Colonel Karyagin: biography, personal life, exploits, photo. The incredible story of Colonel Karyagin's detachment Colonel Karyagin 1805

Everyone has heard of the feat of the Greeks at Thermopylae, when their detachment of about 5,000 - 6,000 people detained an army of Persians of 200 - 250 thousand people.

Colonel Karyagin's detachment numbered 500 people against 20 thousand Persians. That is, the ratio was the same as at Thermopylae.

However, the Greeks of that time were heavily armed and well-organized warriors who surpassed the motley and poorly trained troops of the Persians in skill and weapons.

Hoplites on a vase from the time of the Greco-Persian wars. Armament: spear, short sword, round shield, Corinthian helmet, bronze carapace (breastplate)

Xerxes' army consisted of representatives of many peoples and tribes subject to the Achaemenid empire. The warriors of each nationality had their own weapons and armor. The Persians and Medes, according to the description of Herodotus, wore soft felt hats, trousers and colorful tunics. The armor was assembled from iron scales like fish scales, the shields were woven from rods. They were armed with short spears and large bows with reed arrows. On the right thigh was a dagger-sword. The warriors of other tribes were armed much worse, mainly with bows, and often just with clubs and burnt stakes, and dressed in copper, leather and even wooden helmets.

Meanwhile, the Russians had two cannons, against several falconet (small cannon of 50-100 mm caliber) batteries and larger-caliber guns among the Persians.

The Russians held the Persian army not for three days, but for three weeks! In reality, the Battle of Thermopylae was a defeat for the Greeks, if they held the Persians for three weeks, famine would begin in the army of Xerxes. And then he would not have captured and plundered a significant part of Greece.

Thanks to the detachment of Colonel Karyagin, the Persians not only did not invade the Caucasus, but in general were then defeated ... by a detachment of 2,400 soldiers of Prince Tsitsianov!

***

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 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 of 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 the tents of the Persian armada under the command of Pir Quli Khan were visible, 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 set up 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 it became worse from hour to hour. The unbearable heat depleted our strength, our thirst tormented us, and the shots from the enemy batteries did not stop ...".

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 occupying high places, drove out strong crowds with courage. Captain Parfenov, Captain Klyukin in the whole battle were sent me with the 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 difficult situation 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 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 ..."

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 the enemy's 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. Both khans were killed on the enemy side ... Having settled in the fortress, I await your Excellency's orders." By evening, there were only 179 men in the ranks, and 45 cannon charges. 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."

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. "

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. 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 a bridge; four soldiers volunteered to help the cause, crossing themselves lay in the moat and the guns were transported along them. Two survived, and two paid for their heroic self-sacrifice with their lives. "

"Living Bridge, an episode from Colonel Karyagin's campaign to Mukhrat in 1805". Franz Roubaud

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. This is no longer a thing. Karyagin shouted : "Guys, go ahead, save the guns!" Everyone 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 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 for 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.

Late silver medal "For the Persian War" in 1826 - 1828.

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 in 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.

References

1. Popov K. Temple of Glory. T. 1. - Paris, 1931. - S. 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. T. 3. - St. Petersburg, 1893 .-- 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. - pp. 99-101.

6. Library for reading // Everyday life of a Russian nobleman in different periods of his life. T.90. - SPb, 1848 .-- p. 39.

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 there was 8,000 to 10,000 soldiers. Therefore, upon learning that to 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, there is 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 squares and repelled fruitless attacks all day
Persian cavalry, until only scraps were left 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 took 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 remains 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 over 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, 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, duels with bayonets and night hide and seek in the forests), a golden aura of the end shone, so Karyagin simply smashed Shakh-Bulakh's gates 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 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 leave the fortress and break 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 o'clock, 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 "extremely desperate people, on only anger and strength of mind, move in the Heart of Darkness of this insane, impossible, incredible, unthinkable hike. " With guns, 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 moat, 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 squeezed the brave shoulders, but the second one fell off and hit two soldiers with a full swing on the head with a wheel. 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 flooded 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 Kali Yuga era, actions, shocks, struggle, life, death, then remember this moat.

- Non, je vous préviens que si vous ne me dites pas que nous avons la guerre [...] je ne vous connais plus, vous n "êtes plus mon ami [...] (No, I tell you ahead if you won't tell me that we have a war [...] I don't know you anymore, you are no longer my friend [...]) ".
"This is what the famous Anna Pavlovna Sherer said in July 1805" 1.

Those who did not stop at the first page of War and Peace remember that the war with France - which Prince Vasily Kurakin's interlocutor so longed for - soon really began. The heroic deed of Prince Bagration at Schöngraben, the defeat of the Russians at Austerlitz - three to five months remained before all these events that thundered in the center of Europe.

But even on the day when m-me Sсherer was still only dreaming of a war, one with the participation of the Russians was already underway. Only in places that are not yet known to society - behind the "wall of the Caucasus", in Karabakh. And the feat accomplished there by the Russians just in June - July 1805 - even more impressive than Schöngraben - then remained unnoticed by Russian society.

The feat is described in the reports of the detachment commander, which are confirmed by an independent source - the memories of a participant in the events (as they think, officer Pyotr Ladinsky). Still, it's hard to believe what happened ...

Early summer of 1805. Disposition

Towards the Russian-Iranian war 1804 - 1813 led by the annexation of Eastern Georgia in 1801 by Russia - a land that Iran (until 1935 we called Persia) considered its sphere of influence. The Russians thwarted an attempt by the Persians to invade there in 1804, but in the summer of 1805 Shah Feth-Ali again moved his troops to Karabakh in order to enter Georgia and clear it of the Russians.

The invasion army (commanded by Crown Prince Abbas Mirza) numbered about 30-40 thousand people. The Russians in Transcaucasia had only slightly more than 8000 2 - and even then scattered over a large area. It was necessary to protect Georgia from both the Dagestani Lezghins and the vassals of Iran - the Azerbaijani khans. It was necessary to control the newly annexed khanates - Ganja and Karabakh ...

Hopes for reinforcements fell away: the war with Napoleon is approaching, which means that Russia will not have free troops.

Russia itself is far beyond the high mountains. Only a thread of the Georgian Military Highway leads there, which the "non-peaceful" highlanders will cut even if it looks like it.

You have to rely only on yourself.

And then the commander-in-chief in Georgia, Lieutenant General Prince Pyotr Tsitsianov, sent a detachment of the chief of the 17th Jaeger Regiment, Colonel Pavel Karyagin, to meet Abbas-Mirza from Elisavetpol (now Ganja) to Shusha. (The chiefs then actually commanded the regiments.)

In the detachment of 493 soldiers and officers - the battalion of the 17th Jaeger, the company of the Tiflis Musketeer and the team of the 7th artillery regiment, heavily thinned out by diseases. And two guns 3.

Karyagin should give Tsitsianov the opportunity to gather scattered forces. And for this, having united in Shusha with six more companies of the 17th Jaeger and bringing his army up to a thousand people, to detain the Persians.

Either thirty, or forty thousand ...

Early summer of 1805. Personnel

The then Russian soldier was not an angel.

He sprinkled with cynical sayings, unceremoniously extorted one or the other from the "peasant", and dragged from the layman everything that was lying badly. Escapes were common. Of the 475 lower ranks of the Karyagin detachment, 56 4 deserted during the battles - every ninth!

But in the ranks, the soldiers were tightly shackled by the discipline that had been imposed over the years, consistently and harshly. Discipline was reinforced by something that we do not always remember - the desire not to let down comrades 5, which was especially understandable when far from Russia.

And a strong force went into battle, a steadfast "soldiery".

The Karyagin officers - the children of the small local nobility or the officials who served only the personal nobility - did not graduate from the cadet corps. "He can read and write in Russian" - that is all their education. But for that era, this was at the very least enough, and then the service in the Caucasus was the school. Where the Russians often acted in small detachments, where the enemy was always outnumbered, and the political situation was always confused, the commander had to never get lost and think with his own head.

The commander of the jaeger battalion, Pyotr Kotlyarevsky, from a 16-year-old sergeant, became a 27-year-old major in this school.

Pavel Mikhailovich Karyagin also passed it.

A 54-year-old widower, the son of an officer who served his family to the hereditary nobility, he was born, obviously, in the Smolensk region, since he began his service in 1773 when he entered the Smolensk Mint Company as a private, which guarded the mint in the village of Porechye (now the city of Demidov).

He had no serfs and no real estate.

But he served in the Caucasus since 1783, and fought in Georgia in 1784 - 1787. second lieutenant of the Belarusian Jaeger Battalion 6.

In 1791 he took Anapa from the Turks.

In 1796 he went to the Persian campaign.

In 1804, 52 years old, under stones and arrows, he climbed with his huntsmen on the wall of the Azerbaijani fortress of Ganja.

And like every officer of that time, he knew about himself first of all that he was "HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY, THE STATE is his servant."

June 24, 1805. The battle

Most of the way was left behind, when on the morning of June 24, 1805, across the Shah-Bulakh River, Karyagin's detachment was attacked by the vanguard of Abbas Mirza. Up to 3,000 horsemen flew into a handful of Russians from one side, then from the other.

But a handful is a regular army! Several teams - and now she is already marching in squares, in a quadrangle, meeting the enemy with volleys from wherever he appears. "Spitting" (as the Turks lamented in the time of Suvorov) with fire, walk (and this is the expression of the Persians) "impregnable moving walls" 7.

The top of the walls is black (these are cylindrical hats and caps).

Bottom - white (summer pantaloons).

The middle is colored. Three walls - light green, with a line of purple collars. These are the huntsmen of the 17th regiment. The fourth has a dark green, with lines of blue collars and light crimson shoulder straps. These are the Tiflis men of Captain Tatarintsov. After he was wounded, this face of the square was commanded by the huntsman, lieutenant Rafail Yegulov.

The Persians have wick guns from the 16th century. Therefore, on the sides of the square there are chains of gamekeepers with threaded fittings. From long distances, they hit the enemy of their choice, while remaining invulnerable themselves.

The left chain is led by second lieutenant Prince Semyon Tumanov 1st (Simeon Tumanishvili). Right - Lieutenant Emelyan Lisenko. From time to time, new batches of chokes are sent; they are headed by captains Aleksey Klyukin and Ivan Parfyonov and Lieutenant Yakov Kulyabka 2nd.

Three times Karyagin sends part of the rangers to clear the commanders above the road. The future "Caucasian Suvorov" Major Pyotr Kotlyarevsky leads this handful of shooters in loose formation to the Asian crowds.

Lieutenant Matvey Pavlenko gallops with orders to him and with reports from him.

So, with a fight, the detachment moves for six hours - 14 versts.

Towards evening, reaching the Askaran River, Karyagin stops to rest in the Kara-Agach-Baba tract, on a hill in the middle of a Muslim cemetery surrounded by a moat.

But here the main forces of Abbas Mirza are attacking him.

This is from 10 to 15,000 people, and Karyagin has about 300 left in the ranks.

However, European quality again prevails over Asian quantity. Three hours later, when all the attacks of the Persians were repulsed by fire, it turns out that for the whole day the Russians spent an average of only 23 rounds per arrow 9!

"For a scientist, they give three uneducated, three are not enough for us, give us 6, we are not enough for 6, give us 10 for one; we will beat everyone, we will knock down, we will take full!" ten

These Suvorov words are not jokes, but a formula derived in practice.

27th of June. Bayonet attack

Shusha is 25 versts away, and Karyagin is sure that he would have made his way there. But many horses were killed, they are not enough to transport the wounded, and the wounded are already a third of the detachment. And the colonel decides to stay in the cemetery until Major Lisanevich with his six companies comes from Shushi.

The cemetery moat is complemented by an earthen rampart. But it does not save from the heat, thirst and cannonballs of small-caliber cannons - falconets, several batteries of which the Persians installed at the surrounding heights. On the evening of June 26, the falconets do not allow us to approach the only stream, and Karyagin organizes a sortie.

"Rota, listen to the command: cross yourself, forward, with God!" - commanded by Captain Klyukin. (A year ago, he served in a garrison battalion deep in Russia.)

And the huntsmen with a bayonet attack capture four batteries with 15 falconets 11.

But on the 27th, the enemy clearly decides to end the unit. Artillery shelling and cavalry attacks last all day. The Russians are already running low on ammunition and medicine. Losses are growing, twice shell-shocked Karyagin was wounded in the back. Four times shell-shocked artillery second lieutenant Sidor Gudim-Levkovich, who killed or wounded 22 of the 23 gunners 12, loads and directs both guns himself.

But Major Lisanevich is still missing.

He never dares to leave Shusha without troops ...

56 gamekeepers and a musketeer run across to the Persians. And - the case has not yet been explained, but clearly speaking about the gravity of the situation - the hero of the battle on June 24, Lieutenant Lysenko leaves for the enemy.

And then Karyagin dictates, drawing up another report to Tsitsianov: "To save the people and the guns [...], he made a firm decision to break through with courage through the numerous enemy [...] with the intention of taking the fortress on Shah-Bulakh." It's easier to defend in a fortress.

A squad on the brink of death is about to attack!

But the enemy does not expect this - and this is already the key to success. Especially if the enemy is undisciplined (and therefore impressionable).

About the battle with Abbas Mirza, the colonel ends in an everyday tone, I will report in detail from the captured fortress ...

July 7. Breakthrough from the Shah-Bulakh fortress

On the night of June 28, the detachment sets out to the Shah-Bulakh fortress. There are enough horses only for the seriously wounded, the baggage train has to be abandoned. Nevertheless, the Persian cavalry, who discovered the departure of the Russians, again could not overcome the regular punishment.

At dawn the fortress is shown. There are 150 Persians there, but they are behind a high stone wall with six towers.

"Forward, forward, with God!" - gives his usual command 14 Karyagin.

The Russian nucleus smashes the gates - and purple collars rush there, behind Major Kotlyarevsky. Two bullets hit the major in the leg, a shotgun canister charge - in the arm, but the rangers were carried away by the captain Fyodor Vikhlyaev, second lieutenant Astafiy Chichkanev - and Shakh-Bulakh was taken.

And two hours later, the Russians have to repulse the assault themselves: Abbas-Mirza arrived in time for Shah-Bulakh.

But the Persians are not Russians. They are thrown from the walls, and the prince is forced to confine himself to blockading the fortress with part of his forces. By July 1, residents of Karyagin begin to eat grass and horse meat. And late in the evening on July 7, Karyagin secretly begins a breakthrough into a new stronghold - the empty fortress Mukhrat, which is 30 miles away. The Persians do not notice his departure.

At dawn on July 8, the detachment stops in front of a deep, human-sized ravine. It is too wide to carry guns across.

You cannot bypass it, there are no trees nearby for building a bridge.

And then, on the initiative of the gamekeeper Gavrila Sidorov, a "living bridge" was built.

At the bottom of the ravine, the gamekeepers are huddled together. These are the pillars of the bridge.

Rifles are stuck in the bottom with bayonets. These are additional supports.

Other guns are placed on the shoulders of the gamekeepers and on the butts of the rifles. This is the deck of the bridge.

An 8-pound unicorn and a 6-pound cannon are rolled over this floor.

The first weighs 524 kilograms. The second could weigh up to 15 tons.

But the "live piles" remain alive.

Except for Gavrila Sidorov.

A wheel that had jumped off the flooring hit him in the temple.

July 15. Victory

Finally recollecting himself, Abbas-Mirza throws his cavalry in pursuit. One part of it rushes to Mukhrat, but the fortress has already been occupied by the detachment of Kotlyarevsky sent forward on carts. There are only wounded in it, but the Persians' attempt to break into Mukhrat was repulsed!

Even before 1500 horsemen attacked the main forces of Karyagin. Again, like June 24, they walk, repelling countless attacks with fire. Again the Persians have nothing to do with the regular army.

And after Karyagin's occupation of Mukhrat, the son of the shah resigned himself to his fate - leaving only an observation detachment with the fortress.

Karyagin, on the other hand, received food from the Armenians, and on July 15 he joined forces with Tsitsianov's troops that had finally arrived.

Having detained the enemy until the main forces arrived, he saved Georgia from the Persian invasion. After the approach of Tsitsianov, the Persians were defeated (on July 28, near Dzegam) and went into their borders.

Of the 493 Karyaginites, 90 died, 58 deserted or were captured, and of the remaining 345, more than half were wounded. Of the 16 (without the traitor Lysenko) officers, only three 16 did not have injuries or concussions.

Epilogue

For a long time, very few people managed to endure such works in the Transcaucasus.

Colonel Pavel Mikhailovich Karyagin will be driven to his grave by the "yellow fever" in June 1807.

Major Alexei Ivanovich Klyukin in 1808 was dismissed due to injuries in retirement.

Major Rafail Sergeevich Egulov was dismissed in 1811 due to his wounds and retired.

Lieutenant-General Pyotr Stepanovich Kotlyarevsky - recovered from under a pile of bodies in the fortress Lankaran taken by him - was fired in 1813 due to wounds and retired. And for another thirty-eight years, until his death, he will suffer from pain in a shattered jaw.

Major Matvey Alekseevich Pavlenko was dismissed in 1814 due to injuries.

Major Yakov Osipovich Kulyabka in 1815 was dismissed due to wounds and retired.

Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Ivanovich Parfyonov will be buried already in 1816.

Colonel Pyotr Antonovich Ladinsky was dismissed due to illness in 1822.

The 17th Jaeger and Tiflis Musketeer Regiments, after a number of renaming, became in 1864 the 13th Life Grenadier Erivan and 15th Grenadier Tiflis Regiments. Together they will go out to the First World War.

And on October 16, 1914, near the Polish city of Suwalki, in an attack that would disrupt the breakthrough of the Germans at the junction of two Russian corps, the grenadier of the 9th company of the Erivan regiment Gavrila Sidorov would die. The namesake and namesake of Gavrila Sidorov from the "Living Bridge". A German bullet will hit him right in the heart 17.

Notes (edit)
1. Tolstoy L.N. War and Peace // Tolstoy L.N. Collected op. In 20 volumes. T. 4.M., 1961.S. 7.
2. Bobrovsky P.O. The history of His Majesty's 13th Life Grenadier Regiment of Erivan for 250 years. 1642 - 1892. Part 3. Huntsmen (1786 - 1816). SPb., 1893.S. 220, 221, 226.
3. Ibid. app. P. 310.
4. Calculated from: Ibid. S. 226, 227; app. P. 310.
5. Lieven D. Russia against Napoleon. Struggle for Europe. 1807 - 1814.Moscow, 2012.S. 81-82.
6. See: P.O. Bobrovsky. Decree. op. App. S. 232-233.
7. Ibid. P. 218.
8. Ibid. S. 224, 226; app. P. 311.
9. Calculated from: Ibid. App. S. 310-311.
10. A.V. Suvorov. The documents. T. III. 1791 - 1798.Moscow, 1952.S. 508.
11. Bobrovsky P.O. Decree. op. P. 226.
12. Calculated from: Ibid. App. S. 310-311.
13. Quoted. by: ibid. P. 227.
14. See: ibid. S. 229, 233, 238.
15. With a gun carriage. See: A.A. Nilus The history of the material part of the artillery. T. I. SPb., 1904. S. 258; Shirokorad A.B. Encyclopedia of Russian artillery. Mn., 2000.S. 35.
16. Bobrovsky P.O. Decree. op. P. 235; App. S. 311-312.
17. Leib-Erivans in the Great War. Materials for the history of the regiment as processed by the regimental historical commission. Paris, 1959, p. 35.

Karyagin Pavel Mikhailovich - without exaggeration, a great man, also a talented colonel, commander of the seventeenth Jaeger regiment during the war between the Russians and the Persians. Our people do not often remember the feat of the detachment under his leadership, and this is a significant contribution to history.

In 1805, on May 14, the two parties entered into an agreement called Korekchay. Subsequently, this treaty, Russia included the Karabakh Khanate.

Raid Karyagin

Naturally, the Persians were not going to put up with this, therefore, having waited for the right moment, they decided to return the selected. The period chosen for revenge was really successful, since at that time Russia directed all its forces to confront the French. The angry attackers, whose number reached forty thousand people, rushed to Arakas. Then a regiment under the command of Lisanevich tried to defend the border, which eventually had to retreat in anticipation of reinforcements. To help him, the tsar sent a detachment of Karyagin of five hundred people. This is where it all began ...

Legendary battle with the Persians

The struggle was long and fierce. As a result of the Persian attack on the Karkarchay River, the detachment lost two hundred soldiers. For the Russian side, this was a significant loss.

Colonel Karyagin

And later, in the aftermath of enemy shelling, only one hundred and fifty people could continue the battle. Soberly assessing the capabilities of 150 people against tens of thousands, in truth, it would be worthwhile to leave the battlefield and retreat.

But, as they say, Russians don't give up! It was decided to take the enemy by cunning, attacking one of his fortresses (Shahbulag). The plan was successfully implemented, but ours were blocked there for two weeks by the Persians. At this moment, Karagin decided to negotiate an alleged surrender in order to win at least some time, and then escaped and settled in the Mukhrat fortress to continue the battle.

As a result, the Persians were driven out, and the confrontation ended there. Karyagin was awarded a golden sword - a symbol of valor and honor, and the surviving soldiers received a salary. This is how history shows that even if the enemy is hundreds of times stronger, wisdom and intelligence will always help to win a well-deserved victory.

The heroism and readiness of the Russian soldier for self-sacrifice have been known since ancient times. In all the wars waged by Russia, victories were based on these features of the character of the Russian soldier. When at the head Russian troops there were equally fearless officers, then heroism reached such a scale that it made the whole world talk about itself. Such was the feat of a detachment of Russian troops under the command of Colonel Pavel Mikhailovich Karyagin, which took place during the Russian-Persian war of 1804-1813. Many contemporaries compared it to the battle of 300 Spartans against the myriad troops of Xerxes I at Thermopylae.

On January 3, 1804, the Russian army stormed the second largest city of present Azerbaijan, Ganja, and the Ganja Khanate became part of Russian Empire... The purpose of this war was to ensure the security of the previously acquired possessions in Georgia. However, the activity of Russians in Transcaucasia was not to the liking of the British. Their emissaries persuaded the Persian Shah Feth-Ali, better known as Baba Khan, to an alliance with Britain and declare war on Russia.
The war began on June 10, 1804, and until the end of that year, Russian troops constantly crushed the superior forces of the Persians. In general, the Caucasian war was very remarkable, there is a persistent belief that if in battle the enemy did not outnumber the Russians by 10 times, then he did not dare to attack. However, the feat of the battalion under the leadership of the commander of the 17th Jaeger regiment, Colonel Karyagin, even against this background, is amazing. The enemy outnumbered these Russian forces by more than forty times. In 1805, an army of 20,000 under the leadership of the heir to the Persian throne, Abbas Mirza, moved to Shusha. There were only six companies of gamekeepers in the city under the leadership of Major Lisanevich. All that Commander Tsitsianov could put up as reinforcements at that moment was a battalion of the 17th Jaeger Regiment. Tsitsianov appointed regiment commander Karyagin to command the detachment, whose personality was already legendary by that moment.
On June 21, 1805, 493 soldiers and officers with two guns moved from Ganja to help Shusha, however, these forces did not manage to unite. The detachment was intercepted by Abbas Mirza's army on the way. Already on the twenty-fourth of June, Karyagin's battalion met the enemy's forward detachments. Due to the relative small number of Persians (there were about four thousand of them), the battalion lined up in a square and continued to move. However, towards evening, the main Persian forces began to approach. And Karyagin decided to take up defensive positions at the Tatar cemetery, located on the top of a hill 10-15 versts from the Shah-Bulakh fortress.
The Russians hastily surrounded the camp with a moat and wagons, and all this was done in the process of a continuous battle. The battle lasted until nightfall and cost the Russian detachment 197 people. However, the losses of the Persians were so great that the next day Abbas Mirza did not dare to attack, and ordered to shoot the Russians from artillery. On June 26, the Persians withdrew the stream, leaving the Russians without water, and set up four batteries of Falconets - 45mm cannons - to shoot the defenders. By this time Karyagin himself was shell-shocked three times and wounded by a bullet through his side. However, no one even thought about surrender, and it was offered on very honorable conditions. The 150 men who remained in the ranks made sorties at night to fetch water. During one of them, the detachment of Lieutenant Ladinsky defeated all the false battery batteries and captured 15 guns. “What wonderful Russians good fellows were soldiers in our detachment. There was no need for me to encourage and arouse their courage, ”Ladinsky later recalled. For four days the detachment fought with the enemy, but on the fifth the soldiers had eaten their last crackers, the officers by this moment had long been eating grass. Karyagin equipped a detachment of forty foragers under the leadership of an officer of unknown origin, Lieutenant Lisenkov, who turned out to be a French spy. As a result of his betrayal, only six people returned back, wounded to the last extreme. According to all the rules, in these conditions, the detachment had to surrender to the enemy, or take a heroic death. However, Karyagin made another decision - to capture the Shah-Bulakh fortress and wait for reinforcements in it. With the help of the Armenian guide Yuzbash, the detachment, abandoning the train and burying the captured falconets, secretly left the positions at night. And in the morning, having smashed the gate with cannons, he captured Shah-Bulakh. The Persian army surrounded the fortress as soon as the Russians managed to repair the gate. There were no food supplies in the fortress. Then Karyagin took four days for the next surrender proposal. reflection, subject to the supply of the detachment by the Persians. The conditions were accepted and the surviving soldiers were able to get stronger and put themselves in order. At the end of the fourth day, Karyagin told the ambassador, "Tomorrow morning, let His Highness take Shakh-Bulakh." Karyagin did not sin in anything either against military duty or against the given word - at night the Russian detachment left the fortress and moved to capture another fortress, Mukhrat. The rearguard of the detachment, which consisted exclusively of wounded soldiers and officers, was led by Kotlyarevsky - a legendary personality, the future general and "Conqueror of Azerbaijan". During this transition, another feat was accomplished. The road was crossed by a ditch, through which it was impossible to transport guns, and without artillery the capture of the fortress became impossible. Then the four heroes went down into the moat and from their guns they laid out a bridge, resting on their shoulders. The second gun went off, killing two daredevils. History has preserved for posterity the name of only one of them - the battalion leader Gavrila Sidorov. The Persians caught up with Karyagin's detachment on the way to Mukhrat. The battle was so hot that the Russian guns changed hands several times. However, having inflicted serious damage on the Persians, the Russians withdrew to Mukhrat with small losses and occupied it. Now their positions have become impregnable. To another letter from Abbas Mirza offering high ranks and huge sums of money for the Persian service, Karyagin replied: “Your parent has mercy on me; and I have the honor to inform you that when they are at war with the enemy, they do not seek mercy, except traitors. " The courage of a small Russian detachment led by Karyagin saved Georgia from being captured and plundered by the Persians. Diverting the forces of the Persian army to himself, Karyagin made it possible for Tsitsianov to gather forces and launch an offensive. Ultimately, all this led to a brilliant victory. And the Russian soldiers, for the umpteenth time, covered themselves with unfading glory.