Battle of the Valerik River
Encyclopedia
The Battle of the Valerik River on July 11, 1840 was a battle of the Russian conquest of the Caucasus
. It was fought about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southwest of the fortress of Groznaya (now Grozny
) between forces of the Imperial Russian Army
and North Caucasian mountaineers led by the naib (viceroy) Ahberdila Muhammad. It remains famous because of the poem "Valerik
" by Mikhail Lermontov
, a participant.
in the spring of 1840 had caused unrest which grew into open rebellion against the Russian authorities. The Caucasus resistance leader Imam Shamil
took this opportunity to appoint Ahberdila Muhammad as naib (governor) of Lesser Chechnya and call for a general uprising of the Nadterechny
Chechens, the tribes inhabiting Ingushetia
, the Galashevtsy, and the Arshtins
. The Russian authorities felt compelled to organize a military expedition against the rebels.
On July 6, the Galafeyev detachment set out from the Groznaya fortress and began destroying the fields and villages to the south and southwest of the fortress, as the inhabitants fled. The rebels did not resist directly, but engaged in constant harassing actions which afflicted the Russians and caused losses.
The detachment's line of march led toward the village of Achkhoy
, the road to which passed through the Chekhinsky Forest and crossed the Valerik River
. The rebels apparently anticipated the Russian movement and for three days fortified the banks of the Valerik with abatis
and debris. On July 11 the Galafeyev detachment decamped from the village of Gekhi and moved toward the Valerik.
|+Composition and size of the detachment of Lieutenant General A. Galafeyev
|-
! colspan = "2" style="background:#EEEEFF;" |Vanguard (Colonel Beloselsky-Belozersky)
|-
| colspan = "2"| 800 Don Cossacks*
2 horse guns
|-
! colspan = "2" style="background:#EEEEFF;" |Vanguard of the main forces (Colonel R. K. Freitag )
|-
| colspan = "2"| 3 battalions of the Kurinsky Jaeger Regiment,
2 companies of sappers (Captain Gernet)
100 Don Cossacks*
100 Mozdok Cossacks
4 guns
|-
! colspan = "2" style="background:#EEEEFF;" |Main force (Captain Grekulov)
|-
| colspan = "2"| 1 battalion of the Mingrelian Jaeger Regiment
4 guns
baggage train
|-
! colspan = "2" style="background:#EEEEFF;" |Reserve (Colonel A. E. Wrangell)
|-
| colspan = "2"| 2 battalions of HSH Prince of Warsaw Count Paskiewich Erivan Regiment
100 Don Cossacks*
4 guns
|-
|-
| Total strength the detachment:
| 2,000 infantry
1,400 cavalry
14 guns
|-
| colspan = "2"| * = 37th and 39th Regiments of the Don
|-
|}>
Soon a Russian detachment reached the Valerik. The river at this point intersects the road the Russians were using almost perpendicularly, and in normal conditions is easily fordable. The bank on the Russian side is an open beach, but the opposite bank is steep and wooded. On both sides of the road the rebels had cut down trees to create a clear field of fire about the length of a musket shot.
Approaching the river to within canister
range, the Russian gunners fired a volley
into the thicket on the opposite shore, but no reaction was seen.
The vanguard of the infantry battalions were preparing to cross the river and occupy the forest on both sides of the road, to facilitate the passage of the baggage train and other units. Parts of the main body were deployed in their support. At this point, rebels began to fire on the Russians from across the river.
The battalions of the Kurinsky Regiment, with combat engineers, rushed forward on both sides of the road and crossed the river, where on the opposite side was a rebel fortified blockhouse of logs, and engaged the enemy in a bayonet fight in the forest thicket. The rebels broke before the onslaught and started to retreat, but many of them, cut off from their own people, ran out of the woods near the river where they came under Russian artillery fire from the opposite bank, which drove them back into the woods.
Separate groups of rebels cut off from the main forces attempted to attack the convoy and the headquarters of General Galafeyev, but were everywhere repulsed. Skirmishes continued for some time in the forest near the abatis, which the rebels defended particularly tenaciously, but by six o'clock the battle began to subside and the engineers, withdrawn from the forest, began to assist the convoy in crossing over the Valerik.
29 Russian horses were killed and 42 injured.
The rebels left 150 dead on the battlefield. According to the reports of spies, Ahberdila Muhammad was shot in the leg. Lermontov stated in a letter that 600 bodies were left by the rebels.
Local residents said that the rebels had been sure that the Russians would not be able to cross the Valerik, so at Achkhoy and other nearby villages the residents did not leave until the Russians actually arrived. Here the Galafeyev detachment was met by troops under Major General Ivan Labyntsev who had been performing similar operations in Ingushetia. On July 14 the Galafeyev detachment returned to Groznaya.
After a series of similar operations in the late summer of autumn of 1840, the rebellion in Chechnya and Ingushetia was extinguished. The rebels, who did not want to accept this situation, were forced to leave the mountainous region of Dagestan
, and a strategic success against the Russian authorities was not obtained.
, a lieutenant in the Tenginsky Regiment, showed exemplary valor in the battle. The official battle report stated:
For this, Lermontov was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir
Fourth Class, but he never received the award as his name was removed from the final list of recipients by Czar Nicholas I
, who harbored a strong dislike for the contumacious poet.
Lermontov's poem "Valerik" was first published (with omissions) in 1843 in the anthology Dawn. Although the poem contains battle scenes both stirring and grisly (which correlate in great detail to the official action report), the poem ultimately views war as a senseless slaughter, and he and the fighters (on both sides) as "beasts" violating the beautiful world of his beloved pristine Caucasus
Lermontov also made several drawings depicting scenes of the battle.
In the poem, Lermontov names the Valerik as the River of Death (the Chechen name (Valargthe) does actually mean "river of the dead"):
and because of this, the term "Valerik" is still used occasionally in Russia as a metaphor for "place of slaughter".
Caucasian War
The Caucasian War of 1817–1864, also known as the Russian conquest of the Caucasus was an invasion of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire which ended with the annexation of the areas of the North Caucasus to Russia...
. It was fought about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southwest of the fortress of Groznaya (now Grozny
Grozny
Grozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989...
) between forces of the Imperial Russian Army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
and North Caucasian mountaineers led by the naib (viceroy) Ahberdila Muhammad. It remains famous because of the poem "Valerik
Valerik (poem)
"Valerik" is a war poem published in 1843 by the Russian Romantic writer Mikhail Lermontov.-The battle:The Battle of the Valerik River was fought on July 11, 1840, between the Imperial Russian Army and Chechen mountain tribesman, as part of the Russian conquest of the Caucasus.Mikhail Lermontov, a...
" by Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...
, a participant.
Situation in the eastern Caucasus on the eve of battle
An attempt to disarm the population of ChechnyaChechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
in the spring of 1840 had caused unrest which grew into open rebellion against the Russian authorities. The Caucasus resistance leader Imam Shamil
Imam Shamil
Imam Shamil also spelled Shamyl, Schamil, Schamyl or Shameel was an Avar political and religious leader of the Muslim tribes of the Northern Caucasus...
took this opportunity to appoint Ahberdila Muhammad as naib (governor) of Lesser Chechnya and call for a general uprising of the Nadterechny
Nadterechny District
Nadterechny District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the fifteen in the Chechen Republic, Russia. Its administrative center is the rural locality of Znamenskoye. District's population: 51,755 ; Population of Znamenskoye accounts for 18.6% of the district's population....
Chechens, the tribes inhabiting Ingushetia
Ingushetia
The Republic of Ingushetia is a federal subject of Russia , located in the North Caucasus region with its capital at Magas. In terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's federal subjects except for the two federal cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg...
, the Galashevtsy, and the Arshtins
Arshtins
The Arshtins were a group of Vainakh living in between the Ingush and Chechens, along the Sunzha's middle reaches and their tributaries. They were mostly known as Karabulaks, which they are called in Russian, from their Kumyk name. They also called themselves "Baloi"...
. The Russian authorities felt compelled to organize a military expedition against the rebels.
On July 6, the Galafeyev detachment set out from the Groznaya fortress and began destroying the fields and villages to the south and southwest of the fortress, as the inhabitants fled. The rebels did not resist directly, but engaged in constant harassing actions which afflicted the Russians and caused losses.
The detachment's line of march led toward the village of Achkhoy
Achkhoy-Martan
Achkhoy-Martan is a village and the administrative center of Achkhoy-Martanovsky District of the Chechen Republic, Russia. Population:...
, the road to which passed through the Chekhinsky Forest and crossed the Valerik River
Valerik River
Valerik is a little river in Chechnya, a tributary of the Sunzha. The river's lower stream becomes dry in summer.-Etymology:The name of the river means 'river of the dead' in Chechen. Possibly this river was a border between the Veinakhs and the Iranian peoples who lived in the steppe, and a place...
. The rebels apparently anticipated the Russian movement and for three days fortified the banks of the Valerik with abatis
Abatis
Abatis, abattis, or abbattis is a term in field fortification for an obstacle formed of the branches of trees laid in a row, with the sharpened tops directed outwards, towards the enemy. The trees are usually interlaced or tied with wire...
and debris. On July 11 the Galafeyev detachment decamped from the village of Gekhi and moved toward the Valerik.
The Russians
|-
! colspan = "2" style="background:#EEEEFF;" |Vanguard (Colonel Beloselsky-Belozersky)
|-
| colspan = "2"| 800 Don Cossacks*
2 horse guns
|-
! colspan = "2" style="background:#EEEEFF;" |Vanguard of the main forces (Colonel R. K. Freitag )
|-
| colspan = "2"| 3 battalions of the Kurinsky Jaeger Regiment,
2 companies of sappers (Captain Gernet)
100 Don Cossacks*
100 Mozdok Cossacks
4 guns
|-
! colspan = "2" style="background:#EEEEFF;" |Main force (Captain Grekulov)
|-
| colspan = "2"| 1 battalion of the Mingrelian Jaeger Regiment
4 guns
baggage train
|-
! colspan = "2" style="background:#EEEEFF;" |Reserve (Colonel A. E. Wrangell)
|-
| colspan = "2"| 2 battalions of HSH Prince of Warsaw Count Paskiewich Erivan Regiment
100 Don Cossacks*
4 guns
|-
|-
| Total strength the detachment:
| 2,000 infantry
1,400 cavalry
14 guns
|-
| colspan = "2"| * = 37th and 39th Regiments of the Don
|-
|}>
The resistance
Lermontov in a letter to Barbara Lopukhin and later in his poem "Valerik" evaluated the strength of the enemy at 6,000 to 7,000 fighters. Given that in the area of Lesser Chechnya under the leadership of Ahberdila Muhammad there were 5,700 families, and that an unprecedented effort was being made on the part of the rebels, and assuming about one fighter from each family, the number 6,000 does not seem too high.Course of the battle
Passing through the Chekhinsky Forest toward the Valerik, the Russian column stretched along a narrow forest road. The approaches to the river saw the first clash as the rebels fired on the column from the forest undergrowth. The Russian advance guard, however, quickly chased off the enemy and the column's battle order was restored.Soon a Russian detachment reached the Valerik. The river at this point intersects the road the Russians were using almost perpendicularly, and in normal conditions is easily fordable. The bank on the Russian side is an open beach, but the opposite bank is steep and wooded. On both sides of the road the rebels had cut down trees to create a clear field of fire about the length of a musket shot.
Approaching the river to within canister
Canister shot
Canister shot is a kind of anti-personnel ammunition used in cannons. It was similar to the naval grapeshot, but fired smaller and more numerous balls, which did not have to punch through the wooden hull of a ship...
range, the Russian gunners fired a volley
Reconnaissance by fire
Reconnaissance by fire is a tactic in which military forces may fire on likely enemy positions to provoke a reaction.-Historical use:...
into the thicket on the opposite shore, but no reaction was seen.
The vanguard of the infantry battalions were preparing to cross the river and occupy the forest on both sides of the road, to facilitate the passage of the baggage train and other units. Parts of the main body were deployed in their support. At this point, rebels began to fire on the Russians from across the river.
The battalions of the Kurinsky Regiment, with combat engineers, rushed forward on both sides of the road and crossed the river, where on the opposite side was a rebel fortified blockhouse of logs, and engaged the enemy in a bayonet fight in the forest thicket. The rebels broke before the onslaught and started to retreat, but many of them, cut off from their own people, ran out of the woods near the river where they came under Russian artillery fire from the opposite bank, which drove them back into the woods.
Separate groups of rebels cut off from the main forces attempted to attack the convoy and the headquarters of General Galafeyev, but were everywhere repulsed. Skirmishes continued for some time in the forest near the abatis, which the rebels defended particularly tenaciously, but by six o'clock the battle began to subside and the engineers, withdrawn from the forest, began to assist the convoy in crossing over the Valerik.
Casualties
According the action report of the Galafeyev detachment, the unit's losses were:- Killed: 1 officer, 65 lower ranks
- Wounded: 2 staff officers, 15 other officers, 198 lower ranks
- Shell-shocked: 4 officers, 46 lower ranks
- Missing: 1 officer, 7 lower ranks
29 Russian horses were killed and 42 injured.
The rebels left 150 dead on the battlefield. According to the reports of spies, Ahberdila Muhammad was shot in the leg. Lermontov stated in a letter that 600 bodies were left by the rebels.
Results and implications
After crossing the Valerik the Galafeyev detachment moved to Achkhoy, meeting no further serious resistance. Some minor clashes and skirmishes continued.Local residents said that the rebels had been sure that the Russians would not be able to cross the Valerik, so at Achkhoy and other nearby villages the residents did not leave until the Russians actually arrived. Here the Galafeyev detachment was met by troops under Major General Ivan Labyntsev who had been performing similar operations in Ingushetia. On July 14 the Galafeyev detachment returned to Groznaya.
After a series of similar operations in the late summer of autumn of 1840, the rebellion in Chechnya and Ingushetia was extinguished. The rebels, who did not want to accept this situation, were forced to leave the mountainous region of Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
, and a strategic success against the Russian authorities was not obtained.
Lermontov's role and poem
Mikhail LermontovMikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...
, a lieutenant in the Tenginsky Regiment, showed exemplary valor in the battle. The official battle report stated:
For this, Lermontov was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir
Order of St. Vladimir
The Cross of Saint Vladimir was an Imperial Russian Order established in 1782 by Empress Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of the Kievan Rus....
Fourth Class, but he never received the award as his name was removed from the final list of recipients by Czar Nicholas I
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
, who harbored a strong dislike for the contumacious poet.
Lermontov's poem "Valerik" was first published (with omissions) in 1843 in the anthology Dawn. Although the poem contains battle scenes both stirring and grisly (which correlate in great detail to the official action report), the poem ultimately views war as a senseless slaughter, and he and the fighters (on both sides) as "beasts" violating the beautiful world of his beloved pristine Caucasus
Lermontov also made several drawings depicting scenes of the battle.
In the poem, Lermontov names the Valerik as the River of Death (the Chechen name (Valargthe) does actually mean "river of the dead"):
and because of this, the term "Valerik" is still used occasionally in Russia as a metaphor for "place of slaughter".