PART THREE
THE PURSUIT OF VICTORY
The Times
LONDON, TUESDAY 21 JULY, 1829
The Paris papers of Sunday, containing an account of the fall of Silistria, extracted from the Allgemeine Zeitung, arrived yesterday. The German paper was brought to Strasburg by express, and the Prefect of that town transmitted the news to Paris by the telegraph. He had, however, previously received this important intelligence through the Prussian State Gazette, the official character of which renders the confirmation given by the despatch of the French Prefect superfluous. It is stated that immediately after the battle of the 11th of June, the Emperor NICHOLAS transmitted to each of the Allied Courts a copy of the bulletin announcing General DIEBITSCH’S victory, accompanied by a note, in which he renewed the assurance of his wish to avoid further effusion of blood by concluding a peace with the Porte. It remains to be seen whether the loss of Silistria will induce the SULTAN to listen to the propositions of Russia. After the surrender of Silistria General DIEBITSCH closely invested Shumla; but it is not yet ascertained whether he means to undertake a regular siege of that fortress. It is not improbable that he may leave a corps to observe it, and advance with the main body of his army into the plains of Adrianople …
XVII
WORDS OF APPRECIATION
Thrace, two months later
In Camp before Adrianople,
17th August 1829.
Dear Princess Lieven,You will have heard, and possibly seen account, of General Diebitsch’s victory at Kulewtscha on 11th June over the principal force of the Grand Vizier, and of his march thereafter through the Balkan, which had hitherto barred the way of all armies. I may tell you that I myself was witness to the battle and thought it a very great clash of arms, the greatest I have seen since Waterloo. The Turk did not fight with any great skill, or even great courage, I might say, but he was present in so great a number that there was the utmost danger to the Emperor’s troops, which the excellence of the General-in-chief and of Count Pahlen in particular was able to mitigate, and the steadiness of the troops themselves. But the victory was not achieved without grievous loss, and I myself witnessed the destruction of the Murom regiment, which was a most terrible sight to behold but yet which did not deter the rest of the Army who witnessed it from standing their ground and in turn attacking the Turk with the utmost resolution. There was very heavy fighting throughout the afternoon in which General Diebitsch was gradually able to gain the upper hand by bringing those troops of General Roth’s corps and of General Rudiger’s, which had principally arrived on the field in the morning, into the centre where the Turk made his effort, and at about five o’clock his artillery was able to do very great destruction to the Turk artillery and to his reserves, so that several caissons exploded and wrought confusion among the Turk ranks and much hastened their retreat. Towards evening, indeed, despite the Vizier’s bringing up his reserve of regular regiments, the Turk army was in flight and in no little state of dissolution, losing almost every one of their guns and leaving at least three thousand dead and dying on the field, being one tenth of the force with which he had tried to relieve Pravadi and which, had he been successful in so doing, would then have laid siege to Varna. General Diebitsch’s losses were not very less numerous, for such was the nature of the fighting, including a great many officers. The nature of the country did not permit of the pursuit and surrender of the Turk, however, and in lesser numbers and without the necessaries of war, and wholly disordered, he was able to reach Shumla in the weeks that followed, although many of them starved for want of any food whatever in the forest, and I myself came upon the remains of those who had succumbed beneath that want.The day after the battle, General Diebitsch endeavoured to open a negotiation with the Turk, but he was referred by the Vizier to the Sultan on this point, and so he resolved instead on making a pretence of investing Shumla while restoring the Army’s strength and awaiting the reduction of Silistria, which was accomplished on the 19th June. About nine thousand Turks laid down their arms in that place, (Silistria), and perhaps half as many had been killed, and with them more than two hundred and fifty guns were surrendered, some of great size.Agreeably to the original plan of campaign, the siege of Rustchuk was to have followed that of Silistria, and the line of the Danube was to have been maintained till the spring. But the battle at Kulewtscha caused a change, by preparing the way for more decided operations. General Diebitsch was aware of the moral effect produced on the Turk by the loss of this battle, and he knew also of the dissatisfaction which prevails at Constantinople on account of the Sultan’s reforms (I mean principally in consequence of the innovation of regular troops instead of the Janissaries), and, encouraged by these and certain other circumstances, he determined on a course of the greatest daring, which was the passing of the Balkan in preference to undertaking a further siege (of Shumla) to secure more effectually his lines of communication. Once he was joined by the troops hitherto employed in reducing Silistria, he made therefore a more formidable demonstration against Shumla. The Vizier, in the expectation of immediate assault, recalled a portion of his troops from the mountain passes to aid in the defence of a position on which, by the evidence of all of history hereto, everything depended. The defenders of the Balkan passes being thereby seriously diminished, it only remained to attempt the passage before the Vizier had time to discover and remedy his error.In order, however, to complete the deception which was required to pass troops through this formidable barrier without further great loss, the General-in-chief instructed General Krassowski, with ten thousand men, to press closely upon Shumla, whilst the main force of about thirty thousand feigned a retreat towards Silistria. On reaching Yeni Bazar, a distance of about six leagues, General Diebitsch at once turned right and moved on Devna and Kupriquoi. Each soldier was issued with four days’ rations, and ten more were carried in light waggons attached to the regiments. The bridge over the Kamtchik was taken with elan, and from that point it was not possible for the Vizier, who even now had detected his error and managed to detach ten thousand to intercept the Army at the pass of Kamtchik – but too late – to interfere with the passage south, for by now the Army had passed the most difficult part of the country and were far on the road towards Eski Bashli. I must hasten to add, however, that the road leading to Aidos is the most difficult of all the eastern routes, crossing the same stream forty times in the Delidah Valley, and traversing a defile barely sixty yards wide, all of which I myself saw in company with General Rudiger’s corps.In the meantime, General Roth advanced along the coast to Misivri, which capitulated on his approach, and he was thence enabled to march on Bourgas and open a communication with the fleet. It was at this point that the alarm occasioned by the Bulgars worked its greatest favour, for they had, it is reported, likened the numbers of the Army to ‘the leaves of the forest’, and Aidos, with all its stores, was abandoned by the retreating Turks even before the arrival of General Rudiger.There was but one moment of supposed peril, when the posts occupied covered about eight hundred miles of country, which might be cut off, and this latter consideration, together with the reported junction of Hussein Pasha, the Seraskier, and the Grand Vizier himself, caused such uneasiness that General Diebitsch concentrated nearly the whole of his force and made a retrograde movement on Selimnia with twenty-five thousand men and a hundred pieces of artillery. But instead of encountering the expected army he only found a small force of cavalry posted near the town, which gave way, after a smart affair, and the place was occupied. The General left here a force to secure his line of communications, and resuming his advance forthwith, he arrived before Adrianople, in Ancient Thrace, this day week in three divisions, with the right of the army leaning on the river Tschenga. The Army has dubbed him ‘Count Za-Balkanski’, and every man is in the highest spirits.I conclude this, my second letter, in confident expectation of being able to write next from Constantinople itself, since ‘Za-Balkanski’ carries all before him.I remain Your Highness’s Humble Servant &c, &c,Matthew Hervey,Lieutenant Colonel.
