From the appeal of the Bulgarian Central Committee to the Bulgarian people
Brothers! Hordes of Turkish monsters drowned our protest in blood and committed those unheard-of atrocities for which there is no justification, atrocities that shocked the whole world. Our villages were burned: mothers, loved ones, children were dishonored and slaughtered without pity; priests crucified on crosses; the temples of God were desecrated, and the fields were strewn with innocent bloodied victims. We bore the martyr's cross for a whole year, but amidst the indescribable oppression and suffering, hope glimmered and strengthened us. The hope that never left us for a minute was the great Orthodox Rus'.
Brothers! It was not in vain that we waited for her powerful support, a year has passed, she comes and asks for an account for the blood of the martyrs.
Soon the victorious Russian banners will rise in our fatherland, and under their shadow the beginnings of a better future will be laid.
The Russians are coming unselfishly, like brothers, to help, to do now the same thing that they did earlier to liberate the Greeks, Romanians, and Serbs.
Bulgarians! Let us all meet the liberating brothers as one and assist the Russian army...
COURSE OF EVENTS
During the siege of Plevna, four battles were fought: the first three were attacks on the tour. fortifications, the fourth - the last attempt of Osman Pasha to break through battle formations besiegers. July 20, 1877 vanguard of the corps of General. Schilder-Schuldner numbering 6,500 people. attacked the defensive fortifications north and east of Plevna; the Russians lost two-thirds of their officers and approx. 2000 soldiers. The second battle took place on July 30, when Gen. Kridener with two Russian divisions (30,000 people) attacked the tour. redoubts to the north and east of the city; gene. Shakhovskoy commanded the offensive. The attack on the Grivitsky redoubt (north of Plevna), which turned out to be completely unsuccessful, was led by Kridener himself; Shakhovskoy by 17.30 captured two redoubts located east of the fortress, but even before darkness they were retaken by the Turks, and the Russians retreated, suffering defeat along the entire front. Their losses amounted to 169 officers and 7,136 soldiers, including 2,400 who were left dead on the battlefield. 11 and 12 September an army of 95,000 people besieging the city. under the command of Grand Duke Mikhail attacked Plevna from three sides. Osman Pasha at this time had 34,000 people under his command. 11 Sep. the attack on the Omerbey redoubt was repulsed, Russian losses amounted to 6,000 people. Skobelev captured two of the six internal redoubts that protected the corner of the fortress from the southwest. 12 Sep. The attack on the second Grivitsky redoubt was repelled, and after a fierce battle, the two redoubts captured by Skobelev were again occupied by the Turks. As a result of the two-day battle, Russian losses amounted to 20,600 people, including 2,000 prisoners, with a tour. sides - 5000. 10 Dec. Osman Pasha, at the head of a 25,000-strong detachment, with 9,000 wounded and recovering in carts, tried to break through the Russian army besieging the city, which by this time numbered 100,000 people. (under the nominal leadership of the Romanian Prince Karol, chief of staff - General Totleben). Having successfully crossed the river. Vit, Osman attacked the Russian troops on a front two miles long and captured the first line field fortifications. However, Totleben hastily sent reinforcements there, and the Turks, in turn, were attacked and driven back across the river in disorder; Osman was seriously wounded. The Turks are here last time tried to gain a foothold, but were crushed and pushed back to Plevna; the city capitulated before evening after 143 days of defense. In this battle, the Turks lost 5,000, the Russians - 2,000 killed and wounded. The Russian army continued its movement deep into the Balkan Peninsula.
SKOBELEV UNDER THE PLEVNA
...He was extremely popular in Russian society. “Our Achilles,” said I.S. about him. Turgenev. Skobelev’s influence on the mass of soldiers could only be compared with the influence of. The soldiers idolized him and believed in his invulnerability, since he, who spent his entire life in battle, was never wounded. Soldiers' rumor “certified” that Skobelev knew a conspiracy word against death (“in Turkestan he bought it from a Tatar for 10 thousand gold”). Near Plevna, a wounded soldier told his comrades: “The bullet went through him (Skobelev - N.T.), nothing to him, but it wounded me.”
N. Troitsky
UNSTOPPABLE "HURRAY!"
At the end of November, the Turks left the fortress and tried to break through the Russian defense lines in one of the sections and join the main forces of their army. But they failed. They were stopped, attacked and surrounded by reserves of Russian troops that quickly arrived from other areas.
On command, the troops quickly moved apart, and as soon as the Turks rushed into the space open to them, forty-eight copper throats threw fire and death into their solid and crowded ranks... Buckshot with an angry whistle burst into this living mass, leaving another mass along the way, but already either motionless, lifeless, or writhing in terrible agony... The grenades fell and exploded - and there was nowhere to escape from them. As soon as the grenadiers noticed that the fire on the Turks had the proper effect... they rushed at a quick pace with a bang. Once again bayonets crossed, once again the copper jaws of the guns roared, and soon the countless crowd of the enemy fell into disorderly flight... The attack proceeded brilliantly. The retreaters hardly fired back. Redif and Nizam, bashi-buzouks and cavalrymen with Circassians - all this was mixed into one sea of \u200b\u200bhorses and lava, uncontrollably rushing back...
At the head of his best camps, himself in front, Osman Pasha rushed in to try one last time to break through our lines. Each soldier following him fought for three... But everywhere... a wall of menacing bayonets grew in front of him, and an uncontrollable “Hurray!” thundered right in the pasha’s face. Everything was lost. The duel was ending... The army must lay down its arms, fifty thousand of the best combat troops will be deleted from Turkey’s already significantly depleted resources...
Nemirovich-Danchenko V. I. Year of the war. Diary of a Russian correspondent, 1877-1878, St. Petersburg, 1878
ALL RUSSIA REJOICES
The battle on November 28 with Osman Pasha decided the fate of his army, which had so steadfastly resisted all the efforts of our weapons for almost 8 months. This army, with its worthy commander at its head, numbering 40 thousand, surrendered to us unconditionally...
I am proud to command such troops and must tell you that I cannot find words to adequately express my respect and admiration for your military prowess.
Bearing with full consciousness of your sacred duty all the difficulties of the blockade service near Plevna, you completed it in battle on November 28, like real heroes. Remember that I am not alone, but all of Russia, all its sons are rejoicing and rejoicing at your glorious victory over Osman Pasha...
Commander of the Grenadier Corps, Lieutenant General P.S. Ganetsky
A. Kivshenko. Surrender of Plevna (Wounded Osman Pasha before Alexander II). 1880. (Fragment)
RUSSIAN WINNERS
Emperor Alexander, who was in Tuchenitsa, having learned about the fall of Plevna, immediately went to the troops and congratulated them... Osman Pasha, the “lion of Plevna,” was received by the sovereign and his senior commanders with distinction and delicacy. The Emperor said a few flattering words to him and returned the saber. Russian officers showed the captured marshal high respect at every opportunity.
On December 11, the Russians entered the conquered city, surrounded on all sides by mountains, lying completely in a basin opening only to the west... The sanitary situation of the city was simply terrifying. Hospitals, mosques and other buildings were overflowing with corpses, dying sick and wounded. These unfortunates were left without help and charity; Great energy and dedication were required to separate the living from the dead and establish at least some order.
On December 15, the emperor left the theater of military operations, returning to St. Petersburg, where he was received with indescribable delight.
MONUMENT TO THE HEROES OF PLEVNA
From an appeal to the troops about the opening of a voluntary subscription for the monument to the heroes of Plevna
Serving as a tribute of deep respect to the memory of those who fell in this battle, the erected monument will serve to maintain high military feelings in future descendants: valor, bravery and courage, and for the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula - a reminder that they owe their freedom and new life to the Christian generosity of the Russian people, who redeemed their liberation through the blood of faithful sons.
November 28 (December 11 according to the “new style”), 1877. Capture of Plevna by Russian troops. Surrender Turkish army Osman Pasha
Monument to the heroes of Plevna in Moscow (1887)
During the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. For the liberation of the Balkan Slavs, the Turkish fortress of Plevna in Bulgaria was a serious threat to the right flank and rear of the Russian army, it riveted its main forces to itself and slowed down the offensive in the Balkans.
After a bloody four-month siege and three unsuccessful attacks, the besieged army of Osman Pasha ended food supplies, and on November 28 at 7 o’clock in the morning he made the last attempt to break through to the west of Plevna, where he threw all his forces. The first furious onslaught forced our troops to retreat from the forward fortifications. But artillery fire from the second line of fortifications did not allow the Turks to escape from the encirclement. The grenadiers went on the attack and drove the Turks back. From the north, the Romanians attacked the Turkish line, and from the south, General Skobelev burst into the city.
Osman Pasha was wounded in the leg. Realizing the hopelessness of his situation, he threw out a white flag in several places. When Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich appeared on the battlefield, the Turks had already surrendered. The last assault on Plevna cost the Russians 192 killed and 1,252 wounded, the Turks lost up to 4,000 people. 44 thousand surrendered, including Osman Pasha. However, by personal order of Emperor Alexander II, for the courage shown by the Turks, his saber was returned to the wounded and captured Turkish general.
In just four months of the siege and fighting near Plevna, about 31 thousand Russian soldiers died. However, this became a turning point in the war: the capture of this fortress allowed the Russian command to free up over 100 thousand people for the offensive, and a month later the Turks requested a truce. The Russian army occupied Andrianople without a fight and approached Constantinople, but the Western powers did not allow Russia to occupy it, threatening a severance of diplomatic relations (and England with mobilization). Emperor Alexander II did not risk a new war, since the main goal was achieved: the defeat of Turkey and the liberation of the Balkan Slavs. So it seemed. Negotiations have begun on this. On February 19, 1878, peace with Turkey was signed in San Stefano. And although the Western powers did not allow the complete unification of the Bulgarian lands to be achieved at that time, this war became the basis for the future independence of a united Bulgaria.
Battle of Plevna November 28, 1877
On the day of the decade heroic battle, in the center of Moscow at the beginning of Ilyinsky Square, a chapel-monument to the grenadiers who fell in the battle near Plevna was consecrated. The chapel was built on the initiative and with voluntary donations from the surviving grenadiers who took part in the Battle of Plevna. The author of the project was academician of architecture V.O. Sherwood. The cast-iron octagonal chapel ends with a tent with Orthodox cross trampling the Muslim crescent. Her side faces decorated with 4 high reliefs: a Russian peasant blessing his grenadier son before a campaign; a Janissary snatching a child from the arms of a Bulgarian mother; a grenadier taking a Turkish soldier prisoner; a Russian warrior tearing the chains off a woman representing Bulgaria. On the edges of the tent there are inscriptions: “Grenadiers to their comrades who fell in the glorious battle near Plevna on November 28, 1877”, “In memory of the war with Turkey of 1877-78” and a list of the main battles - “Plevna, Kars, Aladzha, Hadji Vali” . In front of the monument there are cast-iron pedestals with the inscription “In favor of crippled grenadiers and their families” (there were donation mugs on them). The interior of the chapel, decorated with polychrome tiles, contained picturesque images of saints Alexander Nevsky, John the Warrior, Nicholas the Wonderworker, Cyril and Methodius, and bronze plates with the names of the fallen grenadiers - 18 officers and 542 soldiers.
SIEGE OF PLEVNA SIEGE OF PLEVNA
SIEGE OF PLEVNA in 1877. During the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. There were stubborn battles for the city of Plevna (Pleven) from July 8 (20) to November 28 (December 10), 1877. Three assaults by Russian and Romanian troops in July-August were unsuccessful, after which Plevna was taken into the blockade ring. On November 28 (December 10), 1877, Turkish troops led by Osman Pasha surrendered after an unsuccessful breakout attempt.
Beginning of the siege of Plevna
After the successful crossing of the Danube by Russian troops at Sistovo, the Turkish command on July 2 (14) began the transfer of Osman Pasha’s corps to Plevna from Vidin (northwest Bulgaria), which was tasked with striking the right flank of the Russian troops.
On July 4, 1877, the 9th Army Corps of Lieutenant General N.P. Kridener captured the Nikopol fortress (cm. NIKOPOL in Bulgaria) on the banks of the Danube north of Plevna.
The Russian command allocated a nine-thousand-strong detachment of Lieutenant General Schilder-Schuldner to occupy Plevna, which on the evening of July 7 reached the outskirts of the city and the next morning attacked Turkish positions. The 15,000-strong garrison of Plevna repelled scattered attacks by Russian regiments, inflicting serious losses on them (2.5 thousand people).
After the concentration of Kridener's entire corps (26 thousand soldiers, 140 guns) near the city, a second assault on Plevna was launched on July 18. By this time, Osman Pasha concentrated about 23 thousand people and 58 guns in the city. Kridener had no information about the Turkish forces, exaggerated their numbers and acted indecisively. The attacks were carried out from the east and southeast head-on against the most fortified areas, troops were brought into battle in parts. The assault ended in failure. Russian losses amounted to 7 thousand people, Turks - about 4 thousand people.
Plevna had an important strategic importance, its strong garrison threatened the crossings of the Danube and could attack the advancing Russian army in the flank and rear. Therefore, the Russian command postponed the transfer of the main forces through the Balkan Mountains (the Shipka Pass was captured on July 8) and during July-August concentrated an 83,000-strong army with 424 guns near Plevna, of which 32,000 people and 108 guns were from the allied Romanian army.
Third assault on Plevna
The Allies besieged Plevna from the south and east. On the right flank, opposite the Grivitsky redoubts, the Romanians settled down. From the east the city was besieged by Kridener's corps, from the southeast by General Krylov's 8th corps. In the southern direction there was a left-flank detachment of General M.D. Skobelev (cm. SKOBELEV Mikhail Dmitrievich). From the north, the Turkish garrison was reliably covered by the heights of Yanyk-Bair, and from the west it was supplied along the Sofia-Plevna road. By the end of summer, the Turks increased the size of the Plevna garrison to 34 thousand people with 72 guns.
The nominal commander of the allied army near Plevna was the Romanian king Carol I (cm. KAROL I), his chief of staff, Lieutenant General P. D. Zotov, actually ordered. But near Plevna there was also the headquarters of the Russian Emperor Alexander II (cm. ALEXANDER II Nikolaevich) and the commander-in-chief of the entire Danube Army, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Sr. (cm. NIKOLAI Nikolaevich (Senior)).
The third assault on Plevna took place on August 26-31. The Turks predicted the directions of attack of the Russian and Romanian troops and managed to hold their line of defense, inflicting heavy losses on the attackers. The decisive day was August 30, when the Romanians, with the support of the Russian 18th Infantry Regiment, managed to capture one of the two Grivitsky redoubts. On the same day, Skobelev’s detachment, delivering an auxiliary strike, groped in the Turks’ positions weakness, broke through their defenses in the Green Mountains region, captured the Issa and Kavanlyk redoubts and reached the southern outskirts of the city. The Turks hastily transferred reserves from the north and east against Skobelev.
On August 31, the Russian command did not take offensive actions and did not support Skobelev with reserves. As a result, under the pressure of superior forces, Skobelev’s detachment was forced to return to its original positions. In the third assault on Plevna, Russian and Romanian troops lost 16 thousand people, the Turks - about three thousand.
Siege and capture of Plevna
On September 1, it was decided to proceed to a thorough siege of Plevna, for the leadership of which the best specialist in siege work in Russia, engineer-general E. I. Totleben, was called in (cm. TOTLEBEN Eduard Ivanovich). To successfully conduct a siege, the Russians needed to cut the Sofia-Plevna road, along which the Turks received reinforcements. To solve this problem from guards units was created strike force General I.V. Gurko (cm. GURKO Joseph Vladimirovich). He managed to capture Gorny Dubnyak on October 12, Telish on October 16, Dolny Dubnyak on October 20 - strongholds on the Sofia road, thereby completely closing the blockade ring of the Pleven garrison, whose number by that time amounted to 50 thousand people.
The lack of food forced the Turkish commander Osman Pasha to attempt an independent liberation of Plevna. On November 28, having withdrawn troops from defensive positions, he attacked Russian troops northwest of Plevna. Units of the 2nd and 3rd Grenadier Divisions and the 5th infantry division The Russian army repelled the Turkish attack. Having lost 6 thousand soldiers and unable to escape from encirclement, Osman Pasha surrendered with 43 thousand soldiers. The fall of Plevna freed up a hundred thousand Russian-Romanian army for a subsequent offensive across the Balkans.
In the fighting near Plevna they received further development forms and methods of besieging fortresses. The Russian army developed new methods of infantry combat tactics, a combination of movement and fire from rifle chains, and the use of infantry self-entrenchment in the offensive began. At Plevna, the importance of field fortifications, the interaction of infantry with artillery, the role of heavy artillery in preparing an attack on fortified positions was revealed, and the possibility of controlling artillery fire when firing from closed positions was determined.
In memory of the battles for Plevna, a mausoleum was built in the city in memory of fallen Russian and Romanian soldiers (1905), a park-museum of M. D. Skobelev (1907), and an artistic panorama complex “Liberation of Plevna in 1877.” In Moscow, at the Ilyinsky Gate, there is a monument to the grenadiers who fell near Plevna.
encyclopedic Dictionary . 2009 .
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Siege of Plevna
The Russian-Turkish War of 1877–1878 was, to a certain extent, revenge on Russia for the heavy defeats of the Crimean War. In this war, the Russians were not opposed by the great powers of Europe, and, of course, it was fought out by the country with much less effort. But one should not think that the Russian-Turkish war was an easy walk - the Turks, well trained by French and English instructors, fought very, very well in this war. An obvious example of the difficulties of war is the siege of Plevna, which became its key episode.
The war began with a general offensive by Russian troops. After crossing the Danube at Zimnitsa, the Russian Danube Army deployed successful offensive on Tarnovo. On July 2, the Turkish command sent Osman Pasha's corps of about sixteen thousand people, as well as fifty-eight guns, from Vidin to Plevna. Having made a forced march, on the morning of July 7, the Turkish corps entered Plevna.
After the capture of Nikopol, the Russian command sent on July 4 to Plevna a detachment of Lieutenant General Schilder-Schuldner numbering up to nine thousand people, with forty-six guns. This detachment, without conducting preliminary reconnaissance, approached the city on the evening of July 7, but came under enemy artillery fire and was forced to retreat. New try His attempt to take Plevna at dawn on July 8 ended in failure.
On July 18, the Russian command launched a second attack on Plevna. The corps of Lieutenant General N.P. was deployed against the Turks - the replenished Turkish garrison numbered twenty-two to twenty-four thousand people and fifty-eight guns. Kridener - over twenty-six thousand people, one hundred and forty guns. But the second attack was repulsed. The Danube Army went on the defensive along the entire front.
By the third attack on Plevna, the Russians had concentrated eighty-four thousand people, four hundred and twenty-four guns, including thirty-two thousand people and one hundred and eight guns of the Romanian troops. Osman Pasha also strengthened the garrison of Plevna to thirty-two thousand people with seventy-two guns. However, the third attack of Plevna also ended in heavy failure. Miscalculations were made during its preparation and implementation. The fortress was not blocked from the west, which allowed the enemy to reinforce the garrison with reinforcements. The directions of the main attacks were chosen in the same areas as in the second attack. Artillery bombardment was carried out from long distances and only in the daytime. The garrison of Plevna managed to restore the destroyed fortifications overnight and knew where the attack would follow. As a result, surprise was lost, and although the detachment of General M.D. Skobeleva managed to capture the Issa and Kuvanlyk redoubts and come close to Plevna, but, having repelled four enemy counterattacks, he was forced to retreat to his original position.
On September 1, the Russian command decided to blockade Plevna. The siege work was led by General E.I. Totleben. On October 20, the Plevna garrison was completely surrounded. Then, in October, in order to disrupt the connection between Plevna and Sofia, the Russian detachment of Lieutenant General Gurko captured Gorny Dubnyak, Telishche and Dolny Dubnyak. On the night of November 28, the garrison of Plevna, finding itself under conditions of complete blockade and continuous artillery bombardment, attempted a breakthrough in the direction of Sofia, but, having lost six thousand killed and wounded, surrendered.
Forty-three thousand Turkish soldiers and officers were captured. However, the capture of Plevna also cost the Russian-Romanian troops very heavy casualties (the Russians lost thirty-one thousand, the Romanians - seven and a half thousand people). Nevertheless, it was a turning point in the war. The threat of a flank attack was finally removed, which allowed the Russian command to free up over one hundred thousand people for deployment winter offensive for the Balkans.
The fighting at Plevna revealed major shortcomings and miscalculations of the Russian high command in command and control. At the same time, the art of war, especially the forms and methods of blockade and encirclement, received significant development. The infantry, cavalry and artillery of the Russian army developed new tactics. A step forward was made in the transition from the tactics of columns and scattered formations to the tactics of rifle chains. The increased importance of field fortifications in the offensive and defense and the interaction of infantry with cavalry and artillery were revealed, important role heavy (howitzer) artillery when preparing an attack on fortified positions and centralizing its fire, the ability to control artillery fire when firing from closed positions. Great help The Russian-Romanian troops were supported by the surrounding Bulgarian population. Plevna became a symbol of the brotherhood of the Russian, Bulgarian and Romanian peoples. The heroes of Plevna did everything they could for victory and brought freedom from five hundred years of Turkish rule to the fraternal Bulgarian people and other peoples of the Balkans.
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The beginning of the siege. After the successful crossing of the Danube by Russian troops at Sistovo, the Turkish command on July 2 (14) began the transfer of Osman Pasha’s corps to Plevna from Vidin (northwest Bulgaria), which was tasked with striking the right flank of the Russian troops. On July 4, 1877, the 9th Army Corps of Lieutenant General N.P. Kridener captured the Nikopol fortress on the banks of the Danube north of Plevna.
The Russian command allocated a nine-thousand-strong detachment of Lieutenant General Schilder-Schuldner to occupy Plevna, which on the evening of July 7 reached the outskirts of the city and the next morning attacked Turkish positions. The 15,000-strong garrison of Plevna repelled scattered attacks by Russian regiments, inflicting serious losses on them (2.5 thousand people).
After the concentration of Kridener's entire corps (26 thousand soldiers, 140 guns) near the city, a second assault on Plevna was launched on July 18. By this time, Osman Pasha concentrated about 23 thousand people and 58 guns in the city. Kridener had no information about the Turkish forces, exaggerated their numbers and acted indecisively. The attacks were carried out from the east and southeast head-on against the most fortified areas, troops were brought into battle in parts. The assault ended in failure. Russian losses amounted to 7 thousand people, Turks - about 4 thousand people.
Plevna was of great strategic importance; its strong garrison threatened the crossings of the Danube and could attack the advancing Russian army in the flank and rear. Therefore, the Russian command postponed the transfer of the main forces through the Balkan Mountains (the Shipka Pass was captured on July 8) and during July-August concentrated an 83,000-strong army with 424 guns near Plevna, of which 32,000 people and 108 guns were from the allied Romanian army.
Third assault on Plevna. The Allies besieged Plevna from the south and east. On the right flank, opposite the Grivitsky redoubts, the Romanians settled down. From the east the city was besieged by Kridener's corps, from the southeast by General Krylov's 8th corps. In the southern direction there was a left-flank detachment of General M.D. Skobelev. From the north, the Turkish garrison was reliably covered by the heights of Yanyk-Bair, and from the west it was supplied along the Sofia-Plevna road. By the end of summer, the Turks increased the size of the Plevna garrison to 34 thousand people with 72 guns. The nominal commander of the allied army near Plevna was the Romanian king Carol I; in fact, his chief of staff, Lieutenant General P. D. Zotov, was in charge. But near Plevna there was also the headquarters of the Russian Emperor Alexander II and the commander-in-chief of the entire Danube Army, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Sr.
The third assault on Plevna took place on August 26-31. The Turks predicted the directions of attack of the Russian and Romanian troops and managed to hold their line of defense, inflicting heavy losses on the attackers. The decisive day was August 30, when the Romanians, with the support of the Russian 18th Infantry Regiment, managed to capture one of the two Grivitsky redoubts. On the same day, Skobelev’s detachment, delivering an auxiliary attack, found a weak point in the Turkish positions, broke through their defenses in the Green Mountains area, captured the Issa and Kavanlyk redoubts and reached the southern outskirts of the city. The Turks hastily transferred reserves from the north and east against Skobelev.
On August 31, the Russian command did not take offensive actions and did not support Skobelev with reserves. As a result, under the pressure of superior forces, Skobelev’s detachment was forced to return to its original positions. In the third assault on Plevna, Russian and Romanian troops lost 16 thousand people, the Turks - about three thousand.
Siege and capture of Plevna. On September 1, it was decided to proceed to a thorough siege of Plevna, for the leadership of which the best specialist in siege work in Russia, engineer-general E. I. Totleben, was called in. To successfully conduct a siege, the Russians needed to cut the Sofia-Plevna road, along which the Turks received reinforcements. To solve this problem, a strike detachment of General I.V. Gurko was created from the guards units. He managed to capture Gorny Dubnyak on October 12, Telish on October 16, Dolny Dubnyak on October 20 - strongholds on the Sofia road, thereby completely closing the blockade ring of the Pleven garrison, whose number by that time amounted to 50 thousand people.
The lack of food forced the Turkish commander Osman Pasha to attempt an independent liberation of Plevna. On November 28, having withdrawn troops from defensive positions, he attacked Russian troops northwest of Plevna. Units of the 2nd and 3rd Grenadier Divisions and the 5th Infantry Division of the Russian Army repelled the Turkish attack. Having lost 6 thousand soldiers and unable to escape from encirclement, Osman Pasha surrendered with 43 thousand soldiers. The fall of Plevna freed up a hundred thousand Russian-Romanian army for a subsequent offensive across the Balkans.
In the fighting near Plevna, forms and methods of besieging fortresses were further developed. The Russian army developed new methods of infantry combat tactics, a combination of movement and fire from rifle chains, and the use of infantry self-entrenchment in the offensive began. At Plevna, the importance of field fortifications, the interaction of infantry with artillery, the role of heavy artillery in preparing an attack on fortified positions was revealed, and the possibility of controlling artillery fire when firing from closed positions was determined. In memory of the battles for Plevna, a mausoleum was built in the city in memory of fallen Russian and Romanian soldiers (1905), a park-museum of M. D. Skobelev (1907), and an artistic panorama complex “Liberation of Plevna in 1877.” In Moscow, at the Ilyinsky Gate, there is a monument to the grenadiers who fell near Plevna.
Based on materials from Internet resources
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