Field Marshal Lassi. The meaning of lassi petr petrovich in a brief biographical encyclopedia

Awards and prizes

Graph Pyotr Petrovich Lassi, born Piers Edmond de Lacey(English) Pierce Edmond de Lacy, Peadar de Lasa; October 30 ( 16781030 ) - April 19) - one of the most successful Russian commanders of the XVIII century. An Irishman, in 1700 he entered the Russian service and by 1736 had risen to the rank of Field Marshal. Father of Austrian Field Marshal F. M. Lassi.

Origin and youth

Descended from the ancient Norman family of Lassi, who settled in Ireland from ancient times. At the age of 13 he took part in the defense of Limerick from the Williamites. At the end of the war of the two kings, Count Lucan emigrated with his supporters to France, where they formed the so-called. Irish detachment, in which Lacey was also recorded. The brothers of the future field marshal died in the wars of Louis XIV, and he himself, having earned his first officer rank in the Savoy campaign in 1697, went to serve the Austrians. Under the command of the Duke de Croix participated in the campaign against the Turks and together with him entered the Russian service in 1700.

North War

Under the command of the Duke, de Croix participated in the battle near Narva. In 1701, after a campaign against Kokenhusen and Riga, Field Marshal Sheremetev promoted Lassi to captain and appointed him commander of a grenadier company. In 1702 he participated with her in the case near Hummelshof; in 1703 he was appointed commander of the "noble company", was with her in the Livonian campaigns of this year, and in 1704 - during the siege and storming of Dorpat. In 1705 he was transferred as a major to the regiment of Count Sheremetev and participated in the Grodno operation. In 1706, by personal decree of Peter I, he was appointed lieutenant colonel in the newly recruited Kulikov regiment (later the 1st Infantry Nevsky), of which Lassi would become "eternal boss".

For the capture of Old Bykhov in 1708 he was promoted to colonel. Commanding the Siberian Infantry Regiment, he was dangerously wounded in the head while crossing the Desna, but remained in service. After the occupation of Romen, the tsar appointed Lassi “commandant with regiments and Cossacks, and these Romny [Lassi] fortified them with battles and palisades, and in other things ruled everything according to the instructions given by His Imperial Majesty; for which the service was granted to the grenadier regiment.

Commanding the latter, Lassi took part in the campaign near Reshetilovka and in the Battle of Poltava, where he was seriously wounded for the second time. In 1711, participating in the Prut campaign, he was promoted to foreman. In 1713, under the direct command of Peter I, he was in the battle near Friedrichstadt and in 1719 took part in the siege of Riga, and after the capture of Riga he was appointed commandant of the city. He also took an active part in the siege of Stettin.

In July 1719 he took part in an expedition to the coast of Sweden. Landing with a detachment near Stockholm, Lassi terribly devastated the surrounding area. The booty taken by the Russians from this expedition was estimated at a million thalers, and the devastation - at 12 million. The Russian attack on Sweden itself broke the last resistance; since that time, peace negotiations have been going on continuously, the Swedes have made almost all the concessions required of them. Lassi was promoted to lieutenant general in 1720; from 1723 to 1725 he was a member of the Military College.

War of the Polish Succession

In 1727, Lassi was sent with a corps of troops to the borders of Courland, in order to prevent Moritz of Saxony, who claimed the vacant throne, from establishing himself in the duchy, and at the same time to prevent the Poles from exerting too much influence there. Lassi acted energetically and rather dexterously and carried out the task entrusted to him. After that, Lassi was left in Livonia as a governor.

Lassi's talent as a commander was fully manifested with the outbreak of the War of the Polish Succession. In 1733 he was sent to head a detachment of 16,000 men sent to the Commonwealth to support Augustus III against Stanisław Leszczynski. In early August, Lassi crossed the border, occupied Kovno on 19 August, Grodno on August 20, and Prague on September 20; then Augustus was elected to the Polish throne. Leszczynski's expulsion from Poland illuminated Lassi as a subtle diplomat who was especially skillful in preparing such military undertakings that were associated with the difficulties of moving and food for the army in wild, sparsely populated areas.

The campaign of 1733-1734 was just such. Lassi handed his affairs over the administration of the province to Felkerzam and, leaving his family for permanent residence in the Riga governor's house, left for the troops. He was ordered to enter Poland on August 6. He spent the month of July on the final arrangement of the food supply, collecting horses, ammunition, etc. Lassi had to get out of a great difficulty: to pass through the country without arming the civilian population against Russia, without looting and robbing. Moreover, the Russian government increased this difficulty by ordering Lassi to pay for everything in Russian money; when the Poles refused to accept them, he ordered them to take everything by force, paying with Russian coins.

When the army of Lassi approached, the pans left their estates and fled to Warsaw. The peasantry remained, and the commander-in-chief managed to restrain order in the army so much that the population did not suffer from it. Soon after the start of the campaign, Polish nobles, supporters of Russia, began to arrive to him for support and patronage. This was opportunely, since the army was in a difficult position. Her movement was slow and heavy. The army was bound by mud, and the flooded rivers and forests were barely passable. Lassi overcame them and, conducting relations with the pro-Russian magnates, surely, although slowly, sparing the soldiers, moved towards Grodno.

Lassi approached Warsaw on 14 September, and on the 22nd, under the protection of Russian bayonets, the Diet was assembled in the Grochow tract, which elected Frederick-August, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland. 93 cannon shots from Russian guns announced this election to Warsaw, which was in the hands of Leshchinsky's supporters. Having transported troops at Sokhotin, Lassi forced the enemy to retreat to Krakow and on October 5 occupied the capital and its environs with his troops. However, discipline in the army was upset due to the fact that all the orders and enterprises of Lassi were delayed and spoiled by the intervention of Levenwolde, the Russian ambassador in Warsaw. In addition, the government sent an order dated October 30 to hurry with the end of the Polish campaign, to report everything more often and act in accordance with the rescripts sent to Lowenvolde.

Siege of Danzig

By the end of 1733, new confederations were formed in northern Poland, and on November 5, with a 12,000-strong army, Lassi was sent against the confederates and Leshchinsky. November 22, he stood at the village. Lovichi, waiting for money and ammunition. On January 30, 1734, he was 6 miles from Danzig, and on February 21 he reported to St. Petersburg about the blockade of the city and the disposition of troops

According to Lassi, Danzig, equipped with good artillery, 30,000 troops, defended by French engineers and a garrison, could not be stormed with such insignificant artillery and an army as he had at his disposal. Petersburg did not like his slowness and caution, where, moreover, they wanted to fuse Minich; the latter was instructed to hasten the capture of Danzig. At the military council, Lassi was against an immediate attack, but Munnich's opinion triumphed in favor of the assault. Even before him, however, Lassi succeeded in one important enterprise: he defeated the voivode, who was going to help Danzig, Jan Tarlo, a supporter of Leshchinsky, and prevented the French frigate from entering the mouth of the Vistula.

During the assault on Danzig, Lassi's enormous influence on the soldiers was revealed. In the assault column, all the officers were killed, and she stopped under the deadly fire of the enemy. Minich ordered a retreat, but no one obeyed him. Only the personal appearance of Lassie and his persuasions had an effect, and the soldiers retreated in order, of course, with huge losses. From the indemnity taken from Danzig, Lassi got quite a lot. From the money for the "bell ringing" he received 5,000 rubles, 2,083 chervonets, 2 thalers and 20 groszy.

March through Silesia

Polish affairs were not yet brought to an end when a new assignment fell to the lot of Lassie. In 1735, the French attacked Emperor Charles VI, and he, according to the agreement, demanded allied assistance from Russia; it expressed itself in sending an army of 20,000 under the command of Lassi. Again, he had to lead troops through sparsely populated or poor areas, protecting the soldiers from hunger and exhaustion, and the population from looting and violence. His situation was especially difficult when marching through Silesia: they suffered from a lack of everything and many soldiers deserted. However, in Bohemia there was no need for anything, and the flight ceased; the army was brought into such a form that it aroused the surprise and delight of the allies. On June 8, 1735, Lassi entered Bavaria, but he did not have to take part in hostilities: the appearance of the Russians in Germany forced the enemies of Austria to bow to peace.

Crimean campaign

Lassi was one of those chivalrous natures that still met in the first half of the 18th century. He had to sell his sword out of necessity, but faithfully and honestly served the one who paid. A warrior by nature and inclinations, he loved and knew his job and favorably differed from other Russian commanders from foreigners in that he always and everywhere pursued the interests of Russia, and not his own. He never showed any inclination to become famous for the vain shedding of Russian blood that was foreign to him and never ventured into such desperate deeds as Minich thundered.

Upon returning from Azov, the government entrusted Lassi with the collection of the Don Cossacks, Little Russian and Sloboda regiments, as well as the Bashkirs, for the campaign. Such an assignment ran counter to Lassie's personal intentions. It has been four years since he left his family, did not see his children, and even because of his constant travels, he received almost no letters. According to him, his children were "without science and charity." Wishing to see his people, Lassi asked to go on vacation to Riga for the whole winter. Instead, he received an order to discuss with Munnich a plan for a future campaign and, probably in the form of consolation, he was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. On April 1, 1737, the Commander-in-Chief was granted 37 hectares of land in Livonia to encourage faithful service.

On May 3, Lassi set out from Azov to the Crimea from the side of the Rotten Sea, from where he was not expected at all and, having crossed it, invaded the peninsula, devastating everything on the way and moving towards Karasubazar. Near this town, he defeated the khan's army in two battles on June 12 and 14, but could not remain in the country due to a lack of provisions, and especially horse fodder. Lassi would have held out even longer in the Crimea and would have achieved greater success if help from Little Russia from I.F. Baryatinsky had arrived in time for him. Seeing no timely support, Lassi retreated to Milky Waters.

Corps Lassi in 1738-39.

Having traveled to St. Petersburg to discuss and coordinate the actions of the Russian and Austrian armies (November 1737), Lassi returned to the south and began to prepare for a new spring campaign. His regular army was reinforced by Cossack and Kalmyk regiments, and again complaints from Lassi about the lack of money, recruits, horses, ammunition, about the lack of carts, dissolutions, cabbies, horse harness, artillery supplies, etc. Having settled disagreements among the chiefs of the Don army and prepared as far as possible, Lassi moved to Perekop. On June 26, 1738, he crossed the dry Sivash, leaving the convoy under the protection of a decent team. The 40 thousandth Turkish-Tatar army retreated behind the rampart, at the end of which was the Chivash-Kale fortress. Lassie reined her in. Heavy rain prevented the start of decisive action.

Lack of supplies and drought forced him to retreat to the Donets; the failure affected Lassi so strongly that he sent a letter of resignation to the empress, but in St. Petersburg they were pleased with him. The Empress thanked him for his service and wished it to continue. Such a supreme approbation touched him unspeakably, and in a response letter of thanks he promised to serve zealously until the end of his life. The following year, the Dnieper flotilla and the Zaporizhian Cossacks were subordinated to him. In April 1739, a new campaign was supposed to begin. Lassi was extremely dissatisfied with her preparation. The conclusion of the Belgrade peace made this campaign redundant. Regular troops, under the command of Lassi, were moved to Moscow in view of the possibility of war with the Swedes.

War with the Swedes

19th century

A. A. Prozorovsky (1807) I. V. Gudovich (1807) M. I. Kutuzov (1812) M. B. Barclay de Tolly (1814) A. W. Wellington (1818) P. H. Wittgenstein (1826) F. W. Osten-Saken (1826) I. I. Dibich-Zabalkansky (1829) I. F. Paskevich (1829) Archduke Johann of Austria (1837) J. Radetzky (1849) P. M. Volkonsky (1850)

On May 15, 1735, news was received in St. Petersburg that 70,000 Crimean Tatars marched through Russian territory on a campaign against Persia. That was casus belli enough. In 1730–1733 There were several Tatar attacks on Ukraine. The Tatars and Orlyk continued to disturb the Zaporozhye and Ukrainian Cossacks, sending letters and emissaries.

At this time, a significant part of the Russian army was in Poland. In the early 30s of the 18th century in Poland, the election of a new king traditionally escalated into a civil war. Supporters of Stanislav Leshchinsky managed to capture Warsaw. Then his opponents, supporters of the Saxon elector Augustus, turned to Russia for help.

Anna Ioannovna sent the army of Field Marshal Burchard Christoph Munnich (1683–1767) to Poland, who quickly brought order to the country. Augustus reigned in Warsaw, Leshchinsky fled from Poland and renounced his claims to the crown.

The French fleet, which came to the port of Danzig with a landing force to help Stanislav, went home without salty slurping.

On July 23, 1735, Minich received a letter from the Cabinet of Ministers stating that the Empress wished to warn the Turks, who intended to attack Russia next spring with all their forces. Minich is ordered to undertake the siege of Azov this autumn. To do this, he must go directly from Poland to the Don, and leave 40,000 troops in Poland, so that his absence could not bring any harm to affairs. The cabinet ministers demanded from Munnich the strictest secrecy, on which success depended especially. “The command of the Azov siege,” wrote Minich to the Empress, “I accept with all the greater joy that for a long time, as your Majesty knows, I have zealously desired the conquest of this fortress, and therefore I am only waiting for a high decree to immediately move there; at the same time, I hope that all the preparations for the siege, which were proposed several years ago and for which the quartermaster general Debrigny was sent to the Don, have already been made.

In August 1735 Minich crossed the Don and stopped in Novopavlovsk. Here, on August 29, he received the highest decree. He was asked to decide on the spot whether to start the siege of Azov that same autumn or postpone it until spring, and keep the fortress in a tight blockade in winter. Minich replied that he was choosing the latter, but, in order not to waste time, he would immediately go to the Ukrainian line (border fortifications) in the town of Kishenki to the local army in order to undertake a campaign against the Crimea with it, since the time was most favorable for this, because the Tatars had moved to the Kuban side for the Persian campaign. At this time, Minich got rid of an unpleasant person for him: General Weisbach, who commanded the Ukrainian army, died, on whom the Crimean expedition was entrusted. Weisbach considered himself older than the field marshal and therefore did not want to obey him. Complaining about Weisbach, Munnich wrote that General Lassi, who is also older than he, never made such claims.

In September 1735, while in Poltava, Minikh and his entire retinue fell ill with a local fever, but the disease did not prevent the field marshal from sending Lieutenant General Leontiev to the Crimea.

The fact is that the siege artillery had not yet arrived, and in general Minikh was not ready to besiege Azov. To create the appearance of activity, Minich decided to carry out sabotage against the Crimea.

Lieutenant General Leontiev set out on a campaign on October 1, with 39,795 people, of which the majority were "irregular troops", and 46 guns. Initially, he moved from the Aurélie River towards the Samara River. Because of the constant drought, the water in the steppe rivers was very low, and the army was freely transported through them.

On October 6, Leontiev stood on the Vorona River, and the next day he reached the Osakorovka River, where the Tatars burned the steppe in places in the summer, but young grass had already risen, and the army had no shortage of firewood, water and horse feed. Near the Horse Waters River, the Russians attacked the villages of the Nogai Tatars, killed more than a thousand people, captured more than 2,000 head of cattle, 95 horses, 47 camels. Minich wrote: “Moreover, our army acted with all cheerfulness, and there was no mercy for anyone.”

But Leontiev's successes were limited to this. On October 13, heavy rains began, the nights became cold. The troops began to get sick and the horses died. The sick had to be carried with them, since there were no cities in the steppes where it would be possible to arrange hospitals and leave people there. The army began to endure various hardships, and it had to make ten more crossings to the Crimean defensive lines.

On October 16, in the Gorkie Vody tract, Leontiev gathered a military council, at which he raised the question: should we go further or return? The answer was that it was necessary to return, because about three thousand horses had already fallen, the captured Tatars and the ambassador who had returned from the Crimea reported that there was no further forest and water, there were still ten days to go to Perekop, and at that time in such weather all the horses would die.

Leontiev decided to turn back. The troops returned to the Ukraine and by the end of November were placed in winter quarters. The shelves were in very poor condition. About 9 thousand people and the same number of horses were lost on the campaign. The vast majority of casualties were non-combat - illness, hunger, etc. Lieutenant-General Leontiev was brought to court-martial, but managed to justify himself. In principle, Leontiev was right, since the idea of ​​a trip to the Crimea in the autumn belonged to Minich himself, and Leontiev was only following orders.

Taught by bitter experience, when planning the campaign of 1736, Minikh first of all summoned the Tsaritsynka of the Zaporizhzhya kosh ataman Milashevich and other "noble Cossacks" to his headquarters. The field marshal asked them about the size of the troops. The Cossacks answered that their army arrives and departs daily and therefore it is impossible to show its true number in any way, they hope, however, to gather up to 7 thousand people, well-armed, but not all will be on horseback. When asked when, in their opinion, it is more convenient to go on a Crimean campaign, the Cossacks answered: the army should go on a campaign on April 10 from the Ore-li River, because at that time there is enough water in the steppe from recent snows and rains, the grass is everywhere in full growth and the enemy cannot be burned. There was a harvest in the Crimea this summer, which means that the army there will not need bread either. The Nogais will not resist the regular troops, and the Russian army will freely enter the Crimea, the Perekop fortifications will not be able to stop it.

Even before the war, a base was created for operations against Azov. The fortress of St. Anna was built 30 versts from Azov on the Turkish border. From the second half of 1735, the concentration of Russian troops and siege artillery began in this fortress. At the end of March 1736 Minich arrived at the fortress of St. Anna.

March 17 Minich with troops crossed the Don and moved to Azov. The Turks knew about the concentration of Russian troops on the border and the impending attack on Azov, but the beginning of the operation was “missed”. Major General Spareiter with 600 infantrymen and a detachment of Cossacks suddenly attacked and captured the towers for the Turks - two fortifications on both sides of the Don above Azov. The Russians did not lose a single man. Apparently, the Turks simply fled at the sight of the enemy.

Only after the capture of the watchtowers in Azov the alarm was raised. The Turks began firing cannons incessantly, notifying the surrounding inhabitants of the start of hostilities. It is curious that the Turkish and Tatar population did not hope for the walls of Azov and preferred to flee to the steppe.

On March 24, the same General Spareiter stormed Fort Buttercup near Azov. The Russians lost one officer, three soldiers killed and 12 wounded. 20 cast-iron and iron cannons were taken from the fort, the commander of the fort and 50 Janissaries were captured. Approximately the same number of Janissaries were killed.

The fortress of Azov was surrounded on all sides. On March 27, Minich left the besiegers, temporarily leaving General Levashov to command the Russian troops.

On March 25 and 27, and on April 17, the besieged undertook sorties, which were successfully repelled by the Russians. In these battles, the Don Cossacks under the command of Ataman Krasnoshchekov especially distinguished themselves.

On April 26, Count Pyotr Petrovich Lassi (1678–1751), who was promoted to field marshal in February of that year, arrived near Azov. Hurrying to arrive at the army, the count went almost light, taking with him a small Cossack convoy, which was a short distance from his mail coach. From the Ukrainian lines to Izyum, the road goes through the steppe for about 12 km. Here the convoy was attacked by a detachment of Tatars wandering around. All Cossacks were scattered or taken prisoner. The field marshal barely had time to ride away, and he was saved by the greed of the Tatars, who rushed to rob his carriage, otherwise the count would not have escaped capture.

On May 10, Rear Admiral P.P. Bredal went down the Don near Azov with fifteen galleys, two single-deck ships and a large number of other ships, carrying heavy artillery with him, which they immediately began to unload. On the same day, four infantry and two dragoon regiments arrived at the camp.

When the artillery was unloaded, Field Marshal Count Lassi ordered Bredal to stand with the fleet in such a way that he could bombard the city from the sea, cut off all communication to him and prevent help from that side. This command was carried out. Four bombarding ships bombarded the fortress around the clock.

The Turkish fleet under the command of Kapudan Pasha Gianum-Kodia came to the aid of Azov from the sea, but he could not approach the fortress in any way, because due to sand deposits and shallows at the mouth of the Don, the depth was no more than 1–1.2 meters. The position of the Russian fleet was such that Kapudan Pasha was not able to send help to Azov in boats or other flat-bottomed vessels and therefore was forced to withdraw without doing anything. The same shallowing of the mouth of the Don prevented the Russian fleet from acting stronger on the Sea of ​​Azov, where only large boats and small flat-bottomed vessels could pass.

From land, 46 siege guns fired at Azov. On May 8, a bomb hit a large Turkish gunpowder warehouse. The explosion in the fortress destroyed five mosques, more than 100 houses, and 300 people died.

The fortress of Azov was located in the ring of external fortifications - palisades. The palisades had wooden walls and a moat 3.5 meters deep filled with water.

On June 18, 1736, Lassi ordered Colonel Loman with 300 grenadiers, 700 musketeers and 600 Cossacks to take the palisade. After a powerful artillery preparation, the palisade was taken, and the attackers went to the city walls.

The Russians immediately in front of the walls of Azov began to build a "breach battery". But it did not come to an assault. On June 19, the Pasha of Azov offered Lassi to surrender the city.

Under the terms of the surrender, the entire Muslim population of Azov was released to Turkey. 43,463 men and 2,233 women and children left Azov. 221 Orthodox slaves were released in the city. As a trophy, the Russians got 137 copper and 46 iron cannons, as well as 11 copper and 4 iron mortars. An inspection of Azov showed that the Russian guns did not make a single breach in the walls, but the mortars worked well. According to Manstein, "the interior of the city was nothing but heaps of stone due to heavy bombardment."

The fortress of Azov was taken with negligible losses for the Russians - about 200 people were killed, 1500 were wounded, Lassi himself was among the lightly wounded.

After the surrender of the fortress, Field Marshal Lassi ordered to put it in order, and he himself stood nearby with the army until the beginning of August. General Levashov was appointed governor, and General Brinyi Sr. was appointed commandant of Azov. 4 thousand people were left for the garrison, and the city was supplied with everything necessary.

After all these orders, Field Marshal Lassi received an order from the court to go with his troops to the Crimea to connect with Munnich. Lassi could carry with him only 7 thousand people, with whom he went on a campaign.

Approaching the Kalmius River, the vanguard met three Cossacks, who explained that they belonged to the corps of General Spiegel, who was going to Bakhmut, but the Cossacks lost their way and are now looking for how to connect with him. The field marshal did not believe the Cossacks, ordered them to detain and keep going. The next day, other Cossacks were brought in, who repeated what they had said first and added that Field Marshal Munnich with his corps had set out from the Crimea and headed for the Ukraine. This news made Lassie turn back. In early October 1736, Lassi's corps arrived in Izyum.

On April 20, 1736, Munnich set out from Tsaritsynka with an army of about 54,000 men. The troops were divided into five columns. Major General Spiegel commanded the first column, which formed the vanguard. The Prince of Hesse-Homburg led the second column, Lieutenant General Izmailov the third, Lieutenant General Leontiev the fourth, and Major General Tarakanov the fifth.

The regiments were given a supply of bread for two months, and the officers were ordered to take with them at least the same amount. The field marshal would like to supply the army with a large supply of provisions, since it was enough in store for the winter, but there were not enough carts. Still, he did not dare to postpone the campaign, but instructed Major General Prince Trubetskoy to take care of delivering provisions to the army. But, alas, Prince Trubetskoy acted very slowly, it is quite possible that with malicious intent. The convoys sent by him were not even one-tenth of what was planned.

Minich's army included both Zaporozhye and Ukrainian (Hetman) Cossacks. About them, Minich wrote to the Empress: “In former times, the Hetman Cossacks could put up to 100,000 people in the field; in 1733 the number of employees was reduced to 30,000 and this year to 20,000, of which now 16,000 people are dressed up for the Crimean campaign; they were ordered to be at Tsaritsynka in full numbers at the beginning of April, but we have already traveled 300 miles from Tsaritsynka, and there are only 12,730 Cossacks of the Hetman in the army, and half of them go in carts, and are partly poorly populated, partly thin, most of them we are forced to carry with you, like mice that only eat bread in vain. On the contrary, the Cossacks from the same people, fugitives from the same Ukraine, have 2 or 3 good horses for each person, the people themselves are kind and cheerful, well-armed; with 3 or 4 thousand such people it would be possible to defeat the entire hetman's corps.

The army of Minikh went to the Crimea along the path of Leontiev, along the right bank of the Dnieper, at a distance of 5-50 km from the river.

On May 7, Russian troops saw the Tatars for the first time. There were about a hundred of them. The Cossacks rushed to meet them, but did not capture anyone. The next morning, a more significant enemy detachment approached the right wing of the army and withdrew without even contacting the Cossacks.

On May 9, the field marshal ordered five detachments to set out, each of which consisted of 400 dragoons and 500 Cossacks. Since the area was a vast plain, the detachments were ordered to move at intervals, keeping each other in mind, and join the detachment that was closer to the enemy. All units were commanded by General Spiegel.

They did not go even eight kilometers, when they met a detachment of 200 Nogai Tatars, who, noticing the Russians, immediately fled. The Cossacks overtook them, beat several of them, took two prisoners. Having the order to move as close as possible to the enemy, Spiegel did not have time to go another 8 km, as he had to quickly collect all the detachments. A corps of 20,000 men marched towards him. The general had just managed to form a square of dragoons and hasten the front rank, as the enemy surrounded him from all sides. Tatars with a boom attacked the Russians and bombarded them with arrows. The dragoons did not mix, firing slowly, only when they were sure that they would not miss. Such a rebuff had such an effect on the Tatars that they did not dare to approach the square closer than a hundred paces. Surrounding the detachment, they fired several shots from their rifles and fired many arrows.

Having learned about the danger to which General Spiegel was exposed, Minich, at the head of three thousand dragoons and two thousand Cossacks, went with General Leontiev to rescue him. He was followed by Colonel Devitz with 10 grenadier companies and a picket from the entire infantry. The Tatars, seeing them, hastily withdrew, leaving 200 dead in place. In this attack, which lasted over six hours, Spiegel lost 50 men killed and wounded. He himself and Colonel Weisbach were wounded by arrows.

The first battle greatly raised the morale of the Russian troops and, accordingly, caused fear among the Tatars of the regular troops. During the battle, the Crimean Khan with the entire horde of about 100 thousand horsemen stood 80 km away. Having learned about the outcome of the battle, the khan left for Perekop.

On May 18, the Russian army approached the seven-kilometer line of the Perekop fortifications. Munnich was unpleasantly surprised: the Cossacks told him that "the ramparts crumbled everywhere, so that in some places you can move on horseback and in carts." But in fact, the ditch turned out to be very deep, the slope was steep, like a stone wall, a new parapet was made along the entire rampart and towers were built.

Nevertheless, the field marshal decided to storm Perekop. But first, Minich wrote to the khan that he had been sent by the empress to punish the Tatars for their frequent raids on Ukraine and intended, in fulfillment of the order given to him, to bring the entire Crimea to ruin. But if the Khan and his subjects intend to place themselves under the patronage of Her Majesty the Empress, let the Russian garrison into Perekop and recognize Russian dominion over themselves, then he, the field marshal, will immediately enter into negotiations and stop hostile actions. The very first condition was that Minich demanded the surrender of Perekop.

In response to this letter, on May 20, the Khan instructed Murza to explain to Count Minich that the war had not been declared, and therefore he was surprised by this attack in his own state, that the Crimean Tatars did not forcibly invade Russia, they were probably Nogais, although the people patronized by the Crimean Tatars, but so unbridled that they could never cope with him. Russia could have limited itself to exacting from them and punished at its own discretion everyone whom it could only manage to capture, as it did last year. And that he, the khan himself, is so bound by the Treaty of Constantinople that he cannot decide to break. As for Perekop, he is not free over it, because the garrison, consisting of Turkish troops, will not agree to surrender. However, the khan asked to stop hostilities, offering to enter into negotiations, and ended with the announcement that if he was attacked, he would defend himself with all his might.

Minich realized that the only thing left to do against the Tatars was to use weapons. He released Murza with an answer to the khan that after his refusal of the mercy of the empress and the proposed measures of humility, he would see the devastation of the country and burning cities, that, knowing the treachery of the Tatars, he could not believe them when they offered negotiations. After the departure of Murza, the army was ordered to prepare for the offensive.

With the rising of the sun, the regiments stood up under the gun. The sick were left in the camp, and ten people from each company were left to guard the convoys. The army, taking the direction to the right, walked in six columns.

A thousand soldiers were ordered to conduct a demonstrative attack on the Perekop positions on the right flank. The Turks succumbed to Minich's trick and concentrated significant forces in this area.

The offensive of the main forces came as a surprise to the Turks. Luckily for the Russians, the ditch turned out to be dry. The soldiers, having gone down there, with the help of pikes and bayonets, helping each other, began to climb up. Meanwhile, the artillery did not cease to smash the parapet. Seeing that things were taking a serious turn, the Tatars did not wait for the Russians to appear at the top of the parapet and fled, abandoning their camp.

The Russians quickly crossed the ditch and parapet, but the towers of the Perekop line continued to fire. One of the towers was assaulted by the captain of the Petersburg Grenadier Regiment Christoph Manstein with 60 soldiers of his company. Despite the enemy fire, the grenadiers cut through the door to the tower with axes and broke into it. The captain offered to surrender to the enemy. The Turks agreed and began to quickly lay down their arms. Suddenly, one of the grenadiers hit the Janissary with a bayonet. Enraged by this act, the Turks again took up their sabers and began to defend themselves. They killed six grenadiers and wounded 16, including the captain. For this, all 160 Janissaries guarding the tower were stabbed to death. The garrisons of the other towers acted smarter: they all fled in time after the Tatars.

The assault on the Perekop fortifications cost the Russians one officer and 30 soldiers killed, 1 officer and 176 soldiers wounded.

The Perekop fortress itself held out until May 22, when the pasha agreed to surrender so that the Turks would be allowed to freely leave the fortress and go to the Crimean Khan. Initially, Minich wanted the pasha to surrender, but after his refusal and several more negotiations, he was given a promise that he would be escorted to the first seaside pier, from where he and his people could sail to Turkey.

They took the word from the pasha that he would not participate in the war against Russia for two years. However, the Russians violated the conditions. Upon the exit of the commandant with a garrison of 2554 people from the fortress, he was treated like a prisoner of war. His claims were answered that Porta and the khan, in contrast to the terms of the last treatise, detained 200 Russian merchants and therefore, until they were released, the pasha would not be released.

Up to 60 cannons were counted in the fortress and towers, including several with the Russian emblem, captured by the Turks during the unsuccessful campaign of Prince Golitsyn.

Minich ordered 800 soldiers of the Belozersk regiment to occupy the fortress, and appointed their colonel Devitz as the commandant of the fortress. In addition, the Maiden was given 600 Cossacks.

On May 25, Lieutenant General Leontyev, with 10,000 soldiers and 3,000 Cossacks, was sent to the Turkish fortress of Kinburn. May 29 Kinburn was captured without a fight. Leontiev approached Kinburn and sent his adjutant Sommer to the commandant with a demand to surrender. The commandant immediately entered into negotiations and surrendered the fortress on the condition that he was allowed to leave with a garrison consisting of two thousand Janissaries to Ochakov. Thus, the capture of the city of Kinburn did not cost Russia a single person, and in the course of this entire expedition, only 3 or 4 people were killed in a skirmish. 250 Russians were kept in captivity in the city, and they were released. 49 guns and 3,000 horses were also captured there.

The Cossacks took away from the enemy 30 thousand sheep and from 4 to 5 hundred cattle, which were hidden in the forest.

After the capture of Kinburn, General Leontiev calmly stood with the army in the camp under the fortress. He had no business, because neither the Turks nor the Tatars attempted to cross the Dnieper.

On May 25, Minich convened a military council - what to do next. In the opinion of all the generals, the army should have stood at Perekop until the very end of the campaign and sent separate detachments to the enemy region to devastate it. But Munnich, who dreamed of nothing more and nothing less than the conquest of the Crimea, did not agree with this opinion. He argued that the proposed actions would lead to nothing, and the very capture of Perekop was useless if benefits were not extracted from the victory. And it is too dangerous to send people in small parties inside the country, because if they go far, then it will be easy to beat them.

Then the generals began to offer Count Munnich to wait at least for the first convoys with supplies, since there was only 12 days of bread left for the army. To this Minich objected that the army, being on enemy soil, should try to be supplied with food at the expense of the Tatars: “... the purpose of the campaign, according to the thoughts of the court, is precisely to prevent these robbers from breathing and to ruin their land if they fail to establish themselves in it in a more solid way." And then the field marshal ordered the army to prepare for the march the next day.

On May 26, the army set out from the vicinity of Perekop, heading towards the center of Crimea. The Tatars surrounded the army, which was constantly marching in a square. They did not cease to disturb her, but only from a distance, and as soon as they approached the distance of a cannon shot, a few shots were enough to disperse them.

On May 29, the Tatars could have beaten the Russians badly if they had managed to take advantage of the opportunity. Heading along the road to Kozlov, the army approached the sea strait, called Balchik, through which it was necessary to cross, but there was no bridge.

The Cossacks found several small places, and the army forded them. At the same time, an interval of one and a half thousand steps was formed in the square. About two hundred Tatars rushed into the formed gap, and instead of grappling with the army, they began to plunder the convoy, and the Tatar army standing at a distance of a cannon shot only looked at them. The Russians managed to close in the meantime. Many Tatars were beaten, the rest managed to escape, clearing their way with sabers.

On May 30, the army stood still. Learning that the enemy was 12 versts away, in the evening Minich sent all the grenadiers of the army, 1500 dragoons and 200 Don Cossacks and, entrusting them to the authorities of Major General Hein, ordered them to go all night with all kinds of precautions and try to attack the enemy at dawn by surprise.

However, out of cowardice or stupidity, Major General Gein moved very slowly. The Don Cossacks, stepping forward, at dawn came to the Tatar camp, where almost everyone was still sleeping, and began to chop and chop everything that came to hand. An alarm was raised, the Tatars jumped on their horses and, seeing that they were dealing only with the Cossacks, in turn hit them and forced them to retreat with a great loss. They could have completely destroyed the Cossack detachment if, having seen the approaching detachment of General Gein, they themselves had not turned to flight, leaving their camp. In the Tatar camp, the Russians found a lot of fodder and several tents.

Early in the morning Munnich set out on a campaign. In the area abandoned by the enemy, they camped. Losses were almost equal on both sides - about 300 people. The enemy had several noble chiefs killed.

By order of Count Minich Gein, for failure to comply with these orders, he was arrested and brought before a military court, which sentenced him to deprivation of rank and nobility and to lifelong service as a private in the militia dragoons.

On June 5, the Russian army approached the city of Kozlov (modern Evpatoria). The next day, all the grenadiers of the army, the Don Cossacks and the Cossacks, under the command of General Magnus Biron (brother of the favorite) moved to the city. But it did not come to an assault. The gates of Kozlov (or, as the Tatars called him, Gezlev) turned out to be open. The city was set on fire by the enemy. The population fled towards Bakhchisaray, and the Turkish garrison on thirty ships was evacuated to Istanbul. Only 40 Armenian merchants remained in Kozlov.

Of the spoils of war in the city, 21 cannons and large supplies of lead were captured. The army stocked up on bread for 24 days. Cossacks in the city and its environs captured up to 10 thousand sheep. Soldiers looted a lot of copper and silver utensils, pearls, brocade and other goods in the city.

Minich thought in terms of the European war, where the long-term supply of the army at the expense of the conquered country was a normal phenomenon. The capture of Kozlov further strengthened Mi-nih in his opinion. He boastfully wrote to Anna Ioannovna: “Now the army has no shortage of anything and will be kept entirely on the enemy’s bed, which during military operations serves as a great adventage; according to the proverb, we managed to tie our horse to the enemy's manger.

On June 11, Minikh moved from Kozlov to Bakhchisaray. At the same time, he tried to misinform the Tatars by spreading a rumor that he was returning to Perekop. The Tatars believed, especially since it was quite consistent with their tactics - "raid - retreat." The Tatars, true to their traditions, began to carry out the scorched earth tactics, but not at all in the direction that Minich was going.

On June 12, the field marshal sent Lieutenant General Izmailov and Major General Leslie with two dragoon regiments, four infantry and several Cossacks to follow to the left of the army in order to dislodge the enemy from several villages. However, the Tatars fought back quite stubbornly, which could not have been expected. Finally they were forced to flee. The Russians took away a lot of cattle, which was assigned to the army and distributed to the soldiers. In this battle, the Russians lost one officer and two Cossacks, and wounded one major and twenty soldiers. They learned from the prisoners of war that the khan was waiting for the arrival of 6 to 7 thousand Turks, whom Kapudan Pasha would send to him from the fleet that entered the Kafsky harbor due to the fact that he could not do anything against the Russians near Azov.

On June 17, the army approached the gorges of the hills that protected the plain near Bakhchisaray. The enemy is located on the heights in a very advantageous position. Since the road along which it was necessary to go to Bakhchisaray was impassable, besides, this campaign had to be carried out secretly from the enemy, Minich decided to go there only with an elite army, and leave the carts and the sick behind, under the protection of the fourth part of the army, entrusting it to Major General Spiegel.

He spoke in the evening. The performance was made in such order and in such silence that the enemy did not hear how the Russians went around his camp, and was very surprised when at dawn he saw them near Bakhchisarai. A rather large detachment of Tatars with a certain number of Janissaries rushed furiously at the Don Cossacks and at the nearby Vladimir infantry regiment. The attack was so strong that the Cossacks leaned back, and the cannon was beaten off from the infantry regiment. When the field marshal advanced five other infantry regiments and several guns under the command of Major General Leslie, the enemy could not withstand the fire for long and fled, leaving the cannon he had captured.

The Tatars fled from Bakhchisaray. The city was almost completely burned out. According to some reports, it was set on fire by the soldiers of Minich, and according to others, by the Tatars themselves. In any case, the most beautiful Khan's palace was burned down by the Russians.

On June 19, the army withdrew from the outskirts of Bakhchisaray and camped on the banks of the Alma River, where a convoy joined it.

On June 23, the field marshal sent Lieutenant General Izmailov and Major General Magnus Biron with a regular army of 8 thousand people, 2 thousand Cossacks and 10 guns to attack the city of Akmecheti, or Sultan Saray, the seat of Kalgi Sultan and the noblest murzas. They found almost no one there, because the inhabitants had fled two days before. The supplies found were brought to the camp, and the city with its houses, which numbered up to 1800, mostly wooden, was burned. On the way back, the detachment was attacked by the enemy. He was treated as usual. The Russians killed 4 soldiers and 8 Cossacks and wounded several people.

Turkish troops concentrated in Cafe, and the main Tatar forces went to the mountains. Small cavalry detachments of the Tatars still surrounded the Russian army.

Minich gave the order to move to Kafu, but his army could no longer fulfill it. A third of the army was sick, and most of the rest were barely dragging their feet. In addition, unbearable heat has set in. Minich was forced to turn the army to Perekop. This aroused the fury of the Tatars, since, on the orders of the Khan, they made the entire supposed area of ​​​​the movement of the Russians to Kafu scorched earth.

On July 7, 1736, the Russian army reached Perekop. But Perekop's army had nothing to do. Stocks of food and fodder were dwindling every day. The Tatar cavalry darted around, constantly attacking the foragers, stealing horses and cattle.

Zaporozhian and Ukrainian Cossacks were sent home immediately. And the bulk of the troops moved to Ukraine on July 18. The fortifications of Perekop were demolished in several places, and the towers were blown up.

On August 23, Lieutenant General Leontiev, who left the destroyed Kinburn, joined Minikh.

Upon the arrival of the troops in the Ukraine, Minich reviewed the troops. It turned out that half of the regular troops were lost in the campaign. Moreover, most of the people died due to illness and physical fatigue.

Minich fought in the European way, for example, he marched during the hottest time of the day, setting out on a campaign 2-3 hours after sunrise, instead of doing it 3-4 hours before dawn. Manstein wrote that “the heat exhausted people to such an extent that many of them fell dead on the move. In this campaign, even several officers died of hunger and deprivation. In all the battles, no more than two thousand people were killed and taken prisoner, including the Cossacks.

Only the corps of Lieutenant General Leontiev survived intact, as he calmly stood near Kinburn after the capture of this fortress.

In total, the campaign of 1736 cost Russia about 30 thousand people. On this it was finished, and at the end of the year Munnich left for St. Petersburg to justify himself before the empress.

At the beginning of 1737, an agreement was signed in Vienna on the joint actions of the Austrians and Russians against the Turks.

The plan developed by Minikh provided for the main attack on Ochakov and a distraction on the Crimea.

But before moving on to the campaigns of Munnich and Lassi, it should be said about the campaign against the Kuban Tatars.

In November 1736, the Tatar horde Fetis-kuli attacked the horde of the Kalmyk Khan Dunduk-Ombo. Atamans Krasnoshchek and Efremov, with four thousand Donets, moved to the aid of Dunduk-Ombo. The Cossacks, together with 20 thousand Kalmyks, marched along the northern coast of the Kuban along the northern coast of the Kuban up to the Sea of ​​Azov. From December 1 to December 15, 1736, the entire steppe, occupied by the Tatar nomads, was devastated. Dunduk-Ombo occupied the main walled city of the Tatar Khan Bakhti Giray, Kopyl, and in two weeks ruined the entire region. Everything that the Cossacks could not take with them, they burned. The steppe, covered with dry grass, was set on fire, and the land that the Kalmyks and Cossacks had crossed turned black from the fires. Everything was looted and destroyed. Cossacks and Kalmyks captured ten thousand women and children, twenty thousand horses and a huge amount of cattle. The Tatars fled in horror over the Kuban. Many drowned while swimming in the cold winter river. The region was completely ruined, and this was done by an equestrian detachment in just 14 days! Minich's army of 70,000 in the winter of 1736–1737 was concentrated in the Kyiv region. In February, Minich himself arrived in Kyiv from St. Petersburg. At the beginning of April 1737, the army set off on a campaign. On June 30, the Russian army approached Ochakovo, and on July 3, Minich captured the city by storm.

While the army under the command of Field Marshal Munnich was on the march to Ochakov, Field Marshal Lassi with another army went to the Crimea. This army consisted of 13 dragoon regiments, 20 infantry and from 10 to 12 thousand Cossacks and Kalmyks, which in the end amounted to up to 40 thousand people.

On May 3, 1737, the Lassi army set out from Azov. The troops marched along the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov. The flotilla of Admiral Bredal went in parallel with the ground forces. Along the way, Lassi ordered several redoubts to be built to protect the communications of his army with Azov.

The Crimean Khan Fatih Giray learned in advance about Lassi's campaign and with 60 thousand horsemen stood south of Perekop, expecting Lassi to follow the path of Minich. Khan was extremely surprised to see that the Russians this time moved along the Arabat Spit, that is, along the path along which no one had ever entered the Crimea. Fatih Giray rejoiced that Allah had deprived the infidels of reason. Indeed, on a narrow spit, even a small detachment can stop the entire Russian army. Significant forces of the Tatars immediately went to the spit.

But Lassi did not think to enter the Crimea along the spit. Only a distracting detachment was sent to Arabat in two thousand men with four guns. The field marshal ordered to investigate the depth of the bay separating this spit from the rest of the Crimea. Where there was a place suitable for his intention, he ordered to put together rafts from all the empty barrels of the army and slingshot logs, and thus crossed the bay with infantry and baggage. Dragoons, Cossacks and Kalmyks set off ford, some for swimming.

Not only did the khan consider it a risky business for the field marshal to make his way along the spit to Arabat, even the generals of the Russian army were of the same opinion. All of them, with the exception of General Spiegel, came to Lassi and said that he was taking too much risk with the army, and that they could all die. The field marshal objected that all military enterprises are fraught with dangers, and the present, in his opinion, does not pose a greater risk than others. However, he asked them to give him advice on how best to proceed. They replied that they should return. Lassi objected: "When so, if gentlemen generals wish to return, then I will order them to give out their passports." Calling his secretary, Lassi told him to make passports and immediately hand them over to the generals. He ordered to send 200 dragoons to escort them to Ukraine, where they were supposed to wait for his return. Only three days later the generals were able to so soften the field marshal that he forgave them their impudent offer to retreat.

Khan, who intended to attack the Russians at the extreme end of the spit, against Arabat, was very surprised when the Russian army crossed the bay and was now heading straight towards him. Without waiting for the Russians, he retired to the mountains, pursued on the heels of the Cossacks and Kalmyks. The news of the retreat of the enemy forced the field marshal to turn towards the mountains in order to meet with the khan and, if it seemed convenient, give him a battle.

On July 13, the army camped 28 km from one of the best Crimean cities, Karasubazar. Here she was attacked by selected troops commanded personally by the khan. The first onslaught of the enemy was at first very strong, but an hour later the Tatars were repulsed and driven into the mountains by the Cossacks and Kalmyks, who pursued them for 16 km. The army remained in the former camp. However, the Cossacks and Kalmyks raided in the direction of Karasubazar to destroy the Tatar dwellings. They returned the same day with 600 prisoners, good booty and a large number of cattle.

On July 14, Lieutenant General Douglas, who commanded a vanguard of 6,000 men, advanced on the city of Karasubazar. The field marshal followed him with the army, leaving the sick in the camp with a cover of 5 thousand people under the command of Brigadier Kolokoltsev.

Directly in front of Karasubazar, Douglas met with a 15,000-strong Turkish detachment. Lassi sent two regiments of dragoons to help the vanguard. After an hour-long battle, the Turks fled.

The Russians entered the empty Karasubazar. The entire Tatar population of the city fled, leaving only a few Greek and Tatar families. The city, numbering up to 6,000 houses, of which half were stone, was, on the orders of Lassie, "plundered and reduced to ashes."

The field marshal ordered the troops to set up camp two kilometers from Karasubazar. There was nowhere to go further: mountains with narrow paths began ahead, and after 20-30 km - the Black Sea. Small detachments of Cossacks and Kalmyks were sent to the mountains. About a thousand villages they turned into ashes, about thirty thousand bulls and up to a hundred thousand rams became the prey of the victors.

On July 16, Lassi gathered a military council, at which it was decided to go back from the Crimea. Lassi motivated this by the fact that the plan of the operation, which consisted in punishing the Tatars for their raids on Russia, had been carried out. Lassie was clearly lying. To undertake such a campaign to burn down one seedy town was foolish to say the least. Kafa was located 50 km from Karasubazar, and Kerch was 130 km away. The capture of these cities would be of great political importance. Not to mention that the possession of Kerch would make the Sea of ​​Azov a Russian lake. Apparently, Lassi was thinking not about Turkish cities, but about how to get away faster.

On August 16, the Russian army began to retreat. On the same day, General Douglas on the Karasu River was attacked by significant forces of the Tatars. The case was decided by the Kalmyks, who hit the Tatars from the rear. After the battle, the Kalmyks disappeared. The field marshal was alarmed, believing that the Kalmyks, pursuing the Tatars, had gone too far into the mountains, that they were cut off from the army and, perhaps, all killed. Two days later, the Kalmyks returned to the camp, taking with them more than a thousand prisoners, including several Murzas, whom they captured during an unauthorized raid into the mountains as far as Bakhchisaray.

In the meantime, the Cossacks and Kalmyks drove around the neighborhood and burned the Tatar villages and villages. About a thousand villages were burned, as the population lived very densely in this part of the Crimea. The Cossacks and Kalmyks brought to the camp up to 30,000 oxen and over 100,000 rams. The enemy, for his part, disturbed the army during its campaign, captured foragers who dared to leave the outpost fence, and, moreover, recaptured several hundred convoy horses.

Upon the arrival of the army to the Shungar River, it was ordered to build a bridge. It was ready the next day, July 23, and on the same day part of the troops crossed. As soon as the troops crossed over, they managed to occupy the shore, when the Tatars approached. This time they were accompanied by several thousand Turkish soldiers who had come from Kafa. The attack of the Tatars and Turks was repulsed by artillery fire. More than a hundred enemy corpses were counted at the battlefield.

On July 25, Russian troops reached Genichi, thus leaving the Crimea the same way they entered. Then, for about a month, the troops rested near the Milk Waters River, where there were abundant pastures for horses.

Fatih Giray this time also tried to intercept the Russians at Perekop, where he led a 40,000th horde. Having learned about the departure of Lassi from the Crimea, the khan crossed Perekop. For several days, Fatih Giray stood in the steppe and pondered whether it was worth attacking the Russians ... Khan decided not to risk it and return to the Crimea. But this sound decision was not appreciated by the Turkish Sultan, who ordered the overthrow of Fatih Giray.

In June 1738, the Lassi army, concentrated in the region of the Berda River, moved along the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov to Perekop. The Tatars decided that Lassi would storm the Perekop positions. But by land, the field marshal sent a detachment of Cossacks and Kalmyks to Perekop. On June 26, the main forces of the Russians crossed the Sivash ford, taking advantage of the fact that the wind forced water from the Sivash into the Sea of ​​Azov. Only a few wagons in the rearguard sank, not keeping up with the rest, for soon after the army had crossed the sea again rushed in.

On June 27, Lassi approached the Perekop fortress from the rear and demanded surrender from its commandant. The two-bunch pasha arrogantly replied that he had been appointed commandant for the defense of the fortress, and not for its surrender. In response, the Russians began bombarding the fortress with cannons and mortars. The latter were especially successful, as it is said in the journal of military operations: "they visited the fortress with bombs." From these "visits" the garrison capitulated the next day. The Pasha and two thousand Janissaries came out of the fortress. After that, Lassi moved into the Crimea.

Major General Brinyi Jr. entered the fortress with two regiments of infantry and took command over it. He found here up to a hundred guns, mostly cast iron, a sufficient supply of gunpowder, but very little bread.

On July 9, the 20,000-strong Tatar cavalry suddenly attacked the detachments marching in the rearguard. The Tatars crushed the Cossacks and put the Azov Dragoon Regiment to flight. Lieutenant-General Spiegel arrived at the scene with four dragoon regiments and Don Cossacks to hold back the fugitives. Before they had time to recover, the enemy again struck at them with fury. The fight was long and hot. The field marshal ordered several infantry regiments, which had already arrived in the camp, to come to the rescue. The Tatars were forced to retire, leaving more than a thousand corpses on the battlefield. On the part of the Russians, from six hundred to seven hundred people were lost, including the Cossacks. General Spiegel was wounded by a saber blow to the face.

According to the instructions given to him, Count Lassi was to take possession of Kafa, the most fortified point in the Crimea, and the sea harbor in which the Turks kept part of their ships. However, the Tatars traditionally adhered to the scorched earth tactics, and the Russians had serious problems with food. In addition, the fleet with provisions under the command of Vice Admiral Bredal, coming from Azov, was met on the way by such a strong storm that one half of the ships crashed and the other half dispersed.

In the end, Lassie decided to return. Along the way, he ordered to blow up the fortifications of the Perekop fortress. Lassi remained in the Perekop area until the end of August, and then went to a winter apartment in Ukraine.

September 29, 1739 Russia and Turkey signed a peace treaty in Belgrade. According to his terms, Azov remained with Russia, but its fortifications had to be torn down. Its environs were supposed to remain empty and serve as a division between both empires, but Russia received the right to build a fortress in the Kuban. Taganrog could not be restored, and Russia could not have ships on the Black Sea, it could trade on it only through Turkish ships. Big and Small Kabarda remained free and had to separate both empires from each other.

Thus, Russia gained practically nothing from the war, spending huge amounts of money and losing over 100,000 people.

Notes:

Tumen - about 10 thousand horsemen

Miftakhov 3.3. A course of lectures on the history of the Tatar people (1225–1552). S. 113.

Orlyk is a clerk of the Zaporizhian Army, who fled to the Turks.

Sultan-saray - a palace with a sultan.

Crimea. History of joining the Russian Empire

Lassi, Petr Petrovich (1678-1751), - Earl, Field Marshal, a native of Ireland. In 1700 he transferred to the Russian service. He took part in the Northern War (1700 - 1721), the fighting of the Russian army in Poland (1733) on the side of King August III against Stanislav Leshchinsky. From 1723 to 1725 he was a member of the military collegium, later - the Riga governor-general. Promoted to field marshal general, he participated in the Turkish war of 1736-1739, almost always commanding a separate corps. In 1740, he was given the title of count, granted to him by Emperor Charles VI. In the Swedish war of 1741-43. was the commander-in-chief of the Russian army.

Count Peter Petrovich Lassi was born in Ireland on October 30, 1678 from noble parents of an ancient Surname. At first he was in the French service, participated under the banner of the glorious Field Marshal Catinat in the Savoy War, then fought against the Turks in the army of the Emperor and, finally, offered his services to Peter the Great, in 1700.

He showed the experiences of his courage in various battles against the Swedes; granted in 1705 by Majorom; seriously wounded at the Poltava battle; the first entered Riga (1710), already a Colonel; named Commandant of the local fortress; again he drew his sword (1711): he was in the Prut campaign; later pursued to Posen Grasinsky, an adherent of Charles XII; Produced in Major General (1712); served under the banner of Menshikov in Pomerania and Holstein; participated in the capture of the fortress of Teningen (1713), in the defeat of the Swedish General Count Steinbock, in the occupation of the city of Stetin. Following that, Lassi continued his service in the army of Count Sheremetev: he was in Poland, Pomerania and Mecklenburg; going, in 1719, on galleys to the Swedish shores, he caused terrible devastation in those places, forced, together with the General-Admiral Count Apraksin, Queen Ulrika Eleonora to agree to the terms of peace proposed to her by Peter the Great; granted for his military exploits by the Lieutenant-General (1720).

Soon a new war with Persia opened up: Lassi, due to poor health, then had a stay in a small village that belonged to him. His idleness continued until the accession to the Throne of Empress Catherine I: she granted Lassia a holder of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, on the very day of the establishment of this distinction, May 21, 1725; General-Anshef, Member of the Military Collegium (in August) and soon Commander-in-Chief of the army, located in St. Petersburg, Ingria, Novogorodsk province, Estland and Karelia; Riga General-Governor (1726).

When the young Peter II succeeded Catherine, Prince Menshikov, who managed the helm of the State, resumed his efforts to obtain the Duchy of Courland and, having failed in his enterprise through negotiations, set out to achieve the desired by force. It is curious that Duke Ferdinand was still alive, did not think about death, but about marriage, died ten years later, already having an heir, Prince Moritz of Saxony, elected (1726) at the Seimas by Courland and Semigalle state ranks! - Lassi entered Courland with three regiments of infantry and two cavalry (1727). He was instructed to expel Moritz, who was hiding in it, from the Duchy: Colonel Funk received an order from the Russian General to arrest the Prince on the island of Osmangen; but he managed to escape from our detachment in a fishing boat. Funk seized his retinue, which consisted of one hundred and six people, property and papers. Moritz turned to Lassius with a written proposal: annually ѳ to give Menshikov forty thousand efimkov, if he refuses his demand, which can involve the Russian Court with the Polish Court in a war, from which the silence of all Europe will be outraged; assistance in this matter and, in words, through the messenger, he even volunteered to double the amount offered by him to the Prince of Izhersky. Moritz's note was brought to Petersburg on September 9, on the very day when Menshikov, deprived of his ranks and distinctions, was expelled from the capital; but Lassi managed, however, to destroy the election of Moritz (26th).

Until now, the Commander of Peter the Great was only an executor of the orders of other Leaders, he did not have the opportunity to show in all the brilliance of the skill acquired by him in the military craft. Empress Anna Ioannovna entrusted him (1733) with command over a twenty-thousandth army, with which he moved to the banks of the Vistula against the adherents of Stanislav Leshchinsky. January 4 Lassi arrived at Thorn; this city submitted to the newly elected King Augustus III and let in the Russian garrison. Lassi was besieging Danzig when Count Munnich took over. Remaining under the command of the Field Marshal, he dispersed the ten-thousandth corps of Count Tarlo and Castelan Tersky, who hurried to help Stanislav to Danzig, contributed to the surrender of this city, exterminated the troops of Moshchinsky, took possession of Krakow, was awarded the Order of the Great Eagle by Augustus III (1734). ).

In 1735, Lassi marched to the Rhine with 12,000 men to join the army of the Prince of Savoy: he passed through Bohemia and the Upper Palatinate, arousing everywhere astonishment at the structure and discipline of the regiments he led, and earned the praise of the glorious Eugene. Our auxiliaries returned back from the banks of the Rhine, because of the then peace concluded between France and Austria: Emperor Charles VI granted Lassia his portrait, showered with diamonds and five thousand reds; The empress escorted the Field Marshal's baton to him, February 17, 1736, instructed to go to Azov.

Between the Izyum and the Ukrainian lines in the steppe, the Tatars attacked the Kozakovs who accompanied Lassius, dispersed them and partly took them prisoner; the Field Marshal himself barely managed to get away; his carriages were stopped and robbed. On May 20, Azov surrendered to him for surrender. On March 5, 1737, the Empress awarded the faithful and charitable services of Lassius with the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called.

He bezemertil his name with a glorious campaign in the Crimea. Khan with all his troops was located behind the Perekop line, which was significantly strengthened by him, but Lassi led the forty thousandth army along a new road. Agreeing in military operations with Rear-Admiral Bredal, who was supposed to assist him with a flotilla on the Black Sea, the Field Marshal moved from the Berda River with all his might to the Milky Waters, keeping as close as possible to the shores of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. On the 14th of June (1737), the army encamped along an arm of this sea which continues to Perekop, with the flotilla of Bredal within cannon-shot from itself. Lassi immediately ordered a bridge built; the whole army, having crossed it on June 18, continued to march along the Sea of ​​Azov along the spit leading to Arabat; four thousand Kalmyks joined her, under the leadership of Goldan-Narma, the son of Dunduk-Ombo. Surprised, the Khan hurried to Arabat to stop the Russians in this drowsy passage; but Lassi, having learned about his approach, ordered to die out the depth of the sea arm separating the spit from the Crimea, and finding a convenient place for crossing, he ordered to make rafts from empty barrels, logs and slingshots, found with the army. Thus, the hote crossed through the sleeve on rafts, and the cavalry swam.

Khan was not the only one who considered Lassius's intention to go along the spit to Arabat as bold. All the Generals, except Spiegel, came to his tent with the idea that he was putting the army to death. Lassi replied that military enterprises were usually associated with danger, and that although he did not see it here; however, he asks them for advice on how to proceed in this case? The generals advised to go back. “If you want,” the Field Marshal objected, “I will order you to provide you with views for leaving,” and ordered his Secretary to make them, appointing two hundred dragoons to accompany the Generals to Ukraine, so that they would wait there for his return. They could hardly soften Lassius in three days and ask permission to stay with him.

Khan, having learned that the Russian army entered not through the Arabat pass, at which he was waiting for her, but through the bay, and that she was going straight to him, went into the mountains, being disturbed by the Cossacks and Kalmyks. Then the Field Marshal turned to the right towards the mountains in order to overtake Khan. Twenty-six miles from Karasubazar, the Lord of Krymtsev attacked the Russian army with his best troops; but was driven away with loss. After this Lassi went to Karasubazar; detachments of the enemy, who tried to impede the march of the Russians, were scattered. On a hill near the city, the last day a fortified camp was opened, in which there were up to fifteen thousand Turks. Observing it, the Field Marshal ordered Lieutenant General Douglas, who was in charge of the vanguard, to attack the enemy and capture the city. Douglas carried out this task with perfect success: after a battle that lasted no more than an hour, the Turks took to flight; the city was plundered and burned. The field marshal camped two versts from him. Cossacks and Kalmyks were ordered to penetrate as far as possible into the mountains and burn the dwellings of the Tatars: about a thousand villages were turned into ashes; more than thirty thousand bulls and up to a hundred thousand rams became the prey of the conquerors. July 15, Lassi gathered a military council, in which it was decided to go back from the Crimea; for the plan of operations, which consisted in punishing the Tatars for their raids on Russia, was completed, and there were no further actions to be taken.

The following year (1738), Field Marshal Lassi covered himself with new glory: he entered the Crimea with an army of thirty-five thousand, without losing a single man. Khan stood at the Perekop line with forty thousand corps to protect it. On hot summer days, part of the Sea of ​​Azov dries up, and the western wind drives the water out of it so that you can reach the peninsula along the bottom. The field marshal took advantage of this wind and managed to cross the sea before high tide. Perekop surrendered on June 26 with a garrison of two thousand Janissaries. Up to a hundred cannons were found in it. Lassi went on to the Crimea, which turned out to be almost empty. Having blown up all the fortifications of the Perekopskon line, he returned in October to Ukraine.

In 1739, Lassi was elevated to the Count's dignity of the Russian Empire (in November); in 1740, on the occasion of the celebration of peace with the Ottoman Port, for courageous deeds he was awarded a sword, showered with diamonds and a pension of three thousand rubles; granted by the Livonian General-Governor. Soon the war broke out with Sweden (1741). The ruler Anna Leopoldovna entrusted Lassia with the main command over the army. Having defeated (August 23) the four thousandth Swedish detachment, under the command of Major General Wrangel, taking him in captivity and, together with him, 1200 people of the lower ranks, also capturing twoteen cannons from the enemy, Field Marshal took possession of the fortified city Wilmanstrandtom. The Russian army is located in winter quarters. In 1742 cities were conquered: Friedrichsgam, June 29; Borgo, the 30th; Nishlot, August 7th; Tavast, 16th; Helsingsfors surrendered, on the 24th, to surrender. Having learned here from a Finnish peasant that the Swedes intended to go to Abov, Lassi warned them along the forest road laid by Peter the Great, which he then cleared with his soldiers; entered (in September) the capital of the Principality of Finland; stop communication with the solid earth to the enemy; forced seventeen thousand Swedes to surrender as prisoners of war.

Military operations resumed in 1743: saying goodbye to Field Marshal, Empress Elisaveta Petrovna granted him a precious diamond ring, placed a golden cross with relics on him, hugged Lassius and wished him new successes. Opposite winds prevented the Russian squadron from arriving at Helsingsfors before June 2: the sea was still covered with ice floes in many places near the coast, and extreme cold increased the number of sick people in our troops. Meanwhile, General Keith took over the surface of the Swedish galleys. The enemy fleet, consisting of eighteen ships and galleys, was located at an advantageous position near Gangut to prevent Lassia from connecting with Keith. On the 6th, the Field Marshal moved towards Tvermind and surveyed the enemy. Two Swedish ships were placed on the path along which the Russian galleys were supposed to pass. On the 8th, we held a military council: it was decided to expect our fleet, led by Admiral Count Golovin. Soon the Swedes were placed among the galleys and military Russian ships: if Golovin had unconditionally carried out the order of the Field Marshal, without referring to the Regulations of Peter the Great, the enemy would have suffered a terrible defeat then. Lassi sent to him, on the 18th of June, fourteen small ships with troops; The Swedes raised their sails and prepared to prevent their connection with the ships; Golovin made a similar move and also entered the open sea; but both fleets did not dare to engage in battle, and after a few shots, ours sailed to the island of Hohland, near Reval, where it stood quietly until the conclusion of peace, and the Swedish withdrew to Karls-Krona. On June 23, the Field Marshal arrived at Suttonga: there he found the squadron of General Keita. The enemy galleys retired to Stockholm; ours approached the island of Degerby. On the 26th, a council of war was held, in which it was supposed to sail to Rudengam, the last island of the Finnish shkers, and at the first passing wind to go to the coast of Sweden and make a landing on them; On the 29th, the Field Marshal was about to set out to sea, when he received news from Abov from our Ministers that they had signed preliminary articles on peace with the Swedish Plenipotentiaries and a truce had been agreed. The Empress sent her own yacht to Count Lassi to enter his building in St. Petersburg, then granted him several villages, a sword and a snuffbox, showered with diamonds, and three thousand rubles of surplus salary. After military labors, he entered, again, into the office of the Governor-General of Livonia; died in Riga on April 19, 1751, at the seventy-fourth birthday.

Count Pyotr Petrovich Lassi, an experienced, fearless Commander, was distinguished by his speed on the battlefield; with an enlightened mind he united a kind heart, lofty feelings; enjoyed common love and respect; was decisive in military enterprises, cautious in peacetime; did not know court intrigues and therefore retained his rank among various coups d'état. Russia owes this glorious Commander to the Duke of Croy, defeated near Narva: he introduced Lassius to Peter the Great.

The abolition of the death penalty in the general procedure of legal proceedings in Russia is, for the first time, in the Highest Decree, which followed on August 2, 1743 in the name of Lassi. Empress Elisaveta Petrovna then ordered him: all criminals from the Swedes for murder and robbery should not be executed by natural death, but, after cutting off the right hand from the guilty, cut out the nostrils, exile him to eternal work. Count Franz Mauritian Lassi, son of Count Peter Petrovich, who was, at first, in our service as a Major General, who received the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky in 1743, then served with distinction in Austria and, being Field Marshal General, died in Vienna 1801, 77 years old.

Quoted from: Bantysh-Kamensky D. Biographies of Russian Generalissimos and Field Marshals. - St. Petersburg: Type. 3rd dep. Ministry of State Property, 1840

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Lassi, Petr Petrovich

Lassi, Petr Petrovich (1678-1751), - Earl, Field Marshal, a native of Ireland. In 1700 he transferred to the Russian service. He took part in the Northern War (1700 - 1721), the fighting of the Russian army in Poland (1733) on the side of King August III against Stanislav Leshchinsky. From 1723 to 1725 he was a member of the military collegium, later - the Riga governor-general. Promoted to field marshal general, he participated in the Turkish war of 1736-1739, almost always commanding a separate corps. In 1740, he was given the title of count, granted to him by Emperor Charles VI. In the Swedish war of 1741-43. was the commander-in-chief of the Russian army.

Count Peter Petrovich Lassi was born in Ireland on October 30, 1678 from noble parents of an ancient Surname. At first he was in the French service, participated under the banner of the glorious Field Marshal Catinat in the Savoy War, then fought against the Turks in the army of the Emperor and, finally, offered his services to Peter the Great, in 1700.

He showed the experiences of his courage in various battles against the Swedes; granted in 1705 by Majorom; seriously wounded at the Poltava battle; the first entered Riga (1710), already a Colonel; named Commandant of the local fortress; he again drew his sword (1711): he was in the Prut campaign; later pursued to Posen Grasinsky, an adherent of Charles XII; Produced in Major General (1712); served under the banner of Menshikov in Pomerania and Holstein; participated in the capture of the fortress of Teningen (1713), in the defeat of the Swedish General Count Steinbock, in the occupation of the city of Stetin. Following that, Lassi continued his service in the army of Count Sheremetev: he was in Poland, Pomerania and Mecklenburg; going, in 1719, on galleys to the Swedish shores, he caused terrible devastation in those places, forced, together with the General-Admiral Count Apraksin, Queen Ulrika Eleanor to agree to the terms of peace proposed to her by Peter the Great; granted for his military exploits by the Lieutenant-General (1720).

Soon a new war with Persia opened up: Lassi, due to poor health, then had a stay in a small village that belonged to him. His inaction continued until the accession to the Throne of Empress Catherine I: she granted Lassia a holder of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, on the very day of the establishment of this distinction, May 21, 1725; General-Anshef, Member of the Military Board (in August) and soon Commander-in-Chief of the army, located in St. Petersburg, Ingria, Novogorodsk province, Estonia and Karelia; Riga General-Governor (1726).

When the young Peter II succeeded Catherine, Prince Menshikov, who managed the helm of the State, resumed his efforts to obtain the Duchy of Courland and, having failed in his enterprise through negotiations, set out to achieve the desired by force. It is curious that Duke Ferdinand was still alive, did not think about death, but about marriage, died ten years later, already had an heir, Prince Moritz of Saxony, elected (1726) at the Seimas by Courland and Semigalle state ranks! - Lassi entered Courland with three infantry regiments and two cavalry (1727). He was instructed to expel Moritz, who was hiding in it, from the Duchy: Colonel Funk received an order from the Russian General to arrest the Prince on the island of Osmangen; but he managed to escape from our detachment in a fishing boat. Funk seized his retinue, consisting of one hundred and six people, property and papers. Moritz turned to Lassius with a written proposal: to give Menshikov annually forty thousand efimkov, if he refuses his demand, which could involve the Russian Court with the Polish Court in a war, from which the silence of all Europe would be outraged; assistance in this matter and, in words, through the messenger, he even volunteered to double the amount he offered to Prince Izhersky. Moritz's note was brought to Petersburg on September 9, on the very day when Menshikov, deprived of his ranks and distinctions, was expelled from the capital; but Lassi managed, however, to destroy the election of Moritz (26th).

Hitherto, the Commander of Peter the Great had been only an executor of the orders of other Leaders, had no chance to display in all the brilliance of the skill he had acquired in the military craft. Empress Anna Ioannovna entrusted him (1733) with command over a twenty-thousandth army, with which he moved to the banks of the Vistula against the adherents of Stanislav Leshchinsky. January 4 Lassi arrived at Thorn; this city submitted to the newly elected King Augustus III and let in the Russian garrison. Lassi was besieging Danzig when Count Munnich took over. Remaining under the command of the Field Marshal, he dispersed the ten thousandth corps of Count Tarlo and Castelan Tersky, who hurried to the aid of Stanislav to Danzig, contributed to the surrender of this city, exterminated the troops of Moshchinsky, captured Krakow, and was awarded the Order of the White Eagle by Augustus III (1734).

In 1735, Lassi marched to the Rhine with 12,000 men to join the army of the Prince of Savoy: he passed through Bohemia and the Upper Palatinate, arousing everywhere astonishment at the organization and discipline of the regiments led by him, and earned the praise of the glorious Eugene. Our auxiliaries returned back from the banks of the Rhine, because of the then peace concluded between France and Austria: Emperor Charles VI granted Lassia his portrait, showered with diamonds and five thousand reds; The empress escorted the Field Marshal's baton to him, February 17, 1736, instructed to go to Azov.

Between the Izyum and the Ukrainian lines in the steppe, the Tatars attacked the Kozakovs who accompanied Lassia, dispersed them and partly took them prisoner; the Field Marshal himself barely had time to gallop away; his carriages were stopped and robbed. On May 20, Azov surrendered to him for surrender. The Empress awarded the faithful and zealous services of Lassius with the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called on March 5, 1737.

He bezemertil his name with a glorious campaign in the Crimea. Khan with the whole army was located behind the Perekop line, which was significantly strengthened by him, but Lassi led the forty thousandth army along a new road. Agreeing in military operations with Rear-Admiral Bredal, who was supposed to assist him with a flotilla on the Black Sea, the Field Marshal moved from the Berda River with all his might to the Milky Waters, keeping as close as possible to the shores of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. On the 14th of June (1737), the army encamped along an arm of this sea which continues to Perekop, having Bredal's flotilla within cannon-shot from them. Lassi immediately ordered a bridge built; the whole army, having crossed it on June 18, continued its march along the Sea of ​​Azov along the spit leading to Arabat; four thousand Kalmyks joined her, under the leadership of Goldan-Narma, the son of Dunduk-Ombo. The surprised Khan hurried to Arabat to stop the Russians in this narrow passage; but Lassi, learning of his approach, ordered to measure the depth of the sea arm that separates the spit from the Crimea, and finding a convenient place for crossing, ordered to make rafts from empty barrels, logs and slingshots found with the army. Thus the infantry crossed the sleeve on rafts, and the cavalry by swimming.

Khan was not the only one who considered Lassius's intention to go along the spit to Arabat bold. All the Generals, except Spiegel, came to his tent with the idea that he was putting the army to death. Lassie replied that military enterprises were usually associated with danger, and that although he did not see it here; however, he asks them for advice on how to proceed in this case? The generals advised to go back. “If you want,” the Field Marshal objected, “I will order you to provide you with views for departure,” and ordered his Secretary to make them, appointing two hundred dragoons to accompany the Generals to Ukraine, so that they would wait there for his return. They could hardly soften Lassius in three days and ask permission to stay with him.

Khan, having learned that the Russian army entered not through the Arabat pass, at which he was waiting for her, but through the bay, and that she was going straight to him, went into the mountains, being disturbed by the Cossacks and Kalmyks. Then the Field Marshal turned to the right towards the mountains in order to overtake Khan. Twenty-six miles from Karasubazar, the Lord of Krymtsev attacked the Russian army with his best troops; but was driven away with loss. After this Lassi went to Karasubazar; detachments of the enemy, who tried to impede the march of the Russians, were scattered. On a hill near the city, the last fortified camp was opened, in which there were up to fifteen thousand Turks. Observing this, the Field Marshal ordered Lieutenant General Douglas, who was in charge of the vanguard, to attack the enemy and capture the city. Douglas carried out this task with perfect success: after a battle that lasted no more than an hour, the Turks took to flight; the city was plundered and burned. The field marshal camped two versts from him. Cossacks and Kalmyks were ordered to penetrate as far as possible into the mountains and burn the dwellings of the Tatars: about a thousand villages were turned into ashes; more than thirty thousand bulls and up to a hundred thousand rams became the prey of the conquerors. July 15, Lassi gathered a military council, in which it was decided to go back from the Crimea; for the plan of operations, which consisted in punishing the Tatars for their raids on Russia, was completed, and no further action was to be taken.

The next year (1738) Field Marshal Lassi covered himself with new glory: he entered the Crimea with an army of thirty-five thousand, without losing a single man. Khan stood at the Perekop line with forty thousand corps to protect it. On hot summer days, part of the Sea of ​​Azov dries up, and the western wind drives the water out of it so that you can reach the peninsula along the bottom. The field marshal took advantage of this wind and managed to cross the sea before high tide. Perekop surrendered on June 26 with a garrison of two thousand Janissaries. Up to a hundred cannons were found in it. Lassi went on to the Crimea, which turned out to be almost empty. Having blown up all the fortifications of the Perekopskon line, he returned in the month of October to Ukraine.

In 1739, Lassi was elevated to the Count's dignity of the Russian Empire (in November); in 1740, on the occasion of the celebration of peace with the Ottoman Port, for courageous deeds he was awarded a sword, showered with diamonds and a pension of three thousand rubles; granted by the Livonian General-Governor. Soon the war broke out with Sweden (1741). The ruler Anna Leopoldovna entrusted Lassia with the main command over the army. Having defeated (August 23) the four thousandth Swedish detachment, under the command of Major General Wrangel, taking him as a prisoner and, together with him, 1200 people of the lower ranks, also capturing twelve guns from the enemy, the Field Marshal captured the fortified city of Wilmanstrand. The Russian army is located in winter quarters. In 1742 cities were conquered: Friedrichsgam, June 29; Borgo, the 30th; Nishlot, August 7th; Tavast, 16th; Helsingsfors surrendered, on the 24th, to surrender. Having learned here from a Finnish peasant that the Swedes intended to go to Abov, Lassi warned them by a forest road laid by Peter the Great, which he then cleared with his soldiers; entered (in September) the capital of the Principality of Finland; stop the enemy from communicating with solid land; forced seventeen thousand Swedes to surrender as prisoners of war.

Hostilities resumed in 1743: saying goodbye to the Field Marshal, Empress Elisaveta Petrovna granted him a precious diamond ring, placed a golden cross with relics on him, hugged Lassius and wished him new successes. Opposite winds prevented the Russian squadron from arriving at Helsingsfors before June 2: the sea was still covered with ice floes in many places near the coast, and extreme cold increased the number of sick people in our troops. In the meantime, General Keith took over the surface of the Swedish galleys. The enemy fleet, consisting of eighteen ships and galleys, positioned itself in a favorable position near Gangut to prevent Lassius from connecting with Keith. On the 6th, the Field Marshal moved towards Tvermind and surveyed the enemy. Two Swedish ships were placed on the path along which the Russian galleys were supposed to pass. On the 8th, we held a military council: it was decided to expect our fleet, led by Admiral Count Golovin. Soon the Swedes were placed among the galleys and military Russian ships: if Golovin had unconditionally carried out the order of the Field Marshal, without referring to the Regulations of Peter the Great, the enemy would then have suffered a terrible defeat. Lassi sent to him, on the 18th of June, fourteen small ships with troops; The Swedes raised their sails and prepared to prevent their connection with the ships; Golovin made a similar move and also entered the open sea; but both fleets did not dare to engage in battle, and after a few shots, ours sailed to the island of Hohland, near Revel, where it stood quietly until the conclusion of peace, and the Swedish retired to Karls-Krona. On June 23, the Field Marshal arrived at Suttonga: there he found the squadron of General Keita. The enemy galleys retired to Stockholm; ours approached the island of Degerby. On the 26th, a military council was held, in which it was supposed to sail to Rudengam, the last island from the Finnish shkers, and at the first fair wind to go to the coast of Sweden and make a landing on them; On the 29th, the Field Marshal intended to set out to sea, when he received news from Abov from our Ministers that they had signed preliminary articles on peace with the Swedish Plenipotentiaries and a truce had been agreed. The Empress sent her own yacht to Count Lassi for his entry into St. Petersburg, then granted him several villages, a sword and a snuffbox, showered with diamonds, and three thousand rubles of surplus salary. After military labors, he entered, again, into the office of the Governor-General of Livonia; died in Riga on April 19, 1751, at the seventy-fourth birthday.

Count Pyotr Petrovich Lassi, an experienced, fearless General, was distinguished by his speed on the battlefield; with an enlightened mind he united a kind heart, lofty feelings; enjoyed common love and respect; was resolute in military enterprises, cautious in peacetime; did not know court intrigues and therefore retained his rank among various coups d'état. Russia owes this glorious Commander to the Duke of Croy, defeated near Narva: he introduced Lassius to Peter the Great.

The abolition of the death penalty in the general procedure of legal proceedings in Russia is, for the first time, in the Supreme Decree, which followed on August 2, 1743 in the name of Lassi. Empress Elisaveta Petrovna then ordered him: all criminals from the Swedes for murder and robbery should not be executed by natural death, but, after cutting off the right hand of the guilty, cut out his nostrils, exile him to eternal work. Count Franz Mauritian Lassi, son of Count Peter Petrovich, who was, at first, in our service as a Major General, who received the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky in 1743, then served with honors in Austria and, being Field Marshal General, died in Vienna in 1801 y., at 77 from birth.

Quoted from: Bantysh-Kamensky D. Biographies of Russian Generalissimos and Field Marshals. - St. Petersburg: Type. 3rd dep. Ministry of State Property, 1840 Tags:

Lassi Petr Petrovich

Battles and victories

An Irishman, born Pierce Edmond de Lacey - one of the most successful generals of Russia in the 18th century, Russian Field Marshal General (1736), Count (1740).

He gave 50 years to the Russian army and, dying, could say that his whole life was given "for the needs of the military" of his second homeland.

Descended from the ancient Norman family of Lassi, who settled in Ireland from ancient times, fought for the French, Austrians, and English, and in 1700 was accepted into the Russian service. Under the command of the Duke de Croa, Lassi took part in the Battle of Narva. In 1703, Lassi was appointed commander of the so-called noble company, with which he participated in hostilities in Livonia. In 1705 he was transferred as a major to the regiment of Count Sheremetev and participated in the Grodno operation. In 1706, by personal decree of Peter I, he was appointed lieutenant colonel in the newly elected Kulikov regiment (later the 1st Infantry Nevsky).

Lassi's career in Russia began with a brutal defeat near Narva.

Beginning in 1708, he was already a colonel, commander of the Siberian regiment. In the battle near Pirogov he was seriously wounded, but did not leave the line. He was seriously wounded again in the Battle of Poltava, but, despite this, he led a regiment as part of the army of B.P. Sheremetev to Riga. He was the first to enter the city and became the first Russian commandant here.

And in the future, the biography of Lassi is densely saturated with military affairs.

“In general, throughout his life, in his own words, he was everywhere in military needs, namely: in 31 campaigns, in general battles, 15 actions and 18 sieges and during the capture of fortresses, where there were many wounded”

Lassi served honestly, regularly and bravely. Then, as a participant in the Prut campaign, he was promoted to brigadier, and in 1712, for the successful procurement of food supplies for the troops in Poznan, to major general. In 1713, under the direct command of Peter I, he participated in the battle near Friedrichstadt, and then in the siege and capture of Stettin.

Later, Peter I used the units entrusted to Lassi as a prototype of an amphibious assault. In 1716, the Astrakhan regiment and two regiments of the guards under the command of Pyotr Petrovich Lassi made a galley transition to Wismar, where they landed and took part in the siege of the fortress. A similar transfer of troops was made near Copenhagen.

The victory of the Swedes over the Russians in the battle of Narva. Painted 19th century illustration

In July 1719, a sea expedition of the galley fleet headed by General-Admiral F. M. Apraksin was undertaken to the coast of Sweden. Two landing detachments, one of which was commanded by Apraksin, and the other by Lassi, defeated the military forces of the Swedes assembled against them, destroyed iron factories, weapons workshops, mills, and logging sites. Similar raids were practiced in 1720, even under the walls of Stockholm itself. The devastation carried out by the Russians on the east coast of Sweden forced Queen Ulrika Eleanor to renew peace negotiations. For his merits, courage and fearlessness, Lassi was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.

From 1723 to 1725 he was a member of the Military Collegium. After the death of Peter I in 1727, Lassi performed both military and diplomatic work: he was sent with a corps of troops to the borders of Courland in order to prevent Moritz of Saxony from establishing himself in the duchy and at the same time to prevent the Poles from exerting too much influence there. Lassi acted energetically and rather dexterously and carried out the task entrusted to him. From 1730 he was the governor-general of Riga.

Under Anna Ioannovna, Lassi received complete independence in actions on the battlefield and, as a result, showed his talents to the fullest. It was she who subsequently promoted the commander to field marshal general in 1736, thus marking his merits in the War of the Polish Succession (1733–1735). He showed himself to be a subtle diplomat, who was especially skillful in preparing such military enterprises that were associated with the difficulties of moving and supplying food to the army in wild, sparsely populated places.

P. P. Lassi. 18th century engraving

In the summer of 1733, he was ordered to enter Poland at the head of a 16,000-strong detachment to support August III against Stanislav Leshchinsky. He spent July on the final arrangement of the food supply, collecting horses, ammunition, etc. Lassi had to get out of a big difficulty: to pass through the country without arming the civilian population against Russia. Moreover, the Russian government increased this difficulty by ordering Lassi to pay for everything in Russian money; when the Poles refused to accept them, he ordered them to take everything by force, paying with Russian coins.

When Lassi's army approached, the Polish lords left their estates and fled to Warsaw. The peasantry remained, and the commander-in-chief managed to restrain order in the army so much that the population did not suffer from it. Soon after the start of the campaign, Polish nobles, supporters of Russia, began to arrive to him for support and patronage.

This was opportunely, since the army was in a difficult position. Her movement was slow and heavy. The army was bound by mud, and the flooded rivers and forests were barely passable. Lassi overcame them and, conducting relations with the pro-Russian magnates, steadily, although slowly, sparing the soldiers, moved towards Grodno. He reported all his actions to the Cabinet of Ministers. However, due to bad roads, bad weather, reports were often delayed. The Cabinet of Ministers considered it a way out of the situation to forward Lassi's reports through the ambassador to Poland, K. G. Levenvolde, ordering him to report to him "by the hour."

On September 14, Lassi approached Warsaw. On September 22, in the tract of Grochow, under the protection of Russian bayonets, the Sejm was assembled, which elected Friedrich-August, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland. 93 cannon shots from Russian guns announced this election to Warsaw. On September 24, Lassi reported to the Cabinet about the capture of the Warsaw suburb of Prague and the election of the king. Not all of Poland, however, recognized him, and above all Warsaw, which was in the hands of Leszczynski's supporters. Having crossed the troops at Sokhotin, Lassi forced the enemy to retreat to Krakow and on October 5 occupied the capital and its environs with his troops.

The enemy was crushed, but Lassie had no less trouble and worries. All his orders and enterprises were delayed and spoiled by the intervention of Levenwolde. The lower ranks especially suffered from this. The army was weakened and upset. In addition, the Cabinet sent a decree of October 30 to hasten with the end of the Polish campaign, more often to report everything and act in accordance with the rescripts sent to Lowenvolde.

Leshchinsky with a 20,000-strong army settled in Danzig, so the fighting in the winter - next spring moved to this fortress. Lassi, who surrendered the main command of B.-H. Minich, successfully provided the rear of the army, which, after a four-month siege, forced Danzig to capitulate. During the assault on Danzig, Lassi's enormous influence on the soldiers was revealed. In the assault column, all the officers were killed, and she stopped under the deadly fire of the enemy. Minich ordered a retreat, but no one obeyed him. Only the personal appearance of Lassi and his persuasion had an effect, and the soldiers retreated in order.

Siege of Danzig. 1734

“An experienced, fearless commander,” the historian D.N. Bantysh-Kamensky characterized Lassi, “he was distinguished by his speed on the battlefield, combined a kind heart, lofty feelings with an enlightened mind ...”

In 1735, Lassi at the head of the troops was sent to the Rhine to help the Austrian army of Prince Eugene of Savoy, who fought with the French. In view of the conclusion of peace, the Russians returned to winter quarters in Moravia by the end of the year. On the way from Vienna in February 1736, Pyotr Petrovich received a field marshal's baton through a courier, and with it the order of the empress to immediately move to Azov: the commander was needed in the theater of the Russian-Turkish war of 1735–1739. Anna Ioannovna sought to destroy the Prut Treaty, which was humiliating for Russia.

Lassi captured Azov on July 20, 1736, while the commander was wounded. The award was the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. But his main participation in the war fell on the next two years. Twice in 1737 and 1738. the troops entrusted to him successfully fought in the Crimea. And in both cases, the commander showed a penchant for non-standard tactics. Khan was waiting for him at Perekop, but Lassi took a detour along the Arabat Spit. The deep entry of the Russians into the rear terrified the Tatars, their army dispersed, and Lassi was able to occupy the entire peninsula.

But the lack of food and the threat of being locked up in the Crimea forced him to retreat to Northern Tavria.

Siege of Azov. 1736

In 1738, Lassi also used roundabout maneuvers, bringing troops into the Crimea through the Sivash and forcing the capitulation of the garrison of the Perekop fortress. But for the same reasons - supply and threat from the rear - the Russians could not hold the peninsula. Seeing the suffering of the troops in the Crimean campaigns, Pyotr Petrovich asked permission not to undertake them again until the army as a whole, including its rear structures, was ready for action in this theater.

In the Turkish theater of operations, the main figures at the head of the army were Lassi and Minich. The style of behavior of the commanders is strikingly different: Minich always tried to be in the public eye, received the first roles, and Lassi remained in the background. Nevertheless, the comparison of military skills has always come out in favor of Lassie. The merits of Peter Petrovich could not be silenced, and in 1740 he received the title of count, and at the end of hostilities he returned to the post of governor of Livonia.

However, already in July 1741, Sweden, refusing to recognize the imperial title of the infant Ivan Antonovich (Ivan VI), declared war on Russia. Field Marshal Lassi became the Russian commander in chief. Less than two weeks after the declaration of war, he utterly defeated the corps of General Wrangel near Wilmanstrand. On August 26, 1742, the field marshal cut off the retreat of the enemy army near Helsingfors, forcing it to capitulate.

Pasha Mustafa Aga hands the keys to Azov to Lassi. Fragment of a German engraving from 1740

The Swedish war owes much of its success to Lassi - his energy, diligence and concern for the army. Waging war, he showed himself to be a faithful and intelligent student of Peter the Great. By his discipline in the troops and the ability to get along with the population, he gained many well-wishers and supporters of Russia in Finland.

The war with Sweden ended Lassi's military activities, but he continued to be a prominent military figure, and he was turned to for advice when complicating external affairs. On July 27, he was appointed commander of the troops in Livonia.

Opinion of the military historian A. A. Kersnovsky about Lassi: “This is a noble soldier’s figure, an old honest and brave warrior, who always stood aside from court intrigues, lived by the interests of the army and the needs of his subordinates”

At the end of the war, the empress sent her own yacht for Lassi so that the honored commander could solemnly arrive from Finland to St. Petersburg, granted a sword and a snuffbox strewn with diamonds, and increased the size of the annual allowance. Elizaveta Petrovna was convinced of the absolute fidelity of Lassie. But immediately after the palace coup, as a result of which she ascended the throne, there were certain doubts whether the “foreigner” would support her.

Lithograph "Battle of Narva"

They say that when the field marshal was awakened in the middle of the night and demanded to answer which side he was on, which party he belonged to, Pyotr Petrovich showed an extraordinary mind and endurance. He gave a simple and clear, soldierly laconic and therefore safe answer: "To the current reigning one." And thus he retained his position.

According to General D. F. Maslovsky, “he was a permanent sentry on guard of the real needs of the orphaned Russian army, abandoned during the entire reign of Biron and Minich ... He gave fifty years of his life to this army and, dying, could say that his whole life was given "for the needs of the military" of his second homeland.

Surzhik D. V.,

Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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