Siege of Petropavlovsk

The full index of our ship stamp archive
Post Reply
Anatol
Posts: 1037
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

Siege of Petropavlovsk

Post by Anatol » Sun Dec 20, 2015 6:34 pm

The Siege of Petropavlovsk was the main mllitary operation in the Pacific Theatre of the Crimean War . The Russian casualties are estimated at 100 soldiers; the Allies lost five times as many. In the China and Japan seas , at the beginning of the war, Russian Rear-Admiral Yevfimy Putyatin had under his orders Pallada , 52 guns , Aurora, 44, and Dvina , 12. The British force on the station was under Rear-Admiral David Price and the French under Rear-Admiral Auguste Febvrier-Despointes. In total, the Allied fleet had nine ships and over 200 cannons. Putyatin was, of course, helpless at sea against such a force; and therefore he sent Pallada far up the river Amur , and put her crew to work in reinforcing the weak garrisons along the river's banks. Aurora and Dvina took refuge in Petropavlovsk. Price and Febvrier-Despointes went in search of the Russians, and, on 18 August, sighted the shores of Kamchatka . The siege started on 18 August 1854, when an Allied squadron of three British and three French frigates , one corvette , one brig and one steamshipcast anchor in the Avacha Bay . The Allied forces far outnumbered the Russians. The sole Russian heavy ship, frigate Aurora , was anchored behind a sand spit topped by a shore battery. The 52-gun Pallada , was by then on the Amur , out of harm's way. The Allied force, commanded by Rear Admirals Febvrier-Despointes and Price, advanced to bombard Petropavlosk on 20 August 1854. They had some 218 cannons at their disposal, as compared to 67 cannons available to the defenders of Kamchatka 's main city under Vasily Zavoyko. The Petropavlovsk garrison consisted of 41 officers, 476 soldiers, 349 seamen, 18 Russian volunteers and 36 Kamchadals(total 920 men). The Allied squadron re-entered Avacha Bay to storm the city. On 24 August (5 September in Gregorian calendar ), after a neutralization of Russian batteries, 970 Allied troops (with oarsmen reinforcements) landed west of Petropavlovsk, but were repelled by 360 Russians. A naval brigade of around 680 British and French seamen and marines landed, under Captains Burridge and de La Grandiere, but they were ambushed and, after some heavy fighting, retreated with 107 British and 101 French dead or wounded. The commanding officer of a landing party was killed. The Russians captured a British flag, seven officers' swords and a quantity of firearms, swords, and bayonets. The Allies withdrew, although President and Virago managed to capture the Russian Anadis , a small schooner , and the 10-gun transport Sitka on 28 September 1854. The Allies left Petropavlovsk to the Russians until April 1855, when Nikolay Muravyov , aware of the insufficiency of troops and weapons to repel another attack on the city, had the Petropavlovsk garrison evacuated under the cover of snow. The Allied fleet retreated to the Colony of Vancouver Island where Esquimalt Harbour was used for repairs.
Cabo Verde 2015;250f;SG?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Petropavlovsk
Attachments
img0035.jpg

Post Reply