Taking the hymen year. Siege of Plevna: great victory of the Russian army

November 28 (December 11 according to the “new style”), 1877. Capture of Plevna by Russian troops. Surrender of the Turkish army to Osman Pasha

Monument to the heroes of Plevna in Moscow (1887)

During the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. For the liberation of the Balkan Slavs, the Turkish fortress of Plevna in Bulgaria was a serious threat to the right flank and rear of the Russian army, it riveted its main forces to itself and slowed down the offensive in the Balkans.

After a bloody four-month siege and three unsuccessful attacks, the besieged army of Osman Pasha ran out of food supplies, and on November 28 at 7 o’clock in the morning he made the last attempt to break through to the west of Plevna, where he threw all his forces. The first furious onslaught forced our troops to retreat from the forward fortifications. But artillery fire from the second line of fortifications did not allow the Turks to escape from the encirclement. The grenadiers went on the attack and drove the Turks back. From the north, the Romanians attacked the Turkish line, and from the south, General Skobelev burst into the city.

Osman Pasha was wounded in the leg. Realizing the hopelessness of his situation, he threw out a white flag in several places. When Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich appeared on the battlefield, the Turks had already surrendered. The last assault on Plevna cost the Russians 192 killed and 1,252 wounded, the Turks lost up to 4,000 people. 44 thousand surrendered, including Osman Pasha. However, by personal order of Emperor Alexander II, for the courage shown by the Turks, his saber was returned to the wounded and captured Turkish general.

In just four months of the siege and fighting near Plevna, about 31 thousand Russian soldiers died. However, this became a turning point in the war: the capture of this fortress allowed the Russian command to free up over 100 thousand people for the offensive, and a month later the Turks requested a truce. The Russian army occupied Andrianople without a fight and approached Constantinople, but the Western powers did not allow Russia to occupy it, threatening a severance of diplomatic relations (and England with mobilization). Emperor Alexander II did not risk a new war, since the main goal was achieved: the defeat of Turkey and the liberation of the Balkan Slavs. So it seemed. Negotiations have begun on this. On February 19, 1878, peace with Turkey was signed in San Stefano. And although the Western powers did not allow the complete unification of the Bulgarian lands to be achieved at that time, this war became the basis for the future independence of a united Bulgaria.

Battle of Plevna November 28, 1877

On the day of the tenth anniversary of the heroic battle, in the center of Moscow at the beginning of Ilyinsky Square, a chapel-monument to the grenadiers who fell in the battle near Plevna was consecrated. The chapel was built on the initiative and with voluntary donations from the surviving grenadiers who took part in the Battle of Plevna. The author of the project was academician of architecture V.O. Sherwood. The cast-iron octagonal chapel ends with a tent with Orthodox cross trampling the Muslim crescent. Its side faces are decorated with 4 high reliefs: a Russian peasant blessing his grenadier son before a campaign; a Janissary snatching a child from the arms of a Bulgarian mother; a grenadier capturing a Turkish soldier; a Russian warrior tearing the chains off a woman representing Bulgaria. On the edges of the tent there are inscriptions: “Grenadiers to their comrades who fell in the glorious battle near Plevna on November 28, 1877”, “In memory of the war with Turkey of 1877-78” and a list of the main battles - “Plevna, Kars, Aladzha, Hadji Vali” . In front of the monument there are cast-iron pedestals with the inscription “In favor of the crippled grenadiers and their families” (there were donation mugs on them). The interior of the chapel, decorated with polychrome tiles, contained picturesque images of saints Alexander Nevsky, John the Warrior, Nicholas the Wonderworker, Cyril and Methodius, and bronze plates with the names of the fallen grenadiers - 18 officers and 542 soldiers.

Ilyinsky Square in the very center of Moscow, next to the Kremlin. Old Military Cemetery in Minsk. It would seem that what can connect these areas of two capitals, separated by hundreds of kilometers. It turns out that there is a lot. General history. Common pride in the exploits and heroism of our ancestors. In these iconic places There are monuments to our soldiers and officers who died 135 years ago during the heroic siege of the Bulgarian city of Plevna, occupied by the Turkish army.

In Moscow, this is a famous chapel, popularly called simply - a monument to the heroes of Plevna. In Minsk, this is the Alexander Nevsky Temple, where the remains of the Belarusian heroes who gave their lives for the freedom of the Slavic brothers in distant Bulgaria rest. And both beautiful monuments were erected almost at the same time, with a difference of 10 years. In Minsk in 1898, in Moscow in 1887.

Monument to the heroes of Plevna in Moscow

There is an old soldier's song from those times.

THE CAPTURE OF PLEVNA

It was not the fog that rose from the sea,
It rained heavily for three days in a row -
The Great Prince was crossing,
He and his army walked across the Danube.
He walked with the prayer cross,
To defeat the Turks,
To defeat the Turks,
Free all Bulgarians.
We hiked for three nights,
It became blurry in our eyes.
The sovereign gave us freedom
Take a walk for three hours.
We walked for three hours
Only heaven knew about us.
Suddenly fire opened in the troops
And a strong thunder struck -
The whole city was covered in smoke,
The city was not visible for three hours!
Our Plevna cried,
Turkish glory has disappeared
And it will never happen again!

Temple of Alexander Nevsky in Minsk

Next Russian-Turkish war(1877-1878), and there were countless of them in our common history, quickly acquired the character of a folk one. Because the goals were set high and noble. To liberate fellow believers, the Orthodox brothers of the Bulgarians from Turkish enslavement. A monstrous genocide of Christians took place in Bulgaria. Orthodox brothers were mercilessly slaughtered in entire villages, sparing no one. In Europe, the best minds of that time openly opposed the atrocities committed by the Turks. Victor Hugo, Oscar Wilde, Charles Darwin published angry articles in newspapers. But these were just words. In reality, only Russia could help the Bulgarians.

And then war was declared on Turkey. A patriotic upsurge reigned in Russia. Thousands signed up to volunteer for the army, and donations were collected throughout the country to help the army and the Bulgarian militias. Many outstanding people of that time, the cultural elite of the country, such as writer V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, (brother of director V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko), famous doctors N.I. Pirogov, S.P. Botkin, N.V. Sklifosovsky, writers V.A. Gilyarovsky and V.M. Garshin volunteered for the Russian army. Leo Tolstoy wrote: “All of Russia is there, and I must go.” F.M. Dostoevsky saw in this war the fulfillment of a special historical mission of the Russian people, which was to unite around Russia Slavic peoples based on Orthodoxy.

The army was led by the brother of Tsar Alexander II, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich. Such iconic words as the Shipka Pass and the crossing of the Danube were known to everyone. And of course, the siege of Plevna.

On November 28 (December 11), 1877, the Russian army captured the Turkish fortress of Plevna. After three bloody unsuccessful attacks, after a four-month siege, the denouement of the military drama approached. In Russian main apartment everything was prepared. It was known that the locked army of Osman Pasha had run out of almost all food supplies and, knowing the character of this commander, it could be foreseen that surrender on his part would not be without bloodshed and that he would make a last attempt to break through the army besieging him.

Osman Pasha gathered his fighting forces to the west of Plevna. On the morning of November 28, at 7 o'clock, the besieged Turkish army furiously attacked the Russian troops. The first furious onslaught forced our troops to retreat and give the advanced fortifications to the Turks. But now the Turks came under concentrated artillery fire from the second line of fortifications. Under the weight of this gunfire, balance was restored. General Ganetsky sent his grenadiers to attack, which were able to push back the Turks.

“On command, the troops quickly moved apart, and as soon as the Turks rushed into the space open to them, forty-eight copper throats threw fire and death into their solid and crowded ranks... Buckshot with an angry whistle burst into this living mass, leaving another mass along the way, but either motionless, lifeless, or writhing in terrible agony... The grenades fell and exploded - and there was nowhere to escape from them. As soon as the grenadiers noticed that the fire on the Turks had the proper effect... they rushed at a quick pace with a bang. Once again bayonets crossed, once again the copper jaws of the guns roared, and soon the countless crowd of the enemy fell into disorderly flight... The attack proceeded brilliantly. The retreaters hardly fired back. Redif and Nizam, bashi-bazouks and cavalrymen with Circassians - all this was mixed into one sea of ​​\u200b\u200bhorses and lava, uncontrollably rushing back...”

Meanwhile, the Romanians (allies) from the north were advancing on the retreating line of the Turks, and from the south the legendary General Skobelev launched an attack, taking possession of weakly defended Turkish trenches, and entered with his army into Plevna itself, thus cutting off Osman Pasha’s path to retreat .

Vasily Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko:

“...At the head of his best camps, himself in front, Osman Pasha rushed in to try for the last time to break through our lines. Each soldier who followed him fought for three... But everywhere... a wall of menacing bayonets grew in front of him, and an uncontrollable “hurray!” thundered right in the pasha’s face. Everything was lost. The duel was ending... The army must lay down its arms, fifty thousand of the best fighting troops will be eliminated from the already significantly thinned resources of Turkey...”

Osman Pasha was seriously wounded in the leg. Realizing the hopelessness of his situation, he suspended the battle and threw out a white flag at many points. The surrender is complete. The Plevna army of the Turks surrendered unconditionally. This last battle at Plevna cost the Russians 192 killed and 1,252 wounded, the Turks lost up to 4,000 people. wounded and killed. There were 44 thousand prisoners, among them ghazi (“victorious”) Osman Pasha, 9 pashas, ​​128 headquarters and 2000 chief officers and 77 guns.

Artist A. D. Kivshenko. “Surrender of Plevna (Wounded Osman Pasha before Alexander II). 1878." 1880

Many Belarusians fought under the banners of the legendary General Mikhail Skobelev and the Belarusian prince General Nikolai Svyatopolk-Mirsky. By the way, General N. Svyatopolk-Mirsky is the last owner of the famous Mir Castle, not far from Minsk. The Belarusian soldiers especially distinguished themselves near Plevna. They fought both in the militia and in regular units. Composed of the Mogilev Infantry Regiment, the Belarusian Lancers, the Belarusian Hussar Regiments, the 119th Kolomna Infantry Regiment and the 30th Kolomna Artillery Brigade. Named after the place of formation in the city of Kolomna. It is to these soldiers who died in battle and died from wounds in the Minsk military hospital that the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky in Minsk is dedicated.

Inside this beautiful church, on the columns there are marble plaques on which the names of 118 soldiers of the Kolomna regiment and artillery brigade are inscribed in gold. To the left of the altar there are still military relics of those years - a wooden camp church and regimental banners of the 119th Kolomna Regiment. Behind the altar wall of the temple there is a burial place for the remains of fallen soldiers. From the day of the consecration of the temple to the present day, four times a year on Ecumenical Saturdays, as well as on March 3, funeral services are held here, at which all soldiers are remembered by name.

This is one of the most beautiful temples Minsk. There is some kind of gentle simplicity and sincerity in it. A huge green area of ​​a well-kept cemetery seems to hide it from prying eyes. Makes him somewhat removed from the everyday hustle and bustle of the street. Probably, the Kingdom of God represents another world, calm and bright.

So, two buildings separated by hundreds of kilometers are united by a common great story. Which we all carry into the future.

Vladimir Kazakov

Background

Third assault

Returning to Pleven, surrounded by superior enemy forces, Osman Pasha began to prepare to repel a new attack. His army was replenished and reached 25,000 people, the minarets of Pleven began to be used as observation posts, the wounded were evacuated from Pleven, and signs with the names of fortifications were installed in the city.

To lock the Turks in Pleven, the Russians moved to Gorny Dubnyak and Telish. To capture Mountain Dubnyak, 20,000 people and 60 guns were allocated; they were opposed by a garrison of 3,500 soldiers and 4 guns. Having started the battle on the morning of October 24, the Russian grenadiers captured both redoubts at the cost of huge losses. The Turks put up fierce resistance and fought to the last bullet, but, having lost their redoubts, capitulated. The losses were: 1,500 Turks (another 2,300 were captured), 3,600 Russians.

In Telish, the defense was successful, the Turkish garrison repelled the attack, inflicting huge losses on the attackers in manpower. About 1,000 Russian soldiers died in the battle versus 200 among the Turks. Telish was captured only with the help of powerful artillery fire, but the success of this shelling lay not so much in the number of killed Turkish defenders, which was small, but in the demoralizing effect it produced, forcing the garrison to surrender.

Started complete blockade Pleven, Russian guns periodically struck the city. The Russian-Romanian army besieging Pleven consisted of 122 thousand people against 50 thousand Turks who had taken refuge in Pleven. The blockade of the city led to the depletion of provisions in it; Osman Pasha's army suffered from disease, lack of food and medicine. Meanwhile, Russian troops carry out a series of attacks: in early November, Skobelev’s troops occupied and held the first ridge of the Green Mountains, repelling enemy counterattacks. On November 9, the Russians attacked in the direction of the Southern Front, but the Turks repelled the attack, losing 200 soldiers versus 600 for the Russians. Russian attacks on the fortifications of Yunus-Tabiya and Gazi-Osman-Tabiya were also unsuccessful. On the thirteenth, the Russians launched an attack on the fortification of Yunus Bey Tabiy, losing 500 people, the Turks lost 100 defenders. On the fourteenth, at midnight, the Turks repelled the attack on Gazi-Osman-Tabiya. As a result of these actions, the Russians lost 2,300 people, the Turks - 1,000. Starting from next day there was a lull. Pleven was surrounded by 125,000 Russian-Romanian troops with 496 guns, its garrison was completely cut off from the outside world. Knowing that the food in the city would sooner or later run out, the Russians invited the defenders of Pleven to surrender, to which Osman Pasha responded with a decisive refusal:

“... I prefer to sacrifice our lives for the benefit of the people and in defense of the truth, and with the greatest joy and happiness I am ready to shed blood rather than shamefully lay down my arms.”

(quoted from N.V. Skritsky “Balkan Gambit”).

Monument in Moscow

Due to a lack of food in the besieged city, shops were closed, soldiers' rations were reduced, most of the residents suffered from disease, and the army was exhausted

On August 26 (September 7) the third battle of Plevna began. Russian troops numbered 46.5 thousand bayonets and 5.6 thousand sabers, Romanian troops - 29 thousand bayonets and 3 thousand sabers, Turkish troops - about 32.5 thousand The calculation was made for a long artillery preparation (4 days), during which Russian troops gradually approached the enemy’s fortified positions. But artillery preparation was ineffective due to the weak high-explosive effect of the shells.

Before launching an attack on Plevna, the Russian command decided to occupy Lovcha, an important junction of roads leading to Plevna. Through Lovcha, Osman Pasha's troops maintained contact with Suleiman Pasha's army and received reinforcements. The capture of this point was supposed to ensure the upcoming attack on Plevna from the south.

Lovcha was defended by a Turkish detachment under the command of Rifat Pasha (consisting of about 8 thousand people with six guns). The detachment of Major General A.K. Imeretinsky (total number of more than 22 thousand people with 98 guns) was supposed to capture Lovcha. The Russians outnumbered the enemy almost three times in men, and their superiority in artillery was overwhelming. The main blow was delivered by the left column under the command of Major General M.D. Skobelev. The battle ended with the complete defeat of the enemy.

In the battle near Lovcha, the power of hand-held weapons and the unsuitability of old methods of attack were especially clearly revealed. The defensive fire required the attackers to advance in dashes. This was primarily understood by ordinary soldiers and junior commanders.

On the day of the battle of Lovcha, Osman Pasha made an attempt to help Rifat Pasha. With eighteen battalions (about 12 thousand people), he left the Plevna fortifications and attacked the positions of the 4th Corps southwest of Plevna. The Russians repelled the Turkish advance. Artillery played an important role in this. But the command missed the opportunity to defeat Osman Pasha’s detachment and burst into Plevna with a surprise attack on his shoulders. The commander of the 4th Corps, General P. D. Zotov, and the commander of the 9th Corps, General N. P. Kridener, did not take measures to ensure that; destroy the enemy in field battle, although they had superior forces. While the 4th Corps fought a stubborn battle, the 9th Corps passively followed the course of events. “Thus,” noted D. A. Milyutin, “and this time, when the enemy dared to stumble upon our two corps with 25 thousand, our strategists did not know how to take advantage of the favorable opportunity and beat the enemy, but were content with repelling him attack".

By this time, the troops of Osman Pasha, defending in the Plevna region, numbered 32 thousand people with 70 guns. The number of Russian-Romanian troops reached 84.1 thousand people with 424 guns. During the time that elapsed after the second assault on Plevna, the Turks strengthened their positions. Numerous strong points - redoubts, connected by continuous trenches in several tiers, represented a strongly fortified position. The approaches to the fortifications were under cross rifle and artillery fire. From the west, Plevna was not covered by fortifications, since here the approaches to the city were blocked by the Vid River.

The Russian command hoped to destroy enemy fortifications with a four-day artillery bombardment, and then begin an assault, delivering the main blow from the east. An auxiliary attack was planned from the south. When organizing the assault, an attempt was made for the first time to plan artillery preparation. However, this was a new matter, and it was not possible to fully implement it.

The artillery preparation, which involved 152 guns, lasted four days and was generally ineffective due to the weak high-explosive effect of the shells. The Turkish fortifications were not destroyed. The assault on August 30 had to begin after additional bombing. In addition, the disposition for the assault was sent out only a few hours before the start of the assault, and the troops did not have enough time to thoroughly organize the attack. The direction of the main attack was also chosen incorrectly. It was applied to the most fortified area. They did not take advantage of the opportunity to carry out a roundabout maneuver and attack Osman Pasha from the west, where he had almost no fortifications.

The timing of the assault was also poorly chosen. It rained all night and half a day on August 30th. It gave way to drizzling rain. The soil is wet. Visibility was poor. The assault should have been postponed. But it was the royal name day, and no one dared to make such a proposal. In his memoirs, the former chairman of the cabinet; Ministers P. A. Valuev wrote that “if not for the 30s, we would not have stormed Plevna.”

Bravery, courage and perseverance in achieving the set goal were equally demonstrated by all participants in the assault. However, the offensive on the main direction was unsuccessful. But events developed favorably on the left flank, where a detachment under the command of M.D. Skobelev operated. Here the Russians managed to break through all enemy defense lines and reach the southern outskirts of Plevna. The soldiers, who had not slept for two days, were extremely tired. Due to the lack of an entrenching tool, it was not possible to secure it properly.

At this time, the Turkish command, concentrating superior forces against Skobelev, managed to push his detachment back to its original position.

So, despite the heroism and courage of the soldiers, the assault on Plevna was unsuccessful and led to large losses: among the Russian troops they reached 13 thousand people, among the Romanian troops - 3 thousand; Turkish losses were also significant.

After the unsuccessful assault on Plevna, the command decided to blockade the fortress and force its garrison to capitulate. Russian and Romanian troops besieged Plevna from the north, south and east. However, in the west and southwest, the paths for the enemy actually remained open. The Sofia road was especially important for the besieged garrison, along which Osman Pasha’s army received ammunition and food. In order to retain this important communication, the enemy positioned considerable forces along it. To completely block Plevna, it was necessary to interrupt communication with Sofia. For this purpose, a detachment was formed under the command of Gurko. With bold and energetic actions, the detachment completely drove the enemy off the road by October 20. From this; moment the city of Plevna found itself closely surrounded on all sides by allied Russian-Romanian troops.

On October 25, General Gurko proposed to the commander-in-chief a plan for crossing the Balkans: Its goal was to defeat the new enemy army that was being formed in the Orhaniye region and not give it the opportunity to come to the aid of Osman Pasha. At the same time, it was intended to provide routes to Southern Bulgaria for Russian troops.

The plan was approved and the offensive began in mid-November. Gurko's detachment now consisted of 50 thousand bayonets and sabers with 174 guns; his offensive developed successfully. Overcoming stubborn enemy resistance, by the end of November the Russians reached the Balkan ridge and stopped in front of the heavily fortified Arabkonak position.

Meanwhile, the situation of the besieged in Plevna became critical: food and ammunition supplies were running out, there was no fuel. The Bulgarian population of Plevna provided great assistance to the Russian siege troops. It provided information about the condition of the Turkish garrison, its supply of ammunition and food. Despite the brutal repressions, the Bulgarians often ran over to the Russians, bringing them valuable information about the state of affairs in Plevna.

On November 24, four days before the capitulation of the garrison, defectors Ilya Tsanev, Ivan Tsvetkov, Hristo Slavka, Toma Pavlov, Vena Nikolov said that each soldier of the garrison was given 100 g of bread, 20-25 g of meat and two ears of corn. corn per day, and there are up to 10 thousand sick Turks in the city. The Bulgarians Dmitry Georgiev, Ivan Kostov, Hristo Bozhnov, Kosto Hristov reported that the food in Plevna would only last for five to six days, that “Osman Pasha is thinking of breaking through these days... The Turks took all the shells and cartridges to the redoubts.” Having received such information, the Russian command took measures to repel enemy attempts to escape from Plevna.

Desperate, Osman Pasha actually decided to break through. On the night of November 28, (December 10) his troops set out from Plevna and crossed the river. View and, forming in columns, attacked the positions of the 3rd Grenadier Division at dawn. They pushed back parts of the division and even occupied the second line of defense, but soon they themselves came under crossfire and were unable to build on their success. The approaching reserves attacked them from all sides. The enemy, gripped by panic, fled, losing 6 thousand people killed and wounded. This failure completely demoralized Osman Pasha's army, and at 13 o'clock on the same day he capitulated. 10 generals, 2,128 officers and 41,200 soldiers surrendered; 77 guns were taken.

The fall of Plevna had great value. Now the Russian command could, without fear for its right flank, plan decisive offensive through the Balkans.

“Not a single victory of ours,” wrote one of his contemporaries, “caused such noisy enthusiasm as the victory at Plevna. It is unlikely that the joy of the Russians would have manifested itself with greater force even if the capital of Constantinople had been captured.” The victory of the Russian-Romanian troops filled the hearts of the Bulgarians with joy and hope for imminent liberation. After the Russian army entered Plevna, the newspaper “Bulgarin” wrote: “The fall of Plevna, which became a significant holiday for us, will be written down in history in capital letters.”

Exhausted, having endured incredible difficulties and hardships, the inhabitants of Plevna on December 30, 1877 presented their liberators with thank you address, in which they expressed their delight at an exceptional event in the history of the city, in the history of the entire country. “The liberation of Pleven,” the address said, “is the dawn of the liberation of ancient Bulgaria. Pleven was the first to rise again, just as he was the last to die several centuries ago! This resurrection will forever remain in the memory of our descendants.”

Russian-Romanian troops suffered enormous sacrifices in the struggle for the liberation of Plevna. Every inch of earth is soaked in their blood. In the battles for Plevna, the Russians lost about 32 thousand, and the Romanians - 4.5 thousand people. Plevna became a symbol of the brotherhood of the Russian, Bulgarian and Romanian peoples.

Source: Barbasov A.P., Zolotarev V.A. About the past for the sake of the future. M., 1990)

The beginning of the siege. After the successful crossing of the Danube by Russian troops at Sistovo, the Turkish command on July 2 (14) began the transfer of Osman Pasha’s corps to Plevna from Vidin (northwest Bulgaria), which was tasked with striking the right flank of the Russian troops. On July 4, 1877, the 9th Army Corps of Lieutenant General N.P. Kridener captured the Nikopol fortress on the banks of the Danube north of Plevna.

The Russian command allocated a nine-thousand-strong detachment of Lieutenant General Schilder-Schuldner to occupy Plevna, which on the evening of July 7 reached the outskirts of the city and the next morning attacked Turkish positions. The 15,000-strong garrison of Plevna repelled scattered attacks by Russian regiments, inflicting serious losses on them (2.5 thousand people).

After the concentration of Kridener's entire corps (26 thousand soldiers, 140 guns) near the city, a second assault on Plevna was launched on July 18. By this time, Osman Pasha concentrated about 23 thousand people and 58 guns in the city. Kridener had no information about the Turkish forces, exaggerated their numbers and acted indecisively. The attacks were carried out from the east and southeast head-on against the most fortified areas, troops were brought into battle in parts. The assault ended in failure. Russian losses amounted to 7 thousand people, Turks - about 4 thousand people.

Plevna was of great strategic importance; its strong garrison threatened the crossings of the Danube and could attack the advancing Russian army in the flank and rear. Therefore, the Russian command postponed the transfer of the main forces through the Balkan Mountains (the Shipka Pass was captured on July 8) and during July-August concentrated an 83,000-strong army with 424 guns at Plevna, of which 32,000 people and 108 guns were from the allied Romanian army.

Third assault on Plevna. The Allies besieged Plevna from the south and east. On the right flank, opposite the Grivitsky redoubts, the Romanians settled down. From the east the city was besieged by Kridener's corps, from the southeast by General Krylov's 8th corps. In the southern direction there was a left-flank detachment of General M.D. Skobelev. From the north, the Turkish garrison was reliably covered by the heights of Yanyk-Bair, and from the west it was supplied along the Sofia-Plevna road. By the end of summer, the Turks increased the size of the Plevna garrison to 34 thousand people with 72 guns. The nominal commander of the allied army near Plevna was the Romanian king Carol I; in fact, his chief of staff, Lieutenant General P. D. Zotov, was in charge. But near Plevna there was also the headquarters of the Russian Emperor Alexander II and the commander-in-chief of the entire Danube Army, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Sr.

The third assault on Plevna took place on August 26-31. The Turks predicted the directions of attack of the Russian and Romanian troops and managed to hold their line of defense, inflicting heavy losses on the attackers. The decisive day was August 30, when the Romanians, with the support of the Russian 18th Infantry Regiment, managed to capture one of the two Grivitsky redoubts. On the same day, Skobelev’s detachment, delivering an auxiliary attack, found a weak point in the Turkish positions, broke through their defenses in the Green Mountains area, captured the Issa and Kavanlyk redoubts and reached the southern outskirts of the city. The Turks hastily transferred reserves from the north and east against Skobelev.

On August 31, the Russian command did not take offensive actions and did not support Skobelev with reserves. As a result, under the pressure of superior forces, Skobelev’s detachment was forced to return to its original positions. In the third assault on Plevna, Russian and Romanian troops lost 16 thousand people, the Turks - about three thousand.

Siege and capture of Plevna. On September 1, it was decided to proceed to a thorough siege of Plevna, for the leadership of which the best specialist in siege work in Russia, engineer-general E. I. Totleben, was called in. To successfully conduct a siege, the Russians needed to cut the Sofia-Plevna road, along which the Turks received reinforcements. To solve this problem, a strike detachment of General I.V. Gurko was created from the guards units. He managed to capture Gorny Dubnyak on October 12, Telish on October 16, Dolny Dubnyak on October 20 - strongholds on the Sofia road, thereby completely closing the blockade ring of the Pleven garrison, whose number by that time amounted to 50 thousand people.

The lack of food forced the Turkish commander Osman Pasha to attempt an independent liberation of Plevna. On November 28, having withdrawn troops from defensive positions, he attacked Russian troops northwest of Plevna. Units of the 2nd and 3rd Grenadier Divisions and the 5th Infantry Division of the Russian Army repelled the Turkish attack. Having lost 6 thousand soldiers and unable to escape from encirclement, Osman Pasha surrendered with 43 thousand soldiers. The fall of Plevna freed up a hundred thousand Russian-Romanian army for a subsequent offensive across the Balkans.

In the fighting near Plevna, forms and methods of besieging fortresses were further developed. The Russian army developed new methods of infantry combat tactics, a combination of movement and fire from rifle chains, and the use of infantry self-entrenchment in the offensive began. At Plevna, the importance of field fortifications, the interaction of infantry with artillery, the role of heavy artillery in preparing an attack on fortified positions was revealed, and the possibility of controlling artillery fire when firing from closed positions was determined. In memory of the battles for Plevna, a mausoleum in memory of fallen Russian and Romanian soldiers (1905), a park-museum of M. D. Skobelev (1907), and an artistic panorama complex “Liberation of Plevna in 1877” were built in the city. In Moscow, at the Ilyinsky Gate, there is a monument to the grenadiers who fell near Plevna.

Based on materials from Internet resources