| Wojna krymska oczyma kapitana Chodasiewicza. Marsz w kierunku Inkerman i powrót do Sewastopola. I was on foot all the time myself, and felt excessively fatigued when we began the ascent up to Mackenzie's Farm. Here the road is narrow, with a precipice on one side; and, as the night was dark, several men fell over and were dashed to pieces. I saw two of these accidents; one of the victims was an excellent non-commissioned officer of the name of Ojoghin. This was not to be wondered at, as many of the men, from overfatigue, appeared almost to sleep as they went, and one false step was enough to launch them into eternity.
(...) We descended the heights of Mackenzie towards Otarkoi on the Belbek. The men were now completely beaten, and began to exclaim that they could go no farther. Some of them grumbled that the Colonel was riding in his carriage, while they were all obliged to walk; many had thrown away their kits, and some were bold enough to abandon their knapsacks. The biscuit with which some of them had loaded themselves at starting had been long since thrown away; numbers fell down from sheer exhaustion, and, I have no doubt, died where they fell. Where were the waggons and carts allowed for emergencies like these to carry the sick and tired soldiers? Most probably in the Colonel's pockets, or perhaps invested in the purchase of the carriage and horses that carried him now.
(...) We descended to a wharf near Fort Michael, where a steamer embarked us and transported us to Grafskoi Pristan, near Fort Nicholas. Thence we marched up to the Place du Théâtre where we remained in the open air.
(...) One day the surgeon of our regiment, Lebedieff, related to me that he had been to see the wounded of the battle of Alma, lying in the naval hospital. This was soon after we entered the town, the second or third day; when, to his horror, he found the place full of wounded men who had never had their wounds dressed from the day of the Alma, except such dressings as they could make themselves by tearing up their own shirts. The moment he entered the room he was surrounded by a crowd of these miserable creatures, who had recognised him as a doctor; some of whom held out mutilated stumps of arms wrapped up in dirty rags, and crying out to him for assistance.
|
|
|
The stench of the place was dreadful, and he learned that after they had arrived from the Alma they were all put into this hospital, where they had seen no one except the soldiers who gave them food, or carried out such of their comrades as death had relieved from their sufferings. Dr. Lebedieff, for the sake of humanity, attended to as many of them as he could, choosing the worst cases, and performed several amputations with such instruments as he could find in the hospital; but when he turned to go away, fatigued and disgusted with the authorities for letting these poor wretches rot in their wounds, such a number to whom he had not been able to attend thrust themselves before him, that with difficulty he could tear himself away, and then only with a promise to return. These unfortunate men were a fortnight without having their wounds dressed !
Sewastopol. Plac Teatralny.
We had pretty comfortable quarters in the houses about the theatre, and especially the house of the Post Office — the postmaster having quitted the town in such a hurry or fright that he had left the whole of the furniture and utensils in the house, with a piano among other articles. Sometimes we used to collect around this instrument, and while one played, the others danced or sang, making so much noise that the whistling of the shot and shell could be no longer heard.
The commanders of the battalions were in the next house in the lower story for the sake of greater safety. A part of the men were in the houses too, but by far the greater part were in the street, nor were they allowed to enter the houses from the fear that they might stray, as we were hourly in expectation of the assault. We remained here till the 26th; the days were monotonous enough, but it was something to be under a roof again, while the soldiers who were in the streets crowded and crouched under the wall, thinking that was the safest place, but if a shell had been dropped occasionally amongst them the casualties would not have been few.
A Voice from Within the Walls of Sebastopol, a "Narrative of the Campaign in the Crimea, and the Events of the Siege", London John Murray, June 1856
On the evening of the 25th, just as I had ordered my men to attention, and the sergeant was calling the muster-roll, for we were going on fatigue duty to work at the batteries, a shell pitched on the right flank of the company. The men began to run; I ordered them to lie down, which I felt ashamed to do before my company, so I stood within a few yards of our unwelcome visitor in a state of mortal fear, and wondering whether that was ordained to decide my fate, when to my great surprise and joy the fuse went out and the danger was past.
I ordered the men up again, and we began to move to the right, when another shell came through the air with its peculiar shou-shouing, and pitched about three yards in front of the company. Some of the men threw themselves on the ground, while I remained standing, not knowing in fact what to do, for I thought that, having escaped one, the second would be sure to burst and single me out for its victim. Besides I thought that we must have been remarked from the enemy's batteries and they were sending these gentle reminders that they were aware of our presence. This shell like the former one did not burst!
The men got up again and we went on to the battery; while on the road I could hear the soldiers talking over the two events that had just happened. They came to the conclusion that I was a wizard or enchanter, and that if I said to a shell Burst not ! it would not burst, for they were firmly convinced that I had the power of witchcraft. This is the way a Russian soldier always explains what he cannot understand.
|
|
About two o'clock on the 28th, as there were about six officers in the room of the commander of the battalion, who were some sitting and some lying down after dinner, a shell broke through the roof and two ceilings into the room where they were collected, and burst before reaching the floor. Lieutenant Krasnik, who was sitting near the window, was killed by a splinter, and the others were nearly smothered in lime and plaster, while the room was filled with smoke and gas. The Major, with the other officers, came to us in the post-house for shelter; they all washed, and the Major went into a back room.
In the front room, before the open window, were seated two cadets of our regiment, looking over the engravings of the Illustrated London News. The Cadet Bouchinsky was sitting in front of the window, and the Cadet Baron Fitengoff was a little on one side. A shell burst in the street, and a splinter flew into the room. Striking the side of the window, it rebounded and carried away the left cheek of Baron Fitengoff, who presented a shocking spectacle, and died three hours afterwards. He was not more than 18. The splinter then flew into the opposite corner of the room, where it struck a noncommissioned officer, who was sitting at a table writing, in the chest, and killed him on the spot.The Major, hearing the explosion, crept under the table, standing near the wall, to which he crouched as near as possible. At this time I was standing in the doorway between the two rooms.
During the time I was in the town, I made with my company three batteries, and four powder magazines.
Link do poprzedniego odcinka (Rosjanie zatapiają własne okręty)
On the 26th and 27th our battalion occupied the old place near the wall between the bastions IV and V. This was now not the most agreeable place in the world, for the rifle-balls came in very thick and caused several casualties in my company. Once during this time one of our
men was repairing his boot, while before him another soldier lay asleep, when a shell pitched and rolled under the sleeping man. The other, who was at work, remarked that it was a round shot, so that when he awoke his comrade would see what a present he had received during his nap.
He had scarcely time to say this before the shell burst and blew the sleeper to atoms: his grey great-coat was found about two hundred yards from the spot, and it was not till the evening that they collected the different parts of his body, for his legs had flown one way and his arms another. The soldier who was at work was untouched.
On the 28th, 29th, and 30th, our battalion was again stationed on the Place du Théâtre. Our regimental surgeon was once taking tea with the Catholic priest, who lived in the same building that is called the Catholic Church, when a round shot burst through the ceiling of the room they were sitting in and fell on the head of the surgeon, killing him on the spot, while the priest escaped unhurt.
To be continued
Ciąg dalszy nastąpi
Od Redakcji: Nie bez powodu publikujemy wspomnienia Polaka Chodasiewicza z Wojny Krymskiej - to w kontekście Pawła Edmunda Strzeleckiego, który od lipca do listopada 1856 roku przebywał na Krymie w czasie ewakuacji żołnierzy. Rola Strzeleckiego na Krymie nie jest do końca znana. Narazie wiemy tyle, ile wiemy.
Link do odcinka opowiadajacego o obecności Strzeleckiego na Krymie
| 
