LETTER FROM THE COMMANDER OF THE SIBERIAN CORPS TO THE MINISTER OF WAR WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE NECESSARY RESOURCES AND FORCES FOR THE CAPTURE OF THE KOKAND FORTRESS PISHPEK
Omsk, September 5, 1859
Secret
By the highest approved opinion of the special advisory meeting on January 24 of this year, it was determined, as Your Excellency is aware, to occupy the upper reaches of the Chu River in the course of the upcoming year 1860, based on the methods and means deemed necessary according to the results of the reconnaissance conducted this past summer. It was my duty, upon completion of the reconnaissance, to present a detailed calculation of the resources and forces needed for the capture of the Kokand fortress Pishpek and the establishment of our fortification and settlement in the upper reaches of the Chu.
Having now returned from the Zailiyskiy region, from where I had the honor to report to Your Excellency about the successful completion of this year's reconnaissance, I hasten to present the considerations I have drawn from the reports of the officer of the General Staff who conducted it and his personal confirmations. At the same time, I consider it my duty to inform Your Excellency that certain measures for preparing the expedition, which has been ordered by His Imperial Majesty to be carried out next year, are already being taken by me. Specifically, for the gradual concentration of military forces and resources in the Semipalatinsk region, I have moved a company of infantry from Omsk to Semipalatinsk, and I have distributed the 460 soldiers designated for collection among the battalions to reinforce them.
Your Excellency is aware that the area in the upper reaches of the Chu is occupied by a whole series of Kokand fortifications, the most important of which is Pishpek, all of which lie at the foothills of the snowy ridge of the Kirghiz, now known as Alatau, blocking access to its most important transverse valleys, where the wild Kirghiz roam. The construction of these fortifications, despite all its Asian imperfections, is such that actions against them require the use of certain means of European siege warfare, and by the composition of their garrisons, the fortresses can offer greater or lesser resistance even to superior numbers and equipment of the enemy.
Of the two closest Kokand forts, the smaller one, Tokmak, has two walls and can accommodate up to 250 men in the garrison; Pishpek, with even larger dimensions that do not allow for open assault, already has up to 700 troops, despite the fact that the resources and forces of the Kokandis were still diverted by the war with Bukhara and the Chu line was necessarily left almost unattended by them. Pishpek also had artillery consisting of 5 guns. Numerous gatherings of wild Kirghiz of the Sult tribe are always, willingly or unwillingly, ready to assist the Kokandis in field actions, and although these Kirghiz, due to the imperfection of their armament and methods of action, do not constitute dangerous opponents to European troops in the current situation, their numbers and restlessness can always distract part of our forces that will be directed against Pishpek, troubling them in all directions.
Considering these circumstances, as well as the details of the Kokand fortress plan, I conclude that we will need to concentrate at least five full companies of infantry with rifle detachments, three hundred Cossacks, and up to 12 guns, including four 54-pound mortars.
The field artillery should consist half of battery artillery, which will replace siege artillery, and for actions in the field and in the mountains, we can have 2 field and 2 mountain guns.
This detachment will be supplied with transport means for artillery, engineering, and provisioning burdens, as well as carts for establishing a field semi-hospital for 32 people. All these units and means, as Your Excellency is aware, were already designated by me earlier for the composition of the expedition, and at present, I intend to concentrate them by spring of next year in the fortification of Verny as follows.
The infantry of the detachment will consist of three companies from the 8th battalion of the 24th infantry division and two companies from the 9th, with the addition of garrisons in Verny and on the Ili, leaving one company of the 8th battalion and pulling the third company of the 9th from Karpal, while transferring one company of the latter from Urdzhar to Karpal, and if necessary, one from battalion No. 7 from Ayauz. In Ayauz and Urdzhar, I plan to replace these units with two companies from the 7th battalion from Semipalatinsk, and in their place transfer one company of the 6th battalion from Omsk, which I have already moved at present.
The cavalry of the detachment will consist of four companies of Cossacks from the 10th regiment, stationed behind the Ili River and along the Irtysh line. Although at present the Cossack settlement in Verny consists of only two companies, I am already making arrangements to reform them into three, which is very possible given the number of people and necessary because I plan to separate the Urdzhar and Ayauz stanitsas from the 10th regiment and incorporate them into the 8th for balancing their numerical composition and for ease of management.
The battery artillery will consist of a division of the foot Siberian battery located in Karpal, for which I have already had the honor to receive orders from Your Excellency regarding its mobilization. The field and mountain guns will be taken from those units currently in Verny.
Horses for the battery artillery will be purchased at the beginning of the upcoming year 1860, and this artillery will be moved to Verny early in the spring. Mortars will be transported by means of both park and local resources.
For the establishment of artillery and engineering parks, as well as for forming a mobile provisioning store and hospital, I am allocating carts that are already being prepared by my order in Omsk and Semipalatinsk.
These carts, as well as horse harness for them and horses, in the quantity indicated in the statement attached to my report of May 17 No. 22, will be acquired with funds from the amount of 20 thousand rubles, of which Your Excellency notified me in your response of August 3 No. 169.
Artillery shells in the quantity of a double set of charges for each gun will be delivered partly by the means of the battery battery, partly by carts from the park and by contract from the warehouse in Karpal. The 330 grenades sent from St. Petersburg will replenish this warehouse, and 20 incendiary shells will be sent to Verny. Combat rockets expected in Tyumen will also be directed to Verny if they arrive this winter.
Regarding items for the engineering park, some, as Your Excellency is aware, are planned to be prepared here, and they will also be delivered to Verny during the transportation of park carts from Omsk and Semipalatinsk. I will be expecting the dispatch of others, which are intended to be delivered from St. Petersburg, according to the orders of the engineering department, as Your Excellency has informed me in your response of August 3.
Finally, regarding the items that need to be purchased in the Urals, I have the honor to request Your Excellency’s orders to send samples and drawings to the Nevyansk factory1, to which I am proposing this order.
Concerning hospital supplies, the commissariat department has informed the headquarters of the separate Siberian corps that they have already made arrangements for their delivery from the Voronezh commission to the Tobolsk one and from there, by the latter's orders, to wherever I deemed necessary. Consequently, the Corps Headquarters has informed the Tobolsk commission to take care of delivering these items to Verny.
In calculating the resources for the expedition, I consider it my duty to present for Your Excellency's consideration the necessity to start it as early as possible in the spring, so as not to encounter difficulties from a lack of fodder in the Chu valley, where, as this year's reconnaissance has shown, the grass burns out in the hot season.
Accordingly, I have the honor to humbly request the possible prompt dispatch of all items and then the 20 thousand rubles, which have been allocated by the highest command.
This is all I can say now regarding the means of execution. Upon our approval for the Chu, it would be very desirable to convert one of the Kokand fortifications, with some modifications, into our own, in order to avoid unnecessary work and expenses for constructing a new fortified point. For the armament of this fortress, I plan to use the four battery guns that are being delivered from Russia by Your Excellency's orders, and I intend to assign half of a battalion No. 8, one and a half or two companies of Cossacks, who would be rotated like other steppe units, and 2 or 3 field guns from Verny, whose defense will not be significantly weakened by this. Subsequently, to further strengthen the defensive means of the fortification, it will be possible to supply it with more guns from Omsk. For the greater consolidation of our position in the new region, I propose, in accordance with the considerations I have previously outlined, to relocate one company of the 9th regiment there and to station half of it on Kaskelen to form the cadre of a foot half-battalion, while the other half would be around Pishpek. In this latter location, a more populous settlement seems to me excessive at first, as it may provoke concern and discontent among the local inhabitants - the Kirghiz. As for the Kastek fortification, it will serve as a link between Pishpek and Verny, being occupied by a temporary detachment of infantry and Cossacks; the military resources of the Zailiyskiy region will serve as a reserve for our further actions in the Chu region.
I will keep in mind the provisioning of the detachment intended for actions beyond the Chu River, considering it in the upcoming general tenders for the provisioning of the separate Siberian corps in November of this year.
General of Infantry Gassford
TsGARUz. F. I-715.0p.1.D.22.LL67-172. Original.
Comments:
1 Yekaterinburg district of Perm province.
Fortress Pishpek
Participants in the military actions during the capture of the fortress Pishpek from 1860 to 1864..