Siege of Taganrog - Prelude

Prelude

In the spring of 1855, as the Crimean War dragged on into its third year, the British and the French decided to begin operations in the Sea of Azov. They reasoned that this would allow them to cut off the Crimea even further from Russia and prevent further supplies from reaching Russian forces there by sea via the seaports in the Taman. This required of them to occupy the Strait of Kerch, which was undertaken by a joint force of British and French soldiers and warships.

As British-French force preceded to take part in the developing Azov campaign, they began looking at Taganrog at the far, eastward end of the Sea of Azov as a potential target for invasion. Taganrog sits on a strip of land jutting out slightly into the Sea of Azov and, to the British and the French, an excellent stepping stone to Rostov-on-Don. If the two allies were to slow down Russian advances in the Caucasus, it would be by taking Rostov-on-Don, which would allow them to threaten the rear of the Russian front.

Plans were drawn up, and the British and the French prepared 16,000 ground troops and about forty small warships for the "Azov Campaign". Meanwhile, Taganrog's governor-general, Nikolay Adlerberg left his position the earlier year due to the Crimean War and was replaced by Yegor Tolstoy, an aging, but versatile general who had served in the Russian army previously against the Turks. In April 1854, Tolstoy assumed command at Taganrog, along with ataman Ivan Krasnov (who commanded the Don Cossacks in the region) and prepared his forces. At his command at the time of the siege, he had two regiments of Don Cossacks and a local garrison of some 630 soldiers. A unit of "home guards" were recruited from the local population, which totaled some 250 men. Taganrog lacked any modern fortifications and Tolstoy had no artillery to speak of.