Colonel Karyagin and his Russian Spartans. Colonel Karyagin: biography, personal life, exploits, photo

Colonel Karyagin's campaign against the Persians in 1805 does not look like a real one military history... It looks like the prequel to "300 Spartans" (40,000 Persians, 500 Russians, gorges, bayonet attacks, "This is crazy! - No, this is the 17th Jaeger Regiment!"). The golden, platinum page of Russian history, combining the slaughter of madness with the highest tactical skill, delightful cunning and stunning Russian arrogance. But first things first.

At a time when the glory of the Emperor of France Napoleon was growing on the fields of Europe, and the Russian troops, who fought against the French, performed new feats for the glory of Russian arms, on the other side of the world, in the Caucasus, the same Russian soldiers and officers performed no less glorious deeds. One of the golden pages in the history of the Caucasian Wars was written by the colonel of the 17th Jaeger Regiment Karyagin and his detachment.

The state of affairs in the Caucasus in 1805 was extremely difficult. The Persian ruler Baba Khan was eager to regain the lost influence of Tehran after the arrival of the Russians in the Caucasus. The impetus for the war was the capture of Ganzhi by the troops of Prince Tsitsianov. Because of the war with France, Petersburg could not increase the size of the Caucasian corps; by May 1805, it consisted of about 6,000 infantry and 1,400 cavalry. Moreover, the troops were scattered over a vast territory. Due to illness and poor nutrition, there was a large shortage, so according to the lists in the 17th Jaeger Regiment there were 991 privates in three battalions, in fact there were 201 people in the ranks.

Upon learning of the appearance of large Persian formations, the commander of the Russian troops in the Caucasus, Prince Tsitsianov, ordered Colonel Karyagin to delay the enemy's advance. On June 18, the detachment set out from Elisavetpol to Shusha, having in the composition 493 soldiers and officers and two guns ... The detachment consisted of: the patron battalion of the 17th Jaeger Regiment under the command of Major Kotlyarevsky, the company of the Tiflis Musketeer Regiment of Captain Tatarintsov and the artillerymen of Second Lieutenant Gudim-Levkovich. At that time in Shusha there was a major of the 17th Jaeger Regiment Lisanevich with six companies of Jaegers, thirty Cossacks and three guns. On July 11, Lisanevich's detachment repulsed several attacks by the Persian troops, and soon an order was received to join the detachment of Colonel Karyagin. But, fearing an uprising of a part of the population and the likelihood of the capture of Shusha by the Persians, Lisanevich did not do this.

On June 24, the first battle took place with the Persian cavalry (about 3000) crossing the Shah-Bulakh River. Several attacks of the enemy trying to break through the square were repulsed. After passing 14 versts, the detachment camped at the mound of the Kara-Agach-BaBa tract on the river. Askaran. In the distance were visible the tents of the Persian armada under the command of Pir Quli Khan, and it was only the vanguard of the army, which was commanded by the heir to the Persian throne Abbas Mirza. On the same day, Karyagin sent Lisanevich a demand to leave Shusha and go to him, but the latter, due to the most difficult situation, could not do this.

At 18.00, the Persians began to storm the Russian camp, the attacks continued with a break until nightfall. Suffering heavy losses, the Persian commander took his troops to the heights around the camp, and the Persians installed four falconet batteries for shelling. From the early morning of July 25, the bombardment of our location began. According to the recollections of one of the participants in the battle: “Our situation was very, very unenviable and became worse from hour to hour. The unbearable heat depleted our forces, we were tormented by thirst, and the shots from the enemy batteries did not stop ... ”1) Several times the Persians suggested that the commander of the detachment lay down their arms, but they were invariably refused. In order not to lose the only source of water on the night of June 27, a group sortie was made under the command of Lieutenant Klyupin and Second Lieutenant Prince Tumanov. The operation to destroy the enemy batteries was successfully carried out. All four batteries were destroyed, the servants were partly killed, partly fled, and the falconets were thrown into the river. It must be said that by this day 350 people remained in the detachment, and half of them had wounds of varying severity.
From the report of Colonel Karyagin to Prince Tsitsianov of June 26, 1805: “Major Kotlyarevsky was sent by me three times to drive out the enemy who was in front and occupied high places, drove out strong crowds with courage. Captain Parfyonov, Captain Klyukin in the whole battle on different occasions were sent by me with riflemen and struck the enemy with fearlessness. "

At dawn on June 27, the approaching main forces of the Persians began the assault on the camp. Attacks were carried out again throughout the day. At four o'clock in the afternoon, an incident occurred that forever remained a black spot in the glorious history of the regiment. Lieutenant Lysenko and six lower ranks ran to the enemy. Having received information about the plight of the Russians, Abbas-Mirza threw his troops into a decisive assault, but having suffered heavy losses he was forced to abandon further attempts to break the resistance of a desperate handful of people. At night 19 more soldiers ran over to the Persians. Realizing the gravity of the situation, and the fact that the transfer of comrades to the enemy creates unhealthy moods among the soldiers, Colonel Karyagin decides to break through the encirclement, go to the river. Shah-Bulakh and occupy a small fortress standing on its bank. The commander of the detachment sent a report to Prince Tsitsianov, in which he wrote: "... in order not to subject the remnant of the detachment to complete and final death and save the people and the guns, he made a firm decision to break through with courage through the numerous enemy that surrounded from all sides ..." .2)

A local resident, Armenian Melik Vani became a guide in this desperate venture. Leaving the wagon train and burying the captured weapons, the detachment set off on a new campaign. At first, they moved in complete silence, then there was a collision with the enemy's horse patrol and the Persians rushed to catch up with the detachment. True, on the march, attempts to destroy this wounded and mortally tired, but still the battle group did not bring good luck to the Persians, moreover, most of the pursuers rushed to plunder the empty Russian camp. According to legends, the Shah-Bulakh ball castle was built by Shah Nadir, and got its name from a stream flowing nearby. In the castle there was a Persian garrison (150 people) under the command of Emir Khan and Fial Khan, the suburbs occupied enemy posts. Seeing the Russians, the sentries raised the alarm and opened fire. Shots of Russian guns rang out, a well-aimed cannonball smashed the gate, and the Russians burst into the castle. In a report dated June 28, 1805, Karyagin reported: “... the fortress was taken, the enemy was driven out of it and out of the forest with a small loss on our side. From the enemy side, both khans were killed ... Having settled in the fortress, I await your Excellency's orders. " By evening, there were only 179 people in the ranks, and 45 charges for the guns. Upon learning of this, Prince Tsitsianov wrote to Karyagin: “In unheard-of despair, I ask you to reinforce the soldiers, and I ask God to reinforce you.” 3)

Meanwhile, our heroes suffered from lack of food. The same Melik Vani, whom Popov calls "the good genius of the detachment", volunteered to get supplies. The most amazing thing is that the brave Armenian coped with this task superbly, the second operation also bore fruit. But the position of the detachment became more and more difficult, the more the Persian troops approached the fortification. Abbas Mirza tried to knock the Russians out of the fortification on the move, but his troops suffered losses and were forced to go over to the blockade. Believing that the Russians were trapped, Abbas Mirza invited them to lay down their arms, but was refused.

From the report of Colonel Karyagin to Prince Tsitsianov of June 28, 1805: “Second lieutenant Zhudkovsky of the Tiflis Musketeer Regiment, who, despite the wound, volunteered as a hunter when taking batteries and acted like a brave officer, and of the 7th Artillery Regiment, Second Lieutenant Gudim-Levkovich, who, when almost all his gunners were wounded, he himself loaded the guns and knocked out the carriage under the enemy's cannon. "

Franz Roubaud, The Living Bridge, 1892.

Karyagin decides to take an even more incredible step, to break through the hordes of the enemy to the Mukhrat fortress, not occupied by the Persians. On July 7 at 22.00 this march began, a deep ravine with steep slopes appeared on the way of the detachment. People and horses could overcome it, but what about the tools?

Then Private Gavrila Sidorov jumped to the bottom of the ditch, followed by a dozen more soldiers. Only two rose from the moat.

The first gun flew over to the other side like a bird, the second fell off and the wheel hit Private Sidorov in the temple. Having buried the hero, the detachment continued its march. There are several versions of this episode: “... the detachment continued to move, calmly and without hindrance, until the two guns that were with it were stopped by a small ditch. There was no forest to make the bridge in the vicinity; four soldiers volunteered to help the cause, crossed themselves into the ditch and carried the guns along them. Two survived, and two paid with their lives for heroic self-sacrifice. "

One of the officers recalled: “... but as soon as Kotlyarevsky managed to move away from us, we were brutally attacked by several thousand Persians, and their onslaught was so strong and sudden that they managed to capture both of our guns. It's not a thing anymore. Karyagin shouted: "Guys, go ahead, save the guns!" All rushed like lions, and immediately our bayonets opened the way. " Trying to cut off the Russians from the fortress, Abbas-Mirza sent a cavalry detachment to capture it, but here, too, the Persians failed. The disabled team of Kotlyarevsky threw back the Persian horsemen. By evening, Karyagin also came to Mukhrat, according to Bobrovsky, this happened at 12.00.

Having received a report on July 9, Prince Tsitsianov gathered a detachment of 2371 people with 10 guns and went out to meet Karyagin. On July 15, the detachment of Prince Tsitsianov, having thrown the Persians away from the Tertara River, camped near the village of Mardagishti. Upon learning of this, Karyagin leaves Mukhrat at night and goes to join his commander.

Having made this amazing march, Colonel Karyagin's detachment within three weeks attracted the attention of almost 20,000 Persians and did not allow them to go into the interior of the country. For this campaign, Colonel Karyagin was awarded a golden sword with the inscription “for bravery”. Pavel Mikhailovich Karyagin has been in service since April 15, 1773 (Smolensk Monetary Company), since September 25, 1775, sergeant of the Voronezh Infantry Regiment. Since 1783, second lieutenant of the Belarusian Jaeger Battalion (1st Battalion of the Caucasian Jaeger Corps). Participant in the storming of Anapa on June 22, 1791, received the rank of major. Chief of Defense Pambak in 1802. Chief of the 17th Jaeger Regiment since May 14, 1803. For the storming of Ganja he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree.

Major Kotlyarevsky was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree, the surviving officers were awarded the Orders of St. Anne of the 3rd degree. Avanes Yuzbashi (Melik Vani) was not left without a reward, he was promoted to ensign and received 200 rubles in silver for his life pension. The feat of private Sidorov in 1892, in the year of the 250th anniversary of the regiment, was immortalized in a monument installed at the headquarters of the Erivans Manglis.

A.V. Potto

"Caucasian War"
(in 5 volumes)

Volume 1.

From ancient times to Ermolov

FEAT OF COLONEL KARYAGIN

In the Karabagh Khanate, at the foot of a rocky hillock, near the very road from Elizavetopol to Shusha, there is an ancient castle surrounded by a high stone wall with six dilapidated round towers.

Near this castle, striking the traveler with its grandiose massive contours, the Shah-Bulakh spring gushes, and a little further, ten or fifteen versts, there is a Tatar cemetery, spread out on one of the roadside mounds, which are so many in this part of the Transcaucasian region. The high spire of the minaret attracts the attention of the traveler from a distance. But not many people know that this minaret and this cemetery are silent witnesses of an almost fabulous feat.

It was here, in the Persian campaign of 1805, that a Russian detachment of four hundred men, under the command of Colonel Karyagin, withstood the attack of a twenty thousandth Persian army and with honor came out of this too unequal battle.

The campaign began with the enemy crossing Arake at the Khudoperin ferry. The battalion of the 17th Jaeger Regiment, which was covering it, under the command of Major Lisanevich, was unable to keep the Persians and retreated to Shusha. Prince Tsitsianov immediately sent another battalion and two guns to his aid, under the command of the chief of the same regiment, Colonel Karyagin, a man hardened in battles with the mountaineers and Persians. The strength of both detachments together, even if they managed to unite, did not exceed nine hundred people, but Tsitsianov knew the spirit of the Caucasian troops well, knew their leaders and was calm about the consequences.

Karyagin set out from Elizavetpol on the twenty-first of June and three days later, approaching Shah-Bulakh, he saw the advanced troops of the Persian army, under the command of Sardar Pir-Quli-khan.

Since there were no more than three or four thousand here, the detachment, curled up in a square, continued to go its own way, repelling attack after attack. But towards evening, the main forces of the Persian army, from fifteen to twenty thousand, led by Abbas Mirza, the heir to the Persian kingdom, appeared in the distance. It became impossible for the Russian detachment to continue its further movement, and Karyagin, looking around, saw a high mound with a Tatar cemetery spread out on the bank of Askorani - a place convenient for defense. He hastened to occupy it and, hastily dug in a ditch, blocked all access to the mound with carts from his convoy. The Persians did not hesitate to lead the attack, and their fierce attacks followed one after another without interruption until nightfall. Karyagin stayed in the cemetery, but it cost him one hundred and ninety-seven people, that is, almost half of the detachment.

"Neglecting the large number of Persians," he wrote on the same day to Tsitsianov, "I would have made my way to Shusha with rods, but the great number of wounded people, whom I have no means to raise, makes it impossible to make any attempt to move from the place I occupied."

The losses of the Persians were enormous. Abbas Mirza saw clearly what the new attack on the Russian position would cost him, and therefore, not wanting to waste people, in the morning he limited himself to cannonade, not allowing the thought that such a small detachment could hold out for more than a day.

Indeed, military history does not provide many examples where a detachment, surrounded by a hundred times the strongest enemy, would not accept an honorable surrender. But Karyagin did not think to give up. True, at first he counted on help from the Karabag khan, but soon he had to give up this hope: they learned that the khan had betrayed and that his son with the Karabag cavalry was already in the Persian camp.

“I can't remember without emotional emotion,” says Ladinsky himself, “what wonderful Russian fellows the soldiers were in our detachment. I didn't need to encourage and excite their courage. My whole speech to them consisted of several words: , with God! Let us recall the Russian proverb that two deaths never happen, and one cannot be avoided, but to die, you know, is better in battle than in a hospital. ”Everyone took off their hats and crossed themselves. The night was dark. from the river, and, like lions, rushed to the first battery. In one minute it was in our hands. In the second the Persians defended themselves with great stubbornness, but were stabbed with bayonets, and from the third and fourth they all rushed to run in panic. , in less than half an hour, we finished the battle without losing a single person on our side. I ruined the battery, yelled water and, seizing fifteen falconets, joined the detachment. "

Here are some details of the unfortunate expedition of the Karabag khan, but soon this hope had to be abandoned: they learned that the khan had betrayed and that his son with the Karabag cavalry was already in the Persian camp.

Tsitsianov tried to turn the Karabakh people to fulfill the obligations given to the Russian sovereign, and, pretending not to know about the treason of the Tatars, called in his proclamation to the Karabagh Armenians: engaged only in commercial trades ... Come to your senses! Remember your former courage, be ready for victories and show that you are the same brave Karabakh people as you were before the fear for the Persian cavalry. "

But everything was in vain, and Karyagin remained in the same position, with no hope of getting help from the Shusha fortress. On the third day, the twenty-sixth of June, the Persians, wishing to speed up the denouement, diverted water from the besieged and placed four falconet batteries over the river itself, which fired at the Russian camp day and night. From this time on, the position of the detachment becomes unbearable, and losses quickly begin to increase. Karyagin himself, shell-shocked already three times in the chest and in the head, was wounded by a bullet through the side. Most of the officers also dropped out of the front, and there were not even a hundred and fifty men left who were fit for battle. If we add to this the torment of thirst, the intolerable heat, anxious and sleepless nights, then the formidable stubbornness with which the soldiers not only irrevocably endured incredible hardships, but still found enough strength to make sorties and beat the Persians becomes almost incomprehensible.

In one of these sorties, the soldiers, under the command of Lieutenant Ladinsky, penetrated even as far as the Persian camp and, having captured four batteries on Ascorani, not only got water, but also brought fifteen falconets with them.

“I can't remember without emotional emotion,” says Ladinsky himself, “what wonderful Russian fellows the soldiers were in our detachment. I didn't need to encourage and excite their courage. My whole speech to them consisted of a few words: , with God! Let us recall the Russian proverb that two deaths never happen, and one cannot be avoided, but to die, you know, is better in battle than in a hospital. ”Everyone took off their hats and crossed themselves. The night was dark. from the river, and, like lions, rushed to the first battery. In one minute it was in our hands. In the second the Persians defended themselves with great stubbornness, but were stabbed with bayonets, and from the third and fourth they all rushed to run in panic. , in less than half an hour, we finished the battle without losing a single person on our side. I destroyed the battery, took water and, taking fifteen falconets, joined the detachment. "

The success of this sortie surpassed Karyagin's wildest expectations. He went out to thank the brave rangers, but, finding no words, ended up kissing them all in front of the whole detachment. Unfortunately, Ladinsky, who survived on the enemy's batteries while performing his daring feat, was seriously wounded by a Persian bullet in his own camp the next day.

For four days a handful of heroes stood face to face with the Persian army, but on the fifth they found themselves short of ammunition and food. The soldiers ate their last crackers that day, and the officers had long since been eating grass and roots.

In this extreme, Karyagin decided to send forty people to forage in the nearest villages so that they could get meat, and if possible, bread. The team went under the command of an officer who did not inspire much confidence in himself. He was a foreigner of unknown nationality, who called himself the Russian surname Lisenkov; he was one of the whole detachment apparently weighed down by his position. Subsequently, from the intercepted correspondence, it turned out that it was indeed a French spy.

A premonition of some kind of grief seized decisively everyone in the camp. The night was spent in anxious anticipation, and by the light of the twenty-eighth, only six people from the sent team appeared - with the news that they were attacked by the Persians, that the officer was missing, and the rest of the soldiers were hacked to death.

Here are some details of the unfortunate expedition, recorded then from the words of the wounded sergeant major Petrov.

“As soon as we came to the village,” Petrov said, “Lieutenant Lisenkov immediately ordered us to draw up our guns, take off our ammunition and walk along the saklya. But the lieutenant shouted at me and said that we had nothing to fear; that this village lies behind our camp, and the enemy cannot get here; camp. "No, I thought. - it all comes out somehow amiss. ”It used to be what our former officers did: it used to be that half of the team always stayed in place with loaded guns; but there was no need to argue with the commander. I dismissed the people, and myself, as if sensing something- something bad, climbed the mound and began to inspect the surroundings. Suddenly I saw: the Persian cavalry was galloping ... "Well, I think, it's bad!" the soldiers were more likely to help out their guns.

"Well, guys," I said, "the power breaks the straw; run into the bushes, and there, God willing, we'll also sit out!" - With these words, we scattered, but only six of us, and then wounded, managed to get to the bush. The Persians were about to come after us, but we accepted them so that they soon left us alone.

Now, - Petrov finished his sad story, - everything that remains in the village is either beaten or captured, there is no one to help out. "

This fatal failure made a striking impression on the detachment, which lost here from the small number of people who remained after the defense at once thirty-five selected fellows; but Karyagin's energy did not hesitate.

"What to do, brothers," he said to the soldiers who had gathered around him, "grieving cannot correct trouble. Go to bed and pray to God, and there will be work at night."

Karyagin's words were so understood by the soldiers that at night the detachment would go to fight its way through the Persian army, because the impossibility of holding this position was obvious to everyone, since the crackers and cartridges came out. Karyagin, indeed, gathered a council of war and proposed to break through to the Shakh-Bulakh castle, take it by storm and sit there waiting for the proceeds. The Armenian Yuzbash undertook to be the conductor of the detachment. For Karyagin, in this case, the Russian proverb came true: "Throw the bread and salt back, and she will be in front." He once did a great favor to an Elizabethan resident, whose son fell in love with Karyagin so much that in all his campaigns he was always with him and, as we shall see, played a prominent role in all subsequent events.

Karyagin's proposal was accepted unanimously. The wagon train was left to be plundered by the enemy, but the falconets obtained from the battle were carefully buried in the ground so that the Persians would not find them. Then, after praying to God, they loaded the guns with buckshot, took the wounded onto a stretcher, and quietly, without noise, at midnight on June twenty-ninth, set out from the camp.

Due to the lack of horses, the huntsmen dragged implements with straps. Only three wounded officers rode on horseback: Karyagin, Kotlyarevsky and Lieutenant Ladinsky, and only because the soldiers themselves did not allow them to dismount, promising to pull out the guns in their hands where necessary. And we will see further how honestly they fulfilled their promise.

Taking advantage of the darkness of the night and the mountainous slums, Yuzbash led the detachment completely secretly for some time. But the Persians soon noticed the disappearance of the Russian detachment and even attacked the trail, and only impenetrable darkness, a storm and especially the dexterity of the guide once again saved Karyagin's detachment from the possibility of extermination. By the light he was already at the walls of Shah-Bulakh, occupied by a small Persian garrison, and, taking advantage of the fact that everyone was still sleeping there, not thinking about the proximity of the Russians, he fired a volley of guns, broke the iron gates and, rushing to attack, ten minutes later took possession of the fortress. Its chief, Emir Khan, a relative of the Crown Persian prince, was killed, and his body remained in the hands of the Russians.

As soon as the rumble of the last shots died down, the entire Persian army, pursuing Karyagin on the heels, appeared in Shah-Bulakh's mind. Karyagin prepared for battle. But an hour passed, another anxious expectation - and, instead of the assault columns, Persian envoys appeared in front of the castle walls. Abbas-Mirza appealed to Karyagin's generosity and asked for the body of his murdered relative.

With pleasure I will fulfill the wish of His Highness, - answered Karyagin, - but so that all our prisoners of war captured in Lisenkov's expedition would be handed over to us too.

Shah-Zade (the heir) foresaw this, - objected the Persian, - and instructed me to convey his sincere regret. The Russian soldiers, to the last man, lay down at the battle site, and the officer died the next day from a wound.

It was a lie; and above all, Lisenkov himself, as it was known, was in the Persian camp; nevertheless, Karyagin ordered to hand over the body of the murdered khan and only added:

Tell the prince that I believe him, but that we have an old proverb: "Whoever lies, let him be ashamed," the heir to the vast Persian monarchy, of course, will not want to blush before us.

That was the end of the negotiations. The Persian army surrounded the castle and began a blockade, hoping to force Karyagin to surrender by hunger. For four days they ate the besieged grass and horse meat, but at last these meager supplies were also eaten. Then Yuzbash came with a new invaluable service: he left the fortress at night and, making his way to the Armenian auls, informed Tsitsianov about the situation of the detachment. "If your Excellency does not rush to help," Karyagin wrote at the same time, "the detachment will not die from surrender, which I will not proceed to, but from hunger."

This report greatly alarmed Prince Tsitsianov, who did not have any troops or food with him to go to the rescue.

“In unheard-of despair,” he wrote to Karyagin, “I ask you to reinforce the spirit of the soldiers, and I ask God to reinforce you personally. the grief is beyond imagination. "

This letter was delivered by the same Yuzbash, who returned safely to the castle, bringing with him a small amount of provisions. Karyagin divided this request equally among all the ranks of the garrison, but it lasted only for a day. Yuzbash then began to set off not alone, but with whole teams, which he happily spent at night past the Persian camp. Once a Russian column, however, even stumbled upon a mounted enemy patrol; but, fortunately, the thick fog allowed the soldiers to set up an ambush. Like tigers, they rushed to the Persians and in a few seconds exterminated everyone without firing a shot, with bayonets alone. To hide the traces of this carnage, they took the horses with them, covered the blood on the ground, and dragged the dead into a ravine, where they threw earth and bushes. In the Persian camp, they did not learn anything about the fate of the lost patrol.

Several such excursions allowed Karyagin to hold out for another whole week without much extreme. Finally, Abbas-Mirza, losing patience, offered Karyagin great awards and honors if he agreed to go into the Persian service and surrender to Shah-Bulakh, promising that not the slightest offense would be inflicted on any of the Russians. Karyagin asked for four days for reflection, but so that Abbas-Mirza would provide the Russians with food during all these days. Abbas-Mirza agreed, and the Russian detachment, regularly receiving everything it needed from the Persians, rested and recovered.

Meanwhile, the last day of the armistice expired, and by evening Abbas-Mirza sent to ask Karyagin about his decision. “Tomorrow morning, let His Highness take Shakh-Bulakh,” Karyagin replied. As we shall see, he kept his word.

As soon as night fell, the entire detachment, led again by Yuzbash, left Shakh-Bulakh, deciding to move to another fortress, Mukhrat, which, due to its mountainous location and proximity to Elizavetpol, was more convenient for defense. By roundabout roads, through the mountains and slums, the detachment managed to bypass the Persian posts so secretly that the enemy noticed Karyagin's deception only in the morning, when the vanguard of Kotlyarevsky, composed exclusively of only wounded soldiers and officers, was already in Mukhrat, and Karyagin himself with the rest of the people and with cannons he managed to pass the dangerous mountain gorges. If Karyagin and his soldiers were not imbued with a truly heroic spirit, it seems that local difficulties alone would have been enough to make the whole enterprise completely impossible. Here, for example, is one of the episodes of this transition, a fact that stands alone even in the history of the Caucasian army.

While the detachment was still marching through the mountains, a deep ravine crossed the road through which it was impossible to ferry guns. They stopped in front of her in bewilderment. But the resourcefulness of the Caucasian soldier and his boundless self-sacrifice helped out of this trouble.

Guys! - suddenly shouted the battalion singer Sidorov. - Why stand and think? You can't take the city while standing, you'd better listen to what I tell you: our brother has a cannon - a lady, and a lady needs help; so let’s roll her on our guns. ”

An approving noise went through the ranks of the battalion. Several rifles were immediately thrust into the ground with bayonets and formed piles, several others were laid on them like bends, several soldiers propped them up with their shoulders, and the makeshift bridge was ready. The first cannon flew over this literally living bridge at once and only slightly crumpled the brave shoulders, but the second one fell off and hit two soldiers with a full swing with a wheel on the head. The cannon was saved, but the people paid for it with their lives. Among them was the battalion singer Gavrila Sidorov.

No matter how the detachment hurried to retreat, however, the soldiers managed to dig a deep grave, into which the officers lowered the bodies of their dead colleagues in their arms. Karyagin himself blessed this last refuge of the deceased heroes and bowed to him to the ground.

“Farewell!” He said after a short prayer. “Farewell, truly Orthodox Russian people, loyal tsarist servants!

“Pray, brothers, God for us,” the soldiers said, crossing themselves and taking apart their guns.

Meanwhile, Yuzbash, who had been observing the surroundings all the time, gave a sign that the Persians were already close. Indeed, as soon as the Russians reached Kassanet, the Persian cavalry had already settled on the detachment, and such a hot battle ensued that Russian guns several times passed from hand to hand ... Fortunately, Mukhrat was already close, and Karyagin managed to retreat to him at night with little loss. From here he immediately wrote to Tsitsianov: "Now I am completely safe from Baba Khan's attacks, because the location here does not allow him to be with numerous troops."

At the same time, Karyagin sent a letter to Abbas-Mirza in response to his offer to transfer to the Persian service. "In your letter, please say," Karyagin wrote to him, "that your parent has mercy on me; and I have the honor to inform you that, when fighting the enemy, they do not seek mercy, except traitors; and I, who have turned gray under arms, for happiness consider shedding my blood in the service of His Imperial Majesty. "

Colonel Karyagin's courage bore enormous fruits. Having detained the Persians in Karabagh, it saved Georgia from flooding with Persian hordes and made it possible for Prince Tsitsianov to gather troops scattered along the borders and open an offensive campaign.

Then Karyagin finally had the opportunity to leave Mukhrat and retreat to the village Mazdygert, where commander-in-chief received him with extraordinary military honors. All the troops, dressed in full dress, were lined up in a deployed front, and when the remnants of the brave detachment appeared, Tsitsianov himself commanded: "On guard!" "Hurray!" Thundered through the ranks, the drums beat the campaign, the banners bowed ...

Walking around the wounded, Tsitsianov asked about their situation with participation, promised to inform the emperor about the miraculous exploits of the detachment, and immediately congratulated Lieutenant Ladinsky as a knight of the Order of St. George 4th degree [Subsequently, Ladinsky, being a colonel, commanded the Erivan Carabiner Regiment (formerly the 17th Jaeger Regiment) and remained in this position from 1816 to 1823. Everyone who only knew Ladinsky in his advanced years speaks of him as a cheerful, amiable and witty person. He was one of those people who know how to decorate any story with anecdotes and treat everything with a comic, being able to notice everywhere funny and weak sides.].

The Tsar granted Karyagin a golden sword with the inscription "For Bravery", and the Armenian Yuzbash the rank of ensign, a gold medal and two hundred rubles of life pension.

On the very day of the solemn meeting, after the evening dawn, Karyagin took the heroic remnants of his battalion to Elizavetpol. The brave veteran was exhausted from the wounds he had received at Ascorani; but the consciousness of duty in him was so strong that a few days later, when Abbas Mirza appeared at Shamkhor, he, neglecting his illness, again stood face to face with the enemy.

On the morning of July 27, a small Russian transport en route from Tiflis to Elizavetpol was attacked by significant forces of Pir Kuli Khan. A handful of Russian soldiers and with them the poor, but brave Georgian drivers, making a square of their carts, defended themselves desperately, despite the fact that each of them had at least a hundred enemies. The Persians, having surrounded the transport and smashing it with guns, demanded surrender and otherwise threatened to exterminate every single one. The head of transport, Lieutenant Dontsov, one of those officers whose names are unwittingly engraved in the memory, answered one thing: "We will die, but not surrender!" But the position of the detachment was becoming desperate. Dontsov, who served as the soul of the defense, received a mortal wound; another officer, Warrant Officer Plotnevsky, was captured by his passion. The soldiers were left without leaders and, having lost more than half of their people, they began to hesitate. Fortunately, at this moment Karyagin appears, and the picture of the battle changes instantly. A Russian battalion of five hundred men swiftly attacks the crown prince's main camp, bursts into his trenches and takes possession of the battery. Not letting the enemy come to their senses, the soldiers turn the repulsed cannons on the camp, open fierce fire from them, and - with the name of Karyagin spreading rapidly in the Persian ranks - everyone rushes to flee in horror.

The defeat of the Persians was so great that the trophies of this unheard-of victory won by a handful of soldiers over an entire Persian army were the entire enemy camp, a baggage train, several guns, banners and many prisoners, including the wounded Georgian prince Teimuraz Iraklievich.

This was the finale that brilliantly ended the Persian campaign of 1805, begun by the same people and under almost the same conditions on the banks of the Ascorani.

In conclusion, we consider it not superfluous to add that Karyagin began his service as a private in the Butyrka infantry regiment during turkish war 1773, and the first cases in which he participated were the brilliant victories of Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. Here, under the impression of these victories, Karyagin for the first time comprehended the great secret of controlling the hearts of people in battle and gained that moral faith in the Russian man and in himself, with which he subsequently, as ancient roman, never considered his enemies.

When the Butyrka regiment was moved to the Kuban, Karyagin fell into the harsh atmosphere of Caucasian life, was wounded during the assault on Anapa, and from that time, one might say, did not come out from under enemy fire. In 1803, after the death of General Lazarev, he was appointed chief of the 17th regiment located in Georgia. Here, for the capture of Ganja, he received the Order of St. George of the 4th degree, and the exploits in the Persian campaign of 1805 made his name immortal in the ranks of the Caucasian corps.

Unfortunately, constant campaigns, wounds and especially fatigue during the winter campaign of 1806 finally upset Karyagin's iron health; he fell ill with a fever, which soon developed into a yellow, rotten fever, and on May 7, 1807, the hero passed away. His last award was the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd degree, received by him a few days before his death.

Many years have passed over the untimely grave of Karyagin, but the memory of this kind and handsome man is sacredly kept and passed on from generation to generation. Struck by his heroic deeds, the fighting offspring gave Karyagin a majestic and legendary character, made him the favorite type in the fighting Caucasian epic.

Colonel Karyagin's campaign against the Persians in 1805 does not resemble real military history. It looks like the prequel to "300 Spartans" (20,000 Persians, 500 Russians, gorges, bayonet attacks, "This is crazy! - No, this is the 17th Jaeger Regiment!"). The golden, platinum page of Russian history, combining the slaughter of madness with the highest tactical skill, delightful cunning and stunning Russian arrogance

In 1805, the Russian Empire fought with France as part of the Third Coalition, and fought unsuccessfully. France had Napoleon, and we had the Austrians, whose military glory had long faded by that time, and the British, who never had a normal ground army. Both those and others behaved like complete losers, and even the great Kutuzov, with all the power of his genius, could not switch the "Fail by Fail" TV channel. Meanwhile, in the south of Russia, the Persian Baba Khan, who was hummingly reading reports on our European defeats, had an Ideyka. Baba Khan stopped purring and again went to Russia, hoping to pay for the defeats of the previous year, 1804. The moment was chosen extremely well - due to the usual staging of the familiar drama "The crowd of so-called crooked allies and Russia, which is again trying to save everyone", St. Petersburg could not send a single extra soldier to the Caucasus, despite the fact that the whole Caucasus 8,000 to 10,000 soldiers. Therefore, upon learning that the city of Shusha (this is in present-day Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan, you know, right? Left-bottom), where Major Lisanevich was with 6 companies of rangers, is going 20,000 Persian troops under the command of Crown Prince Abbas Mirza (I would like to think that he moved on a huge golden platform, with a bunch of freaks, freaks and concubines on golden chains, just like Xerxes), Prince Tsitsianov sent all the help he could send. All 493 soldiers and officers with two guns, the superhero Karyagin, the superhero Kotlyarevsky (about which there is a separate story) and the Russian military spirit.

They did not have time to reach Shushi, the Persians intercepted ours on the road, near the Shah-Bulakh river, on June 24. Persian avant-garde. Modest 4,000 people. Not at all perplexed (at that time in the Caucasus, battles with less than tenfold superiority of the enemy were not counted as battles and were officially reported as "exercises in conditions close to combat"), Karyagin built an army in square and repelled fruitless attacks all day
Persian cavalry, until only scraps remained of the Persians. Then he walked another 14 versts and set up a fortified camp, the so-called wagenburg or, in Russian, gulyai-gorod, when the line of defense was built from carts (given the Caucasian off-road and the lack of a supply network, the troops had to carry significant supplies with them). The Persians continued their attacks in the evening and fruitlessly stormed the camp until nightfall, after which they made a forced break to clear the piles of Persian bodies, funeral, crying and writing postcards to the families of the victims. By the morning, having read the manual "Military art for dummies" sent by express mail ("If the enemy has strengthened and this enemy is Russian, do not try to attack him head-on, even if you are 20,000, and his 400"), the Persians began to bombard our walk -the city with artillery, trying to prevent our troops from reaching the river and replenish water supplies. In response, the Russians made a sortie, made their way to the Persian battery and blew it up to hell, dropping the remnants of the cannons into the river, presumably with malicious obscene inscriptions. However, this did not save the situation. After fighting for another day, Karyagin began to suspect that he would not be able to kill the entire Persian army with 300 Russians. In addition, problems began inside the camp - Lieutenant Lysenko and six more traitors ran over to the Persians, the next day 19 hippies joined them - thus, our losses from cowardly pacifists began to exceed losses from inept Persian attacks. Thirst, again. Heat. Bullets. And 20,000 Persians around. It’s uncomfortable.

At the officers' council two options were proposed: or we all stay here and die, who is for? Nobody. Or we are going to break through the Persian encirclement, after which we STORM a nearby fortress, while the Persians are catching up with us, and we are already sitting in the fortress. It's warm there. Good. And flies don't bite. The only problem is that we are no longer even 300 Russian Spartans, but in the region of 200, and there are still tens of thousands of them and they are watching us, and it will all look like a Left 4 Dead game, where a tiny squad of survivors is a rod and a rod of crowds of brutal zombies ... Everyone loved Left 4 Dead already in 1805, so they decided to break through. At night. Having cut the Persian sentries and trying not to breathe, the Russian participants of the program "Staying Alive When You Can't Stay Alive" almost got out of the encirclement, but stumbled upon a Persian patrol. A chase began, a skirmish, then a chase again, then ours finally broke away from the Makhmuds in a dark-dark Caucasian forest and went to a fortress named after the nearby river Shakh-Bulakh. By that time, a golden aura of the end was shining around the remaining participants in the mad marathon "Fight as much as you can" (let me remind you that it was already the FOURTH day of continuous battles, sorties, duels with bayonets and night hide and seek in the forests), a golden aura of the end was shining, so Karyagin simply smashed the gate of Shakh-Bulakh with a cannon core, and then wearily asked the small Persian garrison: "Guys, look at us. Do you really want to try? Is that true?" The guys got the hint and fled. In the course of the run, two khans were killed, the Russians barely had time to repair the gate, when the main Persian forces appeared, worried about the loss of their beloved Russian detachment. But that was not the end. Not even the beginning of the end. After taking an inventory of the property remaining in the fortress, it turned out that there was no food. And that the convoy with food had to be abandoned during the breakout from the encirclement, so there was nothing to eat. At all. At all. At all. Karyagin went out to the troops again:

Friends, I know that this is not madness, not Sparta, and generally not something for which human words were invented. Of the already miserable 493 people, 175 of us remained, almost all of them were wounded, dehydrated, exhausted, extremely tired. No food. There is no wagon train. Kernels and cartridges are running out. And besides, right in front of our gates sits the heir to the Persian throne, Abbas Mirza, who has already tried several times to take us by storm. Hear the grunting of his pet freaks and the laughter of his concubines? It is he who waits until we die, hoping that hunger will do what the 20,000 Persians could not do. But we will not die. You will not die. I, Colonel Karyagin, forbid you to die. I order you to take up all the impudence that you have, because tonight we are leaving the fortress and breaking through to ANOTHER FORTRESS, WHICH WILL TAKE AN STORM AGAIN, WITH THE ENTIRE PERSIAN ARMY ON SHOULDERS. And also freaks and concubines. This is not a Hollywood action movie. This is not an epic. This is a Russian story, chicks, and you are its main characters. Place sentries on the walls, who will call each other all night long, creating the feeling that we are in a fortress. We set out as soon as it's dark enough!

It is said that there was once an angel in Heaven who was in charge of monitoring impossibility. On July 7 at 22:00, when Karyagin set out from the fortress to storm the next, even greater fortress, this angel died of bewilderment. It is important to understand that by July 7, the detachment had been fighting continuously for the 13th day and was not so much in the "terminators are coming" state, as in the state "extremely desperate people, on only anger and strength of mind, move in the Heart of Darkness of this insane, impossible, incredible, unthinkable hike. " With cannons, with carts of the wounded, it was not a walk with backpacks, but a big and heavy movement. Karyagin slipped out of the fortress like a night ghost, like a bat, like a creature from That, Forbidden Side - and therefore even the soldiers who remained to call each other on the walls managed to escape from the Persians and catch up with the detachment, although they were already prepared to die, realizing the absolute mortality of their task. But the Peak of Madness, Courage and Spirit was still ahead.

Moving through darkness, darkness, pain, hunger and thirst, a detachment of Russian ... soldiers? Ghosts? Saints of War? collided with a moat through which it was impossible to ferry cannons, and without cannons assault on the next, even better fortified fortress of Mukhrata, had neither sense nor chance. There was no forest nearby to fill the ditch, there was no time to look for a forest - the Persians could overtake at any moment.
But the resourcefulness of the Russian soldier and his boundless self-sacrifice helped out of this trouble.
Guys! - suddenly shouted the battalion singer Sidorov. - Why stand and think? You can't take the city while standing, you'd better listen to what I tell you: our brother has a cannon - a lady, and a lady needs help; so let’s roll her on our guns. ”

An approving noise went through the ranks of the battalion. Several rifles were immediately thrust into the ground with bayonets and formed piles, several others were laid on them like bends, several soldiers propped them up with their shoulders, and the makeshift bridge was ready. The first cannon flew over this literally living bridge at once and only slightly crumpled the brave shoulders, but the second one fell off and hit two soldiers with a full swing with a wheel on the head. The cannon was saved, but the people paid for it with their lives. Among them was the battalion singer Gavrila Sidorov.
On July 8, the detachment entered Kasapet, for the first time in many days ate and drank normally, and moved on to the Mukhrat fortress. Three miles away from her, a detachment of a little more than a hundred people attacked several thousand Persian horsemen, who managed to break through to the cannons and capture them. In vain. As one of the officers recalled: "Karyagin shouted:" Guys, go ahead, save the guns! " Everyone rushed like lions ... ". Apparently, the soldiers remembered WHAT cost they got these guns. Red, this time Persian, sprinkled on the carriages, and it sprinkled, and poured, and poured the carriages, and the earth around the carriages, and carts, and uniforms, and guns, and sabers, and poured and poured and poured until then, until the Persians scattered in panic, and failed to break the resistance of hundreds of ours. Hundreds of Russians.
Mukhrat was taken easily, and the next day, July 9, Prince Tsitsianov, having received a report from Karyagin, immediately set out to meet the Persian army with 2300 soldiers and 10 guns. On July 15, Tsitsianov defeated and drove out the Persians, and then joined the remnants of the troops of Colonel Karyagin.

Karyagin received a golden sword for this campaign, all officers and soldiers - awards and salaries, Gavrila Sidorov silently lay down in the moat - a monument at the regiment's headquarters, and we all learned a lesson. The Moat Lesson. A lesson in silence. Crunch lesson. Lesson in red. And the next time you are required to do something in the name of Russia and comrades, and your heart is seized by apathy and petty nasty fear of a typical child of Russia in the era of Kali Yuga, actions, shocks, struggle, life, death, then remember this moat.

At that time in the Caucasus, battles with less than tenfold superiority of the enemy were not counted as battles and were officially reported as "exercises in conditions close to combat"

Who is too lazy to read - watch the video.
From the author of the post:
I ask you not to criticize the author of this video about the style of presentation (for a certain stratum of the population) of historical facts, as well as the conclusions he made in the association on the modern leadership of the country ...
For schA will begin)))

Colonel Karyagin's campaign against the Persians in 1805 does not resemble real military history. It looks like the prequel to "300 Spartans" (40,000 Persians, 500 Russians, gorges, bayonet attacks, "This is crazy! - No, this is the 17th Jaeger Regiment!"). The golden page of Russian history, combining the slaughter of insanity with the highest tactical skill, delightful cunning and stunning Russian arrogance. But first things first.
In 1805, the Russian Empire fought with France as part of the Third Coalition, and fought unsuccessfully. France had Napoleon, and we had the Austrians, whose military glory had long faded by that time, and the British, who never had a normal ground army. Both those and others behaved like complete fools, and even the great Kutuzov, with all the power of his genius, could not do something. Meanwhile, in the south of Russia, the Persian Baba Khan, who was hummingly reading reports on our European defeats, had an Ideyka.
Baba Khan stopped purring and again went to Russia, hoping to pay for the defeats of the previous year, 1804. The moment was chosen extremely well - due to the usual staging of the usual drama "The crowd of so-called allies-crooked-handed and Russia, which is again trying to save everyone", St. Petersburg could not send a single extra soldier to the Caucasus, despite the fact that the whole Caucasus was from 8,000 to 10,000 soldiers.
Therefore, having learned that 40,000 Persian troops under the command of Crown Prince Abbas Mirza were going to the city of Shusha (this is in present-day Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan), where Major Lisanevich was stationed with 6 companies of rangers, Prince Tsitsianov sent all the help he could send. All 493 soldiers and officers with two guns, the hero Karyagin, the hero Kotlyarevsky and the Russian military spirit.

They did not have time to reach Shushi, the Persians intercepted ours on the road, near the Shah-Bulakh river, on June 24. Persian avant-garde. Modest 10,000 people. Not at all perplexed (at that time in the Caucasus, battles with less than tenfold superiority of the enemy were not counted as battles and were officially reported as "exercises in conditions close to combat"), Karyagin built an army in squares and repelled the fruitless attacks of the Persian cavalry all day until the Persians were left with only scraps. Then he walked another 14 versts and set up a fortified camp, the so-called wagenburg or, in Russian, gulyai-gorod, when the line of defense was built from carts (given the Caucasian off-road and the lack of a supply network, the troops had to carry significant supplies with them).
The Persians continued their attacks in the evening and fruitlessly stormed the camp until nightfall, after which they made a forced break to clear the piles of Persian bodies, funeral, crying and writing postcards to the families of the victims. By the morning, having read the manual "Military art for dummies" sent by express mail ("If the enemy has strengthened and this enemy is Russian, do not try to attack him head-on, even if you are 40,000, and his 400"), the Persians began to bombard our walk -the city with artillery, trying to prevent our troops from reaching the river and replenish water supplies. In response, the Russians made a sortie, made their way to the Persian battery and blew it up, dropping the remnants of the guns into the river.
However, this did not save the situation. After fighting for another day, Karyagin began to suspect that he would not be able to kill the entire Persian army. In addition, problems began inside the camp - Lieutenant Lysenko and six more traitors ran over to the Persians, the next day 19 more joined them - thus, our losses from cowardly pacifists began to exceed losses from inept Persian attacks. Thirst, again. Heat. Bullets. And 40,000 Persians around. It’s uncomfortable.

At the officers' council two options were proposed: or we all stay here and die, who is for? Nobody. Or we are going to break through the Persian encirclement, after which we STORM a nearby fortress, while the Persians are catching up with us, and we are already sitting in the fortress. The only problem is that there are still tens of thousands of us on guard.
We decided to break through. At night. Having cut the Persian sentries and trying not to breathe, the Russian participants of the program "Staying Alive When You Can't Stay Alive" almost got out of the encirclement, but stumbled upon a Persian patrol. A chase began, a skirmish, then a chase again, then ours finally broke away from the Makhmuds in a dark-dark Caucasian forest and went to a fortress named after the nearby river Shakh-Bulakh. By that time, a golden aura was shining around the remaining participants in the mad marathon "Fight as much as you can" (I remind you that it was already the FOURTH day of continuous battles, sorties, bayonet duels and night hide and seek in the forests), a golden aura was shining, so Karyagin simply smashed Shakh-Bulakh's gates with a cannonball , after which he wearily asked the small Persian garrison: "Guys, look at us. Do you really want to try? Here, right?"
The guys got the hint and fled. In the course of the run, two khans were killed, the Russians barely had time to repair the gate, when the main Persian forces appeared, worried about the loss of their beloved Russian detachment. But that was not the end. Not even the beginning of the end. After taking an inventory of the property remaining in the fortress, it turned out that there was no food. And that the convoy with food had to be abandoned during the breakout from the encirclement, so there was nothing to eat. At all. At all. At all. Karyagin went out to the troops again:

An infantry regiment in squares. Musketeer companies (1), grenadier companies and platoons (3), regimental artillery (5), regiment commander (6), headquarters officer (8).
- Out of 493 people, 175 of us remained, almost all of them were wounded, dehydrated, exhausted, extremely tired. No food. There is no wagon train. Kernels and cartridges are running out. And besides, right in front of our gates sits the heir to the Persian throne, Abbas Mirza, who has already tried several times to take us by storm.
It is he who waits until we die, hoping that hunger will do what 40,000 Persians could not do. But we will not die. You will not die. I, Colonel Karyagin, forbid you to die. I order you to take up all the impudence that you have, because tonight we are leaving the fortress and breaking through to ANOTHER FORTRESS, WHICH WILL TAKE AN STORM AGAIN, WITH THE ENTIRE PERSIAN ARMY ON SHOULDERS.
This is not a Hollywood action movie. This is not an epic. This is a Russian story, to put sentries on the walls, which will echo among themselves all night long, creating the feeling that we are in a fortress. We set out as soon as it's dark enough!

On July 7 at 22 o'clock, Karyagin set out from the fortress to storm the next, even larger fortress. It is important to understand that by July 7, the detachment had been fighting continuously for the 13th day and was not able to "the terminators are coming," how many extremely desperate people are able to move in the Heart of Darkness of this crazy, impossible, incredible on nothing more than anger and strength of mind. , an unthinkable hike. "
With cannons, with carts of the wounded, it was not a walk with backpacks, but a big and heavy movement. Karyagin slipped out of the fortress like a night ghost - and therefore even the soldiers who remained to call each other on the walls managed to escape from the Persians and catch up with the detachment, although they were already preparing to die, realizing the absolute mortality of their task.
Moving through darkness, darkness, pain, hunger and thirst, a detachment of Russian soldiers encountered a ditch through which it was impossible to ferry cannons, and without cannons the assault on the next, even better fortified fortress of Mukhrata had neither sense nor chance. There was no forest nearby to fill the ditch, there was no time to look for a forest - the Persians could overtake at any moment. Four Russian soldiers - one of them was Gavrila Sidorov, the names of the others, unfortunately, I could not find - silently jumped into the moat. And they went to bed. Like logs. No bravado, no talk, no everything. We jumped down and lay down. The heavy cannons drove straight for them.

Only two rose from the moat. Silently.
On July 8, the detachment entered Kasapet, for the first time in many days ate and drank normally, and moved on to the Mukhrat fortress. Three miles away from her, a detachment of a little more than a hundred people attacked several thousand Persian horsemen, who managed to break through to the cannons and capture them. In vain. As one of the officers recalled: "Karyagin shouted:" Guys, go ahead, save the guns! "
Apparently, the soldiers remembered WHAT cost they got these guns. Red, this time Persian, splashed on the carriages, and it sprinkled and poured and poured the carriages, and the earth around the carriages, and carts, and uniforms, and guns, and sabers, and poured and poured and poured until the Persians did not scatter in panic, and failed to break the resistance of hundreds of ours.

300 Spartans in Russian (Campaign against the Persians in 1805) 300, 1805, Spartans, in Russian, campaign, against, Persians, year
They took Mukhrat easily, and the next day, July 9, Prince Tsitsianov, having received a report from Karyagin: "We are still alive and for the last three weeks we have forced half of us to chase us. The Persians at the Tertara River" 2,300 soldiers and 10 guns. On July 15, Tsitsianov defeated and drove out the Persians, and then joined the remnants of the troops of Colonel Karyagin.
Karyagin received a golden sword for this campaign, all officers and soldiers - awards and salaries, Gavrila Sidorov silently lay down in the moat - a monument at the headquarters of the regiment.

In conclusion, we consider it not superfluous to add that Karyagin began his service as a private in the Butyrka infantry regiment during the Turkish war of 1773, and the first cases in which he participated were the brilliant victories of Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. Here, under the impression of these victories, Karyagin first grasped the great secret of controlling the hearts of people in battle and gained that moral faith in the Russian people and in himself, with which he subsequently never considered his enemies.
When the Butyrka regiment was moved to the Kuban, Karyagin fell into the harsh atmosphere of Caucasian life, was wounded during the assault on Anapa, and from that time, one might say, did not come out from under enemy fire. In 1803, after the death of General Lazarev, he was appointed chief of the 17th regiment located in Georgia. Here, for the capture of Ganja, he received the Order of St. George of the 4th degree, and the exploits in the Persian campaign of 1805 made his name immortal in the ranks of the Caucasian corps.
Unfortunately, constant campaigns, wounds and especially fatigue during the winter campaign of 1806 finally upset Karyagin's iron health; he fell ill with a fever, which soon developed into a yellow, rotten fever, and on May 7, 1807, the hero passed away. His last award was the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd degree, received by him a few days before his death.

Hike of the detachment of Colonel Karyagin
(summer 1805)

Upon learning of the appearance of large Persian formations, the commander of the Russian troops in the Caucasus, Prince Tsitsianov, ordered Colonel Karyagin to delay the enemy's advance. On June 18, the detachment set out from Elisavetpol to Shusha, having 493 soldiers and officers and two guns. The detachment consisted of: the patron battalion of the 17th Jaeger Regiment under the command of Major Kotlyarevsky, the company of the Tiflis Musketeer Regiment of Captain Tatarintsov and the artillerymen of Second Lieutenant Gudim-Levkovich. At that time in Shusha there was a major of the 17th Jaeger Regiment Lisanevich with six companies of Jaegers, thirty Cossacks and three guns. On July 11, Lisanevich's detachment repulsed several attacks by the Persian troops, and soon an order was received to join the detachment of Colonel Karyagin. But, fearing an uprising of a part of the population and the likelihood of the capture of Shusha by the Persians, Lisanevich did not do this.

At 18.00, the Persians began to storm the Russian camp, the attacks continued with a break until nightfall. Suffering heavy losses, the Persian commander took his troops to the heights around the camp, and the Persians installed four falconet batteries for shelling. From the early morning of July 25, the bombardment of our location began. According to the recollections of one of the participants in the battle: “Our situation was very, very unenviable and became worse from hour to hour. The unbearable heat depleted our strength, thirst tormented us, and the shots from the enemy batteries did not stop ... ”. 1) Several times the Persians offered the detachment commander to lay down their arms, but they were invariably refused. In order not to lose the only source of water on the night of June 27, a group sortie was made under the command of Lieutenant Klyupin and Second Lieutenant Prince Tumanov. The operation to destroy the enemy batteries was successfully carried out. All four batteries were destroyed, the servants were partly killed, partly fled, and the falconets were thrown into the river. It must be said that by this day 350 people remained in the detachment, and half of them had wounds of varying severity.

From the report of Colonel Karyagin to Prince Tsitsianov of June 26, 1805: “Major Kotlyarevsky was sent by me three times to drive out the enemy who was in front and occupied high places, drove out strong crowds with courage. Captain Parfyonov, Captain Klyukin in the whole battle on different occasions were sent by me with riflemen and struck the enemy with fearlessness. "

At dawn on June 27, the approaching main forces of the Persians began the assault on the camp. Attacks were carried out again throughout the day. At four o'clock in the afternoon, an incident occurred that forever remained a black spot in the glorious history of the regiment. Lieutenant Lysenko and six lower ranks ran to the enemy. Having received information about the plight of the Russians, Abbas-Mirza threw his troops into a decisive assault, but having suffered heavy losses he was forced to abandon further attempts to break the resistance of a desperate handful of people. At night 19 more soldiers ran over to the Persians. Realizing the gravity of the situation, and the fact that the transition of comrades to the enemy creates unhealthy moods among the soldiers, Colonel Karyagin decides to break through the encirclement, go to the river. Shah-Bulakh and occupy a small fortress standing on its bank. The commander of the detachment sent a report to Prince Tsitsianov, in which he wrote: "... in order not to subject the remnant of the detachment to complete and final death and to save the people and the guns, he made a firm decision to break through with courage through the numerous enemy that surrounded from all sides ...". 2)

A local resident, Armenian Melik Vani became a guide in this desperate venture. Leaving the wagon train and burying the captured weapons, the detachment set off on a new campaign. At first, they moved in complete silence, then there was a collision with the enemy's horse patrol and the Persians rushed to catch up with the detachment. True, on the march, attempts to destroy this wounded and mortally tired, but still the battle group did not bring good luck to the Persians, moreover, most of the pursuers rushed to plunder the empty Russian camp. According to legend, the Shah-Bulakh ball castle was built by Shah Nadir, and got its name from a stream flowing nearby. In the castle there was a Persian garrison (150 people) under the command of Emir Khan and Fial Khan, the suburbs occupied enemy posts. Seeing the Russians, the sentries raised the alarm and opened fire. Shots of Russian guns rang out, a well-aimed cannonball smashed the gate, and the Russians burst into the castle. In a report dated June 28, 1805, Karyagin reported: “... the fortress was taken, the enemy was driven out of it and out of the forest with a small loss on our side. From the enemy side, both khans were killed ... Having settled in the fortress, I await your Excellency's orders. " By evening, there were only 179 people in the ranks, and 45 charges for the guns. Upon learning of this, Prince Tsitsianov wrote to Karyagin: "In unprecedented despair, I ask you to reinforce the soldiers, and I ask God to reinforce you." 3)

Karyagin decided to take an even more incredible step, to break through the hordes of the enemy to the Mukhrat fortress, which was not occupied by the Persians. On July 7 at 22.00 this march began, a deep ravine with steep slopes appeared on the way of the detachment. People and horses could overcome it, but what about the tools? Then Private Gavrila Sidorov jumped to the bottom of the ditch, followed by a dozen more soldiers. The first gun flew over to the other side like a bird, the second fell off and the wheel hit Private Sidorov in the temple. Having buried the hero, the detachment continued its march. There are several versions of this episode: “... the detachment continued to move, calmly and without hindrance, until the two guns that were with it were stopped by a small ditch. There was no forest to make the bridge in the vicinity; four soldiers volunteered to help the cause, crossed themselves into the ditch and transported the guns along them. Two survived, and two paid with their lives for heroic self-sacrifice. "

On July 8, the detachment arrived in Ksapet, from here Karyagin sent forward carts with the wounded under the command of Kotlyarevsky, and he himself moved after them. Three versts from Mukhrat, the Persians rushed to the column, but were repelled by fire and bayonets. One of the officers recalled: “... but as soon as Kotlyarevsky managed to move away from us, we were brutally attacked by several thousand Persians, and their onslaught was so strong and sudden that they managed to capture both of our guns. It's not a thing anymore. Karyagin shouted: "Guys, go ahead, save the guns!" All rushed like lions, and immediately our bayonets opened the way. " Trying to cut off the Russians from the fortress, Abbas-Mirza sent a cavalry detachment to capture it, but here, too, the Persians failed. The disabled team of Kotlyarevsky threw back the Persian horsemen. By evening, Karyagin also came to Mukhrat, according to Bobrovsky, this happened at 12.00.

Notes and sources.

1) ... Popov K. Temple of Glory Paris 1931, vol. I, p. 142.
2) ... Popov K. Decree. op, p. 144.
3) ... Bobrovsky P.O. History of His Majesty's 13th Life-Grenadier Erivan Regiment for 250 years St. Petersburg 1893., vol. III, p. 229.
4) ... Popov K. Decree op., P. 146.
5) ... Viskovatov A. The exploits of the Russians beyond the Caucasus in 1805 // Northern Bee 1845, 99-101.
6) ... Library for reading // Everyday life of a Russian nobleman in different epochs of his life St. Petersburg 1848., v. 90., P. 39.

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