230 years ago, on December 17, 1788, the Russian army under the command of Prince Potemkin stormed the Turkish fortress Ochakov on the Black Sea coast near the mouth of the Dnieper. The battle was fierce - the entire Turkish garrison was destroyed. The capture of this strategic fortress allowed Russia to finally gain a foothold in the Northern Black Sea region.
Background
The strengthened Russian Empire was rapidly solving the problem of returning the Northern Black Sea region, the Russian (Black) Sea under its control. After the Russian-Turkish war of 1768 - 1774, the position of the Ottoman Empire in the Black Sea region continued to deteriorate. Russia by 1783 annexed Crimea, Taman and Kuban. The robber state formation of the Crimean Tatars, which for centuries brought great damage to Russia, was eliminated. Russia began to rapidly develop a new region - to build cities, fortresses, ports, shipyards, develop an economy and settle new lands. A new fleet is being built - the Black Sea, Sevastopol became its main base. Also in 1783, Russia entered into an agreement with the Georgian kingdom of Karli-Kakheti (Eastern Georgia) on the patronage of the supreme power of the Russian tsar. As a result, according to the Georgievsky treatise, Eastern Georgia came under the protectorate of the Russian Empire.
Thus, Russia has significantly strengthened its position in the Black Sea region and in the Caucasus. Turkey continued to lose influence in the region. It was quickly crowded out by the Russian Empire. Porta began to prepare for a new war. In 1787, the Ottoman Empire, backed by the great European powers (England, Prussia and France), concerned about Russia's movement in the south, issued an ultimatum to St. Petersburg demanding the restoration of the former position of the Crimean Khanate and Eastern Georgia (vassals of Turkey). The Turks also sought permission to inspect Russian ships passing through the Black Sea straits.
Having received a refusal to their insolent demands, on August 13, 1787, Turkey declared war on Russia. The main goal of the war of the Port was the return of the Crimea under its rule, this was to be helped by a strong fleet with an amphibious corps and the strategic fortress of Ochakov in the area of the mouth of the Dnieper. The Russian fleet had just begun to be built, so in Constantinople they hoped for the domination of their fleet at sea, which was to become a decisive factor in the war for the Crimea.
Map source: Great Soviet Encyclopedia (TSB)
War
Seeking to exploit the fact that Russia was not ready for war, the Turks attacked first. The Turkish fleet reached Kinburn and landed troops on October 1 (12). However, the Turkish forces were exterminated by a detachment led by Suvorov. The Russian commander had only 1600 people. The Turks landed 5,500 people - 5,000 of them were killed and sunk. This ended the campaign of 1787. After such a terrible pogrom, the Turks no longer took active action.
In winter, Russia secured an anti-Turkish alliance with Austria. Porta decided, during the 1788 campaign, to first strike a decisive blow on the Austrians. Against Russia, confine ourselves to strategic defense, strengthening the fortresses on the Danube front. The main striking force against Russia was the fleet, the Turkish naval forces were supposed to support Ochakov, and attack Kinburn and Kherson. By the beginning of the campaign, Russia had formed two armies. Home - Ekaterinoslavskaya under the leadership of Potemkin (82 thousand.people and 180 guns), was supposed to advance from the Dnieper through the Bug and Dniester to the Danube, take strong fortresses - Ochakov and Bender. The auxiliary army of Rumyantsev (about 37 thousand people) was supposed to reach the middle reaches of the Dniester, establish contact with the Austrian allies. A separate Russian detachment was stationed in the Kuban to protect the borders from the raids of the Kuban Tatars and highlanders. Austria fought in the Serbian direction, and to communicate with the Russians sent the corps of the Prince of Coburg to Moldova.
The campaign of 1788 was waged by the Allies sluggishly and unsuccessfully. Potemkin's army only crossed the Bug in June and laid siege to Ochakov in July. The Turkish fortress was of strategic importance, being one of the main strongholds of Turkey in the Northern Black Sea region. One of the bases of the Turkish fleet was located here. Ochakov made it possible to control the exit from the Dnieper-Bug estuary (the Dnieper and the Southern Bug rivers flow into it) into the Black Sea. By the beginning of the campaign in 1788, the Turks, with the help of French specialists, managed to prepare the fortress for defense: to strengthen the garrison, restore the old and prepare new fortifications. The Ochakovskaya fortress adjoined one side (the least protected) to the Liman. The walls were covered with a rampart and a ditch. On the outskirts of the fortress itself there was the first line of defense - earthworks. About 300 guns were installed on the ramparts and walls, and 30 cannons on the field fortifications. Apart from the fortress, on the top of the Ochakovsky cape, there was the Gassan Pasha castle. The fortress was provided with food and ammunition for a long siege. In addition, the garrison of the fortress counted on the support of the Turkish fleet. As a result, the siege dragged on until December 1788. Ochakov was surrounded from the land by the army, and from the side of the estuary - by the flotilla, which successfully repulsed all the encroachments of the Turkish fleet.
It is worth noting that the young Black Sea Fleet acted very actively and decisively against the enemy fleet, which was trying to help its fortress and the Dnieper Turkish flotilla. In the battles of June 7 and June 17, the Russian Dnieper flotilla under the command of admirals John Paul Jones and Karl of Nassau-Siegen, Captain Panagioti Alexiano repulsed the attacks of the Turkish fleet. On the night of June 18, the Turkish fleet decided to leave Ochakov and during the retreat came under fire from coastal batteries installed by Suvorov. The defeat was completed by the arrived in time Russian ships (The defeat of the Turkish fleet in the Ochakovo battle). The Turks suffered heavy losses in the two-day battle of Ochakov: 15 ships, including 5 battleships and 5 frigates, which had about 500 guns. The Turkish sailing fleet was forced to leave for Varna. On July 1, the Russian flotilla finished off the Turkish Dnieper flotilla at Ochakov. And on July 3, a Russian sailing squadron under the command of Voinovich and Ushakov defeated the Ottoman fleet at Fidonisi (Battle of Fidonisi). At the end of July, the Turkish fleet again reached Ochakov, but after its departure at the end of October, the fortress was doomed. Thus, the Russian fleet did not allow the Turks to provide full support to Ochakov from the sea. The unconditional domination of the Turkish fleet in the Black Sea was coming to an end.
Rumyantsev's army crossed the Dniester in July and sent Saltykov's division to help the Austrians of Coburg, who unsuccessfully tried to take Khotin. The Turks, not wanting to surrender the fortress to the Austrians, whom they despised, surrendered it to the Russians in September 1788. Rumyantsev, left after the separation of Saltykov's division, almost without troops, could not undertake anything decisive. The Turks also did not undertake anything serious. Russian troops occupied northern Moldavia and in winter settled in the Yassy-Chisinau region. The Austrian army suffered a complete defeat during the 1788 campaign.
The assault on Ochakov. Engraving by A. Berg 1792
Storm of Ochakov
The main forces of the Russian army were bound by the siege of Ochakov. The commander-in-chief acted extremely sluggishly, for five months a large army stood under the walls of the fortress, where there were 15 thousand. Turkish garrison under the command of Hasan Pasha. The brave Suvorov, who led a part of the army, repeatedly offered to go on a decisive assault with the support of the Lman (Dnieper) flotilla, but Potemkin hesitated. The commander-in-chief decided to carry out the correct siege, fearing failure. The troops began to build redoubts with artillery batteries to protect the flanks, then they planned to take the suburbs, move the guns forward, connect them with a trench and begin a methodical bombardment of the fortress, forcing the enemy to surrender. It was impossible to dig under the walls because of the hardness of the soil.
During the siege, Russian troops repelled a series of attacks by the enemy garrison, which tried to interfere with engineering work. An especially large attack was repelled on July 27 (August 7), 1788. Suvorov personally led two battalions of grenadiers into a counterattack and repelled an enemy attack, while he was wounded. He offered to immediately go to storm the fortress and take it before the enemy came to his senses. However, Potemkin again abandoned the assault. The wounded Suvorov surrendered command of the troops to General Bibikov. During the siege of Ochakov, other Russian heroes also noted - Bagration, Kutuzov, Barclay de Tolly, Platov. So, when on August 18 (29) the Ottomans again made a sortie from the side of the Estuary on the left flank of the Russian army. During the four-hour battle, the attack was repelled and the Turks killed and wounded about 500 people, the Russian losses amounted to 152 people. In this battle, Major General Kutuzov, chief of the Bug Jaeger Corps, distinguished himself and received a second wound in the head. The bullet hit him in the cheek and exited through the back of the head, he miraculously survived again.
The siege was very difficult. The damp cold autumn gave way to an early and fierce winter (it has long been remembered by the people as Ochakovskaya). The army was ill-prepared for the siege. The soldiers suffered the need for uniforms, provisions and fuel. There was no forest for heating in the bare steppe. There was no fodder, almost all of the cavalry dismounted. The soldiers froze in their dugouts and themselves asked for an assault in order to quickly end the hateful siege. The troops lost more people in such conditions than in battles. Empress Catherine II, who was waiting for news of victory, was unhappy with her powerful favorite. The influence of his opponents grew. In St. Petersburg, there was a caustic statement by Rumyantsev: "Ochakov is not Troy to besiege it for ten years." In November, the empress sent a rescript to the prince to finally get down to business energetically.
Plan of the Turkish fortress Ochakov, taken by Russian troops on December 6, 1788 1790s. Painted engraving. Austria
Meanwhile, the enemy's defenses were weakening. Russian troops approached the fortress and erected two lines of field fortifications, where 30 artillery batteries with 317 cannons were deployed. The bombing of Ochakov was carried out both from land and from ships of the flotilla. By early November, the Ottomans had lost most of the guns in the forward fortifications. The bastion of the fortress, adjacent to the Estuary, was badly damaged. Most of the buildings in the city were destroyed or burned down. In November, a flotilla of Cossack boats under the command of Ataman Golovaty, covered by the ships of the Dnieper flotilla, made a swift raid on the fortified island of Berezan, located in front of Ochakov. The Ottomans surrendered, 320 people laid down their arms. The Turks handed over to the Cossacks the keys to the fortress, more than 20 guns, 11 banners, 150 powder buds and other supplies.
Only after the idea of a correct siege had failed, and the enemy still stubbornly refused to surrender, Potemkin decided to attack. It was necessary either to lift the siege and return in disgrace, or to undertake a desperate assault. The start of the attack was postponed several times due to bad weather conditions. In early December, the commander-in-chief approved the plan of operation prepared by General-in-Chief Meller. To ensure the surprise of the strike, the preliminary shelling of the fortress was abandoned. 6 (17) December 1788 at 7 o'clock. In the morning, in a 20-degree frost, 18 thousand soldiers went on a decisive assault on Ochakov (about 21 thousand people remained in the siege corps itself). Six assault columns went into battle, which simultaneously attacked the earthen fortifications surrounding the Ochakovskaya fortress, the Gassan Pasha castle and the fortress itself. First, the earthen fortifications between the Ochakovskaya fortress and the Gassan Pasha castle were captured. Then Russian soldiers attacked the Turkish fortifications in the center and went out to the walls and gates of the fortress itself. Under cover of artillery fire, the grenadiers broke into the walls and opened the gates for the troops who had captured the forward fortifications. The Turks, driven from the city walls, settled in houses, fought in the streets and offered desperate resistance. Hand-to-hand fighting in the fortress itself lasted for about an hour. The main part of the fighters in this battle died from cold weapons. There were practically no prisoners taken in the fortress itself.
Polish artist J. Sukhodolsky. "Storm of Ochakov"
The battle was bloody and characterized by extreme ferocity. Two-thirds of the Turkish garrison was killed, 4500 were taken prisoner, including the commandant Hasan Pasha (Hussein Pasha) and about 450 officers. The fortress was littered with bodies. There were so many corpses that, unable to bury them in the frozen ground, thousands of bodies were taken to the ice of the estuary, where they lay until spring. Among the trophies - 180 banners and 310 guns, as well as many weapons, equipment and various supplies.
Our losses are 2,289 people killed and wounded. It is clear that after the protracted siege of Ochakov, the capture of Bender was out of the question. Potemkin took the army to winter quarters, and he himself left for the capital. For the capture of Ochakov, His Serene Highness was awarded the Order of St. George 1 st. and received other generous awards. The siege corps was given an additional six-month salary. In 1789, the medal "For the courage shown during the capture of Ochakov" was instituted. The medal was awarded to the lower ranks and privates of the army who took part in the siege and storming of the Ottoman fortress. A total of 15384 silver medals were minted.
The capture of Ochakov became one of the most important events of the war and was included in the chronicle of the exploits of the Russian army. According to the Yassy Peace Agreement of 1791, Ochakov became part of the Russian Empire. This allowed Russia to secure the Northern Black Sea region - the Dnieper estuary and the adjacent district, to ensure the safety of Kherson, Nikolaev and the Crimean peninsula. No wonder contemporaries noted that "Ochakov is the natural southern Kronstadt."
Medal "For the courage shown during the capture of Ochakov"
