Siege of Pleven

The Siege of Pleven, or Plevna, was a major battle between Russia and the Ottoman Empire during the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78. The heroic Turkish defense won the admiration and sympathy of Europe and held up the main Russian advance into Bulgaria. Eventually superior Russian numbers forced the garrison to capitulate.

Contents

1 Background 2 The Siege 2.1 First Battle 2.2 Second Battle 2.3 Third Battle 2.4 Fourth Battle 3 Results 4 See Also 5 Sources

Background

In July, 1877 the Russian Army, under the command of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich , moved toward the Danube River virtually unopposed. Since the Turks had no sizeable force in the area. The Turkish high command sent an army to reinforce the city of Nikopol under the command of Osman Pasha. Before Osman reached Nikopol, the Russian vanguard easily took the city in the battle of Nikopol and Osman settled on Pleven to the south. Hours after Osman constructed fortifications Russian forces began to arrive.

The Siege

First Battle

General Schilder Schuldner , commanding the 5th Division, IX Corps was ordered to simply occupy Pleven. Schuldner arrived outside the city on July 19 and began to bombard the Turkish defenses but made no attack. The next day the Schuldner attacked and succeeded in driving the Turks from some of the outer defenses. Osman brought up reinforcements and launched a series of counterattacks which drove the Russians from the captured trenches inflicting 2,800 casualties at a cost of 2,000.

Second Battle

Both sides brought up reinforcements. General Nikolai Krudener arrived with the entire Russian IX Corps and Osman's forces grew to 20,000. On July 30 Russian headquarters ordered Krudener to assault the city. Krudener had a cavalry division under General Schakofsky and an infantry division under General Skobelev. Schakofsky attacked the eastern redoubts and Skobelev assailed the Gravitza redoubt to the north. Schakofsky managed to take two redoubts but by the end of the day the Turks were able to repulse all the attacks and retake any lost ground. Russian losses amounted to 7,300 and the Turks lost 2,000.

Third Battle

Osman failed to press his advantage of repulsing the Russian attacks and possibly drive off the besiegers. He did however make a cavalry sortie on August 31 which cost the Russian 1,300 casualties and the Turks 1,000. The Russians continued to send reinforcements to Pleven and the army reached 100,000 now personally led by the Grand Duke. On September 3, Skobelev reduced the garrison at Lovcha guarding the Turkish supply lines before Osman could move out to relieve it. see main article: Battle of Lovcha. The survivors of Lovcha were organized into 3 battalions for the Pleven defenses. Osman received an additional 13 battalions bringing his total strength to 30,000; the highest it would get during the siege. On September 11 the Russians made a large scale assault on Pleven. Skobelev took two southern redoubts and a Rumanian division took the Gravitza redoubt. The next day the Turks retook the southern redoubts but could not dislodge the Rumanians. Since the beginning of September Russian losses amounted to roughly 20,000 while the Turks lost 5,000.

Fourth Battle

Growing Russian casualties put a halt to frontal assaults and prompted a change in command. Overall command of the besieging forces were left to King Carol I of Romania and General Eduard Ivanovich Todleben was brought in to oversee the conduct of the siege as the army chief of staff. Todleben was a proven officer in siege warfare who had previously gained renown for his defense of Sebastopol during the Crimean War. He decided on a complete encirclement of the city and its defenders and by October 24 Pleven was completely surrounded by the Russians. Osman requested to abandon Pleven and retreat but the high command did not allow him to do so. Supplies began to run low in the city and Osman finally made an attempt to break the Russian siege. On December 9 Osman crossed the Vid River and attacked on a 2 mile front and broke through the first line of Russian trenches. Outnumbering the Turks almost 5-1 the Russians drove the Turks back across the Vid and wounded Osman in the process. Making a brief stand the Turks were eventually driven back into the city loosing 5,000 to the Russians' 2,000. The next day Osman surrendered the city and garrison to the Russians.

Results

The siege had held up the main Russian advance into Bulgaria and captured the world's admiration. The fall of Pleven freed up Russian reinforcements which were sent to Joseph Vladimirovich Gourko who decisively defeated the Turks in the fourth battle of Shipka Pass.

See Also

• Battles of the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78

Sources

• http://www.xenophongi.org/rushistory/battles/plevna2.htm
• Compton's Home Library: Battles of the World CD-ROM