Page 233 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo I

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Pasha, the Commander of the Rumelian Action Army (3 Army). Omer Lutfi Pasha
indicated that the Silistra Fort could just resist for about 6 weeks, but it might suffer
from Russian occupation in 15 days; and he demanded the allied forces to intervene in
the battle in that region in the shortest time possible. However, the French and British
commanders rejected the request of Omer Lutfi Pasha due to the unavailability of roads
reaching to the north of Balkan Mountains and logistic difficulties.
While Turkish forces under the command of Musa Pasha resisted against the
Russians on their own, the commanders of allied forces continued their disputes on
11*
order-command chain and joint action styles. In the end, it was decided that the allied
forces gathered in Varna and attacked Wallachia-Moldavia; however, the forces could
complete their passage to Varna by sea and land only in the late June. Neither the army
12
of Omer Lutfi Pasha in Sumnu nor the allied forces could take any step to help the brave
garrison that had stood by the cannons for about a month. Silistra was on the brink of
surrender due to lack of provisions. However, the Russians did not even think of a food
shortage in Silistra because the road for provisions and aids was open. 13
As the Russians suffered heavy losses and failed in their continuous assaults on
the Silistra Fort, they lifted the siege on June 22, 1854 and withdrew to the back of
14
the Danube. In this war, Russian General Paskevitch was heavily wounded , and
Commander of Silistra Fort Marshal Musa Pasha was hit by a Russian bombshell and
fell martyr. 15
Meanwhile, on April 22, 1854, the British-French navy bombed Odessa, one of
the important ports in the Black Sea, and started the first direct attack on the Russian
territories.
16
In the following years of the campaign, the allies agreed on their action plan aiming
to capture Sevastopol; thus the French and British troops in Varna departed from Varna
and Baltic ports and started their landing operation on the Gozleve (Eupatoria) coast in
the north of Sevastopol. A 7.000-men Ottoman force also participated in that landing

11 While the British opted for a prudent advance on the inner parts after having disembarked at Gallipoli, the
French maintained that the disembarkation should be done at Varna in order to stop the Russian progress
towards Istanbul. The French also suggested that the British direct the naval operation and the French get the
command of the land operations. The experience that the French had gained in Algeria was their determining
advantage over the British army, which had not engaged in a big battle after Waterloo. See, Orlando Figes,
ibid., pp. 191-202.
12 1853-1856 Kırım Harbi’nde 3ncü Ordu, 3rd Army Command Publications, February 1991, Erzincan.
13 Orlando Figes, Kırım Son Haçlı Seferi, translated by Nurettin Elhüseyni, Yapi Kredi Yayinlari, Istanbul,
2012.
14 1853-1856 Kırım Harbi’nde 3ncü Ordu, 3rd Army Command Publications, February 1991, Erzincan.
15 Adolphus Slade, Müşavir Paşa’nın Kırım Harbi Anıları, Türkiye İs Bankasi Yayinlari, Istanbul, 2012, p.276.
16 Orlando Figes, Kırım Son Haçlı Seferi, translated by Nurettin Elhüseyni, Yapi Kredi Yayinlari, Istanbul,
2012, pp. 185-190. The first bombardment on Odessa continued 11 hours and caused a great damage at the
port, destroyed a few vessels and killed tens of civilians. Moreover, the neoclassical palace of Vorontsov that
was situated on the cliff above the port was hit; a cannonball stroke the statue of the duke of Richelieu, the
first governor of Odessa. However, ironically, the most damaged building was the London Hotel at Primorsky
Boulevard.