"Punitive Operation Against the Rebel Workers in the City of Andijan"

Brutal actions of the punitive detachment against the rebelling Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tajik, and Kipchak workers in the city of Andijan

Failing to create discord among the rebels, the punitive forces began brutal military actions. One of the units of the punitive detachment, sent on September 30 for reconnaissance in the city of Andijan, literally swept away, burned everything in its path, and killed everyone it encountered. Its commander, Colonel Skobeleva, considering himself and other participants in the burning of the accompanying kystaks heroes, reported to Lieutenant General Trotsky on October 15, 1875: "According to your order... all kystaks along the route of the flying detachment were set on fire wherever possible."

Such brutal actions of the punishing forces could not fail to harden the rebels. The population of the suburban kystaks offered such strong resistance that this royal soldier was forced to halt further advancement until the main part of the punitive detachment arrived.

On September 31, the vanguard of the punitive forces entered the vicinity of the city of Andijan, whose defenders offered them fierce resistance and often went on the offensive. As emphasized by the commander of the punitive detachment Trotsky, "On October 1, a fierce battle broke out in the streets, sakly, mosques, and courtyards; the enemy used every cover, shooting from behind walls, from roofs, from trees." This royal general also noted that "the bayonet fight raged to the right and left." Colonel Skobeleva, in his report of October 15, 1875, acknowledged the mass and activity of the defenders of Andijan, referring to the bravery, courage, and perseverance of the rebels, wrote: "Even women participated in the defense of their native city." Every barricade, every street, and almost every house had to be taken after fierce and stubborn fighting. The bloody battle lasted for two days. The commander of the specified punitive detachment was forced to note that "the defenders of the city held out stubbornly." The rebels—including the horsemen of Pulat-khan—often pressed the punishing forces and went on the counterattack, engaging in hand-to-hand combat...

However, after a stubborn and bloody battle, by the evening of October 2, the punitive forces managed to occupy the city of Andijan and brutally punish its defenders. The city was set on fire. As noted in Trotsky's report, the punitive detachment advanced, igniting everything that could burn. The commander of the royal punishing forces, which included the dzhigits of Nasr-Eddin-khan, considering his military mission accomplished, reported to the Turkestan governor-general and the commander of the military district Kaufman: "Andijan has been punished; the city has been destroyed by the fires we set in it; the surrounding kystaks within 25 versts of Andijan, whose inhabitants participated in the struggle against us—were 'burned and devastated.'" As noted in the archival document from which this excerpt is taken, the rebels suffered enormous losses in killed and wounded during the battle near Andijan.

Better armed and trained, the punitive forces suffered fewer losses. According to incomplete data, there were 12 killed and over 40 soldiers and officers wounded on their side.

The brutal actions of the punitive detachment could not bring the Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tajik, and Kipchak workers concentrated in the city of Andijan to their knees. The resistance of the latter was so strong and persistent that the punitive forces could no longer remain in Andijan, and in the morning of October 3, they left it. As noted in Trotsky's report of October 15, 1875, "The reverse movement through the city was again accompanied by fighting."

The rebels pursued the punitive forces not only through the city but also beyond its borders, often engaging in serious clashes. The punitive detachment, in retreat, again set the city on fire. Immediately after the liberation of Andijan, the townspeople began "to extinguish the fires that raged along the entire route of the punitive detachment. The latter, having moved slightly away from Andijan, subjected it, especially the bazaar, urdu, i.e., the central part and other important objects, to heavy artillery fire, which lasted for three hours. In short, the royal punishing forces tried to give the rebels such a lesson that they would remember it for a long time. But in vain.

The rebels continued to pursue the punitive forces. Serious clashes took place in Mir-Rabat, Tabylde, Mullase, Syrmake, and several other kystaks. On the night of October 4-5, more than 4,000 rebels led by Abdurakhman Aftobachi, who were camped in the kystak of Khanikhafat, were suddenly attacked by the punitive detachment and were defeated.

The punitive forces, believing the rebellion suppressed, retreated to the city of Namangan on October 8. But they miscalculated. Soon the rebelling Kyrgyz, Kipchaks, and the residents of the city of Margilan who joined them rose against the bek appointed by Nasr-Eddin-khan. The former Ura-Tyube bek Abdul-Gafar became the leader of the uprising. However, near Margilan, the rebels suffered defeat in the struggle against the khan's punitive detachment led by Nasr-Eddin's older brother Sultan Muratbek. On October 7-8, the rebels again rose against the khan's governor. This time the punitive detachment could not withstand the pressure of the rebels and scattered, while its commander Sultan-Muratbek fled.

On the morning of October 9, numerous rebel detachments approached the capital of the khanate, the city of Kokand. The townspeople, opening the city gates, joined them. The rebels and townspeople attacked the khan's palace. "The people in Kokand rebelled," said the report of the Khodzhent district chief on October 10, 1875, "and on the morning of October 9, they suddenly attacked his (Nasr-Eddin-khan's—K.U.) palace in mass. The khan defended himself desperately for three hours but had to flee with the smallest retinue." Nasr-Eddin-khan, unable to suppress the rebellion with his own forces, appealed for military assistance to the chief of the Khodzhent district. However, without waiting for a response, he was forced to flee to Khodzhent under the protection of royal authority. His flight was so hasty that he could take with him neither treasury, nor money, nor valuables. The khan and his entourage fled "in whatever they were wearing."

The rebels dealt with the major feudal lords: Muratbek, the aksakal of Basmandin Faiz, and several other representatives of the feudal nobility were killed.

Andijan - the center of the uprising in the autumn of 1875