The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-02 00:00:00

TACTICS OF THE RUSSIANS.

A letter from Warsaw, of the 25th ult., in the
Ost Deutsche Post of Vienna, says :—" It is certain
chat new orders have reached Prince Gortschakoff
from Sc. Petersburg to withdraw his troops in a.
north-eastern direction, following the course of the
' A uta, the first stations being Vrestie, Slobosie,
and Sulu. It is consequently certain that the
Russians will not accept a battle offered to •them.
Tae disposable troops in Poland have received
orders to march towards the South. There remain
at Warsaw only the number of men necessary fur
the service of the citadel. The last assemblages of
troops on the Northern frontier of Gallica have
been carried more to the South, and are at present
nplete. Prince Gortschakoff has 950 pieces of
(a .non and 200,000 men under his orders."
The German Journal of Frankfort contains a
letter from St. Petersburg of the 224 ult., which
of Orenburg has been put in
says :—" The corps
movement. The fortresses of Aralsk, Uralsk,
Orenburg, the fort ?erowski, the forts Nos. 1,2,
and 3, that of Karsbutak, and that of Nowo-
Petrowski are subjected to a severe inspection.
The garrisons hare been reinforced and replaced
by others. A part of these corps can in case of
need be employed on the theatre of war in the
west."

interesting detail in a
LETTER FRO .v 1 SILISTRIA.
I have just come to Silistria,
ewsilll,l4rhich the Russians raised
and examined the works of the fortress, and the
sbiatiltpVteelreifitetsnedar
nodtfli
t,
ur
elfynu )11°.
against them. The
first impression on my mind
was, and the chief impression still is, one of ex-
treme wonder. liow was it possible that such a
place could resist, even for a couple of weeks, the
assaults of a? • large and well-disciplined army of.
80,000 MOH The Turks have made of Silistria what
the European engineers never iirended it to be—a
place of great strength, fit to repulse the attack oh
divisions of itifaatrY, and to defy the destructive
powers of numerous batteries of enormous
strength. To take Silistria, a third-rate fortress,
the Russians, tausteriug on the whole 80,000 men
on either bank of the Danube, lay two months
before Silistria, and bombarded that fortress for
thirty-nine dais. In the course of that time they
threw 50,000 shot and sheds. They had 16 batte-
ries on the islands of the Danube, commanding
the water-side, the weakest of all the weak points
of Silistria. They stormed almost every adieu
day with large storming columns of sixteen batta-
lions, and always led fresh troops into the fire,
while the besieged had to repel these attacks with
the same troops that fought and bled in the previ-
ous encounters. And for all that, at the end of 39
days, the Russians, after having two of their gene-
rals killed and one wounded, were compelled ti,
raise the siege, Without having gained possession 01
a single guu—without having established them
selves, even for a day, in any one of the en-
trenchments, and without carrying off a basket
even from that Arab Tabia against which their
chief assaults had been directed. The Aral,
Tabia is a mere saudhill, open at tl,ci gorges,
surrounded by a small ditch, and inward by
earth baskets, with embrasures for six pieces of
artillery. Of these, four were always considered
to be silenced by the heavy fire of the Russian bat-
teries, and there was hardly a day when more than
two guns were being worked in the Arab Tabia.
The gallant defenders of this entrenchment—Turk-
ish artillerymen formed in the school of General
Rutslikowski and Captain Wendt, supported by
Arnouts and Arab sharpshooters—held out to the
last amidst au incessant shower of shells, balls, arid
bullets, which literally rained down upon them.
Lie troops, that had no space to move in the Tabia,
and the small ditch at its left flank, lay in holes
which they had dug into the earth, waiting until
their turn came to advance and belabour the Rus-
sians. The artillery of the Tabia did good execu-
tion, especially when loaded with grape and canis-
ter; it poured its contents at a deadly vicinity into
the ranks of the storming columns. But what
chiefly arrested the progress of these columns was
the incessant and well-aimed musketry fire which
the Arnouts and Arabs kept up from the battery
and their ditch. They singled out the officers, and
thus spread consternation among the ranks of the
Russians. Still the enemy forced their way more
than once into the battery and the ditch ; but on
each occasion the Arabs and Arnouts, returning to
the charge, expelled them again, and even pursued
them into their own trenches.
The town of Silistria itself, exposed to the. fire
from the Russian batteries, is in a lamentable con-
dition. There is scarcely a house but has had a
shell through its roof, or a couple of round balls
having split its sides, and forced their way through
and through. The inwzques and public buildings
are in part unroofed; the church, which the Em-
peror Nicholas built for the Christians of Silistria,
has been burnt by his own artillery. The streets
are full of large holes, where the bombs forced

their way into the ground, and the pavement is
torn up and the stones strewed about with the ex-
plosions. Of course, the inhabitants of the town
were not safe in their lath and plaster houses,
which were about the worst places they could be
in. They dug holes in their gardens and yards,
covered them with rafters and layers of earth, and
they lived, au extemporised nation of troglodites,
and quaking with fear at night when the bombs
and rockets illumined the sky, and the shells fell
and burst in every direction around them. Con-
sidering the heaviness and frequency of the Rus-
sian fire, the list of eventualities is very small. The
besieged had 500 ki Redo]] the spot, and 630 wounded,
A great many of the wounded died afterwards, for
all their wounds, especially those from the conical
halls of the Minie rifles, are very severe. No
account could be kept of slight casualties,
as the men never gave in, or reported their wounds,
if they could by any means keep on their legs.
The Russian losses are far more severe, and on
a moderate computation have been estimated at
12,000. They lost two generals—Sel wan, who was
killed in au assault, and Schilders, who died after
wounds he received. Prince Gortschakoff himself
was wounded—whether dangerously or not is not
known in Silistria. The reports of the spies on his
Serene Highress's condition were confused and
contradictory. The Russians had made about 12
miles of lines and trenches round the town, in
which they established their batteries and collected
their forces previous to the assaults. All the
trenches are deep, large, and comfortable, with broad
steps,
,leading up, and in► the flanks. The highest
credit is duo to the Russian engineers for the
solidity, and, I might almost say, the finish of their
earthworks. Vaults, with divans made of earth,
are dug out at the most interesting spots, to serve
as resting-places for the generals, on their rounds
Through the trenches. The last graves dug in
he hurry of departure are close by, and,
from their extent, show that the losses in the last
days of the siege must have been severe. The last
of the dead were buried with great carelessness. I
saw arms and legs sticking out of the graves, and
actually lying on them. The earlier graves of the
Russians, near their chief camp, show that the for-
mer burials were conducted with more care and
decency. The graves were well covered with earth,
and no traces of defunct mortality remain. The
camp itself must have been splendid. The Russians
have done there what they never, by any chance,
do in their own country—they have dug wells and
wade roads, and excellent roads too. The tents of
the generals must have been perfect palaces, the
traces on the ground give such indications of size
and roominess.