- died during the campaign, Russian heroic defenders of Sevastopol- admirals Nachimov, Kornilov, Istomin- all perished in action. Colonel Totleben, the genius of the fortification -survived and wrote the first classical report on the defense. The worst casualties, obviously, were among the privates and field officers (unlike now, then they really had to lead their people into the attack). One Russian officer survived by a miracle-the artillery lieutenant, Count Leo Tolstoy. His 'Sevastopol Stories' became the primary classical piece of literature. It is worth also knowing that in his first address to the defenders of the city, admiral Kornilov addressed them as 'comrades'.
This is not about numbers. But out of the 18000 Russian sailors who defended the city on the ground, the so- called 'Nachimov Lions'- only 800 survived. Also, the infamous 'ride of the 600'- the stupid and disastrous cavalry charge of the English at Balaclava- resulted in total annihilation of the whole regiment in a matter of minutes. Lord Cardigan, the leader of the charge, survived and became later known for the 'cardigan vest'.
"We never insulted the dead,"- wrote the Russian poet Simonov at the Allied military cemetery near the Sevastopol in 1939. It is true that those cemeteries were honored and preserved; they are there still. The only time they were damaged was when Crimea was under the German occupation during the Holy War of 1941-1945. This presents a stark difference to practically overall elimination of all the Russian military cemeteries from the WWII in the Western and now- Eastern Europe and the absolute erasure of the memory of hundreds of thousands of the Russian POWs, who died from starvation and thirst under the most inhumane conditions. Russian poet, Tvardovsky wrote, 'They even could not hope to rest in holy peace.'
Every stone in Sevastopol is sacred. Every honorable Russian was 'born in Sevastopol.' I was born in Kiev. But my father, when he was a boy of 11, on June 22, 1941 woke up under the German bombardment in the children's summer camp in Yevpatoria, and that is very close to Sevastopol. He was the only survivor, just like Count Tolstoy. In fact, he was a survivor twice, because in Kharkov, to where he was evacuated, his father saw him by chance on the street. When Germans entered Kiev and all the Jews were killed, it was renamed to Kyiv. When Germans entered Kharkov and all the Jews were killed, it was renamed to Kharkiv. That's how they are named now in the Western media. And the 'Assyrians' nickname seem trivial when compared to all the abominate nicknames the Russians are called now.
My mother, then 10- years' old girl was under the machine- gun fire from the German fighter- plane on the refugee road and she saw the smirking face of the pilot. She survived. My little relative, whom I had never seen, Lisa L., a 12-years' old girl- was machine-gunned by the Ukrainian nationalists during the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto in Khmelnik, Ukraine, in 1943. My father in 1946 witnessed the public hanging on the Kiev main street of the most odious Ukrainian nationalists, the collaborators, those who killed children, boiled people alive, raped the little girls and machine- gunned civilians. Apparently, not all of them were there; some were already in the USA per the special operation, 'The Paperclip' and now their descendants are the darlings of the West. I am absolutely sure that not even one of the Allied soldiers from the times of the Crimean War would offer them a handshake; those warriors were truly honorable people. Now there is no honor among thieves.
Every honorable Russian- born, no matter where he or she lives, no matter what he or she does- has a sacred duty to dance the Sevastopol waltz, sing the Sevastopol songs, read the 'Sevastopol Stories', recite the Sevastopol poems, salute the Sevastopol heroes and kiss the Sevastopol stones. We honor those who died for us in 1854-1855, in 1905, in 1918, in !922, in 1941 and in 1943-44. 'Our dead will not leave us in trouble,'- sang the Russian bard Vysotsky. We remember. That's what it is, that's the historic sacred covenant, that's the standard we all follow; those who do not, may they burn in Hell. That's the truth, so help me God, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That's the national character. English and French in those times figured it out and expressed an admiration and respect. May they rest in peace.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
