Bayazet battle. Different fates of the participants in the defense of Bayazet. Before the Ottoman era

Different destinies 1991 for us = 1945 for the Germans. These years saw the defeat and dismemberment of the USSR and the Third Reich, the relay empires of Russian and European civilizations. Only the West treated Russians and Germans differently. Germany received the Marshall Plan, and we -

On June 18, 1877, during the Russian-Turkish War, a heroic 23-day defense of the Bayazet fortress began by a small Russian detachment, completely unprepared for defense, which was important for both opponents, primarily for moral reasons.

Actions to divert enemy forces from the main direction

The war between the Russian and Ottoman empires began in April 1877, and since it was fought for the liberation of the oppressed peoples of the Balkans, the main theater of operations was located in the southeast of Europe. The Caucasian front was secondary, where Russian troops acted to ensure the security of their territory and divert Turkish forces from the main direction.

To this end, the corps of General Mikhail Loris-Melikov crossed the border and began advancing deeper into enemy territory. The Erivan detachment under the command of General Arzas Tergukasov was advancing on the left flank. It was to his troops that Bayazet (now the city of Dogubayazit in eastern Turkey) surrendered, after which, leaving it with a garrison of one and a half thousand people and a certain amount of artillery, the Tergukas troops moved further in the direction of Erzurum.

The commander of the Tiflis local regiment, Captain Fyodor Shtokvich, who was subordinate to the commandant of Bayazet, was appointed commandant of the citadel. The city was surrounded on almost all sides by mountains, on the ledge of one of them there was a three-story stone palace of Ishak Pasha, built in the oriental style in the 18th century.

A fortress under fire from all sides

There were no people around him fortifications, and the building itself, with its large windows and flat roofs without shelters, did not provide for any defensive actions. In addition, almost the entire space of the castle was perfectly covered by fire from nearby heights. The palace was yet to become a fortress.

Tergukasov's offensive greatly alarmed the commander-in-chief of the Anatolian Army, General Ahmed Mukhtar Pasha, and he ordered Faik Pasha to capture Bayazet, relying on which the Turks could not only disrupt the advance of the Russians, but also, in turn, strike the Erivan province of Russia (now the territory of Armenia).

In turn, Faik Pasha waited for reinforcements to come to him and after Bayazetsky joined his Van detachment, he began to act, moving his regular and irregular units (the latter consisting of Kurdish tribes) towards the enemy. The total number of infantry and cavalry was 11 thousand people with 11 guns.

Unsuccessful foray of the garrison

Early in the morning of June 18, parts of the Russian garrison set out from the fortress to reconnoiter the nearby area and search for the enemy, who had previously left the citadel without accepting battle. The sortie was undertaken at the insistence of Commandant Bayazet and the commander of the troops of this district, Lieutenant Colonel Grigory Patsevich, and almost ended in failure.

Taking advantage of the carelessness of the Russian detachment, which followed without reconnaissance, the soldiers and cavalrymen of Brigadier General Ahmed Faik Pasha, many times superior to the enemy in manpower, surrounded parts of the garrison on three sides, firing at them with murderous fire.

During an attempt to organize a retreat in due order, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Kovalevsky, the former commandant of Bayazet, who had recently been replaced in post by Patsevich, was mortally wounded. After he died, the soldiers of the 2nd battalion of the 74th Stavropol regiment refused to abandon the body of their beloved commander and carried Kovalevsky on a stretcher to the fortress, despite the fact that 20 people died under Turkish bullets.

Rescue maneuver of Ismail Khan

Faik Pasha pursued the retreating enemy on his heels and almost burst into the palace on his shoulders. The situation was saved by the appearance of several hundred Erivan cavalry irregular regiment of Colonel Ismail Khan of Nakhichevan, whose fighters immediately entered into a difficult battle with the Turks and Kurds.

This maneuver allowed the soldiers and Cossacks to reach the fortress, the gates of which were quickly filled with slabs and stones. However, the city itself, along with its commanding heights, ended up in the hands of Faik Pasha, who ordered an immediate assault on the palace and a final victory. But repeated fierce attacks that lasted until nightfall did not bring success to the Turks, and at least 900 dead remained under the walls of the citadel.

The defenders urgently strengthened the building, punching loopholes in the walls and blocking up huge windows with whatever they could. Nests for prone shooting were built on flat roofs, which were lined with bags of food for horses. The next morning, Turkish artillery began methodically shelling the Russians, who had only two guns.

Suffering from thirst and hunger

However, the subordinates of the commander of the 4th platoon of the 4th battery of the 19th artillery brigade, Lieutenant Nikolai Tomashevsky, were distinguished by much better training and responded with well-aimed fire, sweeping away with shrapnel the Turkish infantry firing rifles at the citadel from the mountains and from the trenches.
The most terrible opponents of those surrounded were the lack of food and the almost complete lack of water. The pool on the territory of the fortress was out of order, and when they began to repair it, the Turks diverted the water. The approaches to the stream, located not far from the walls of the citadel, were targeted, and the stream itself, to be sure, was littered with the corpses of people and horses.

June heat and a large number of people crowded among the hot walls of the building greatly increased the suffering of the defenders. And soon the daily portion of water from one lid of a soldier’s pot was reduced to one spoon. Hunger and thirst brought down even the most steadfast, who could hardly hold guns in their hands.

Two shots at the traitor

Considering that the position of the troops subordinate to him was hopeless, on the second day of the siege, June 20, Patsevich decided to capitulate. At the same time, he chose the moment when a mass of Kurds rushed to attack and ordered the white flag to be raised. The majority of the 34 officers of the garrison opposed this decision.

Ismail Khan stated that he would never agree to lay down his arms because he took an oath and because he was a Muslim. “I know that it would be precisely this circumstance that the surrender would be attributed to, even if it were prompted by thousands of other reasons!” he passionately exclaimed.

However, Patsevich, not paying attention to the murmur of his colleagues, climbed the wall and, waving his cap, began shouting in Turkish to the stormers that he was ready to negotiate the surrender of the fortress. At that moment, one of the Russian officers shot him twice in the back. One bullet pierced the chest, the second - the shoulder. Losing consciousness, Patsevich came down from the wall with the words: “I’m wounded, now do what you want.”

© public domain

© public domain

Enemy's Furious Anger

Because of this confusion, the gates were opened, and 236 people from the garrison - in the form of local police - came out. At the same moment, crowds of Kurds attacked those who came out and mercilessly chopped everyone up, not paying attention to the fact that they loudly shouted to the killers that they were their fellow believers and were asking for mercy.

At this dangerous moment, Captain Shtokvich took command, ordering the gates to be urgently closed and the assault repelled. The soldiers and Cossacks fired several well-aimed, concentrated rifle volleys at the enemy lines, which, awaiting the surrender of the citadel, stood in the open and represented an excellent target. As a result, more than 300 enemy soldiers were killed on the spot.

Enraged, the Ottoman units began to take out their anger for the failed attempt to capture the palace on the Armenian population of Bayazet, sparing neither women, nor children, nor the elderly. And all this in front of the Russians, who were powerless to help the unfortunate, except for those who fled to the walls of the citadel - they were dragged there on ropes. At the same time, those Turks who dared to shelter Armenian families were also killed.

Refusal to surrender to the mercy of the victors

After this, monotonous days of siege dragged on, periodically interrupted by the exchange of fire between Ottoman units and daredevils who risked leaving the fortress to get water to the stream. Nine times Turkish representatives offered the besieged to surrender to the mercy of the victors, and each time they received a categorical refusal.

On June 30, the Turks delivered a large-caliber field gun to Bayazet, which was supposed to destroy the Russian cannons, and then, with the help of infantry, it was planned to launch a decisive assault on the enemy fortifications. But Tomashevsky’s gunners did not sleep. Having calculated the location of the enemy cannon from the concentration of Kurdish fighters, they took careful aim and destroyed it with the third shot.

Meanwhile, Loris-Melikov's offensive stopped, and he was forced to fight back to the Russian border. The general refused to believe reports of the capitulation of the garrison in Bayazet, saying that “this cannot be, the Russians do not surrender, they are hoping for our help.”

Everyone understood that, despite the general retreat, duty and honor ordered them to come to the rescue of their own. Early in the morning of July 10, the Erivan detachment, approaching Bayazet, began an offensive. The Turks, despite their numerical superiority in manpower and artillery, were confused and, after a short but fierce battle, retreated.

Defending with all your might

First of all, the soldiers and officers of the liberated garrison rushed to the water. Many of them were so emaciated that they were scary to look at. On July 11 at three o'clock in the afternoon, the Erivan detachment left Bayazet and headed towards the Russian border. Tergukasov informed the command that the fortress had been liberated, and all the wounded and sick were taken out and taken with them.

The defenders of the citadel lost 164 people from the regular units of the garrison killed or died from wounds and diseases. Unfortunately, the suffering suffered did not pass without a trace, and subsequently many soldiers and Cossacks died from exhaustion. The number of losses among their enemy was about 7 thousand people.

What was worse for the Turks was that they not only failed to defeat the small garrison, which had shown the whole world examples of high courage and military skill, but also missed a great opportunity to invade Russia with impunity at a time when its borders were practically unprotected.

Awards found worthy

For incompetent command of troops and general indecisiveness, Faik Pasha was removed from office and put on trial, which expelled him from military service and sentenced him to six months imprisonment with deprivation of his rank and all awards.

On the contrary, all Russian participants in the Bayazet “sitting” were awarded silver medal"In memory of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878."
Shtokvich, promoted to major, Colonel Ismail Khan of Nakhichevan and Lieutenant Tomashevsky were awarded the Order of St. George, IV degree, for courage, bravery and stewardship. In addition, Shtokvich was awarded a golden dragoon saber with the inscription “For bravery.”

Decisive actions in the Caucasian direction awaited the Russian army ahead.

The Bayazet Fortress is located in the far east of Turkey and, according to many, is one of the most beautiful of the huge number of such buildings. It was founded about 3000 years ago.

The Bayazet fortress went down in Russian history when the soldiers of the Russian garrison for 24 days in 1877 held the defense against encirclement by Turkish troops during the war of these two peoples. The legendary fortress was called Bayazet until 1934, now it bears the name Dogubayazit. Also, at this time it is closed for excursions, which causes many to regret the lack of opportunity to see this architectural landmark from the inside.

This architectural object is located near the town of Dogubayazit. It is located in the eastern side of Turkey, several tens of kilometers from the Iranian border.

After 1934, the fortress received the same name from the city near which it is located. The citadel is located in a picturesque location. Many tourists admire its beauty and believe that the fortress should be one of the three most beautiful ancient historical buildings.

The disadvantages of the location of the fortress include the fact that it is impossible to get to it public transport, because he simply doesn’t go there. Therefore, if those who want to look at this architectural object do not have their own car, they will have to use a taxi.

On the way to the Bayazet fortress, you can see a huge training ground of tanks that belong to the Turkish army. This military equipment with armored vehicles is located behind a fence near the road along which you can reach the citadel. Taking photographs of such a testing ground is strictly prohibited.

History of the majestic Bayazet fortress

According to the data historical facts, this citadel was founded 3000 years ago. Its first name came from the Sultan Ottoman Empire Bayezid I. Within the boundaries of the modern Turkish city of Dogubayazit, an ancient fortress can be seen to this day.

Initially, Bayazet was built during the time of the third Armenian royal dynasty. At one time, it was the location of the guard of the caravan route that connected East Asia with the Mediterranean during the history of the Middle Ages. It lasted from the end of the 5th to the 16th century. Also, the Bayazet fortress was a place for storing funds of that time.

This is how everything happened until the emergence of the Ottoman Empire in the middle of the 16th century. Its rulers ruled and controlled all regions, including the place where the fortress was located. In the 17th century, the city of Bayazet was conquered by Prince Alexander Chavchavadze from Georgia.

The period of stay of the Russian garrison in the Bayazet fortress

That year in June marked 140 years since the heroic defense of the Bayazet fortress in Turkey by Russian troops during the Second Russian-Turkish War half of the 19th century century. This event has forever entered the centuries-old history of Russia. During that war Russian state wanted to establish its influence in the place of the Balkan countries.

On the eve of the siege of the Bayazet fortress, after the start of the war, a lieutenant general from Russia, together with the Erivan detachment, crossed the border of Turkey. After which they were given the order to attack the citadel. This was motivated by the fact that in this way the Russian army would be able to block the road for the Turks towards the Erivan province of Russia.

Turkish troops, seeing Russian army, left the walls of the fortress. But already on June 4, the Russians had to accomplish a feat that will be remembered for many thousands of years in Russian and world history. A small garrison of Russian troops was able to hold off an attack from enemy Turkey for more than twenty days in 1877.

On June 28, General Tergukasov, with the help of his troops, saved the garrison, which courageously repelled attacks from enemy forces. The number of Russian defenders was 1.5 thousand, which was 10 times less than the size of the Turkish army.

After the end of the war, the Bayazet fortress was classified as Russian lands, but by decision of the Berlin International Congress of the same time, Bayazet and its surrounding territories were again returned to Turkey to this day.

The three-week siege of the small fortress of Bayazet in June 1877 went down not only in the history of the Russian army, but also in literature. Thanks to Valentin Pikul's novel "Bayazet" this plot became widely known. However, in the interests of the plot, the novelist seriously changed the story and remade the images of the heroes. Meanwhile real story the siege of the fortress is no less interesting and dramatic than the book.

Today's Dogubayazit is a small town in the very east of Turkey, near the border with Armenia. Its days of glory and wealth are long behind us, but centuries ago it was bustling with life. The first settlement and fortress appeared there back in the era Ancient world. Almost unrecognizable ruins of fortifications from the times of the Kingdom of Urartu can be seen in our time. Later there was a fortress of the Armenian kingdom there, and in the Middle Ages the Turks built another citadel, which stood for hundreds of years. TO 19th century this fortress, of course, has long been outdated.

Built to protect against catapult fire, it could not protect against artillery fire. However, this did not have much effect on the well-being of the town, located at the foot of the fortress. Bayazet was successfully located on the trade route. True, in the middle of the 19th century, trade routes changed and Bayazet turned into a tree without roots. Many merchants and ordinary inhabitants left the city, Bayazet became poor. However, the fortress still towered among the rocks. Now it was primarily a citadel. True, the Turks did not really care about fortification work.

In 1877, Russia began a war against Turkey for the liberation of Balkan Christians. The Erivan detachment of the Russian army was advancing on Bayazet. There were no battles near the city then. On April 19, the city, already abandoned by Turkish troops, was occupied by the soldiers of General Tergukasov. Tergukasov, not finding enemy soldiers in the city, left with the main forces to the west, and left a small garrison and hospital in Bayazet.

The service in Bayazet did not promise anything interesting. A dusty little town, the sleepy silence is echoed only by the daily chants of the muezzin. However, at the end of spring, vague rumors spread around the city about the appearance of Turkish troops in the vicinity. Lieutenant Colonel Kovalevsky, who commanded a detachment of Russian troops in Bayazet, sent an alarming report to his superiors, and a reconnaissance detachment went to the mountains.

The scouts did not find anyone and returned in a complacent mood. Kovalevsky himself was soon to be replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Patsevich, so the old commandant was already mentally sitting on his suitcases. Meanwhile, Turkish troops accumulated in the vicinity of Bayazet. Turkish agents operated in the city. The Russians arrested a number of agents, seized telegraph equipment and weapons, but failed to catch all the infiltrators.

It was at this moment that Kovalevsky’s wife, Alexandra, arrived in Bayazet. Unlike the novel's heroine, the commandant's real wife did not have any affairs and, by all accounts, behaved in an exemplary manner.

Patsevich, who came to take over business, decided to conduct reconnaissance in the direction of Van. The reconnaissance mission took place and ended in the encirclement of the weak detachment of Patsevich and Kovalevsky by the Turks. Thanks to the courage and discipline of the soldiers and officers, the detachment made its way back to Bayazet, but Kovalevsky received two bullet wounds in the stomach and quickly died.

The Russians showed a somewhat strange carelessness: there were no supplies of food and water in the Bayazet citadel. Until the last moment, everything was delivered to the city as usual. Only a few days before the complete encirclement of the citadel, the commanders bothered to create at least small warehouses, and the water situation was almost catastrophic from the very beginning. However, almost all the people were taken behind the walls, including part of the Erivan militia detachment under the command of Colonel Ismail Khan of Nakhichevan.

In the novel, he is endowed with various vices, but in reality, Ismail Khan turned out to be a brave and managerial commander, one of the key figures in further defense. In Bayazet, with him was his son, who received a serious wound during the breakthrough into the citadel.

The Ottoman cavalry rolled down from the mountains. The detachment that besieged the one and a half thousand garrison of Bayazet numbered 11 thousand sabers. Moreover, as the siege progressed, new troops approached Bayazet. The besieged had only nine days of food. The mood was very gloomy. The widow of Lieutenant Colonel Kovalevsky even agreed with one of the doctors that if the Turks burst inside, the doctor would shoot her.

The commandant of the citadel was Captain Shtokvich, in addition, the troops as a whole were led by Lieutenant Colonel Patsevich. The fortress, occupied by the Russians, provided weak protection. There weren't even parapets on the walls. Fortunately, the extreme weakness of the besiegers' artillery did not allow them to simply smash the walls with fire.

The Russians were doing their best to improve their simple fortification. The gates were barricaded, the windows were blocked with stones, and parapets were built at all positions for people and guns. The night passed in alarm: in the city itself the Turks were slaughtering non-believers. At the same time, they killed several militiamen who did not have time to take refuge in the citadel. There were skirmishes with the garrison itself.

On June 19, the Turks and Kurds began shelling the citadel with small cannons and rifles. The garrison was given an ultimatum, which was not accepted. And the next day the assault followed.

The Turks fired actively, but without much result, and at noon they sent men to storm the citadel. At that moment, Lieutenant Colonel Patsevich lost his nerve, and he ordered the white flag to be thrown out. A soldier with a banner climbed onto the roof. This was the critical moment of the siege. Chaos reigned. Enraged officers shouted at each other, trying to decide whether to carry out orders or continue fighting. Many simply did not believe that the white flag could be raised seriously and continued to fire.

The shooting from the fortress either subsided or began again. The flag was torn down. Patsevich ran around the courtyard of the citadel, trying to stop the shooting at the threat of a revolver. Cossack foreman Kvanin easily took the white flag from another soldier sent by Patsevich. Several officers have already decided to descend from the wall and fight their way out with bayonets if there is a capitulation. The irregulars began to break down the barricade in front of the gate, but behind it there was already a cannon pointed at the opening. The gunners were going to hit anyone who came inside with grapeshot and then fight with cold steel, but at that moment someone mortally wounded Patsevich.

The memories of Ismail Khan and the Cossack constable who was present at the event leave no doubt that the unlucky lieutenant colonel was killed from the inside: Patsevich was wounded in the back. They couldn’t determine who fired the shot, and they didn’t want to. The general result was summed up by Ismail Khan: “There is a black sheep in a family.”

The chaos lasted only a few minutes, after which a wave of fire fell on the Turks and Kurds trampling under the walls. Rapid-fire rifles made holes in the dense crowd, the screams of the dying mixed with curses and roar. The attack failed. According to the Russians, three hundred bodies remained under the walls.

A number of Caucasian irregular militias became victims on the Russian side. These unfortunates began to surrender when Patsevich raised the white flag, but the Turks did not even wait for the entire garrison to capitulate, and killed them on the spot. It’s easy to imagine what would have happened if the Russians had opened the gates and everyone had capitulated.

After this, the defense was led by Shtokvich and Ismail Khan. The first was formally lower in rank, but held the position of commandant and, thus, had the right to direct the actions of the garrison. One of the first orders was to send a parliamentarian to the Turks. They were asked to remove the corpses of their soldiers from under the walls.

The assault had failed, and now it was necessary to resist a more terrible enemy. People were thirsty. The river was within easy reach, but the bank was under fire. Volunteers with buckets and jugs were constantly climbing down ropes or climbing out through a gap in the wall. The Turks tried to shoot the water carriers, and from the loopholes they attacked them themselves. These forays were incredibly risky, and some paid with their lives for trying to save their comrades. However, there were always volunteers.

The reward was the opportunity to drink from the river. Shtokvich, seeing the success of these campaigns, organized a sortie. The Russians fought the Turks hand-to-hand, with sabers and bayonets, and retreated only after properly stocking up on precious water. After this, the enraged Turks filled the river upstream with corpses. The Russians added more bodies to them: looters walked around the city, but they became vulnerable when they tried to drive away the donkeys with the stolen goods. These drivers were shot by snipers from the fortress. Although the Turks did not attempt a decisive assault, fire was constantly exchanged.

One day, the defenders of Bayazet noticed a Russian detachment in the distance. What a disappointment, it was just a reconnaissance! Soon a new parliamentarian - a defector - appeared in the citadel. He said that if the Russians did not surrender, they would be hanged. Ismail Khan announced that the envoy would be hanged and the white flag would not allow him to escape punishment for treason. The traitor was strung up, and the Turks, after new attempts to send an ultimatum, were promised that the new delegates would be shot.

However, Ismail Khan and Shtokvich were worried about the question: do people outside know about the plight of the fortress? The first messengers were unable to reach the main forces, but a trio of Cossacks, led by sergeant Sivolobov, made their way through the outposts at night and were able to convey the news about the position of the fortress to their own. And it got worse. Because of bad water, which was also lacking, epidemics slowly flared up in the garrison. True, the Turks could not take the fortress from battle. An attempt to drag a heavy weapon under the walls ended in a duel with a Russian cannon on the wall. The Russians knocked out a Turkish cannon with a second shot. The discouraged Turks retreated, and a new assault did not take place.

On the night of July 7, one of the happiest events during the siege occurred: heavy rain fell over Bayazet. They filled every container they could with water, right down to their boots. Thirst subsided somewhat, but the Turks resumed their furious bombardment. The Ottomans tried to persuade the fortress to surrender as quickly as possible. Unlike the besieged, they already knew perfectly well that help was coming.

On July 9, in Bayazet, they heard peals in the distance. At first they couldn’t say for sure whether they were our own. But on the 10th, at dawn, the bayonets of Tergukasov’s detachment began to shine in front of Bayazet. It was a salvation. The Turks still retained some numerical superiority, but the Erivan detachment consisted entirely of disciplined, well-armed infantry, which the irregular Turkish-Kurdish cavalry could not oppose.

Finally, a detachment of the most persistent soldiers made a sortie from the fortress. The battle did not last long. The siege cost the lives of 116 garrison soldiers, but all were extremely exhausted by disease, hunger and thirst. The soldiers who emerged from the citadel immediately rushed to the water. The saviors and the saved are mixed up. Some people slipped crackers and meat to their comrades, others changed into clean clothes after the siege. Only the captured Turks were not happy. They got the thankless job of dismantling the dead and cleaning up the fortress. Leaning on the arm of an officer, the widow of the deceased commander, Alexandra Kovalevskaya, emerged from the citadel. Thus ended the defense of the Bayazet citadel and the legend began.

The defense of Bayazet from the very beginning was in the focus of public attention. Emperor Alexander II was the first to demand a report on the defense of the citadel. Not everything was perfectly organized during this siege, but ultimately the fortitude and military skill of the defenders led to complete success. Subsequently, the history of the defense of the fortress was repeatedly described in documentary and fiction and in itself has become almost a legend. Meanwhile, the spouses Kovalevsky, Shtokvich, Kvanin, Ismail Khan, Sivolobov are quite real and wrote one of its heroic pages in Russian military history.

20,000 Turks against 2,300 Russian soldiers, 3 weeks of siege with virtually no food, water or weapons (twenty-seven guns versus three).

about the type of Kamchatka, I’ll tell you another story :) This story is a little more known, but still not to that extent.

What do we know about the Russian-Turkish war of 1877–1878? Well, yes, Shipka, Plevna (there is a monument in Moscow, Muscovites are aware), the liberation of Bulgaria (which many of us regret right now:). However, few people know the defense of the Bayazet fortress, where the Russian garrison of 2,300 people held out against the Turks of 20,000 people for as much as 3 weeks until help arrived.

As usual, the difficulties of the siege of the garrison in Bayazet arose due to the traditional Russian ***********. For example, when they saw the armada of the Turkish army, no one bothered to stock up on water in the terrible heat (and there were huge pools and reservoirs in the fortress). No one thought to bring water from the spring either. When they had enough, there was no more water, they drank it all on the first day of the siege. Subsequently, water was extracted by volunteers under Turkish fire, from the river under the walls of the fortress - soon the Turks threw the corpses of people and horses into the river, and the besieged drank this water - there was no choice. At the end of the siege, the ration included one (!) spoon of water per day.

The food was better, but not much. There should have been 2,000 pounds of crackers in the warehouses, but it turned out to be 356 pounds of crackers - it turned out that sutler Sarkiz aga-Mamukov supplied 6 times (!) less food for a bribe, paying money to the receiving army quartermasters - one hundred rubles each (yes, that too during the war). As a result, they received 200 grams of crackers per person per day, and ground barley was also given to the besieged. The Russian bureaucracy is amazing - almost until the end of the siege, the quartermasters did not allow horses to be slaughtered, because - “how can you account for them later?!” That is, by the beginning of the siege on June 6, 1877, there was virtually no food or water in the garrison.

It is interesting that if it were not for Bayazet, the outcome of the Russian-Turkish war could have been different. The Ottoman general Faik Pasha led a 20,000-strong army to the Caucasus, and would have calmly rushed there, taking Tiflis, because there were almost no Russian troops in the southern provinces. Then the road would open to Azerbaijan and Yekaterinodar... in general, there would be complete hello and “hurray”. However, Faik Pasha foolishly reported to Istanbul about the capture of Bayazet, and could not leave until he took it. The 20,000-strong army stayed under the fortress for three weeks, giving the Russians in the Caucasus the opportunity to gather troops.

On June 8, the Turks stormed the citadel, and the commandant of the fortress, Lieutenant Colonel Patsevich, decided to capitulate. He ordered the gates to be opened and started to wave the white flag - at this romantic moment one of the garrison defenders uncivilly shot him in the back and mortally wounded him. Patsevich uttered the historical phrase - “I’m wounded, now do what you want,” and the Turks who entered the gate mentally received *****. The leadership of the fortress was taken over by Captain Shtokvich as commandant, and Azerbaijani Ismail Khan as head of the garrison. Ismail Khan in Pikul’s “Bayazet” is depicted as a coward and a traitor, and this is not true. It was Ismail Khan who ordered all the Turkish envoys to be hanged with a proposal to surrender (one was hanged, the other was thrown out of the window), and after the end of the siege he was awarded the Order of St. George.

Faik Pasha ******* that his troops cannot take a fortress with a tiny garrison. Offers of surrender became more and more honorable, and the assaults became more and more fierce. However, the weakened, hungry people, who fell to the floor from the recoil of the gun in the shoulder, held on. During the siege, 317 Russian soldiers and approximately 8,000 Turks died. The Turks had 27 cannons, the Russians had 3, they later found another one in the fortress (an old “unicorn” from Catherine’s times), and adapted it for firing. What is most surprising is that from this “unicorn” they destroyed a modern Krupp gun, which the Turks had specially brought for the siege, during the famous “Bayazet artillery duel”, commanded by a gunner named Postny. He himself died in this duel, but he also butchered the Krupp cannon like God cut up a turtle.

At the very end of the siege, the situation became very bad. The garrison was exhausted from thirst, hunger, heat, lice, but DID NOT GIVE UP and repelled the assaults. To Faik Pasha’s last proposal, Captain Shtokvich replied: “If you so badly want to take the fortress, come and take us by force. The Russians don’t give up alive.” However, the cunning Shtokvich also managed to send spies to Tiflis (there were no telephones then), and there, having learned about the position of the garrison (they had never heard of it), they deployed the army of General Ter-Gukasov. On June 28th he came to Bayazet and put to flight Turkish troops and lifted the siege, thereby ending the “Bayazet Sitting”.

What happened next? Shtokvich and Ismail Khan received the Order of St. George (and Shtokvich was also given a golden weapon). The artilleryman, Lieutenant Tomashevsky, also received the St. George Cross: it was he who turned his guns towards the gates after the order to open them, and in response to Patsevich’s threat of a tribunal, he literally answered the lieutenant colonel with noble aristocratism - “Go to *****, don’t stop the Russian soldier from dying.” By the way, Pikul Tomashevsky, bred under the name of Major Potresov, died for some reason. But Pikul, as I said above, did not get along with Ismail Khan. All Bayazet's soldiers received a monetary reward and promotion to the next rank.