How 493 Russian soldiers stopped the army of thousands of Persians: Colonel Karyagin's Spartans

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The Persian Shah did not want to come to terms with the loss of the Karabakh kingdom, which, after the conclusion of the Kurekchay treaty in 1805, ceded to Russia. Feth Ali Shah set out to punish those who passed under Russian citizenship and return the lands back, taking advantage of the Russian distraction to the war with France. To oppose the Persian army, according to various estimates, numbering from 20 to 40 thousand people, 493 soldiers from the detachment of Colonel Karyagin came out. Despite the fact that most of the military died, the order was carried out.

The alignment of forces in 1805 and the insidious march

At the end of the spring of 1805, the Karabakh khan passed from the rule of the Persians to the citizenship of Russia. Contrary to the treaty obligations, the Persian Feth Ali Shah sent an army of many thousands to restore "justice" under the leadership of Crown Prince Abbas Mirza. The Persians were faced with the task of teaching the vassals a lesson for treason and returning the territory of present-day Azerbaijan to the Shah.

The enemy crossed the Araks River through the Khudaferin crossing, defended by a battalion of the 17th Jaeger regiment of Lisanevich. The latter, unable to withstand the pressure of the offensive, retreated to Shusha. At that time, the commander-in-chief of the Russian troops in the Transcaucasus, Prince Pavel Tsitsianov, at that time had at his disposal at most eight thousand soldiers, dispersed over large territories. It was necessary to protect the Georgian lands from the attacks of the Dagestani-Lezghins, Iranian vassals, as well as control the annexed Ganja and Karabakh khanates. Moreover, hopes for reinforcements were zero - there were simply no free troops against the backdrop of the war with Napoleon.

The desperate decision of Prince Tsitsianov and the gallant Colonel Karyagin

In conditions of minimal opportunities, Prince Tsitsianov decides to send a detachment of Colonel Karyagin to meet the enemies. The 54-year-old hereditary officer Pavel Mikhailovich began his military career in the Smolensk region as a private in a monetary company. From 1783 he served in the Caucasus, fought in Georgia as part of the Belarusian Jaeger Battalion. He conquered Anapa from the Turks in 1791, in 1796 he took part in the Persian campaign, and in 1804 he climbed with the personnel to the Azerbaijani fortress of Ganja.

The commander did not lack experience and courage. The 17th ranger regiment of Lisanevich located in Shusha consisted of six companies of rangers, thirty Cossacks and three guns. After repelling several Persian attacks, the major received an order to join the Karyagin detachment. But due to the most difficult circumstances, Lisanevich could not do this.

3 weeks of Persian attacks and offers to surrender

On June 24, after the first major battle with the Persian cavalry, Karyagin's detachment set up camp near the Askaran River. In the distance loomed the tents of the vanguard of the Persian armada, behind which the endless hordes of the enemy were hiding. By evening, the Russian camp was attacked, which did not stop until late at night. And the Persian commander ordered to install falconet batteries along the high-altitude perimeter.

The bombardment was not long in coming, and the gamekeepers suffered losses from the very dawn. According to one of the soldiers, the situation for the Russians was unenviable and only worsened. The unbearable heat exhausted the forces, the soldiers were tormented by thirst, and the enemy batteries did not stop. In between attacks, the Persians suggested that Colonel Karyagin surrender and lay down his arms, but he refused every time.

The next night, a group of Lieutenant Klyupin and Second Lieutenant Tumanov made a sabotage sortie in search of a water source. Falconets were thrown into the river, the servants were partially killed. In the Russian detachment, 350 people remained, up to half of whom were wounded. On June 26, Colonel Karyagin reported to Prince Tsitsianov about the successful containment of a hundredfold superior enemy and the fearlessness of his own subordinates. On the third day of hot battles, when the death toll reached two hundred, Karyagin's detachment managed to break through the Persian ring and occupy the Shahbulag fortress that was carelessly abandoned by the Persians. But the supplies of the Russians were running out, and at least 20 thousand Persian warriors approached the walls.

Secret retreat, "living bridge" and the amazing victory of the Russians

The position of the Karyaginites was critical. The commander, who did not want to surrender and even retreat, makes an incredible decision to make his way to the Mukhrat fortress. With the onset of darkness on July 7, the remaining battle group (just over 150 people) set off. On the way, the huntsmen came across a deep ravine, the steep slopes of which could not be overcome by heavy weapons. Then the savvy private soldier Gavrila Sidorov decisively jumped to the very bottom of the ditch, a dozen more colleagues followed his example. Brave Russian soldiers thus built a living bridge in the truest sense of the word.

The first gun easily overcame the obstacle, the second fell off, killing Sidorov with a blow to the temple. The hero was buried right there, and continued the march. Later, this episode will be captured in his painting "Living Bridge" by the Russian-German artist Franz Roubaud. When the Russians approached the fortress, the Persians found them. With a powerful attack, the enemy tried with all his might to cut off Karyagin's detachment from the fortification and occupy the object with his own cavalry. But the surviving Russians fought so desperately that they repelled this attack too. Exhausted and exhausted, the Karyagins occupied the Mukhrat fortress.

On July 9, Prince Tsitsianov received a report from Karyagin. About 2,500 thousand soldiers, collected by the commander-in-chief by that time, with ten guns went out to meet the gallant detachment. Already on July 15, near the Tertara River, the princely reinforcements drove the Persians back and camped near Mardagishti. When this news reached Karyagin, he left the fortress without hesitation and set out to join his own. By joint efforts, the Persians were defeated in this area, and the rest retreated home.

With such an amazing march, the fearless colonel did not allow the Persian army to advance deep into the state. For this operation, Pavel Mikhailovich Karyagin was awarded a golden sword with an engraving "For Bravery". All the surviving officers and soldiers of his detachment received high awards and a substantial salary, and a monument to the deceased initiator of the living bridge, Gavrila Sidorov, was erected at the regimental headquarters.

Surprisingly, there were also defectors. There was a whole Russian battalion in Persia, where the Cossacks converted to Islam and fought for the Shah.