Pindos and Russian soldiers quality fortitude. Soldier of the elite division of the United States about the Russians. “We hardly took any prisoners, because the Russians always fought to the last soldier. They didn't give up. Their hardening cannot be compared with ours ... "

An experienced American soldier during the banquet told the author frankly about the Russians and why they are so feared in the United States.
It so happened that I had a chance to participate in the same project with real Pindos. Nice guys, pros. For six months, while the project was underway, we managed to make friends. As expected, the successful completion of the project ends with a booze. And now our banquet is in full swing, I caught my tongue with a guy with whom we were discussing the same topic. Of course, we shared who is cooler, the first satellite, the lunar program, aircraft, weapons, etc.

And I asked my expected question:
- Tell me, American, why are you so afraid of us, you have been living in Russia for six months, you have seen everything yourself, there are no bears on the street and no one drives tanks?
- ABOUT! I'll explain it! The instructor sergeant explained this to us when I served in the US National Guard, this instructor went through many hot spots, he was twice in the hospital and twice because of the Russians. He told us all the time that Russia is the only and most terrible enemy.
The first time was in 1991, in Afghanistan it was the first business trip, a young, not yet shelled, he helped civilians when the Russians decided to destroy a mountain village.
- Wait! I interrupted. We were ALREADY not in the 87th in Afghanistan.
- We, too, were not YET in 91 in Afghanistan, but I see no reason not to believe him. Listen!

And I listened, in front of me was no longer a peaceful young engineer, but an American veteran.

“I provided security, the Russians were no longer in Afghanistan, the locals began to fight each other, our task was to organize the redeployment of a friendly partisan detachment to the area we controlled, everything went according to plan, but two Russian helicopters appeared in the sky, why and why I didn’t I know. After making a U-turn, they rebuilt and began to enter our positions. A volley of stingers, the Russians went over the ridge. I managed to take a position behind a large-caliber machine gun, waited, from behind the ridge Russian vehicles were supposed to appear, a good line at the side would do them good. And the Russian helicopter was not long in coming, it appeared, but not from behind the ridge, but from the bottom of the gorge and hovered 30 meters from me. I desperately pressed the trigger and saw how, striking sparks, bullets bounced off the glass.

I saw the Russian pilot smiling.

I woke up already at the base. Light concussion. I was later told that the pilot took pity on me, the Russians considered it a sign of skill, to get rid of the locals and leave the European alive, why I don't know, and I don't believe. Leaving an enemy capable of surprise in the rear is stupid, and the Russians are not stupid.
Then there were many different business trips, the next time I ran into the Russians in Kosovo,

It was a crowd of untrained bastards, with machine guns from the Vietnam War, armored vehicles, probably from the Second World War, remained heavy, uncomfortable, no navigators, night vision devices, nothing more, only a machine gun, a helmet and an armored vehicle. They drove their APCs wherever they wanted and wherever they wanted, they kissed the civilians aspirated, baked bread for them (they brought a bakery with them and baked bread!). They fed everyone their porridge with canned meat, which they themselves cooked in a special cauldron. We were treated with disdain, constantly insulted. It wasn't an army, but dick knows what. How can you interact with them? All our reports to the Russian leadership were ignored. Somehow we grappled seriously, did not share the route, if not for the Russian officer, who calmed these monkeys, could have reached the trunks. These misbehaves had to be punished.

Give pussy and put in place! Without weapons, we only lacked Russian corpses, but that would be understood. They wrote a note, in Russian, but with mistakes, like the Serb wrote that nice guys are going at night to give pussies to insolent Russian bastards. We prepared carefully, light bulletproof vests, police batons, night vision devices, shockers, no knives or firearms. We approached them, observing all the rules of camouflage and sabotage art. These idiots, they didn’t even set up posts, well, it means that we will fuck the sleeping people, we deserve it! When we almost got to the tents, there was a fucking sound, RYA-YAYA-AAA! And out of all the cracks, these niggas climbed, for some reason dressed only in striped shirts. I took the first one.

I woke up already at the base. Light concussion. I was later told that the guy took pity on me, hit me flat, if he beat me for real, he would have blown his head off. Fuck me! An experienced fighter of the elite US Marine Corps, knocks out in 10 seconds a Russian, a skinny little baby and what ??? And you know what? Garden trench tool! Shovel! Yes, it would not have occurred to me to fight with a sapper shovel, but they are taught this, but unofficially, the Russians considered it a sign of skill to know the techniques of combat with a sapper shovel. Then I realized that they were waiting for us, but why did they come out in shirts, only in shirts, because it is natural for a person to protect himself, put on an armor, a helmet. Why only in shirts? And their this fucking RYA-YAYA-AAA!

Once I was waiting for a flight at the Detroit airport, there was a Russian family, mom, dad, daughter, also waiting for their plane. Father somewhere bought and brought the girl, about three years old, hefty ice cream. She jumped with delight, clapped her hands and you know what she screamed? Their fucking RYA-YAYA-AAA! Three years, speaks badly, and already screams RYA-YAYA-AAA!

But those guys with this cry went to die for their country. They knew it would be just a hand-to-hand fight, without weapons, but they were going to die. But they didn't go to kill!
Easy to kill while sitting in an armored helicopter or holding a razor-sharp scapula. They did not feel sorry for me. Killing to kill is not for them. But they are ready to die if necessary.

And then I realized that Russia is the only and most terrible enemy. "

This is how a soldier of an elite US unit told us about you. Let's have another glass? Russian! And I'm not afraid of you!

Franz Roubaud, The Living Bridge, 1892.

In the Karabagh Khanate, at the foot of a rocky hillock, near the road from Elizavetopol to Shusha, there is an ancient castle surrounded by a high stone wall with six half-ruined round towers.

Near this castle, striking the traveler with its grandiose massive contours, the Shah-Bulakh spring gushes, and a little further, about ten or fifteen versts, there is a Tatar cemetery, spread out on one of the roadside mounds, which are so many in this part of the Transcaucasian region. The high spire of the minaret attracts the attention of the traveler from a distance. But not many people know that this minaret and this cemetery are silent witnesses to an almost fabulous feat.

It was here, in the Persian campaign of 1805, that a Russian detachment of four hundred men, under the command of Colonel Karyagin, withstood the attack of a twenty thousandth Persian army and with honor came out of this too unequal battle.

The campaign began with the enemy crossing Arake at the Khudoperin ferry. The battalion of the 17th Jaeger Regiment, which was covering it, under the command of Major Lisanevich, was unable to keep the Persians and retreated to Shusha. Prince Tsitsianov immediately sent another battalion and two guns to his aid, under the command of the chief of the same regiment, Colonel Karyagin, a man hardened in battles with the highlanders and Persians. The strength of both detachments together, if they managed to unite, did not exceed nine hundred people, but Tsitsianov knew the spirit of the Caucasian troops well, knew their leaders and was calm about the consequences.

Karyagin set out from Elizavetpol on the twenty-first of June and three days later, approaching Shah-Bulakh, he saw the advanced troops of the Persian army, under the command of Sardar Pir-Kuli-khan.

Since there were no more than three or four thousand here, the detachment, curled up in a square, continued to go its own way, repelling attack after attack. But towards evening, the main forces of the Persian army, from fifteen to twenty thousand, led by Abbas Mirza, the heir to the Persian kingdom, appeared in the distance. It became impossible for the Russian detachment to continue further movement, and Karyagin, looking around, saw a high mound with a Tatar cemetery spread out on the bank of Askorani - a place convenient for defense. He hastened to occupy it and, hastily dug in a ditch, blocked all access to the mound with carts from his convoy. The Persians did not hesitate to lead the attack, and their fierce attacks followed one after another without interruption until nightfall. Karyagin stayed in the cemetery, but it cost him one hundred and ninety-seven people, that is, almost half of the detachment.

« Ignoring the multitude of Persians, - he wrote on the same day to Tsitsianov, - i would have paved my way with rods to Shusha, but the great number of wounded people, whom I have no means to raise, makes it impossible for any attempt to move from the place I occupied».

The losses of the Persians were enormous. Abbas Mirza saw clearly what the new attack on the Russian position would cost him, and therefore, not wishing to waste people in vain, the next morning he limited himself to cannonade, not allowing the thought that such a small detachment could hold out for more than a day.

Indeed, military history does not provide many examples where a detachment, surrounded by a hundred times the strongest enemy, would not accept an honorable surrender. But Karyagin did not think to give up. True, at first he counted on help from the Karabag khan, but soon he had to give up this hope: they learned that the khan had betrayed and that his son with the Karabag cavalry was already in the Persian camp.

Tsitsianov tried to turn the Karabakh people to fulfill the obligations given to the Russian sovereign, and, pretending not to know about the treason of the Tatars, called in his proclamation to the Karabakh Armenians: “ Can it be that you, the Armenians of Karabagh, hitherto famous for their bravery, have changed, have become effeminate and similar to other Armenians who are engaged only in commercial trades ... Come to your senses! Remember your former bravery, be ready for victories and show that you are the same brave Karabakh people as you were before fear for the Persian cavalry».

But everything was in vain, and Karyagin remained in the same position, with no hope of getting help from the Shusha fortress. On the third day, the twenty-sixth of June, the Persians, wishing to speed up the denouement, diverted water from the besieged and placed four falconet batteries over the river itself, which fired at the Russian camp day and night. From that time on, the position of the detachment becomes unbearable, and losses quickly begin to increase. Karyagin himself, shell-shocked already three times in the chest and in the head, was wounded in the side by a bullet right through. Most of the officers also dropped out of the front, and there were no more than a hundred and fifty men fit for battle. If we add to this the torment of thirst, the intolerable heat, anxious and sleepless nights, then the formidable persistence with which the soldiers not only irrevocably endured incredible hardships, but still found enough strength to make sorties and beat the Persians becomes almost incomprehensible.

In one of these sorties, the soldiers, under the command of Lieutenant Ladinsky, penetrated even as far as the Persian camp and, having captured four batteries on Ascorani, not only got water, but also brought fifteen falconets with them.

« I can't remember without emotional tenderness - says Ladinsky himself, - what wonderful Russian fellows were the soldiers in our detachment. There was no need for me to encourage and excite their courage. My whole speech to them consisted of a few words: “Come, guys, with God! Let us recall the Russian proverb that two deaths will never happen, and one cannot be avoided, but to die, you know, is better in battle than in a hospital. " All took off their hats and crossed themselves. The night was dark. With the speed of lightning we crossed the distance that separated us from the river, and, like lions, rushed to the first battery. In one minute she was in our hands. In the second, the Persians defended themselves with great stubbornness, but were stabbed with bayonets, and in the third and fourth, everyone rushed to run in panic. Thus, in less than half an hour, we ended the battle without losing a single person on our side. I destroyed the battery, yelled water and, taking fifteen falconets, joined the squad».

The success of this sortie exceeded Karyagin's wildest expectations. He went out to thank the brave rangers, but, unable to find words, ended up kissing them all in front of the whole detachment. Unfortunately, Ladinsky, who survived on enemy batteries while performing his daring feat, was seriously wounded by a Persian bullet in his own camp the next day.

For four days a handful of heroes stood face to face with the Persian army, but on the fifth they found a shortage of ammunition and food. The soldiers ate their last biscuits that day, and the officers had long been eating grass and roots.

In this extreme, Karyagin decided to send forty people to forage in the nearest villages so that they could get meat, and if possible, bread. The team went under the command of an officer who did not inspire much confidence in himself. He was a foreigner of unknown nationality, who called himself the Russian surname Lisenkov; he was one of the whole detachment, apparently, weighed down by his position. Subsequently, it turned out from the intercepted correspondence that it was indeed a French spy.

A premonition of some kind of grief seized everyone in the camp. The night was spent in anxious anticipation, and by the light of the twenty-eighth, only six people from the sent team appeared - with the news that the Persians attacked them, that the officer was missing, and the rest of the soldiers were hacked to death.

Here are some details of the unfortunate expedition, recorded then from the words of the wounded sergeant major Petrov.

"As soon as we arrived in the village, - said Petrov, - Lieutenant Lisenkov immediately ordered us to draw up our guns, take off our ammunition and walk along the saklya. I reported to him that it was not good to do this in enemy land, because the hour was not right, the enemy might come running. But the lieutenant shouted at me and said that we had nothing to fear; that this village lies behind our camp, and the enemy cannot get here; that it is hard to climb the barns and cellars with amunits and guns, but we have nothing to delay and we must return to the camp as soon as possible. No, I thought. - it all comes out somehow wrong. " This is not what our former officers used to do: it used to be that half of the team always remained in place with loaded rifles; but there was no need to argue with the commander. I dismissed the people, and myself, as if sensing something unkind, climbed the mound and began to inspect the surroundings. Suddenly I see: the Persian cavalry is galloping ... "Well, - I think - it's bad!" He rushed to the village, and there were already Persians. I began to fight back with a bayonet, and meanwhile I shouted that the soldiers would quickly help out their guns. Somehow I managed to do it, and we gathered in a heap and rushed to break through.

“Well, guys,” I said, “the power aches the straw; run into the bushes, and there, God willing, we'll also sit out! " - With these words, we scattered, but only six of us, and then wounded, managed to get to the bush. The Persians were about to come after us, but we accepted them so that they soon left us alone.

Now, - Petrov finished his sad story, - everything that remains in the village is either beaten or captured, there is no one to help out".

This fatal failure made a striking impression on the detachment, which lost here from the small number of people who remained after the defense at once thirty-five elite fellows; but Karyagin's energy did not shake.

« What to do, brothers- he said to the soldiers gathered around him, - sorrow cannot correct trouble. Go to bed and pray to God, and there will be work at night».

Karyagin's words were so understood by the soldiers that at night the detachment would go to fight its way through the Persian army, because the impossibility of holding on to this position was obvious to everyone, since the crackers and cartridges came out. Karyagin, indeed, gathered a council of war and proposed to break through to the Shakh-Bulakh castle, take it by storm and sit there waiting for the proceeds. The Armenian Yuzbash undertook to be the conductor of the detachment. For Karyagin, in this case, the Russian proverb came true: "Throw the bread and salt back, and she will be in front." He once did a great favor to an Elizabethan resident, whose son fell in love with Karyagin so much that he was with him in all his campaigns and, as we shall see, played a prominent role in all subsequent events.

Karyagin's proposal was accepted unanimously. The wagon train was left to be plundered by the enemy, but the falconets obtained from the battle were carefully buried in the ground so that the Persians would not find them. Then, after praying to God, they loaded the guns with buckshot, took the wounded on a stretcher and quietly, without noise, at midnight on June twenty-ninth, set out from the camp.

Due to the lack of horses, the huntsmen dragged implements with straps. Only three wounded officers rode on horseback: Karyagin, Kotlyarevsky and Lieutenant Ladinsky, and only because the soldiers themselves did not allow them to dismount, promising to pull out the guns in their arms where necessary. And we will see further how honestly they fulfilled their promise.

Taking advantage of the darkness of the night and mountain slums, Yuzbash led the detachment completely secretly for some time. But the Persians soon noticed the disappearance of the Russian detachment and even attacked the trail, and only the impenetrable darkness, the storm and especially the dexterity of the guide once again saved Karyagin's detachment from the possibility of extermination. By the light, he was already at the walls of Shah-Bulakh, occupied by a small Persian garrison, and, taking advantage of the fact that everyone was still sleeping there, not thinking about the proximity of the Russians, he fired a volley from guns, broke the iron gates and, rushing to attack, ten minutes later took possession of the fortress. Its chief, Emir Khan, a relative of the Crown Persian prince, was killed, and his body remained in the hands of the Russians.

As soon as the rumble of the last shots died down, the entire Persian army, pursuing Karyagin on the heels, appeared in Shah-Bulakh's mind. Karyagin prepared for battle. But an hour passed, another of agonizing waiting - and instead of the assault columns, Persian envoys appeared in front of the castle walls. Abbas-Mirza appealed to Karyagin's generosity and asked for the body of the murdered relative.

With pleasure I will fulfill the wish of His Highness, - replied Karyagin, - but so that all our prisoners of war captured in Lisenkov's expedition were handed over to us too.

Shah-Zade (the heir) foresaw this, - objected the Persian, - and instructed me to convey his sincere regret. The Russian soldiers, to the last man, lay down at the battle site, and the officer died the next day from a wound.

It was a lie; and above all, Lisenkov himself, as was known, was in the Persian camp; nevertheless, Karyagin ordered to hand over the body of the murdered khan and only added:

Tell the prince that I believe him, but that we have an old proverb: "Whoever lies, let him be ashamed," the heir of the vast Persian monarchy, of course, will not want to blush before us.

That was the end of the negotiations. The Persian army surrounded the castle and began a blockade, hoping by hunger to force Karyagin to surrender. For four days they ate the besieged grass and horse meat, but at last these meager supplies were also eaten. Then Yuzbash came with a new invaluable service: he left the fortress at night and, making his way to the Armenian auls, informed Tsitsianov about the situation of the detachment. " If your lordship does not rush to help, - wrote Karyagin at the same time, - then the detachment will die not from surrender, to which I will not proceed, but from hunger».

This report greatly alarmed Prince Tsitsianov, who did not have any troops or food with him to go to the rescue.

« In despair unheard of, - he wrote to Karyagin, - i ask you to strengthen the spirit of the soldiers, and I ask God to support you personally. If by the miracles of God you somehow get relief from your fate, which is terrible for me, then try to calm me down so that my grief exceeds all imagination».

This letter was delivered by the same Yuzbash, who returned safely to the castle, bringing with him a small amount of provisions. Karyagin divided this request equally among all the ranks of the garrison, but it lasted only for a day. Yuzbash then began to set off not alone, but with whole teams, which he happily spent at night past the Persian camp. Once a Russian column, however, even stumbled upon a mounted enemy patrol; but, fortunately, the thick fog allowed the soldiers to ambush. Like tigers, they rushed to the Persians and in a few seconds destroyed everyone without firing a shot, with bayonets alone. To hide the traces of this massacre, they took the horses with them, covered the blood on the ground, and dragged the dead into a ravine, where they threw earth and bushes. In the Persian camp, they did not learn anything about the fate of the lost patrol.

Several such excursions allowed Karyagin to hold out for another whole week without much extreme. Finally, Abbas-Mirza, losing patience, offered Karyagin great awards and honors if he agreed to go into the Persian service and surrender to Shah-Bulakh, promising that not the slightest offense would be inflicted on any of the Russians. Karyagin asked for four days for reflection, but so that Abbas-Mirza would provide the Russians with food during all these days. Abbas Mirza agreed, and the Russian detachment, regularly receiving everything it needed from the Persians, rested and recovered.

Meanwhile, the last day of the armistice expired, and by evening Abbas-Mirza sent to ask Karyagin about his decision. " Tomorrow morning, may His Highness take Shah-Bulakh", - answered Karyagin. As we shall see, he kept his word.

As soon as night fell, the entire detachment, led again by Yuzbash, left Shakh-Bulakh, deciding to move to another fortress, Mukhrat, which, due to its mountainous location and proximity to Elizavetpol, was more convenient for defense. By roundabout roads, through the mountains and slums, the detachment managed to bypass the Persian posts so secretly that the enemy noticed Karyagin's deception only in the morning, when Kotlyarevsky's vanguard, composed exclusively of wounded soldiers and officers, was already in Mukhrat, and Karyagin himself with the rest of the people and with guns managed to pass the dangerous mountain gorges. If Karyagin and his soldiers were not imbued with a truly heroic spirit, then, it seems, local difficulties alone would have been enough to make the whole enterprise completely impossible. Here, for example, is one of the episodes of this transition, a fact that stands alone even in the history of the Caucasian army.

While the detachment was still marching through the mountains, a deep ravine crossed the road, through which it was impossible to ferry guns. They stopped in front of her in disbelief. But the resourcefulness of the Caucasian soldier and his boundless self-sacrifice helped out of this trouble.

Guys! - suddenly shouted the battalion singer Sidorov. - Why stand and think? You can't take the city while standing, you'd better listen to what I tell you: our brother has a gun - a lady, and a lady needs help; so let’s roll her on our guns. ”

An approving noise went through the ranks of the battalion. Several rifles were immediately thrust into the ground with bayonets and formed piles, several others were laid on them like joists, several soldiers propped them up with their shoulders, and the makeshift bridge was ready. The first cannon flew over this literally living bridge at once and only slightly crumpled the brave shoulders, but the second one fell off and hit two soldiers with a full swing with a wheel. The cannon was saved, but people paid for it with their lives. Among them was the battalion singer Gavrila Sidorov.

No matter how the detachment hurried to retreat, the soldiers managed to dig a deep grave, into which the officers lowered the bodies of their dead colleagues in their arms. Karyagin himself blessed this last refuge of the deceased heroes and bowed to him to the ground.

« Farewell! he said after a short prayer. - Farewell, truly Orthodox Russian people, loyal tsarist servants! May you have eternal memory!»

« Pray, brothers, God for us"- said the soldiers, crossing themselves and taking apart their guns.

Meanwhile, Yuzbash, who had been observing the surroundings all the time, signaled that the Persians were already close. Indeed, as soon as the Russians reached Kassanet, the Persian cavalry had already settled on the detachment, and such a hot battle ensued that the Russian guns several times passed from hand to hand ... Fortunately, Mukhrat was already close, and Karyagin managed to retreat to him at night with little loss. From here he immediately wrote to Tsitsianov: “ Now I am completely safe from Baba Khan's attacks due to the fact that the location here does not allow him to be with numerous troops.».

At the same time, Karyagin sent a letter to Abbas-Mirza in response to his offer to transfer to the Persian service. " In your letter, please say, - Karjagin wrote to him, - that your parent has mercy on me; and I have the honor to inform you that, when fighting the enemy, they do not seek mercy, except traitors; and I, turned gray under a gun, will consider it happiness to shed my blood in the service of His Imperial Majesty».

Colonel Karyagin's courage bore enormous fruits. Having detained the Persians in Karabagh, it saved Georgia from flooding with Persian hordes and made it possible for Prince Tsitsianov to gather troops scattered along the borders and open an offensive campaign.

Then Karyagin finally had the opportunity to leave Mukhrat and retreat to the village of Mazdygert, where the commander-in-chief received him with extraordinary military honors. All the troops, dressed in full dress, were lined up in a deployed front, and when the remnants of the brave detachment appeared, Tsitsianov himself commanded: "On guard!" “Hurray!” Thundered through the ranks, the drums beat the campaign, the banners bowed ...

Walking around the wounded, Tsitsianov, with participation, asked about their situation, promised to inform the emperor about the miraculous exploits of the detachment, and immediately congratulated Lieutenant Ladinsky as a knight of the Order of St. George of the 4th degree.

The sovereign granted Karyagin a golden sword with the inscription "For Bravery", and the Armenian Yuzbash the rank of ensign, gold medal and two hundred rubles for life pension.

On the very day of the solemn meeting, after the evening dawn, Karyagin took the heroic remnants of his battalion to Elizavetpol. The brave veteran was exhausted from the wounds he had received at Ascorani; but the consciousness of duty in him was so strong that, a few days later, when Abbas Mirza appeared at Shamkhor, he, neglecting the disease, again stood face to face with the enemy.

On the morning of the twenty-seventh of July, a small Russian transport en route from Tiflis to Elizavetpol was attacked by significant forces of Pir Kuli Khan. A handful of Russian soldiers and with them the poor, but brave Georgian drivers, making a square of their carts, defended themselves desperately, despite the fact that each of them had at least a hundred enemies. The Persians, having surrounded the transport and smashing it with guns, demanded surrender and otherwise threatened to exterminate every single one. The head of transport, Lieutenant Dontsov, one of those officers whose names are involuntarily engraved in the memory, answered one thing: “ Let us die, not surrender!“But the position of the detachment was becoming desperate. Dontsov, who served as the soul of defense, received a mortal wound; another officer, Warrant Officer Plotnevsky, was captured through his passion. The soldiers were left without leaders and, having lost more than half of their people, they began to hesitate. Fortunately, at this moment Karyagin appears, and the picture of the battle changes instantly. A Russian battalion of five hundred men swiftly attacks the crown prince's main camp, bursts into his trenches and takes possession of the battery. Not allowing the enemy to come to their senses, the soldiers turn the repulsed guns on the camp, open fierce fire from them, and - with the name of Karyagin rapidly spreading in the Persian ranks - everyone rushes to run in horror.

The defeat of the Persians was so great that the trophies of this unheard-of victory won by a handful of soldiers over an entire Persian army were the entire enemy camp, a baggage train, several guns, banners and many prisoners, including the wounded Georgian prince Teimuraz Iraklievich.

This was the finale that brilliantly ended the Persian campaign of 1805, begun by the same people and under almost the same conditions on the banks of the Ascorani.

In conclusion, we consider it not superfluous to add that Karyagin began his service as a private in the Butyrka infantry regiment during the Turkish war of 1773, and the first cases in which he participated were the brilliant victories of Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. Here, under the impression of these victories, Karyagin for the first time comprehended the great secret of controlling the hearts of people in battle and gained that moral faith in the Russian person and in himself, with which he, as an ancient Roman, never considered his enemies later.

When the Butyrka regiment was moved to the Kuban, Karyagin fell into the harsh atmosphere of Caucasian life, was wounded during the assault on Anapa, and from that time, one might say, did not come out from under enemy fire. In 1803, upon the death of General Lazarev, he was appointed chief of the seventeenth regiment located in Georgia. Here, for the capture of Ganja, he received the Order of St. George of the 4th degree, and the exploits in the Persian campaign of 1805 made his name immortal in the ranks of the Caucasian corps.

Unfortunately, constant campaigns, wounds, and especially fatigue during the winter campaign of 1806 completely upset Karyagin's iron health; he fell ill with a fever, which soon developed into a yellow, rotten fever, and on May 7, 1807, the hero passed away. His last award was the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd degree, received by him a few days before his death.

Many years passed over the untimely grave of Karyagin, but the memory of this kind and handsome man is sacredly kept and passed on from generation to generation. Struck by his heroic deeds, the fighting offspring gave Karyagin a majestic and legendary character, created from him the favorite type in the fighting Caucasian epic.

Vasily Potto

Fragment from the book "The Caucasian War. Volume 1. From Ancient Times to Ermolov"

The strength of the spirit of the Russian people

“Russia is the depth, the measure of which
no one has yet been able to determine
hence the legend of the mysterious Russian
soul, to simulate the movements of which
no one is able to. " EXODUS Book 2

Hard times have come again for our country. America, Great Britain and the "highly civilized" countries of Europe, accustomed to living stably and comfortably at the expense of the resources of dependent donor states, are currently facing a large-scale economic crisis. Their leaders began to look for new victims in order to continue their comfortable existence in the future. In this regard, Russia's vast natural resources have always been a tasty morsel for conquerors at all times.

Russia has gone through many wars, but it never attacked first, but only fought back with dignity. Hidden enemies tried to decompose it from within. In all possible ways, Western countries tried to impose consumer consciousness and instill in the minds of Russian people thoughts of worthlessness and self-deprecation unusual for them. All this was done so that we would forget about the soul and God, and thus break the Russian spirit. But this scenario did not work. And now again an aggressive attempt by countries with colonial thinking is being made to unleash another war and crush Russia. All unthinkable methods are used. A stream of outright lies, falsifications and dirty accusations from all the media fell on our country, and no explanation or even evidence can stop it. Russia and its president have been slandered and crucified with obvious pleasure, accusing them of all the sins and troubles of the whole world. Not long ago it was difficult to believe in it, but now this is our reality, and the time has come to unite in spirit and protect our Motherland, Mother, as our ancestors did in the days of hard times.

From history we know many striking examples of the manifestation of the fortitude and fortitude of the Russian people at the limit of human capabilities.

The catch phrase "Russians do not surrender" appeared during the First World War. In the Book of S.A. Khmelkova "The Struggle for Osovets" is described as"in In 1915, the Russian garrison defended the small fortress Osovets, located on the territory of present-day Belarus. As a last resort to crush the Russians, the enemy decided to use a gas attack. For this, the Germans deployed 30 gas batteries. A dark green mist of a mixture of chlorine and bromine dripped onto the fortress. The defenders of the fortress did not have gas masks. All living things around were poisoned. About seven thousand infantrymen moved to storm the Russian fortress. But when the German chains approached the trenches, the counterattacking Russian infantry fell on them from the thick green chlorine fog. The sight was terrifying: the soldiers walked into the bayonet with their faces wrapped in rags, shaking with a terrible cough, literally spitting out pieces of lungs on their bloody tunics. These were the remnants of the 13th company of the 226th infantry Zemlyansky regiment, slightly more than 60 people. But they plunged the enemy into such horror that the German infantrymen, not accepting the battle, rushed back, trampling each other and hanging on their own barbed wire. The world military art did not know anything of the kind. This battle will go down in history as the "attack of the dead."

The glory of Russian weapons knows no boundaries. The Russian soldier endured what the soldiers of the armies of other countries never tolerated and will not endure. This is evidenced by letters from the front of the soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht, in which they admired the courage of Russian soldiers during the Second World War. ANDfrom the letter of the soldier of the Third Reich Erich Ott, senthome from Stalingrad on October 14, 1942:« Russians do not look like people, they are made of iron, they do not know fatigue, they do not know fear. The sailors, in the bitter frost, go on the attack in vests. Physically and spiritually, one Russian soldier is stronger than our whole company. "

From the book by Robert Kershaw “1941 through the eyes of the Germans. Birch crosses instead of iron ones ":“During the attack, we stumbled upon a light Russian T-26 tank, and we immediately snapped it right out of a 37-millimeter paper. When we began to approach, a Russian leaned out of the hatch of the tower and opened fire from a pistol at us. It soon became clear that he was without legs, they were torn off to him when the tank was hit. And, despite this, he fired at us with a pistol! "

The strength of the spirit was manifested not only in battles. During the blockade of Leningrad in severe frosts up to 50 degrees, our heroic compatriots laid the "Road of Life" across Lake Ladoga, which became a salvation for thousands of Leningraders dying of hunger. After visiting the Road of Life museum, a photograph of a man walking knee-deep in water, with a bag over his shoulders, remained in my memory. This was the first spring of the blockade of Leningrad. The ice on Ladoga began to melt, the cars stalled, the horses refused to go into the icy water. But it was vital to deliver 4.5 tons of onions to the besieged city. What horses could not do, people did. Thirty volunteers carried the precious cargo for 44 km. A total of 65 tons of food were transported on foot across Ladoga.

And this is only a tiny part of the feat of the Russian people, who, not sparing their lives in the name of victory, defended their Motherland from foreign invaders.What is the secret of the indomitable will, fortitude and courage of the Russians?

The ancestral home of Russia is Hyperborea, a highly spiritual legendary civilization that, according to scientists, existed several tens of thousands of years ago in the Arctic. Artifacts of this ancient country were discovered by archaeologists on the Kola Peninsula. The very name of the Kola Peninsula and the Kola River contains the rootthe name of the ancient Slavic god Kolo-Kolyada. When the poles of the Earth changed, fleeing the cold, our ancestors of the dew or the Rus, as they were also called, moved to the territory of today's Russia from ancient Hyperborea. Confirmation can be found in predictionsNostradamus whocalled the Russians "the Hyperborean people."Having moved to Russia, the dew was saturated with its codes, and a sprout of the strength of the spirit of the Russian land broke through in their souls. Russia is a special country, it is a stronghold of Light forces, the Spirit of the Earth is concentrated here. According to the Slavic-Aryan Vedas, the word"Russia" stands for "increasing light"."Ros" - growth, increase;"This" - shine, light. That is, Russia is originally a source of spiritual light, hence the name Holy Russia. Our earth is luminous in its essence, it carries maternal feminine energies. It is no coincidence that we only have the concept of "Motherland". Therefore, it is a great sin to find fault with Russia, no matter what decline the country is in. This is the same as insulting your exhausted, sick mother, who gave all her strength to save children. It is difficult for foreigners to understand why Russians are always so desperate to defend their land from invaders. And the answer is simple - they protect the most sacred thing - their mother, and this is inherent in the Russians at the genetic level.

Even in fairy tales, any evil spirits cannot stand the Russian spirit and smells it at a distance. Our land is famous for the feats of arms of the Russian heroes. Their names and deeds for the glory of the Fatherland were passed from mouth to mouth of their ancestors, and have survived to this day in epics and legends. You need to study and remember the history of your country. The connection between generations strengthens the roots of the spirit and gives stability and inflexibility in any of the most difficult trials. A person without a clan and tribe, like a "rolling stone", is susceptible to even a weak pressure of the wind and is an easy prey for any enemy.

Image of Russia - this is the Phoenix bird, reborn from the ashes, a symbol of immortality. From our rich history, we know many facts when it seemed to the enemies that Russia was finally destroyed and fell at the feet of the conquerors. Here are just a few examples: the surrender of Moscow to Napoleon during Patriotic War 1812; the blockade of Leningrad, battles for Moscow during the Second World War; naxiprivileged planting of atheism in Soviet times; restructuring of the 90s and a reference to Western consumer values. But every time, contrary to all analysts' forecasts, Russiarevived from devastation and poverty, like the Phoenix bird, and regained strength and power, causing bewilderment of observers from the outside. What is happening now. Let us recall the recent events in the month of March, when prussia's position at the UN meeting on the referendum in Crimea provoked an inadequate response from US Ambassador Samantha Power. She hysterically expressed permanent representativeRF VitalyChurkineverything she thinks about our country: “Russia does not havethe right to forget that she is not a winner, butdefeated". Omnipotent America cannot believe and accept that Russia is back on horseback.

The Russian soul is depth, and there is a lot of unknown and unpredictable things in it, its patience is great, which misleads many and gives rise to thoughts of impunity for criminals. In fact, they are given a chance to change their minds and not commit a sin. Russia endures to the limit, and waits for repentance, the spring is compressed more and more and the moment comes when it fires with tremendous force. And the enemy will be able to fully experience the full power of the Russian spirit in his own skin. As said"Iron Chancellor" Otto von Bismarck: "I know many ways to drive a Russian bear out of a den, but none of how to drive it back."The lessons of history are quickly forgotten, Russia's long-suffering is again taken for weakness, and again self-confident conquerors are found, eager to get the riches of the Russian land.

The EXODUS books say that p russian people do not even suspect what strength of spirit is inherent in them, these roots of strength and spirituality it was originally laid by the Lord himself. And all the same, the last decision remains with the people themselves.Faced with death, he makes a choice either to preserve honor and conscience, losing his life, or to continue living without honor and conscience. The Russian land gave birth to a large number of Saints. By the example of their lives and true faith in God, they raised the spirit of the people in the most difficult times. The blessing of the Great Saint Sergius of Radonezh for the Battle of Kulikovo was an unconditional guarantee of victory over Mamai. The feat of selfless service to the God of the Saints of the Russian land has erected pillars of the spirit that have kept and keep the souls of people from the final fall in the most difficult years of unbelief and atheism.

Western consumer civilization throughout the history of mankind has felt the "otherness" of Russia. The sacrifice and breadth of the Russian soul still remain a mystery to her. The spiritual potential of Russia, the desire for unification is not understood and not accepted in Western countries, and the alien and incomprehensible always arouses fear and suspicion.German philosopherWalter Schubart tried to find an answer to this question:“Russia does not seek either to conquer the West or to enrich itself at its expense - it wants to save it. The Russian soul feels the happiest in a state of self-giving and sacrifice. She strives for universal integrity, for the living embodiment of the idea of \u200b\u200bpan-humanity. It overflows - to the West. Because she wants integrity. She does not seek in him a complement to herself, but wastes herself, she intends not to take, but to give. She is in a messianic mood " . Russia has always been self-sufficient and did not lay claim to foreign territories.Western countries do not believe in this idea of \u200b\u200bRussia and do not want to believe. But there comes such a critical moment in their lives that they will be forced to overcome their arrogance. And there will be a turning point in the "enlightened" minds, when they will see the light and see in Russia a spiritual leader, Mother Savior and defender of the whole world.

Now, during the Transition of mankind to a new level of consciousness, when the struggle between the forces of Light and darkness has reached its maximum, the Lord is betting on the revival of the Russian spirit. To the above, you can add the words of Lord El Morya from book 5.3 of the seriesEXODUS : “Russian people are amazing in their striving for knowledge, for service, when they want it with all their heart, with all their soul. Therefore, indeed, Russia will be the first. The Russian spirit is strong. You really can't kill him. But if everyone united, everyone showed spirit, what strength would be, what a breakthrough, what progress. Then in one fell swoop it would be possible to do away with all the negatives, with all the darkness that surrounds you ... How long, how painfully the Russians have suffered and are suffering! But why? For the sake of the future, or maybe as a payment for the past? No and no again. For the sake of the future, they accept flour. In order for what should happen to happen. Then Russia will rise up and lead other countries and peoples after it, in whom the spirit is not so strong and patient, in whom there is little holiness, in whom faith in God is not enough.

Ostrer Elena and Romanova Lyudmila

Love for the Fatherland

My eyes gaze with anger at people,
On those who sow lies, cynicism, poison and cowardice
Insidious enemies came to the Russian land,
To cultivate depravity and indifference in hearts

Have managed to instill in us vicious words
And taught not to love their native people,
Having managed to cover and desecrate with shame
The once sacred word "patriot"

But a Russian cannot help but love
Without beauty and kindness in the heart, emptiness
Abused honor and justice gnaws at the soul
She needs love and purity like air

Love for the native land is sung in Russian songs,
It is in our blood and souls and hearts
And we have a lot to return in battles,
And make it clear what was only in dreams

I believe that the long-awaited hour will come
When love for the Fatherland awakens again
And the Russian Spirit will fill us with power,
And mother - Holy Russia will be reborn forever!

Marat Nasybulin. October, 2014

A word to those who embody our essence - the elite of the Spirit

(These words reveal their true essence, and left a bright mark in the history of mankind)

Prince Alexander Nevsky said before the battle with the Swedes:"God is not in power, but in truth!"

In all Ages, Russians believed in the same thing -truth, truth, GOD , and only this yardstick can measure both your life and the life of your people. No material force - whether it be the force of arms, money, or an unjust law - stands for Russians above the truth: and this is the most important difference between Russian civilization and modern Western civilization. All our troubles occurred because of the deviation from truth and justice - and then Russia fell apart from the inside or lost to an external enemy. But in the Ukrainian crisis, everyone understands that our cause is just - that's why V. Putin speaks of our strength:

“It's just that we are stronger ... of all. Because we are right. Power is in the truth. When a Russian person feels right, he is invincible " .

“The simpler and closer a person is to the earth, the more responsibility he has for the Motherland. I'll even tell you why. He has no other homeland, he will not get on a plane, on a train or on a horse and will not leave, will not roll away from here. He knows that he will remain to live here on this earth, there will be his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He must take care of them. If he doesn't do it himself, nobody will. This is the basis of statehood and patriotism of an ordinary Russian person. And a person of any nationality living here ... "There is strength in unification!" ‒ this inner patriotism of an ordinary Russian citizen is very strong ... "

“Look at our thousand-year history. As soon as we rise, we must immediately move Russia a little, put it in place, slow down. Containment theory, how long has it been in existence? Seems to have originated in soviet timesalthough it is hundreds of years old. But we must not exaggerate, dramatize. You have to understand: the world works like that. "

http://vz.ru/politics/2014/11/24/716863.html - « Truth and love of Vladimir Putin "

Many rulers often recite with pathos the great words: "God is with us!"

But people know - not by words, but by deeds, the cosmic Themis will judge them.

Did GOD direct the actions of American presidents from Truman to the present day, who have left in history an obvious bloody planetary trail in the GLORY of America ("American interests") and the so-called "American democracy"? Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, carpet bombing of Dresden, Vietnam, dismemberment of Yugoslavia, plunge into the chaos of the fratricidal war of Afghanistan and Iraq, ... Orange revolutions in Libya, Egypt, Syria, Georgia and Ukraine ... And everywhere there is chaos, genocide of civilians, destruction of life support infrastructure and economic potential! And everywhere - bringing to power the most fanatical radical forces up to the Nazis. Now, under American control, the Kiev Junta to the GLORY of Ukraine is carrying out a punitive operation, genocide against the people of their country, which dared to declare the right to their own point of view on life. But GOD is their judge!

The spiritual leader of Russia V. Putin never utters such lofty words from the rostrum, but the constant presence of God is felt in his soul and heart. Therefore, he speaks very frankly, directly and openly, without lies and falsehood. And his responsibility for every word and decision is felt.

And the Highest GODS highlighted this most important facet of him, as a servant of Russia, the planet and GOD, giving us the words of a prayer, in which all the dots are placed abovei:

A prayer is heard in the blue sky

MOTHER Great.

She calls upon the stars that have descended

Let the heart flinch from the love of the presidents,

Calling them to unite around Russia,

Conjoining thought with the Avatar Thoth,

Who teamed up with Putin

As with your own material body.

The President of Russia will show the rest of the way

To Truth and Light.

In his prayer, Heaven praises the earthly son, -

The embodiment of loyalty, love and wisdom.

To unite everyone is his task,

Connecting the links of the entire planet

And become a star of Space and Heaven.

And She turns to him:

“Hallowed, my son, is your name.

You are the main warrior carrying the cross

For the entire planet and for all people.

May everything I have said come true.

Amen"

Now every person, in his right mind and mind, can unambiguously determine who to follow and how, in other words, what God he serves.

They increased significantly, and it became more difficult to control troops on the battlefield. Despite this, the Russian infantry went forward, sometimes gaining victories, sometimes losing. Despite all the difficulties, the Russian command often achieved success in the offensive - important role the morale of the troops played in this.

Before the fight

It is obvious that preparations for battle in 1877-1878 differed little from those in earlier times. There was even less difference in the moods and thoughts of the soldiers. The news of the imminent battle evoked mixed feelings - anxiety and fear coexisted with impatience. Before the battle, according to the old Russian tradition, the soldiers put on clean underwear, prayed and got ready for bed. Many participants in the Russian-Turkish war recalled that the dream on the eve of the battle was short and uneasy. “I dozed off, - recalled one of the officers, - But it was not a dream, but a feverish forgetfulness; quiet exclamation "oh, Lord," woke me up, someone was quietly crying "... They usually got up after dark, since by dawn everything had to be ready for battle.

Russian guardsmen on a bivouac, drawing from nature.

After waking up, the construction and verification of ammunition began, the authorities gave the last orders, the generals spoke with parting words. For example, there was often a warning that there would be no retreat signal, and if the soldiers heard it, it would mean that the Turks were trying to deceive them. The constant leitmotif was a reminder of the need to conserve ammunition. As an example, we will quote the words of General I.V. Gurko, told to the soldiers before the battle for Gorny Dubnyak:

“Remember, guys, that you are the guard of the Russian Tsar and that the whole baptized world is looking at you. The Turks shoot from afar and shoot a lot - that is their business, and you shoot as you were taught: with a smart bullet, accurately, and when it comes down to it with bayonets, then pierce the enemy. The enemy cannot stand our hurray. You guards are more concerned about you than about the rest of the army, you have the best barracks, you are better dressed, better fed, trained; here's a minute for you to prove that you are worthy of these concerns. "

Then the officers of the General Staff began to separate the units into places determined by the disposition, which was previously introduced to all commanding officers. By that time, the soldiers had already had time to eat well. In addition, fighters were often given meat as a ration.

Offensive

During the battle, the soldiers had to overcome three zones: the zone of artillery fire and indirect shots (approximately 3000-800 steps); aimed fire zone (800-300 steps); zone of direct contact with the enemy. The battalion advanced in four columns, with a chain in front. There were several options for the column: company (two lines of 80 people each), half-company (four lines of 40 people each), platoon (eight lines of 20 people each).

The word “column” should not be misleading. The first two formations were on the front more peoplethan in depth, and the platoon column was a square "box" of about 20 by 20 steps. The company commander himself chose the formation depending on the circumstances - most often it was a company column. When choosing a formation, the officers were guided by the properties of bullets and shells, which much more often gave an undershoot or flight than a miss along the front. Thus, the deeper the formation was, the more the enemy had a chance to get into it. The platoon column suffered much greater losses from the fire than the half-company and especially the company, but it was much easier to control and maneuver.

Column construction options. Author's outline

In general, the battle formation was very dense. Closed companies most often lined up in a checkerboard pattern, forming the 1st and 2nd battle lines behind the chain. During the time of Nicholas I, very strict adherence to the distances and intervals between the columns was required, but after the Crimean War, these requirements were softened. Firstly, the harmony was very difficult to maintain, and secondly, it made it difficult to adapt to the terrain. Therefore, in 1877-1878, the columns “walked”, crawled over each other and deviated from the general direction of the attack. Colonel O.-F. K. Grippenberg, when attacking Gorny Dubnyak, the companies of the 2nd line kept the usual distance of 100-150 steps from the first line - this promised unnecessary losses, but even before approaching the shelling zone, the units managed to be dispersed to more reasonable distances.

In theory, it was believed that the faster the unit covered the distance to the enemy, the better - the fewer losses for the Russians, the more difficult it is for the Turks to shoot. V.L. Chebyshev, the brother of a famous mathematician and an extraordinary military writer, especially emphasized the factor of speed. Based on the experiments carried out at the shooting range, he noted that it takes a minute to rearrange the sight by 100 steps, and during this time the attackers will have time to go 100 more steps. If the enemy absolutely accurately determines the distance to the target of 1500 steps, then after 7 seconds the average trajectory of the bullets will pass over the heads of the attackers - this means that it is better to steadily go forward without stopping.

However, Chebyshev's conclusions were made on the basis of too abstract experiments and after the war were severely criticized. First, Chebyshev took into account only rifle fire, but not artillery fire. Secondly, all participants in the war knew from their own practice that it was impossible to take part of 3000 steps without stopping - pauses in movement were necessary at least to prepare a fire attack. The infantry attacked mainly in dashes of no more than a hundred paces, with part of the troops running across, while the other covered them. For example, the battle at Gorny Dubnyak on October 12, 1877 was fought with excessive haste and was worth heavy losses, so many officers tended to a more systematic and cautious style of offensive.

Camp of the 3rd Guards Infantry Division near Yarym-Burgas, July 1877. In the background, two companies are lined up in platoon columns.
andcvet.narod.ru

Enemy fire impressions

The Turks relied heavily on the mass of bullets fired - there are many recollections of the participants in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 about the force of fire they had to face when advancing in close columns. The fire has been described as "Devilish", "The lead whistled", Turks "They sculpted a bullet into a bullet", stood "Continuous drum roll of shots", "The earth moaned" etc. We will give a calmer description of the impressions of the fire given by Colonel Yu.V. Lyubovitsky, participant in the battle at Gorny Dubnyak:

“Under a weak gunfire (I mean, if someone gets hurt for 5-10 minutes), the parts are generally fine. Of course, shots aimed at you always make a heavy impression, and no one can say that he was completely indifferent to this; there are people more or less calm, more or less gifted with self-control; but they also cannot be completely indifferent; the question of life and death is too important. "

To give an idea of \u200b\u200bthe sensations under fire, let us cite such fun that existed in the Russian army. Having come under fire, the officers offered each other to roll a cigarette - it was difficult for an unfamiliar person to do this because of the trembling in his hands. However, if you believe the story of an anonymous memoirist, even beginners eventually pulled themselves together, and they managed to perform this simple action.

When a unit entered the zone of stronger fire, people were already falling incessantly, and disorder began in the rows of closed columns. As a notable exception, the participants in the battle for Gorny Dubnyak pointed to the offensive of the Izmailovsky Life Guards regiment. The regiment approached the enemy at a distance of 1500 steps, suffering heavy losses from fire, but "Both battalions continued to move with remarkable harmony and order, counting their legs and quietly closing the ranks, to fill the gaps formed in the formation by enemy bullets"... However, a different situation was more often observed - let us again turn to Colonel Lyubovitsky:

“Usually the picture is presented in the following way: at first the whole mass goes quite harmoniously, then the closeness decreases, some heap appears, taking the shape of a triangle, whose head is made up of braver people; but at last even these people stop and lie down: the movement forward thus finally stopped. "

How do you get the soldiers to advance?

So, the closed columns came under fire, disorder began, and the offensive threatened to stop. It was believed that moral strength should force the soldiers to go forward despite the deadly fire. General M.I. Dragomirov, one of the brightest military authorities of the era, believed that peacetime preparation was the key factor. Inside the soldier there is a struggle between two principles - the instinct of self-preservation and the instinct of self-sacrifice. In addition to becoming familiar with the craft of war, the point of preparation was to suppress self-preservation and develop selflessness as much as possible. Based on these considerations, Russian military thought, like foreign thought, was in no hurry to declare the bayonet an obsolete weapon and to rely exclusively on fire. It was emphasized that, despite the progress of small arms, it was the bayonet that would decide the fate of the battle. Otherwise, it will be almost impossible to stop the firefight, move the soldiers into the attack and achieve any result. But how do you get the fighters to attack?

Scene during the assault on Gorny Dubnyak on October 12, 1877.
Collection of war stories. SPb., 1879

The regulations required officers to be able to use the slightest cover, be it a structure, a fence, vegetation, or a fold in the area. The officer gave his unit cover, the soldiers began to feel that they were safe, and the desire to go forward weakened. An episode of the attack of the Serpukhov regiment during the second assault on Plevna on July 18, 1877 is characteristic. The soldiers took cover behind the hill and were ordered to lie down. Soon jokes started pouring in, and the meat that had been distributed to the soldiers the day before was taken out of the pockets. More than a strange picture - a picnic in the middle of a battle! An officer of the Serpukhov regiment described this episode as follows:

“Strange, amid the thunder and the entire battle situation, the most peaceful thoughts appeared. Blue sky and a clear noon somehow soothes the nerves, and the thought was transported far to Russia, under the roof of the family, relatives and friends. I remembered the best moments of life, love, tranquility, fun; then fleeting pictures began to flicker, some fragmentary thoughts, then sweet dreams carried me into oblivion and suddenly I fell asleep soundly ... "

What is it? A consequence of a sleepless night? Not only. In the 1870s, military psychology was only taking its first steps, and much of what was explained by the studies of the twentieth century was known at that time, rather, from practice and observation. During the battle, under the influence of fear and stress, the soldier receives a powerful infusion of adrenaline, but when the danger recedes, the body gives a sharp weakening, lethargy appears, and a person can really fall asleep.

The main way to get the soldiers back on the attack was to give them momentum from behind with reinforcements. This technique was perfectly mastered by General M.D. Skobelev. When attacking the Green Mountains during the third assault on Plevna, the "White General" built something like a conveyor belt of units, and when the impulse of the offensive weakened, he brought in another company, which "pushed" the hesitating comrades forward. Feeling the support of the reinforcements, the soldiers gained confidence and readiness for a new effort. Undoubtedly, much also depended on the authority of the commanders.

The sad experience of the three assaults on Plevna did not convince everyone of the impossibility of knocking out the enemy from positions with a direct attack. Colonel of the General Staff D.S. Naglovsky, who is difficult to suspect of naivety of views, firmly declared:

"It can be positively said that attentive and agile company and battalion commanders can almost always bring their units, without any significant losses, to fairly close distances from Turkish positions and position them behind local shelters."

Summarizing all the art of command and control in battle, Naglovsky wrote:

“One should not rush to attack, and before starting it, one should fire as best and harder as possible at enemy positions. When it is recognized that the attack is thoroughly prepared, then do not lead the troops into the attack in parts, but immediately start up rather strong units, and first bring them gradually as close to the position as the terrain properties allow to approach covertly and unnoticed. "

Melee

Approximately at a distance of 400-200 steps from the enemy, the 1st and 2nd combat lines and the chain closed and began to intensively fire at him, preparing an attack with fire. If the action of the bullets was not enough to force the enemy to retreat, some of them rushed into bayonets.

There is an opinion that in the second half of the 19th century the bayonet attack became a rarity, and the bayonet became an anachronism. This is confirmed by data on the wounded during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. Of the 96,473 wounded Germans, 91.6% received bullet wounds, and only 0.7% were bayonet wounded. However, these statistics do not prove anything.

Bayonet fights were rare in the era of smooth-bore weapons. Back in 1762, in the Parisian House of Invalids, it was calculated that only 2.4% of the wounded veterans were kept with bayonet wounds. The surgeon Dominique Jean Larrey pointed out that in the Napoleonic era, there were only 4–5 bayonets per 100 gunshot wounds.

The main task of the bayonet was to instill fear in the enemy and turn him to flight. The threat of using a bayonet was much more important than the application itself. A typical example of how this happened in the Balkans is the battle on July 4, 1877, near the village of Uflani, during which the 4th Rifle Brigade defeated the Turks with a decisive offensive. The brigade's report said:

“But it was noticeable that we were dealing with selected Turkish troops. About 100 daredevils stayed where they were and faced ours with bayonets. But before them there were both the quantity and quality of the troops stronger, so that few of the daredevils survived. "

A scene from the battle at Gorny Dubnyak on October 12, 1877.
Collection of war stories. SPb., 1879

A real hand-to-hand combat took place if both opponents showed the same courage, and this happened only in exceptional cases. A rare example is the battle of the column of Lieutenant General Prince N.I. Svyatopolk-Mirsky near the village of Sheinovo on December 27, 1877. “We fought hand-to-hand and with extreme fury. Throwing guns and grabbing hands. One soldier had his eyes ripped out. We suffered an enormous loss of more than 1,800 in total. It was a real bayonet attack " - wrote one of the participants in the battle.

However, the bayonet was working in conditions of limited visibility or rough terrain - for example, in a night battle while crossing the Danube on June 15, 1877:

"[...] the bayonet was the main weapon of the struggle, since the terrain occupied by the enemy, extremely rugged, allowed the Turks to hide and it was impossible to drive them out of there otherwise than with bayonets."

Sometimes the bayonet attack was reduced to beating the Turks, who offered only weak resistance. After the battle at the crossing, Minister of War D.A. Milyutin wrote in his diary: “There were several Turks among the wounded in the hospital, but it seems that they were not spared at all; our soldiers are fighting with some kind of bitterness "... No mercy was given even after the capture of Gorny Dubnyak - here Russian soldiers acted more with rifle butts than bayonets.

Despite the rarity of hand-to-hand combat, the bayonet attack as a whole remained of great importance. D.S. Naglovsky tells about one of the battles of the Advance Detachment of General Gurko, during which the arrows showered the Turks with the most destructive fire for two and a half hours, including cross fire, but could not knock them out of position. When the Russian soldiers rushed with bayonets, the Turks gave the rear. The colonel summed up:

“This case [...] showed that now the bayonet has remained just as good as it was in the time of Suvorov, but that now it should be used cleverly, preparing an attack with good fire and bringing people to close distances, little small, taking advantage of every shelter of the area. "

After the attack

At the end of the battle, a dangerous moment came - people who experienced emotional stress of enormous intensity, sharply relaxed. There is a lot of evidence that, having emerged from the fire, people fell off their feet and fell asleep. This was fraught with new problems - the enemy could make a counterattack with fresh units or simply dream about. In a dream, people once again experienced the moments of the battle and sometimes, without realizing themselves, began to shout "hurray". In such cases, an alarm was raised, costing nerves, cartridges, and sometimes even lives. However, oblivion did not always come - sometimes the fighters had a splash of accumulated emotions. One of these cases was described by a participant in the battle at Gorny Dubnyak:

“[…] They all spoke at once, threw themselves into the arms of strangers, cried with happiness. In the first minutes, they enjoyed only success and did not even notice the groans of the wounded, whose position was not particularly joyful, and suffering sometimes tearing the soul. "

There was time for certain worries. It should be admitted that in 1877-1878 the old tradition of war booty remained in force for the Russian army, especially in cases when a city fell into its hands. Most of the cities in Bulgaria were divided into Turkish and Bulgarian parts - when the Russian army approached, the Turks tried to leave their homes (partly because of fears of a pogrom from the Bulgarians). Sistovo, Lovcha and some other places of fighting were plundered, and it was not always clear whether this was the work of the Bulgarian or Russian hands. Adjutant of Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich Count S.D. Sheremetev wrote to a member of the State Council K.P. Pobedonostsev:

“Gen [eral] Dragomirov, who entered Sistov as a Roman triumphant with a wreath of roses on his head and strewn with flowers, now lives there for his own pleasure and, it seems, cares little about the discipline of his troops, who [are] at first walked in order in the conquered city. Much was blamed on the Bulgarians, which was the business of our soldiers, and if such atrocities are repeated in other cities of Bulgaria, then I do not know how much we will gain in the opinion of this people. "

If the city was not at hand, it was possible to profit from the killed - boots were especially appreciated. The painting by V.V. Vereshchagin "Winners", which depicts Turkish soldiers robbing the dead Russian soldiers, but after the battle for Sheinovo, the artist also observed the opposite picture. The orderly Skobeleva esaul P.A. Dukmasov, as a true son of Don, first of all collected horse harness and several ownerless horses, which he intended to send home. Meanwhile, ordinary soldiers were pulling boots from the dead and gutting pockets. A similar picture was repeated during the capture of Germanli on January 6, 1878.

The disaster of the three assaults on Plevna overshadowed the successes of Russian weapons in general and the Russian bayonet in particular. It would be an exaggeration to say that bayonet attacks became impossible in the conditions of rapid-fire rifles and rifled artillery - as before, much depended on the skill of the officers and the training of soldiers. In the second half of the 19th century, a flurry of fire was not yet an insurmountable obstacle and, rather, increased the importance of the moral factor in war.

Sources and Literature:

1. "Military Collection", 1878-1900
2. Dragomirov MI Textbook of tactics. SPb., 1879
3. Collection of war stories. T. I-VI. SPb., 1879
4. Svechin A.A.Evolution of military art. M.-Zhukovsky, 2002
5. Collection of materials on the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Issue 5, 10, 88, 93
6. Argamakov V.F. Memories of the war of 1877-1878. // Journal of IRVIO. - Book 6, 7. - 1911
7. Prisnenko, lieutenant regiment. 1st Plevna and 19th Kostroma Infantry Regiment in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. SPb., 1900
8. Sobolev L.N.The last battle for Shipka. Concerning the memoirs of V.V. Vereshchagin. 1877-1878 // Russian antiquity. - 1889. - No. 5
9. Vereshchagin V. V. Memoirs of an artist. Crossing the Balkans. Skobelev. 1877-1878 // Russian antiquity. - 1889. - No. 3

A lot has always been written about an ordinary Russian soldier, and brushing aside any hysterism caused by endless disputes on the topic of how "polite" the Russian army is, I would like to rely on sources confirming the many-sided image of a real Russian soldier.

What their opponents in wars wrote about Russians

German General, Chief of Staff of the 4th Army Gunther Blumentritt:

“The Russian soldier prefers hand-to-hand combat. His ability to endure hardship without flinching is truly surprising. Such is the Russian soldier whom we recognized and respected a quarter of a century ago. "

German anti-tank gunner:

“During the attack, we stumbled upon a light Russian T-26 tank, and we immediately snapped it right out of a 37-millimeter paper. When we began to approach, a Russian leaned out of the hatch of the tower and opened fire from a pistol at us. It soon became clear that he was without legs, they were torn off to him when the tank was hit. And, despite this, he fired at us with a pistol! "

Tankman of Army Group "Center":

“We hardly took any prisoners, because the Russians always fought to the last soldier. They didn't give up. Their hardening cannot be compared with ours ... "

“After a successful breakthrough of the border defense, the 3rd battalion of the 18th Infantry Regiment of Army Group Center, numbering 800 people, was fired upon by a unit of 5 soldiers. "I did not expect anything like this," battalion commander Major Neuhof confessed to his battalion doctor. "It's sheer suicide to attack the battalion's forces with five fighters."

7th Panzer Division officer:

“You just can't believe it until you see it with your own eyes. The soldiers of the Red Army, even burning alive, continued to shoot from the burning houses. "

General Gunther Blumentritt, Chief of Staff of the 4th Army:

“The behavior of the Russians, even in the first battle, was strikingly different from the behavior of the Poles and allies, who were defeated on the Western Front. Even finding themselves in the encirclement, the Russians staunchly defended.

This is how one of the German soldiers assessed the situation on the Eastern Front:

“Russia, only bad news comes from here, and we still don't know anything about you. And in the meantime you are absorbing us, dissolving in your inhospitable viscous expanses. "

“My God, what are these Russians planning to do with us? It would be nice if up there at least listened to us, otherwise all of us here will have to die ”