Battle of Plevna (1877)



The Siege of Plevna or Siege of Pleven during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), saw a major struggle between the joint army of Russia and Romania and the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman defense held up the main Russian advance southwards into Bulgaria, ensuring other great powers of the time to actively support the Ottoman cause. Eventually, superior Russian and Romanian numbers forced the garrison to capitulate.

Background
In July 1877, the Russian Army, under the command of Grand Duke Nicholas, moved toward the Danube River virtually unopposed, since the Ottomans had no sizable force in the area. The Ottoman high command sent an army to reinforce the city of Nikopol under the command of Osman Nuri Pasha. Before Osman reached Nikopol, the Russian vanguard easily took the city in the Battle of Nikopol (16 July 1877) and Osman settled on Plevna, a town among vineyards in a deep rocky valley some twenty miles to the south of Nikopol. He created a strong military fortress, raising earthworks with redoubts, digging trenches and quarrying out gun emplacements. From Plevne (Plevna) Osman's army dominated the main strategic routes into the heart of Bulgaria. Hours after Osman constructed fortifications, Russian forces began to arrive.

First Battle
Gen. Schilder-Schuldner, commanding the Russian 5th Division, IX Corps, received orders to simply occupy Plevna. Schilder-Schuldner arrived outside the city on 19 July and began to bombard the Ottoman defenses, but made no attack. The next day he attacked and succeeded in driving the Ottoman forces from some of the outer defenses. Osman brought up reinforcements and launched a series of counterattacks that drove the Russians from the captured trenches, inflicting 2,800 casualties at a cost of 2,000 of his own men.

Second Battle
Osman Pasha strengthened his defences and built more redoubts, while the Russians sought and obtained reinforcements from the army of Prince Carol of Romania (later king Carol I of Romania), who made the stipulation that he be given command of the joint besieging force. Gen. Nikolai Kridener arrived with the entire Russian IX Corps and Osman's forces grew to 20,000. On 31 July Russian headquarters ordered Kridener to assault the city, which took place from three sides, with every expectation of a Russo-Romanian triumph. Kridener had a cavalry division under Gen. Schakofsky and an infantry division under Gen. Mikhail Skobelev. Schakofsky attacked the eastern redoubts and Skobelev assailed the Grivitsa redoubt to the north. Schakofsky managed to take two redoubts, but by the end of the day the Ottoman forces succeeded in repulsing all the attacks and retaking lost ground. Russian losses amounted to 7,300 and the Ottomans lost 2,000.

Third Battle
After repulsing the Russian attacks, Osman failed to press his advantage and possibly drive off the besiegers. He did, however, make a cavalry sortie on 31 August that cost the Russian 1,300 casualties and the Ottomans 1,000. The Russians continued to send reinforcements to Plevna, and their army swelled to 100,000 men, now personally led by the Grand Duke. On 3 September Skobelev reduced the Turkish garrison at Lovech guarding the Ottoman supply lines before Osman could move out to relieve it. see main article: Battle of Lovcha. The Ottoman army organized the survivors of Lovech into 3 battalions for the Plevna defenses. Osman received an additional 13 battalions, bringing his total strength to 30,000--the highest it would reach during the siege.

On 11 September the Russians made a large-scale assault on Plevna. The Ottoman forces were dug in and equipped with Krupp-manufactured steel breech-loading artillery and American-manufactured Winchester repeaters and Peabody-Martini rifles. For three hours they poured murderous fire into the waves of advancing Russians. Alexander II of Russia, the Czar, and his brother the Grand Duke Nicolas watched from a pavilion built on a hillside out of the line of fire. Skobelev took two southern redoubts and a Romanian division took the Grivitsa redoubt. The next day the Turks retook the southern redoubts, but could not dislodge the Romanians. From the beginning of September, Russian losses had amounted to roughly 20,000, while the Ottomans lost 5,000.

Fourth Battle
Growing Russian casualties put a halt to frontal assaults. Gen. Eduard Ivanovich Todleben arrived to oversee the conduct of the siege as the army chief of staff. Todleben had proven command experience in siege warfare: he had gained renown for his defense of Sevastopol (1854–1855) during the Crimean War. He decided on a complete encirclement of the city and its defenders, and by 24 October the Russians and Romanians had completely surrounded Plevna. Osman requested permission from his superiors to abandon Plevna and retreat, but the Ottoman 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 in the direction of Opanets. On 9 December the Ottoman forces silently emerged, at dead of night, threw bridges over and crossed the Vit River, attacked on a two-mile front and broke through the first line of Russian trenches. Here they fought hand to hand and bayonet to bayonet, with little advantage to either side. Outnumbering the Ottoman forces almost 5 to 1, the Russians drove them back across the Vit and wounded Osman in the process (he was hit in the leg by a stray bullet, which killed his horse beneath him). Rumours of his own death created panic. Making a brief stand, the Ottoman forces eventually found themselves driven back into the city, losing 5,000 men to the Russians' 2,000. The next day Osman surrendered the city, the garrison and his sword to Romanian Col. Mihail Cerchez. He was treated honorably, but his troops perished in the snows by the thousands as they straggled off into captivity.

Results
The siege held up the main Russian advance into Bulgaria and captured the world's admiration, paving the way for the sympathetic treatment of the Ottoman Empire with the Congress of Berlin. The fall of Plevna freed up Russian reinforcements, which were sent to Gen. Joseph Vladimirovich Gourko, who then decisively defeated the Ottoman forces in the fourth battle of Shipka Pass.

Legacy

 * A large new factory building, completed in 1877, of the Finlayson & Co cotton mill in Tampere, Finland was named Plevna commemorating the battle and the Guard of Finland that took part.
 * The city of Plevna, Montana in the United States was given its name by Bulgarian immigrants building the railroad there in honor of the battle of Plevna.
 * In other countries, there are five cities and towns named after Plevna, and there are eighteen Plevna streets in Britain alone.

In popular culture

 * The best-selling Russian detective novel The Turkish Gambit, the second book in the Erast Fandorin series, is set at the Siege of Plevna. The plot involves Fandorin attempting to discover a Turkish spy believed to be inside Russian headquarters.
 * A famous Mehteran (Ottoman military band) piece "Osman Paşa Marşı" (Osman Pasha March) honors the courageous defense of the Plevna; and is one of the most well-known marches in Turkey.
 * In the Romanian Western The Prophet, the Gold and the Transylvanians, Traian Brad is a Romanian who fought in Plevna where he got a medal and an Ottoman gun.