User:Transientchinchilla/Siege of Kars

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Background

The siege of Kars was the last major operation of the Crimean War. In June 1855, attempting to alleviate pressure on the defence of Sevastopol, Emperor Alexander II ordered General Nikolay Muravyov to lead his troops against areas of Ottoman interest in Asia Minor. Uniting disparate contingents under his command into a strong corps of 25,725 soldiers, 96 light guns, Muravyov decided to attack Kars, the most important fortress of Eastern Anatolia

Late in 1854, British General William Fenwick Williams had been sent to Kars to assess the situation and report directly to Lord Raglan (FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan), the commander-in-chief of the British expeditionary forces in the Crimea. Williams found the city in a deplorable state. The Ottoman forces included many newly-conscripted recruits, the men had not been paid in months and many had obsolete weapons. Support services such as hospitals were nonexistent. Many of the senior Ottoman officers were absent and lived in Istanbul. Morale was low and desertion high. Appalled by the situation, Williams took command along with several other foreign officers. He quickly set to work to institute discipline, train the troops and reinforce the city's defenses. By the spring of 1855, 17,000 troops in high spirits stood ready to defend Kars.

Siege of Kars

British General William Fenwick Williams who had been sent to Kars to assess the situation that had unfolded due to the Ottoman siege of Sevastopol. He found a under prepared force with fledgling allegiance to Constantinople. Many of the soldiers station in Kars had gone up to twenty four months without pay, their uniforms were ragged, many wearing what they could source in the frontier town, and the force decimated by diseases like scurvy. The officers who commanded the forces stationed in Kars prior to the arrival of Williams and his staff had abandoned their posts while still skimming pay and rations from their men. These conditions had led to nearly 10,000 Ottoman troops having deserted from their defensive positions in Kars.

On June 1, 1855, General Williams is informed of a massed Russian force moving towards his fortifications at Kars. British reports indicated that this force included cavalry units numbering some 10,000 men. By this time due to the work of Williams and his subordinates, Kars had been fortified with earth-works and mud forts. The most important of which was on the Northern side of the city, high above, the Brits had armed it with four 36-pound guns, possession of this fortification was key to control over the city. The defending force at Kars in June of 1855, consisted of 15,000 men, having been thinned by desertion, typhus fever and scurvy. The fortification at Kars, were not well equipped to sustain a siege, it was unclear to the British command if they had enough provisions to last the months it could be before supplies could arrive from the Turks, and General Williams believed that they only had enough ammunition to last three days. The horses were too weak for the calvary to mount any kind counter attack on the Russian forces.

By June 9, 1855, the Russians were rapidly advancing on Kars, the Allies stationed at Kars estimated that their Strength consisted of upwards of 40,000 men. On Thursday June 15, 1855, the first Russian attack on the allied fortifications at Kars takes place as cavalry units decedent on the defenders in the morning. On the morning of June the 16th, Russian infantry forces move towards the city. The Cossack cavalry forces Bashi-Bozooks to retreat, but as infantry units move in they are devastated by allied artillery from high on surrounding hills. After less than an hour, allied artillery forced the Russians to withdraw their attack. On the 18th the Russians move camp closer to the defenses of Kars, they are encamped within four miles of the southern most defensive positions. Heavy rains stave off any Russian attack, however Muravyov has requested siege guns to be brought to his camp, with the possible knowledge of the ally's limited supplies. Attempts to resupply Kars with rations are foiled with the Russians destroying or intercepting supplies destined for the city.

Beginning on July 13th, the Russians began to encircle the allied fortifications. With this development the most pressing issue for the defenders of Kars was provisions. Many of the the women and children living there did not want to leave, abandoning their sons and husbands. These extra people had not been accounted for by the British commanders. By mid-July Willams opened an investigation into the dwindling food supplies, and how much longer the besieged city could hold out. It was determined that they had enough rations to last until the end of August at which point they would need to be resupplied by the Ottoman government. By the end of July the defending force at Kars numbers some 18,000 men, having been swelled by arriving irregular reinforcements and defecting Russian units. These troops are in relative good health, however with no effort from Constantinople to relieve or resupply the men, the outlook was grim. However has August progresses desertions become more frequent despite some small victories.

As September begins the siege upon Kars has begun to take its toll. Horses on which the cavalry units relied upon were dying in the hundreds of starvation, spreading pestilence though the city. The Russians had retreated some, however it was assumed to be in preparation of a large scale attack on the city. In the first week of September there is an increased amount of skirmishing between the Russians and those in the furthest outposts of Kars. After the initial Russian attack, Ottoman Commander Omar Pasha asked for Ottoman troops to be moved from the line at the siege of Sevastopol and redeployed to Asia Minor mainly with the idea of relieving Kars. After many delays, primarily put in place by Napoleon III, Omar Pasha left the Crimea for Sukhumi with 45,000 soldiers on 6 September. This news greatly improves moral in the besieged city, and along with the discovery of a new corn store, which will allow the city to persevere into November of 1855.

On September 23rd new of the Fall of Sevastopol reaches Kars, to much rejoicing. However the mood is quickly dampened, on September 25th a cholera outbreak begins amongst those in Kars, the spread had been started by a Russian deserter who had told of a similar outbreak amongst the Russian camp. On the night of the 29th the Russian attack resumes, in the dark moonless night, the rumble of artillery wheels and the movement of infantry could be heard in the fields and the allies prepared for an attack. In the early morning hours, before the sun had risen, the Russians launch a massive attack on the various defensive earthworks of Kars. After sunrise the Russians are able to take the northern fortifications, The allies took up more defensive positions and used effective artillery fire and ferocious fighting were able to slow the Russian advance. The battle on the 29th of September, 1855 would rage for seven and a half hours. The Russians were forced to retreat, chased by allied forces, a calvary attack likely would have been able to finally defeat the Russian forces however no such units existed due to the siege that had gone on for nearly three months. This defeat of the Russian forces led to hope in the allied camp that they would give up their siege, and anxious hope prevailed through Kars for much of early October. As the month goes on however, the Ottoman reserves in Kars were running out, and the supply lines had been thinned, the townspeople and soldiers alike are suffering as food rations run low.

Heavy snowfall in late October made the Ottoman reinforcement of Kars quite impractical. Selim Pasha, Omar's son, landed another army at the ancient city of Trebizond, to the west, and began marching south to Erzerum to prevent the Russians from advancing further into Anatolia. The Russians sent a small force from the Kars lines to stop his advance and defeated the Ottomans at the River Ingur on 6 November. As November continues, the troops are starved, have inadequate clothing for the growing cold and are falling into ill health.

The garrison of Kars declined to face further hardships of the winter siege and surrendered to General Muravyov on 28 November 1855, according to the Gregorian calendar. Muravyov was authorized by the tsar to change his name to "Muravyov-Karsky" to commemorate his part in taking the fortress. On entering the city the Russians "were immediately horrified to discover masses of men too weak to be evacuated, many of them in the throes of death". Despite the lack of aid from Istanbul, Williams remained steadfast to his Ottoman troops and stated that "they fell dead at their posts, in the tents, and throughout the camp, as brave men should who cling to their duty through the slightest glimmering of hope of saving a place entrusted to their custody". Muravyov's terms of surrender to Williams were lenient, Williams and his defenders of Kars having earned the respect of their adversaries.