The National tribune., 1898-06-30


his best troops each about 7OG0 strong, 10
assault simultaneously on the lett ana
right while he in person, on foot, ana
carrying his own flag, led Koruiloft
Brigade of Grenadiers in an escalade oil
the last line of the Turks in the center.
After q desperate struggle, Suwarrow
gained the top of the parapet, where ne
planted his flag, and called on his GTeha :
dicrS to keep it there. Some idea may be
! formed of the fight that ragged round the
| old Maniac of Battle as Tolstoi cais
| him. some idea, at once. OF the 1ndomi-
| table resolution of the Russians who fol
| lowed Suwarrow. and of the grim valor OF
| the doomed Turks who died to a man,
| there "in their last ditch, from the state.
ment that the Mikhail0uSk Regiment oil
Grenadiers, who led the column that Su-
warrow headed in person, and afoOt, lost
it's Colonel. Bavanoff, AL its other field
officers and more than half its rank and
file in less than 10 minutes. The Turks
overwhelmed, not asking nor giving
quarter, simply died game" in their
tracks, with their boots on not one
fiinching from his post
FATE OF THE vANQUISHED.
Every Turkish soldier. regular or irreeu-
lar, was butchered. OF the 1000 inha bit
ants of the ill l-fated town itself, more than
half shared the fate of the garrison the
infurated Russians, in their first frenzy OF
such blood bought victory, sparing neither
age nor sex.
when the Russians forced the last line,
till late at night the town of Ismail was
scene of unchecked carnage. The Turks
defended every street, every alley, every
doorway.
Towards the last" says Kaulhars,
Campaigns of Suwarrow) "the fight in
the town resolved itself into a multitude
of melees. There was little firing, the
ammunition on both sides having been
exhausted. 1t was bayOnet to bayonet,
saber to Scimetar, musket butt to musket
butt, everywhere that Russian could
find Il Turk or a Turk could see Rus
sian
Thus the garrison OF Ismail and more
than half its non-combatant population
fperished But to the credit of Turkish
vaor it must be said that they left a bit
ter reckoning for their conquerOrs. The
Russian loss was nearly $4,000 or about
4 600 more than the entire armed force OF
the Turkish garrison, regular and Irregular.
The Turks were indeed butchered. but
the butchers had reason to remember the
butchery. The Russian loss included
three Major Generals and seven Brigadiers,
killed, and nearly all the other general
officers were more or less wounded.
| AS soon as victory was assured, but long
before the butchery had ceased, Suwar-
row started a courier for St. Petersburg,
| ZOO miles away, with the following re-
| port to the Empress Catharinc;
Mother, Christmas, Ismail, Suwarrow.
| Though the formal treaty of Galatz was
| not signed until August, 1871, no further
| operations OF any account took place, and
Turkish dominion northeast of the mouths
| OF the Danube was at an end. The entire
| north shore of the Black Sea became
Russian territory, and the sea itself a
Russian lake.
SUwARRoW's GENERALS.
To the student of military history the
roster of Suwarrow' division commanders
at Ismail is extremely interesting. 1t ex-
hibts the fact that the Turkish campaign,
which SuwanOw and Paul Jones began
at Oczo6off in June, 1888, and which Su-
warrow practically ended Christmas, 1890,
at ISmail was the great training school of
Russian Generals and Marshals for the
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic
wars.
The Gen. Barklay' of Ismail was
Barklay de folly, who subsequently com
manded the Grand Russian Army against
Napoleon in the great invasion of 1912,
until wounded at Smolensk, when Kutu-
soft succeeded him. Quickly recovering
from his wound, he commanded one wing
of the army at Borodino, and in the pur-
suit of Napoleon out OF Russia; he COM
manded the Russian contingent of the
AIiitS III 1910 fit 1DtSOtIl anu LtlpSiCy anu
in the invasion of France, 1914.
The Gen. Bariotinsky" killed at Is
mail was grandfather OF Prince BariOtin-
sky, conqueror of the Caucasus.
The Gen. de Lacy" also killed at Is
mail, was a grandson of the famous
Marshal Lacy, the Irish soldier OF fortune
who. after brilliant service in the Irish
Legion under Louis XIV, was employed
by Peter the Great as military instructor
TO the Russian armies, and introduced
the organization, drill, discipline and ar
mament of Western Europe.
The Gen. Soimoneff" also killed at
Ismail, was grandfather of the General of
the same name who led the Russian at
tack on the "Sandbag Battery held ny
the English Guards at Inliermann in the
Cnmean War, 6i years afterwards.
The Gen. Ouvaroff wounded at Is
mail subsequently, commanded an army
corps at Friedland and Preuss-Eylau in
Army in the Napoieonic invasion of 1872.
The Gen. BennigScn" subsequently
commanded the Russian army at Prcuss-
Eylau and Friedland in 1907, fighting the
great Napoleon for the first time to
standstll in the former battle and yield
ing to him the dearest bought of all his
victories in the latter. Not the least
among BenniCSen'S services to Russia
was his share in diSposing of the crazy
Emperor Paul.
Inc zen hOrSIkOI afterwards COM
manded the Russian Army of the Rhine in
1893.
The Gen. Wittcenstein, then only 30
years old, was a Brigadier in Kutusoff's S
Division, which ne led at ISmail in CON
sequence If the disability If Gen. KutusoA
from recent wounds. Kutuson himself
subsequently commanded the Russians
at AuSterlitz, and was Commander-in
Chief OF the Grand Russian Army in the
great invasion by Napoleon in 1872, de
in the Second Battle of Smolensk, Nov.
4, 5, 1872.
The Gen. Bagration," considered by
Russians as the most brilliant of Suwar~
rows group, was not Russian, but the
son of Il Georgian or "Grusian Prince,
who being exiled from the Caucasus by
the Turks in 1850, cast his fortunes with
the Empire of Catharine. The son, born
in 1868, became in early boyhood a favorte
of Catharine. He was a Major General at
ISmail at the age Of 25. In the Italian
campaign of 1899, he was second in COM
mand under SuwarrOw, and led the van in
forcing the passes of the Alps. In 1905
he was second in command under kutu-
soft, and commanded the Russian advance
in the first collision with the French un-
der Murat at Malabrun, three weeks be
fore AuSterlitz. He commanded the Rus
sian Army of the Danube in the Turkish
War of 1908 8 with signal ability and
success.
When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1912
Bagration commanded the right wing of
the Grand Russian Army, and at Mohileff
sustained the first shock of the advanc-
ing French under DavouSt. Bagration'S