Capture of the Turkish fortress of Ochaki by the Cossacks. Literary and historical notes of a young technician. Military losses of Russia and Turkey
City, district center, Nikolaev region, Ukraine. Built in the 15th century. Crimean Tatars the Kara Kermen fortress (black fortress), after it was captured by the Turks, received the name Ochak from Türk, odzhak, ochah, uchak, the place where the fire burns, in toponymy the place... ... Geographical encyclopedia
A cruiser of the Black Sea Fleet, the crew of which took part in the Sevastopol uprising of 1905. The commander of the revolutionary fleet, P.P. Schmidt, was on the cruiser. Source: Encyclopedia Fatherland, a city on the shores of the Dnieper estuary of the Black Sea, 19 ... Russian history
City in Ukraine, Nikolaev region, seaport on the Dnieper estuary, 69 km from the railway. d. st. Nikolaev. 19.7 thousand inhabitants (1991). Food-flavoring (including fish) industry. Climatic resort. Museums: military historical named after. A. V. Suvorova,... ...
A cruiser of the Black Sea Fleet, the crew of which took part in the Sevastopol uprising of 1905. The commander of the revolutionary fleet, P.P. Schmidt, was on the cruiser... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
I Ochakov is a city in Ukraine, a seaport on the Dnieper estuary, 69 km from railway station Nikolaev. 19.7 thousand inhabitants (1991). Food-flavoring (including fish) industry. Climatic resort. Museums: military historical named after... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary
Noun, number of synonyms: 2 city (2765) port (361) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Dictionary of synonyms
OCHAKOV- Russian cruiser Black Sea Fleet, who led the roar detachment. ships during the Sevastopol war. uprising against the autocracy in November 1905. Launched in Sevastopol in 1902. At the time of the uprising it was not completed and armed (because... ... Marine encyclopedic reference book
- (Oczakov) Russian-Turkish Wars The fortress with a garrison of 10,000 Turks and Bosnians was besieged in 1737 by Russian troops under the command of Count Minich. After the explosion of an ammunition depot, the fortress was stormed on July 2 and the garrison was killed. However … Encyclopedia of Battles of World History
I Ochakov city, center of the Ochakovsky district of the Nikolaev region of the Ukrainian SSR, on the shore of the Dnieper estuary, 58 km south of the city of Nikolaev. Seaport. 14.2 thousand inhabitants (1974). Experienced mussel and oyster fish canning branch of the association... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Zastatny mountains Odessa u. Kherson province, on a cape washed from the east by the Dnieper estuary, from the west by the Black Sea. The area occupied by the mountains has been known since ancient times. Here was the famous Milesian settlement of Olbia, and on the site of the city, in... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron
Books
- Ochakov (ed. 1901), P.I. Belavenets. A brief historical outline of the military operations of Russian naval and ground forces at the walls of the Ochakov stronghold. Compiled by Lieutenant P.I. Belavenets, member of the Commission of the Museum of Sevastopol Defense and...
- Ochakov, P.I. Belavenets. This book will be produced in accordance with your order using Print-on-Demand technology. A brief historical outline of the military operations of Russian naval and ground forces at the walls of Ochakovskaya...
225 years ago, on December 6 (old style) 1788, on the day of remembrance of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the Russian army under the command of Prince G.A. Potemkin stormed Ochakov - a fortified Turkish fortress on the right bank of the Dnieper-Bug estuary (now a city in the Nikolaev region of Ukraine ), by this act forever inscribing their names in the chronicle of the heroic exploits of the Russian army.
Taking the Turkish fortress was not an easy task - Ochakov was defended by a 20,000-strong Turkish army with 300 fortress cannons, and the fortress itself was thoroughly rebuilt and fortified under the leadership of French engineers and covered on the landward side by numerous earthen fortifications of a new type. Therefore, the victorious assault was preceded by a long siege, called the “Ochakov Seat.”
This event occurred during the next Russian-Turkish War (1787-1791), unleashed by the Ottoman Empire with the aim of returning Crimea. The advance of 50 thousand Russian troops to Ochakov, or Achi-Kala, as the Turks called the fortress, began in May 1788. Having reached the fortress and assessed the situation, Prince Potemkin came to the conclusion that it would not be possible to take the stronghold right away and therefore began to implement a different plan - a long siege. The prince’s plans included erecting batteries, besieging the fortress and forcing it to capitulate with constant artillery fire.
However, from the very beginning, Chief General A.V. Suvorov spoke out against Potemkin’s plan, proposing to take Ochakov with a decisive assault in close cooperation with the Liman flotilla. But it was not possible to convince the commander-in-chief.
Meanwhile, Suvorov, repelling one of the Turkish attacks, with the forces of only two grenadier battalions not only repulsed the Turks with a bayonet strike, but also carried out a successful counterattack, during which several enemy earthworks in front of the fortress were captured. Developing success, Suvorov wanted to break into the city “on the shoulders” of the fleeing enemy, but Prince Potemkin refused him reinforcements, ordering him to retreat three times. Who knows how this battle would have ended if Suvorov had not been wounded in this battle, and reinforcements had been sent, but Potemkin did not dare to take such a risk and instead of a reward, the brave general received a reprimand. “Soldiers are not so cheap that they should be sacrificed for nothing. So many precious people were destroyed for no reason that Ochakov is not worth it...”, - the prince said to his general. But Suvorov continued to defend his case: “Innocence requires no justification. Everyone has their own system, and in my work I have mine. I can’t be reborn, and it’s too late!”.
The protracted siege of the fortress and the slowness of the commander-in-chief began to irritate many. As Field Marshal Count P.A. Rumyantsev noted about this: “Ochakov is not Troy to besiege for ten years”. “I’m sitting on a pebble: I’m looking at Ochakov”, - A.V. Suvorov ridiculed the inaction of Prince. And the Admiral of the Russian service, Prince Karl Heinrich of Nassau-Siegen, wrote to the French Ambassador Segur in St. Petersburg: “Ochakov could have been taken in April... but everything was missed”. This letter became known to the Empress, who inscribed the following words on its copy: "This is true". As military historian Lieutenant General A.N. Petrov noted, “ Realizing the difficulty of mastering Ochakov, Prince Potemkin acted with excessive caution, which, more accurately, could be called slowness.”.
Meanwhile, a cold winter was approaching, dooming the Russian army standing under the walls of Ochakov to great losses...
Russian only Mars, Potemkin,
Not afraid of winter:
By the waving banners
The regiments led by him are eagle
Over the ancient kingdom of Mithridates
It flies and darkens the moon;
Under the sonorous flickering of it
Now black, now pale, now red Euxinus.
The fire in the waves is unquenchable,
Ochakov walls are eating,
Before them, Russia is invincible
And in the darkness he reaps green laurels;
He despises gray storms.
On the ice, on the ditches, on the thunder it flies,
In the waters and in the fire he thinks:
Either he dies or he wins
(G.R.Derzhavin“Autumn during the siege of Ochakov”, 1788)
Potemkin, seeing that his plan was not crowned with success, and there was no question of the surrender of the Turks, despite the city blazing with fire, at the beginning of December he nevertheless “was horrified by the winter” and agreed to storm the fortress. “There is no other means left to take the city other than a general attack.”, - he reported to Empress Catherine.
For the assault, six columns were formed, whose tasks included: the first and second columns captured the Hassan Pasha castle, the third column attacked the retranchement from the north, the fourth column - from the east and tried to prevent the defenders of the retranchement from retreating to the fortress. The fifth and sixth columns were supposed to storm the fortress itself.
On December 6, at 7 o’clock in the morning, in twenty-degree frost, the assault on the Turkish stronghold began. First, the Turkish earthworks between Ochakov and the Hassan Pasha castle were captured. Then Russian troops attacked the central earthen fortifications and reached the fortress gates and bastions of the fortress. Under the cover of artillery fire, the grenadiers overcame the fortress wall. The battle in the fortress itself lasted about an hour.
Such famous Russian commanders as Potemkin, Suvorov, Platov, Rumyantsev took part in the assault on Ochakov. And among the officers who distinguished themselves in this battle, there were names that soon received no less fame - Kutuzov, Bagration, Barclay de Tolly.
The assault on Ochakov was distinguished by terrible bloodshed, as the Turks defended themselves fiercely. “We must also give justice to the Turks,” wrote military historian A.N. Petrov . “They fought with despair, with amazing fortitude, disdaining death and preferring it to captivity.”.
How the spirit of enemies rose, Pallas,
We fire at us with fury,
Here the jaws seemed like hell
They frightened us with their ringing:
How a host of them turned against us
Every Turk was angry with Ross,
Each one burned with ferocity,
He imagined that he would come to us with his strength,
Sounded like copper scales
Everyone in them roared like a monster.
(…)
Gehenna were here as an image,
The flying air howled from the cannonball;
But this is a weak barrier for them:
It's like hell in Ochakovo
Every Turk felt it.
Russian losses in killed and wounded amounted, according to some sources, to 147 officers and 2,720 lower ranks, according to others - more than 4,800 people. The bodies of the Russian officers who died during the Ochakov assault by order of Prince Potemkin were transported to Kherson and buried in the fence of the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr; in the same church in 1791 the prince himself was buried. The Turks, according to General A.N. Petrov, lost 8,370 people during the assault only killed (including 283 officers), 1,140 people who died from wounds and 4,000 prisoners. Among the prisoners was the commandant of the fortress, the three-bunchu Pasha Hussein. In fact, the entire Turkish garrison was destroyed. The news of Ochakov's fall shocked the Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid I so much that he suffered an apoplexy, from which he soon died.
Russian trophies included 310 enemy guns and 180 banners. Potemkin’s revenge on Ochakov, who “got into his heart”, was the complete destruction of the city and fortress to the ground (as an exception, the prince spared only the castle of Hassan Pasha). Explaining the destruction of Ochakov to the Empress, Potemkin emphasized the need to “exterminate the subject of contention, which, if peace was concluded, could cause a harmful slowdown in the negotiations.”
Having learned about the fall of Ochakov, Empress Catherine the Great wrote to Potemkin: “Taking you by the ears with both hands, I kiss you mentally, my dear friend... With the greatest recognition I accept the zeal and zeal of the troops you led, from the highest to the lowest ranks... I greatly regret the killed brave men; the illnesses and wounds of the wounded are sensitive to me; I regret it and pray to God to heal them. I ask everyone to express my recognition and thank you...”
And on February 4, 1789, in St. Petersburg, the honoring of the “conqueror of Ochakov”, “the chosen one” of the “Russian Mars” by Minevra itself - Prince Potemkin, who was awarded numerous awards, took place. For the capture of Ochakov, Potemkin received the baton of a field marshal, the Order of St. George, 1st degree, a letter from the Senate with a list of merits, gold medal, knocked out in his honor, a diamond for the Order of Alexander Nevsky, a sword with diamonds on a gold platter and one hundred thousand rubles. Moreover, in honor of the Field Marshal, the Empress personally composed the following poems:
Oh they fell, they fell - with a sound, with a crash
Pawn and rider, horse and fleet!
And himself with a loud faithful splash
Ochakov, their strength is their stronghold!
Today the strong ones are riveted,
The Bug and Dnieper themselves praise;
The Dnieper jets are magnificent
The noisier ones will flow into the sea...
The capture of Ochakov was a turning point in the Russian-Turkish War. In 1791, according to the Yassy Peace Treaty, Ochakov was annexed to Russia, which allowed it to finally establish itself on the Dnieper Estuary and in the adjacent region, ensure the security of Kherson and protect Crimea from the influence of the Ottoman Empire. Thus, it was the turn of domination Russian Empire in the Black Sea region.
Oh, how precious is victory?
Sent down from Heaven to us today!
The former glory is established in her,
It contains the guarantee of future miracles,
If there are enemies hidden to us,
Hissing that they are inflamed with anger
All comforts are waiting to be dissipated;
Let them scratch their eyes at Ochakov,
And if they do not tremble,
Let them sacrifice themselves to us.
(A.I.Bukharsky, “Ode to Catherine the Second, Empress and Autocrat of All Russia. To capture Ochakov", 1789).
Prepared Andrey Ivanov, Doctor of Historical Sciences
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Ochakov capture. 225 years ago, December 6 (17), 1788, Russian troops stormed the Turkish fortress of Ochakov
Y. Sukhodolsky, 1853
Assault on Ochakov December 6, 1788
Central Military History Museum of Artillery,
engineering troops and signal troops
The capture of the Turkish fortress of Ochakov by the Russian army with the support of the fleet was the most important event of the Russian-Turkish War of 1787-1791, which entered the chronicle of the exploits of the Russian army and served to strengthen Russia’s position on the Black Sea and its coast.
The Ochakov fortress was one of the main strongholds of the Ottoman Empire in the Northern Black Sea region. It allowed the Turks to control the exit (about 3 versts wide) from the Dnieper-Bug estuary (into which the Dnieper and Southern Bug rivers flow) into the Black Sea, where the naval squadron of the Black Sea Fleet was based at the Deep Pier, the rowing flotilla was also concentrated here, and in Kherson there were shipyards. On the other hand, the exit from the Dnieper estuary to the sea was delimited by the Kinburn Spit. On October 1 (12), 1787, the Turks tried to land troops on it, but it was defeated by troops under the command of the general-in-chief.
The capture of Ochakov was entrusted to the Ekaterinoslav Army of Field Marshal Prince General, to whom the Black Sea Fleet was also subordinate.
A.I. Fedorov, 1993
Prince G.A. Potemkin-Tavrichesky.
The Turks, under the leadership of French engineers, by the spring of 1788, strengthened the old and erected new fortifications of Ochakov. The fortress had the appearance of an irregular, elongated quadrangle, adjacent on one side (less protected) to the Dnieper estuary. On the land side, the stone wall of the fortress was surrounded by a rampart and a ditch about 7 m deep.
On the approaches to the fortress there was the first line of defensive fortifications - a mountain retrenchment (French trench; large field fortification - author), which included a ditch and a rampart, which was an independent fortified camp. There were about 300 cannons on the ramparts and the fortress wall, and about 30 field guns in the retrenchment. Separately from the fortress, on the top of the Ochakovsky Cape, formed by the Dnieper estuary and the Black Sea, there was a fortified castle (fort) of Hassan Pasha.
Plan of the Turkish fortress Ochakov, taken by Russian troops on December 6, 1788.
1790s Colorized engraving. Austria
The fortress was fully provided with food and ammunition, and the size of its garrison was increased to 15 thousand people. At the beginning of the siege, together with civilians, there were at least 25 thousand people there.
In the summer campaign of 1788, the Cossack rowing flotilla of the Black Sea Fleet under the command did not allow the Turkish squadron, which approached the shores of Ochakov at the end of May, to provide assistance to the besieged garrison from the sea. The Turkish fleet was forced to retreat to the island of Berezan (12 versts west of the fortress), where it remained until late autumn. The close presence of the Turkish fleet encouraged the defenders of the fortress and allowed them to conduct a staunch defense.
The successful actions of the Russian fleet made it possible to begin the siege of Ochakov from land, which lasted five months - from July to early December 1788.
In May 1788, the 50,000-strong siege corps of the Yekaterinoslav Army, assembled near Olviopol (Pervomaisk), crossed the Bug River and moved to Ochakov, which it approached at the end of June. Having arrived at their destination, the Russian troops settled down 3.5 versts from Ochakov, surrounding it from the land in a semi-ring, with their right flank resting on the Black Sea, and the other on the Dnieper estuary. The right flank and center of the army was commanded by the general-in-chief, the prince, and the left, by the general-in-chief. On the same flank, on the shore of the estuary, was Chief General A.V. Suvorov, who arrived here from near Kinburn. The main forces were located on the flanks in two, and in the center in one line. On the right flank, on the shores of the Black Sea, were the main apartment of the commander-in-chief, Prince Potemkin, and his cavalry reserve.
Potemkin planned to take Ochakov through a long siege, and not an assault, as many generals advised him, incl. and Chief General A.V. Suvorov. The commander-in-chief decided to install batteries in the form of redoubts on the flanks of the siege army (on the shores of the Black Sea and the estuary) and first capture the suburb of Ochakov, and then move the batteries forward, and, connecting them with trenches, begin a methodical artillery bombardment of the fortress itself, forcing its garrison to surrender. It was impossible to dig under the walls of the fortress due to the hardness of the soil.
Russian troops, at a distance of 1.5-2 versts from the outer ramparts of the fortress, began to build redoubts and install batteries on them. In total, from August to November, two parallel lines of field fortifications were erected, on which 30 artillery batteries with 317 guns were placed. The bombardment of the fortress from land and flotilla ships began on July 18, 1788 and continued until its assault.
The Ochakov garrison steadfastly defended itself and periodically staged forays from the fortress. Prince G.A. Potemkin repeatedly made proposals to Commandant Hussein Pasha to surrender the fortress, but he rejected them.
On July 27, the Turks made a sortie, in which up to 3 thousand people took part, from the estuary against the left flank of the Russian army. In response, Chief General A.V. Suvorov, in his area of the siege, arbitrarily made an unsuccessful attempt to storm the fortress, during which he was wounded in the neck. His actions displeased Prince Potemkin, so Suvorov could no longer remain under Ochakov and left for Kinburn.
In July, while conducting a reconnaissance of the fortress, a major general, the first governor of Yekaterinoslavl, who was responsible for food supply to the army besieging Ochakov, was mortally wounded.
On August 18 (29), the Turks again launched a sortie with the aim of destroying the unfinished Russian battery on the shore of the estuary. During the four-hour battle they were repulsed and lost about 500 people killed and wounded; Russian losses amounted to 152 people. In this battle, the chief of the Bug Jaeger Corps, Major General, received a second wound in the head. The bullet hit him in the cheek and exited through the back of his head. Chief physician Army Massot gave the following assessment of this fact: “Fate must be appointing Kutuzov to something great, for he remained alive after two wounds, fatal according to all the rules of medical science.”
On October 21 (November 1), using a strong wind from the sea, which did not allow the Russian rowing flotilla to leave the estuary, the Turkish fleet managed to deliver supplies and 1.5 thousand reinforcements from Berezan to the besieged fortress. The next day there was no wind, and all the enemy ships that approached the fortress from the fleet were destroyed by the rowing flotilla and coastal artillery.
By the beginning of November, most of the guns on the enemy’s forward retrenchments were destroyed, the bastion of the fortress adjacent to the estuary received severe damage, and most of the buildings in the city were destroyed or burned, incl. and the main grocery store (warehouse).
On November 7 (18), as soon as the Turkish fleet left Ochakov for the winter in Constantinople, a detachment of Zaporozhye Cossacks, with the support of a rowing flotilla, captured the fortified island of Berezan from the Turks. 320 people were captured, and 11 banners and 21 guns were captured. The defenders of the fortress lost their last hope for outside help.
The siege of Ochakov became protracted; in 113 days, Russian troops did not even reach the advanced fortifications of the fortress. In the main apartment of Prince G.A. Potemkin and in St. Petersburg the caustic statement of the Field Marshal was known: “Ochakov is not Troy to besiege for ten years.” The rainy autumn gave way to an early and cold winter. In early November, frosts reached -20°C, and snowstorms began. The troops lived in dugouts and lacked all the essentials. All around, for several hundred miles, lay the bare steppe, in which there was no firewood or food for the horses. During Prince Potemkin’s visits to the camp, officers and soldiers asked him to quickly begin an attack on the fortress and “warm the blood” with the deed.
In the current situation, it was necessary to storm Ochakov or withdraw the troops to winter quarters. But this could not be allowed due to the casualties suffered and the fact that most of the fortifications of the fortress were already destroyed. The day of the assault was postponed several times due to storms and snow blizzards that began in the second half of November, and finally it was set for December 6, the day of remembrance of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
In early December, Prince Potemkin approved the preparations prepared by General-in-Chief I.I. Meller disposition, and gave the troops a number of instructions. The assault columns had to act quickly - “without engaging in a firefight with the enemy and try to decide the fate of the battle with a swift blow with bayonets.” Officers were instructed to “maintain order and prevent confusion,” lower ranks were instructed to “not rush to prey, but to act with the courage characteristic of the Russian army, placing hope in the help of Christ our Savior...”, those who surrendered, as well as women and children were to spare and send to the rear. To ensure surprise, it was ordered not to carry out an artillery cannonade before the start of the assault. If the assault was successful, the Field Marshal promised, according to the military custom accepted at that time, to give the city to the soldiers “in complete freedom” for three days.
On December 6 (17), 1788, after a prayer service, at 7 a.m. in 23-degree frost, Russian troops launched an assault on Ochakov, which lasted an hour and a quarter. It was cruel and bloody on both opposing sides. 18,789 soldiers and officers took part in the assault out of 21,048 who were listed in the siege corps of the Yekaterinoslav Army on December 1 (12).
The capture of the fortress was carried out by six assault columns, which set out simultaneously - to the mountain retranchement surrounding Ochakov, to the castle of Hassan Pasha and to the fortress itself, in order to prevent the enemy from concentrating forces in any one area.
The work teams at the columns had ladders, firecrackers, axes and picks with them. At all columns there were translators who knew Turkish, “for possible verbal explanations with the enemy.”
Four columns advancing on the right flank, under the main command of Chief General Prince N.V. Repnin, captured the castle of Hassan Pasha and acted against the garrison of the retranchement. The first and second columns were headed by Lieutenant General Prince, and the third and fourth columns were led by Lieutenant General Prince.
Major General Baron's column attacked Hassan Pasha's castle. The remaining three columns attacked the mountain retrenchment from the front, flanks and rear, preventing its defenders from retreating to the fortress. About 300 Turks were captured in the castle of Hassan Pasha, and about 1.5 thousand Turks were captured during the assault on the mountain retrenchment located in front of the main fortress.
Two columns operating from the left flank (from the estuary) were under the main command of General-in-Chief I.I. Meller, carried out an assault on the fortress itself. The fifth and sixth columns were led by a lieutenant general; they broke into the fortress through a destroyed bastion near the shore of the Dnieper estuary. The detachment he sent opened the gates of the fortress from the inside for the columns that captured the mountain retrenchment. During the assault, the enemy detonated two landmines, but was unable to stop the attackers. Two reserves were created from the remaining troops, on the right flank they were commanded by a lieutenant general, and on the left by a lieutenant general prince.
The enemy, driven out from the city walls, settled down in the ruins of houses and dugouts and continued desperate resistance. Apart from those captured at the beginning of the siege, there were no more prisoners. The main part of the enemy was killed with cold steel.
During the assault, the prince was on one of the batteries and monitored its progress. When the captured commandant of the fortress, Seraskir Hussein Pasha, was brought to him, the field marshal general angrily told him: “We owe this bloodshed to your stubbornness.” To which he replied: “Leave vain reproaches, I fulfilled my duty, just as you did yours; fate decided the matter.”
Field Marshal G.A. Potemkin receives the captured Turkish Pasha
after the capture of Ochakov in December 1788
Fragment of an engraving
After the assault, Ochakov presented a terrible sight. There were so many enemy corpses that it was impossible to bury them all in the frozen ground, so several thousand bodies were taken to the ice of the estuary, where they lay until spring, attracting birds of prey and animals. The bodies of the officers killed during the assault, by order of Prince G.A. Potemkin, was transported to Kherson and buried in the fence of the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr. In 1791, the Field Marshal himself was buried in the same church. The military necropolis of the heroes of Ochakov exists to this day.
The trophies of the winners amounted to 310 mortars and cannons, 180 banners. During the assault, more than 9.5 thousand were killed or died from wounds and about 4 thousand people were captured (not counting ordinary people), incl. one three-bunchuzhny pasha (Husein Pasha), three two-bunchuzhny pasha (a two-bunchuzhny pasha corresponded to a lieutenant general of the Russian army (III class), a three-bunchuzhny one to a chief general (II class) - Author) and 448 officers. In total there are about 13.5 thousand people. A lot of weapons, military equipment, and other property were captured from the fortress.
The Russians lost killed during the assault: a major general, a brigadier, 3 staff officers, 25 chief officers, 926 lower ranks. A total of 956 people. 119 officers and 1,704 lower ranks were wounded. A total of 1823 people. Total losses killed and wounded amounted to 2,779 people.
For the capture of Ochakov, Prince G.A. Potemkin received from Catherine II the highest military leadership award of that time - the Order of St. George, 1st class, a sword decorated with diamonds, and 100 thousand rubles; The rest of the participants in the capture of the fortress also received awards. The officers who particularly distinguished themselves during the assault earned the Order of St. George or St. Vladimir, 4th class, and the rest were awarded gold crosses on the St. George ribbon with the inscription on one side “for service and bravery”, and on the other “Ochakov was taken on December 6, 1788 "; and the lower ranks received silver medals. The entire siege corps was given an additional (above and beyond) six-month salary.
The capture of the Ochakov fortress allowed Russia to finally establish itself in the Northern Black Sea region, ship construction in Kherson and Nikolaev, which was under construction, could develop unhindered, and the Crimean peninsula was protected from the Turkish landing from the sea.
During the siege and assault of a large coastal fortress, the Russian army gained experience in organizing interaction between land and naval forces. Near Ochakov, officers and generals went through combat school - M.I. Kutuzov, A.V. Suvorov, who later became outstanding commanders.
Material prepared by the Research Institute
(military history) Military Academy of the General Staff
Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
After the defeat and destruction of the landing force on the Kinburn Spit and the liberation of the Dnieper-Bug estuary from the Turkish fleet, the main task of the Russian army was to capture the Ottoman stronghold - Ochakov. It was considered the main port city in the Turkish possessions on the Black Sea. The fortress was an irregular, elongated quadrangle. Its narrow, eastern side adjoined the estuary, and the other three, facing the steppe, had powerful stone walls with a mountain retrenchment covered with stone and an earthen rampart; and in the southernmost part there was a citadel, rising in front of Kinburn above the high slope of the estuary.
All summer and until late autumn, Ochakov kept the main forces of G. A. Potemkin’s army near his walls. To A.V. Suvorov’s proposal for an assault, the supreme commander replied: “I am freeing your hands for every benefit, but regarding Ochakov, an unsuccessful attempt can be harmful. I use everything, hoping in God that we get it cheap.”
Suvorov was outraged by indecision and stupid waiting. He tried to force Potemkin to storm and once gave him such an opportunity.
On July 27, Suvorov took advantage of the foray of a large detachment of Turks from the fortress and started a battle with them. The Turks sent reinforcements and the real battle began. All the enemy's attention was focused on him. At this time, it was possible to strike from the enemy’s open flank and break into the fortress. But Potemkin again showed indecisiveness, missing a real chance to take possession of Ochakov. And he even blamed Suvorov for the loss of the Phinagorian infantry: “Soldiers are not so cheap that they should be lost in vain. Besides, it’s strange to me that you make movements in my presence without my orders. There is no reason why so many priceless people were lost that it was enough for the whole of Ochakov.” Potemkin presented this matter to the Empress in such a way that she declared in the presence of those close to her: “We heard that the old man, rushing without permission, lost up to 400 people and was himself wounded: he was of course drunk.” And Suvorov had a through wound to the neck. He lay in his Kinburn fortress and almost died from an accidental explosion in the workshop “where bombs and grenades were made.”
Less than a month after this incident, on August 18, the Turks again launched a sortie, but on the right flank with the intention of capturing the Russian battery, commanded by M. I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov. In short dashes, taking cover in numerous ditches and gullies, they jumped out to the installed guns, and a fierce battle ensued. The rangers, with a bayonet counterattack, drove back the Janissaries and drove them back to the fortress in order to break into Ochakov on their shoulders. At this time, Kutuzov, holding a white handkerchief as a signal, clung to the embrasure of the fortification and immediately fell over on his back. The bullet hit him in the right cheek and exited through the back of his head. Mikhail Illarionovich’s head was pierced a second time in almost the same place as when he was first wounded during the storming of fortifications in the Crimea, near the Tatar village of Shumy. Both wounds were serious. Doctors wrote about him: “If history had conveyed such a case to us, we would have considered it a fable.” And the doctor who treated him, foreseeing the future, left the following note: “One must think that Providence is protecting this man for something extraordinary, because he was healed of two wounds, each of which was fatal.”
The summer passed in fruitless anticipation. Ochakov's fortification plans had already been purchased from French engineers who were working to strengthen the fortress. But Potemkin still did not dare to storm. He was afraid of Turkish artillery on the small island of Berezan, which was located at the entrance to the estuary, south of Ochakov. Its fire reached Kinburn and did not make it possible to storm Ochakov from the sea, where there were more opportunities for success. “This insignificant fortress” was impregnable. Russian sailors tried to take her several times, but the vigilant guards of the fortress raised the alarm in time, and she bristled with all firearms.
Autumn had already arrived, and Potemkin waited, keeping the army in the trenches in the cold and rain. During this “siege of Troy,” as Rumyantsev sarcastically called the stupid sitting under the fortress, the troops suffered huge losses. The frosts of the pre-winter caught the soldiers in light clothes, hunger from lack of food and disease killed hundreds of people. Suvorov was right three times when he said: “You cannot take a fortress by looking alone. If only they had listened to me, Ochakov would have been in our hands long ago.” Even Admiral Nassau-Siegen expressed his assurance on this occasion back in the summer that “... the fortress could have been taken back in April.”
Potemkin became gloomy and spent days looking at the fortress with an evil gaze. He didn’t want to get involved with the Cossacks, who were reminiscent of the rebel Pugachev, but there was nowhere to go. Former Cossacks, and now “loyal Cossacks”, who swallowed resentment for their Sich, knew how to apply themselves to such situations from ancient times. They were no strangers to going even to Constantinople in their boats. And this fortress on the island of Berezan was accessible only to them. Suvorov sympathized with Potemkin: “God help Berezan!” - he wrote to him.
For a long time the former Cossacks did not dare to carry out the operation, but on one of the dark, cold nights they contrived and took this “fortification”. Another part of the Cossacks, sent to Gadzhibey (Odessa), burned warehouses there with food and equipment for Ochakov. Now Gritsko Nechesa, as Potemkin was called by the Cossacks for his curly hair, was sure that the fortress would not last long.
But another month passed, and the exhausted garrison did not surrender. The difficult winter situation forced Potemkin to take decisive action. In a snowstorm and frost, six columns simultaneously from two sides of the fortress - from the western and eastern - began an assault on it, which lasted “an hour and a quarter.” The battle was brutal.
Assault on Ochakov in December 1788 (Engraving by A. Berg, 1792)
Suvorov, not without irony, sent Potemkin congratulations on the victory that had dragged on to the extreme: “I hasten to congratulate your Lordship on the conquest of Ochakov. God, grant you great laurels...”
For this campaign, G. A. Potemkin was undeservedly awarded the highest degree of the Order of St. George and received in memory of his posterity a personalized gold medal with the image of his person, which the Empress herself indicated in the rescript: “... we honored you with the sign of the 1st degree of Our military order... we bestow upon you the field marshal’s commanding baton, decorated with diamonds and laurels... and in memory they were ordered to make (order) a medal..."
It (80 mm in diameter) was made by master Karl Leberecht. The inscription around the “monumental portrait” of Potemkin himself read: “Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin-Tavrichesky Field Marshal General.” On the reverse side there is a plan for the assault on the Ochakov fortress with the inscription at the top: “With zeal and courage.”
"A. V. Suvorov...received as a reward a diamond feather for a hat worth 4,450 rubles,” Kutuzov - Order of St. Anna 1st degree and Vladimir 2nd degree. Particularly distinguished officers were awarded the Orders of George and Vladimir, and those who “didn’t deserve” them during the assault on Ochakov “... we awarded gold badges to wear in a buttonhole on a ribbon with black and yellow stripes...”. This cross with rounded ends was a cross between an officer's order and a modified cross-shaped medal. Its exceptional rarity is explained by the comparative small number of recipients. And although this sign is lower in rank than military orders, in a historical sense it is undoubtedly of greater interest.
On the front side of it, in the middle, in a double oval frame there is a three-line inscription: “FOR SERVICE - AND - BRAVERY,” and on the back, in exactly the same frame, there is a four-line inscription: “OCHAKOV - TAKE. 6. - DECEMBER - 1788."
Those awarded this cross had their service life reduced by “three years from the number of years required to earn the military order...”. And after its expiration, the officer “...should receive this order (St. George), as if for a feat...”.
In her rescript, Catherine writes a lot about officer awards, but about awarding soldiers she said only one phrase: “... To the lower ranks and privates who were at the assault on Ochakovsky, for their bravery, We most graciously bestow silver medals...”
These medals are of an unusual shape: a narrow oval with the image of the monogram of Catherine II, crowned with the imperial crown; underneath are laurel and palm branches tied with a ribbon.
On the reverse side of the medal there is a nine-line inscription: “FOR - BRAVERY - RENDERED IN THE - CAPTURE OF - OCHAKOV - DECEMBER - 6 DAYS - 1788.”
This medal was received by participants in the assault on the Ochakov fortress, and soldiers wore it on their chests on the St. George Ribbon.
At the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war, Ochakov did not have reliable fortifications or a powerful garrison, which was the main reason that the Ekaterinoslav army set out on a military campaign on the first order, in order to position forces under the walls of this fortress a few weeks later.
Potemkin, tirelessly active until that time, constantly drawing up various plans, after the announcement of the break between the Russian Empire and Turkey, suddenly fell into inaction. The preparations alone took a whole year.
During this time, the Turks managed to bring an entire army behind the walls of Ochakov, filling it with military shells and provisions. In addition, having enlisted the help of French engineers, they managed to erect impregnable strongholds instead of earthen ramparts and bring a powerful fleet into the Black Sea.
The siege work to capture the fortress was not carried out very skillfully - almost half a year at its walls was spent in useless labor. At the same time, a rainy, harsh autumn came, and then an equally harsh winter. The soldiers could only take refuge in frozen dugouts, dying in thousands from disease or from wounds received from frequent attacks by the Turks. At the same time, every general was firmly convinced that Ochakov could be taken in one attack, thereby preserving the glory of the Russian army and weapons. The bravest of them, Suvorov, decided, without waiting for the field marshal’s approval, to begin the assault.
His detachment was killed, and the help the general was counting on never arrived. Suvorov himself was wounded in this battle, after which he was removed from service. Potemkin himself hoped to take Ochakov through negotiations with the Turkish commandant, but he stubbornly refused to defeat. Meanwhile, the lack of provisions began to affect the Russian camp.
Finally, the field marshal agreed to the attack and on December 6, 1788, Ochakov fell. The time of the assault itself, according to eyewitnesses, did not exceed two hours, but it was bloody. Even more terrible was the “bloodbath” that lasted three days after the successful assault on the fortress. Angered by the enemy’s continued stubbornness, Russian soldiers exterminated the Turks with wild fury, regardless of age or gender. In total, according to researchers, more than thirty thousand people were killed.
All the fortifications of Ochakov were completely razed, and where, until the events of the Russian-Turkish War of 1787, there were powerful strongholds that surrounded the rich and populous Turkish city, famous for its magnificent fountains, bazaars and mosques, after that there stood a quiet and dull town.
