Ottoman Army at Plevna Surrenders to the Russians

Each week the iron ring around Plevna grew smaller as one position after another fell into the hands of the Russians.

Continuing Russo-Turkish War 1877,
our selection from Political History of Recent Times by Wilhelm Mueller published in 1882. The selection is presented in twelve easy 5-minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in Russo-Turkish War 1877.

Time: 1877-1878
Place: Balkans

On August 23rd the Turks had almost succeeded in forcing a passage, when General Radetzki arrived on the scene with reinforcements. Before daybreak on September 17th three thousand five hundred Turkish volunteers, advancing in three columns, surprised the Russians on Mount St. Nicholas, the highest point in the pass, and drove them out of their entrenchments. Suleiman at once telegraphed to Constantinople: “The Shipka is ours!” But the news was premature. By noon of the same day the Russians were again in possession of the heights, no reinforcements having arrived for the support of the Turkish storming columns.

The army of the Danube, to take command of which Mehemet Ali Pacha had been recalled from Montenegro, consisted of two army corps and an unknown number of irregular troops. To these were opposed, on the Russian side, two army corps, commanded by the Czarevitch. The Turkish forces were stationed behind the Black Lom. The Russians crossed that stream toward the close of August but were defeated in several engagements and driven back toward Biela. All available positions between the Lom and the Jantra were fortified, and every effort was made to defend the line of the latter stream against the Turks. Mehemet Ali, on his part, received orders from Constantinople to carry the line of the Jantra at any cost but after a defeat at Cherkovna, on September 21st, he fell back again to his original positions. This led to his removal, and on October 4th Suleiman Pacha arrived in Rasgrad to succeed him.

Instead of making at once a vigorous attempt to carry the line of the Jantra, as was expected of him, Suleiman spent more than a month in strengthening the Turkish positions at Rustchuk and Rasgrad and gathering reinforcements, and it was not until the middle of November that he assumed the offensive. Several attacks were made on the Russian left wing between the 18th and 26th of that month but these were merely intended to serve as a cover for the main assault directed against the enemy’s right. On December 4th Fuad Pacha, with twenty thousand men, defeated the enemy’s advance-guard and pursued them as far as Yakovitza, near Tirnova; but instead of following up his success he waited until the 6th. By that time reinforcements had arrived, and the attack of the Turks was repulsed. Suleiman then made a serious attempt to break through the Russian left wing. Unsuccessful there also, he fell back across the Lom.

The unsuccessful attack of September 11th had shown that Plevna was not to be carried by storm. A pause of about a month ensued while the Russians were waiting for reinforcements. Toward the end of September Todleben, the hero of Sebastopol, arrived to direct the engineering operations necessary to a regular siege. It was resolved to surround Osman’s position and leave him no other choice than to capitulate from lack of provisions or make an attempt to break out. The arrival of the Guard and Grenadier corps in October enabled the Russians to complete the investment toward the west and close the road to Sofia. In Orkanye, between Plevna and Sofia, a second Turkish army, under Chefket Pacha, had been formed, by means of which Osman was furnished with reinforcements and supplies, and on October 11th, in order to secure the communications between the two armies, twelve thousand men had been placed in strongly fortified positions at Gornyi-Dubnik and Telish. On the arrival of the Guard corps a Russian army of the west was formed, and General Gourko was entrusted with the task of capturing the Turkish positions to the west of Plevna. Passing to the south of that place he crossed the Vid and attacked Gornyi-Dubnik on October 24th. At the same time a bombardment was opened along the whole line, as if in preparation for an assault. The maneuver was successful; Gornyi-Dubnik was taken by storm, and four days later Telish capitulated. Gourko’s army at once spread itself out to the north and south. On November 25th Etropol was taken, and on the 21st the Romanians occupied Rahova. The whole country from the Balkans to the Danube was in the hands of the Russians, and Plevna was completely isolated. The operations of Gourko’s army compelled Mehemet Ali Pacha, who had succeeded Chefket, to abandon Orkanye and retreat to Sofia, leaving a garrison in the Etropol Pass.

Each week the iron ring around Plevna grew smaller as one position after another fell into the hands of the Russians. On November 12th the Grand Duke Nicholas called upon the Turkish commander to avoid useless loss of life by surrender; but the latter refused, announcing his determination to fight “to the last drop of our blood for the honor of our country.” At length provisions failed, and a desperate attempt to break through the Russian lines was resolved upon. On the evening of December 9th, leaving the sick and wounded behind in Plevna, the Turkish army concentrated on the Vid. At daybreak of the 10th they began their advance toward Viddin in two columns. But the enemy was fully informed of their plans. As soon as the fortifications were abandoned by the Turks they were occupied by the Russians. The Romanians and the Grenadier corps received the attack of the Turkish troops, and hurled them back on the intrenchments, now occupied by Russian soldiers. The Turks fought with desperation. Osman himself was wounded in the leg. Finally, at 12:30 p.m., the white flag was raised and the Turkish army surrendered at discretion. Ten pachas, two thousand officers of the line, one hundred twenty-eight staff officers, and thirty-six thousand men, besides the sick and wounded, fell into the hands of the enemy. The fact that no Russian or Romanian prisoners were found in Plevna is one more proof of Turkish barbarity. In answer to a reminder from the German Government that the Turkish soldiers were guilty of constant violations of the Geneva Convention of 1865, to which the Porte was a party, subjecting the Russian wounded and prisoners to barbarous abuse, the Turkish Government naively replied that the provisions of that convention were not yet known to the soldiers, but that it would cause them to be translated into Turkish and communicated to the troops.

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