The “Magnificent Age” - Catherine II TL
- Thread starter alexmilman
- Start date
It will be revealed to you in a due time and after the proper sacrifices. Nobody is predicting for free. Especially the past. ….😜As the ever holy god of this tl, what is your prediction
I've already said to stop offering yourself, though it pleases me that you have accepted your new brazilian identity already
Our conquest of India must be going smoothly
I already explained once that, for a reasonably modern deity like myself, a bribe is the only acceptable form of a sacrifice. With enough of them you may become eligible for short-/mid-/long- term predictions of the past. And even the blessings…
Plus its only reasonable that you should try to offer things the aimed deity doesnt already possess
Or wants to possess in greater amounts. It seems that the representatives of the Brazilian colonies have problems with figuring out what this may mean. Here is a hint.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
In that case no predictions until you find one and figure out how to use it. 😜
25. The war. #3. Year 1770. Part 1
25. The war. #3. Year 1770. Part 1
The Archipelago expedition sails.
Strictly speaking, this naval operation was a pure adventure based upon the overly optimistic reports about readiness of the Greeks and other Ottoman subjects to raise against their masters: the numbers of the potential rebels and their fighting qualities reported by Alexey Orlov from Italy were on the extremely optimistic side. Second adventurous aspect of the enterprise was condition of the Baltic fleet, both the ships and personnel. Between 1725 and 1764 a single frigate sailed to the Mediterranean many of its ships never left the Gulf of Finland.
The plan, as formulated by Alexey Orlov and approved by the St.Petersburg strategists, was support for the uprising of the Christian peoples of the Balkan Peninsula (primarily the Greeks of the Peloponnese and the Aegean islands) and the attack of the Ottoman Empire from the rear. During the fighting, it was planned to disrupt its maritime communications in the Mediterranean Sea, divert part of the enemy forces from the Danube and Crimean theaters of war, block the Dardanelles, capture its important seaside points and occupy the Balkan Peninsula. The expedition planned to break through the Dardanelles to Constantinople and force the Turks to surrender. Taking into an account the allocated resources, there were too many tasks to accomplish. The majority of the Council was skeptical about the expedition's project, but the Empress insisted on it - it was just a kind of a spectacular thing that she wanted. Alexey Orlov was appointed commander of the expedition as an general anshef (full general).
The expedition took place in favorable foreign policy conditions for Russia. Denmark controlled the Zund Straits and exist of the Russian fleet from the Baltic Sea depended upon its consent but Denmark was an ally so this was not a problem and its government even allow hiring of the Danish sailors. Britain also was OK with the expedition (the French being the Ottoman allies), allowing hirings and promising supplies and repairs in the British ports. Benevolent neutrality and assistance to the Russian fleet was also provided by the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, where Alexey Orlov lived for many months; in the main port of this state - in Livorno Russian ships were allowed to repair and resupply.
The expedition included 5 squadrons of the Baltic Fleet - 20 ships of the line, 6 frigates, 1 bomber ship, 26 auxiliary vessels, more than 8 thousand troops, the total composition of the expedition is more than 17 thousand people. In addition to them, 2 bomber ships and several frigates were purchased in England, as well as directly in Greece (or voluntarily joined the Russian fleet).
The 1st squadron (7 ships of the line, 1 cannon boat, 1 frigate and 9 auxiliary ships) under command of admiral G.A.Spiridov left Kronstadt on 18 (29) 1769.
The 2nd squadron (3 ships of the line, 2 frigates and 3 small ships) under command of rear admiral John Elphinstone left Kronstadt on 9 (20) October.
There was something of a ticking time bomb because, regardless difference of the ranks, there was no officially appointed naval head of the expedition and Elphinston, recently hired to the Russian service and speedily promoted to the rear admiral and squadron commander (so far, in the RN he got command of the 60-guns ship of the line only in 1767), got overly ambitious refusing to take commands from Spiridov. He was not a bad naval officer and clearly a brave one but too rash and and having extremely high opinion about himself and rather too low opinion about most of his colleagues.
Much more valuable “acquisition” was rear admiral Samuel Greig, commander of a battleship “Three Hierarchs” and Spiridov’s deputy.
The 3rd, 4th and 5th squadrons remained in Kronstadt for the whole 1769. The 3rd sailed out in the summer of 1770 and the last two even later.
Even getting out of the Baltic Sea turned to be a major adventure. Upon arrival in Copenhagen on August 30 (September 10), more than 300 people were sick on the ships, 54 people died. One of the battleships was damaged so seriously that it had to return to Revel and was replaced by another that just arrived from Archangelsk. One of the small ships was lost as Kattegat. By the time squadron arrived to Hull it had more than 700 sick and the ships required repairs of various seriousness. Spiridov left Greig with most of the squadron in Hull to fix the problems and left for Gibraltar with two ships of the line, frigate and a cannon boat. By the time he arrived there one of the ships of the line was in such a bad shape that it was sent to Portsmouth were found incapable for the later service. During the storm, Spiridov on “St. Eustace” separated from the rest of the ships and arrived in Gibraltar in early November alone. There he decided not to wait for the rest of the squadron, but to go to the then Allied English island of Minorca in Port Mahon. On October 26 (November 6), Greig sailed with the main part of the squadron from England and arrived without loss on November 12 (23) to Gibraltar, where he received news from Spiridov and headed to Minorca. By Christmas 1769, only 9 ships had gathered in Minorca: 4 ships of the line, frigate, 2 small ships and 2 transports. On 9 (20) January 1770 three ships had been sent to Livorno to pick up Orlov. The rest of the force sailed toward Greece, reached the shores of the Moray Peninsula and on February 17 (28) and landed troops in the bay of Itilona (Vittulo). The laggard ships (2 ships of the line and a transport) joined them in March.
Land campaign starts. It would be only fair to say that the members of Panin’s “party” proved to be right when they protested about Rumyantsev’ appointment arguing that he is “too skilled with his pen” and will always find an excuse for not marching ahead. For the court crowd of the “cabinet generals”, and first and foremost Catherine herself, the war was all about the glory and demonstration of a military might (see her letters to Golitsyn in previous chapter). Conditions of the troops, which were expected to deliver the glory was not a serious consideration, especially when everything was just fine on a paper. Cherishov was to busy playing a grand strategist to pay attention to the trifles like supply and logistics and the army commanders had to rely pretty much upon their own inventiveness.
Not being a “political general” like Golitsyn and Peter Panin, or a “cabinet general” as Chernyshov and thee rest of the Council, Rumyantsev, upon taking command of the 1st Army, concentrated upon putting things in a proper order and managed to get from Catherine an agreement not to interfere into conduct of his operations. He summarized the mistakes of his predecessor as follows: no one takes the city without first getting rid of the forces defending him. His main goal was to destroy the enemy's manpower, for this the 1st Army had to act offensively (to prevent the passage of the Turks across the Danube), the 2nd Army was entrusted with an offensive and defensive task (the possession of Benders and the defense of Little Russia), the 3rd Observatory Army was abolished and became a separate division in the 1st. His army still was not in a full size but this aspect of a war was not in his hands. “The army does not have the recruits required to staff the regiments, the supply is not delivered in a large number of things it needs. On my part, requirements have been made to the proper places, officers have been sent for receiving the goods, but nothing has been enough.”
Arriving in the 1st Army at the end of October 1769 , Rumyantsev placed its main forces on quarters in the area between Zbruch and Bug, 60 squadrons and 108 guns were arranged in a rectangle 70 versts long and 40 versts wide. This concentrated position allowed immediate combat preparation. Beyond the Dniester and the Prut, the strategic vanguard was moved to Moldova - 17,000 mostly cavalry under the name of the Moldavian Corps and under the command of General Stofeln. Shtofeln was entrusted with the administration of Moldova, which had just sworn citizenship to the Russian Empress.
The army was reorganized. Regiments, by 2 and 3, were combined into brigades, and brigades in divisions. Artillery management was decentralized and artillery companies are assigned to the divisions. In winter, maneuvers and exercises were arranged (special attention was paid to the speed of movements and cavalry charges). Rumyantsev also sent a report pointing out that the existing Russian cavalry had been created for the European war with its need for the heavy cavalry on the big expensive horses which are not very useful in the current war where the Russians are facing the light and fast enemy’s cavalry. Thus he advocated strengthening of the light cavalry for which plenty of horses were available within the empire.
Stofeln acted bravely and energetically. In November, he captured all of Moldova to Galati and most of Wallachia, capturing both rulers - enemies of Russia. Military operations in the principalities did not stop all winter. Taking advantage of the weakness and scatteredness of the Moldavian Corps, the Turks and Tatars attacked it in early January 1770, but were utterly defeated at Fokshani. Then Stofeln took Brailov, again defeated the Turks at Zhurzha and the Wallachs at Bucharest. All these operations had been accompanied by the massive destruction to make the Ottoman operations there difficult.
These operations had a highly demoralizing effect on the Turks and especially on the Tatars. However, the sultan showed great energy. Without sparing the costs, he assembled a new army, replaced the Crimean Khan Devlet, whose zeal began to cool down, and appointed Kaplan-Giray Khan, who was ordered to prepare for a campaign from Kaushan to Iasi to take away the principalities and crush the Moldavian Corps before the arrival of the main Russian forces.
The news of the Khan's preparations for the campaign made Rumyantsev hurry with the opening of the campaign. Aware of the difficulty of holding the principalities with small forces, he ordered Shtofeln to clear Wallachia and limit himself only to the defense of eastern Moldova, the region between Prut and Seret. Without waiting for expected reinforcements, Rumyantsev went on a campaign, and on May 12 his troops concentrated near Khotin. Under the arms he had (after discounting 5 thousand non-combats and 2 thousand sick) - 32 thousands consisting of 10 infantry and four cavalry brigades. The infantry is consolidated into three divisions - Olitsa, Plemyannikov and Bruce.
Notwithstanding a promise not to interfere into his operations, Catherine, true to herself, had been sending to Rumyantsev valuable advices on how to wage a war.
“Brailov castle does not seem to have become important anymore, having been surrounded by our troops and posts, so to speak.”
“Most of all, I'm concerned about the difficulties of setting magazines in the conquered lands.” with the following ideas of how to use the local carts and oxen…
Rumyantsev’s report about Stofeln’s operations enraged Catherine. “Mr. Stofeln’s exercises in burning city after city and villages by hundreds, I confess, made me very unhappy… Perhaps take it to Shtofeln: the extermination of all the places there will not cause him laurels, nor to us a profit, most if it is Christian dwellings…” However, she left the decision to Rumyantsev “ … Leaving, however, you to do nothing less than prudent caution, and your best martial art and knowledge will put on your mind, having a perfect trust to you that you will do everything to serve the benefit of the service and the deeds entrusted to you. It may be that according to my natural tendency to create more than to exterminate, I accept these unpleasant events too hotly; however, I considered it necessary so that you know my way of thinking.” Rumyantsev replied that he does not get any pleasure out of such events but tried to defend Stofeln, whom he highly valued, by pointing out that the European methods of war are not applicable to the war with the Ottomans. “Truly, a current war has the appearance of the same barbarism that was customary for our ancestors and all wild peoples, why it is difficult to observe measures of goodness against such an enemy, whose actions are one fierceness and inhumanity.” He explained that if the region is not destroyed, the Ottomans would use it as a base and loot the population, anyway, but now, according to the given orders, the people are being evacuated with all their belongings so that they are losing only the buildings.
Regarding the territories seemingly safely under Russian control, Catherine was asking if it is possible to tax the population thus at least somewhat offsetting the military expenses. The problem was in the fact that the local administration was one set by the Ottomans and, formally, could not be taxed. But in practice, the Russian officers had been assigned to oversee the local affairs, including the tax collection. Not that there was too much to collect because the territory was thoroughly looted by the Turks and Tatars during the previous campaign.
The plague raging in Moldova prompted Rumyantsev to stop in northern Bessarabia, but the critical situation of the Moldovan Corps forced him to go forward. A significant part of this corps and Stofeln himself died from the plague. Prince Repnin, who accepted the command, collected the remnants of the corps on the Prut at Ryabaya Mogila, where since May 20 he has been steadfastly repeling the attacks of the Tatar horde of Kaplan-Girey (72 thousand people). General Baur's mounted vanguard sent by Rumyantsev came into contact with Repnin on June 10.
“Oh, almighty generalissimo of all heavenly forces! If you do not come to us, your children in Christ, to help, at least do not help these Turkish dogs, and you will see that you will not have to repent of it!”
Prayer of general Johann von Sporck before the battle of Saint Gotthard
“Nothing is impossible for those who try.”
“I'm not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep. I'm afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.“
Alexander the Great
“A cautious commander is better than a reckless one."
Octavian Augustus
“Even for the most talented commander it is extremely difficult to defeat the twice as strong enemy."
“The main task of the commander should be to achieve the planned general battle and give it in such an environment and with such a balance of forces that would promise a decisive victory."
“Without courage, an outstanding commander is unthinkable... We consider it the first condition of a commander's career.“
Karl von Clausewitz
“There are six types of ill-fated armies: running, loose, sinking, collapsing, disorderly and defeated. These six are not from Heaven and Earth, but from the mistakes of the commander."
Sun Tzu
“The greatest commander is the one who makes the least mistakes."
Napoleon
“The smaller the army, the more brave soldiers it has.”
“Speed and onslaught are the soul of a real war.”
Suvorov
Prayer of general Johann von Sporck before the battle of Saint Gotthard
“Nothing is impossible for those who try.”
“I'm not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep. I'm afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.“
Alexander the Great
“A cautious commander is better than a reckless one."
Octavian Augustus
“Even for the most talented commander it is extremely difficult to defeat the twice as strong enemy."
“The main task of the commander should be to achieve the planned general battle and give it in such an environment and with such a balance of forces that would promise a decisive victory."
“Without courage, an outstanding commander is unthinkable... We consider it the first condition of a commander's career.“
Karl von Clausewitz
“There are six types of ill-fated armies: running, loose, sinking, collapsing, disorderly and defeated. These six are not from Heaven and Earth, but from the mistakes of the commander."
Sun Tzu
“The greatest commander is the one who makes the least mistakes."
Napoleon
“The smaller the army, the more brave soldiers it has.”
“Speed and onslaught are the soul of a real war.”
Suvorov
The Archipelago expedition sails.
Strictly speaking, this naval operation was a pure adventure based upon the overly optimistic reports about readiness of the Greeks and other Ottoman subjects to raise against their masters: the numbers of the potential rebels and their fighting qualities reported by Alexey Orlov from Italy were on the extremely optimistic side. Second adventurous aspect of the enterprise was condition of the Baltic fleet, both the ships and personnel. Between 1725 and 1764 a single frigate sailed to the Mediterranean many of its ships never left the Gulf of Finland.
The plan, as formulated by Alexey Orlov and approved by the St.Petersburg strategists, was support for the uprising of the Christian peoples of the Balkan Peninsula (primarily the Greeks of the Peloponnese and the Aegean islands) and the attack of the Ottoman Empire from the rear. During the fighting, it was planned to disrupt its maritime communications in the Mediterranean Sea, divert part of the enemy forces from the Danube and Crimean theaters of war, block the Dardanelles, capture its important seaside points and occupy the Balkan Peninsula. The expedition planned to break through the Dardanelles to Constantinople and force the Turks to surrender. Taking into an account the allocated resources, there were too many tasks to accomplish. The majority of the Council was skeptical about the expedition's project, but the Empress insisted on it - it was just a kind of a spectacular thing that she wanted. Alexey Orlov was appointed commander of the expedition as an general anshef (full general).
The expedition took place in favorable foreign policy conditions for Russia. Denmark controlled the Zund Straits and exist of the Russian fleet from the Baltic Sea depended upon its consent but Denmark was an ally so this was not a problem and its government even allow hiring of the Danish sailors. Britain also was OK with the expedition (the French being the Ottoman allies), allowing hirings and promising supplies and repairs in the British ports. Benevolent neutrality and assistance to the Russian fleet was also provided by the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, where Alexey Orlov lived for many months; in the main port of this state - in Livorno Russian ships were allowed to repair and resupply.
The expedition included 5 squadrons of the Baltic Fleet - 20 ships of the line, 6 frigates, 1 bomber ship, 26 auxiliary vessels, more than 8 thousand troops, the total composition of the expedition is more than 17 thousand people. In addition to them, 2 bomber ships and several frigates were purchased in England, as well as directly in Greece (or voluntarily joined the Russian fleet).
The 1st squadron (7 ships of the line, 1 cannon boat, 1 frigate and 9 auxiliary ships) under command of admiral G.A.Spiridov left Kronstadt on 18 (29) 1769.
The 2nd squadron (3 ships of the line, 2 frigates and 3 small ships) under command of rear admiral John Elphinstone left Kronstadt on 9 (20) October.
There was something of a ticking time bomb because, regardless difference of the ranks, there was no officially appointed naval head of the expedition and Elphinston, recently hired to the Russian service and speedily promoted to the rear admiral and squadron commander (so far, in the RN he got command of the 60-guns ship of the line only in 1767), got overly ambitious refusing to take commands from Spiridov. He was not a bad naval officer and clearly a brave one but too rash and and having extremely high opinion about himself and rather too low opinion about most of his colleagues.
Much more valuable “acquisition” was rear admiral Samuel Greig, commander of a battleship “Three Hierarchs” and Spiridov’s deputy.
The 3rd, 4th and 5th squadrons remained in Kronstadt for the whole 1769. The 3rd sailed out in the summer of 1770 and the last two even later.
Even getting out of the Baltic Sea turned to be a major adventure. Upon arrival in Copenhagen on August 30 (September 10), more than 300 people were sick on the ships, 54 people died. One of the battleships was damaged so seriously that it had to return to Revel and was replaced by another that just arrived from Archangelsk. One of the small ships was lost as Kattegat. By the time squadron arrived to Hull it had more than 700 sick and the ships required repairs of various seriousness. Spiridov left Greig with most of the squadron in Hull to fix the problems and left for Gibraltar with two ships of the line, frigate and a cannon boat. By the time he arrived there one of the ships of the line was in such a bad shape that it was sent to Portsmouth were found incapable for the later service. During the storm, Spiridov on “St. Eustace” separated from the rest of the ships and arrived in Gibraltar in early November alone. There he decided not to wait for the rest of the squadron, but to go to the then Allied English island of Minorca in Port Mahon. On October 26 (November 6), Greig sailed with the main part of the squadron from England and arrived without loss on November 12 (23) to Gibraltar, where he received news from Spiridov and headed to Minorca. By Christmas 1769, only 9 ships had gathered in Minorca: 4 ships of the line, frigate, 2 small ships and 2 transports. On 9 (20) January 1770 three ships had been sent to Livorno to pick up Orlov. The rest of the force sailed toward Greece, reached the shores of the Moray Peninsula and on February 17 (28) and landed troops in the bay of Itilona (Vittulo). The laggard ships (2 ships of the line and a transport) joined them in March.
Land campaign starts. It would be only fair to say that the members of Panin’s “party” proved to be right when they protested about Rumyantsev’ appointment arguing that he is “too skilled with his pen” and will always find an excuse for not marching ahead. For the court crowd of the “cabinet generals”, and first and foremost Catherine herself, the war was all about the glory and demonstration of a military might (see her letters to Golitsyn in previous chapter). Conditions of the troops, which were expected to deliver the glory was not a serious consideration, especially when everything was just fine on a paper. Cherishov was to busy playing a grand strategist to pay attention to the trifles like supply and logistics and the army commanders had to rely pretty much upon their own inventiveness.
Not being a “political general” like Golitsyn and Peter Panin, or a “cabinet general” as Chernyshov and thee rest of the Council, Rumyantsev, upon taking command of the 1st Army, concentrated upon putting things in a proper order and managed to get from Catherine an agreement not to interfere into conduct of his operations. He summarized the mistakes of his predecessor as follows: no one takes the city without first getting rid of the forces defending him. His main goal was to destroy the enemy's manpower, for this the 1st Army had to act offensively (to prevent the passage of the Turks across the Danube), the 2nd Army was entrusted with an offensive and defensive task (the possession of Benders and the defense of Little Russia), the 3rd Observatory Army was abolished and became a separate division in the 1st. His army still was not in a full size but this aspect of a war was not in his hands. “The army does not have the recruits required to staff the regiments, the supply is not delivered in a large number of things it needs. On my part, requirements have been made to the proper places, officers have been sent for receiving the goods, but nothing has been enough.”
Arriving in the 1st Army at the end of October 1769 , Rumyantsev placed its main forces on quarters in the area between Zbruch and Bug, 60 squadrons and 108 guns were arranged in a rectangle 70 versts long and 40 versts wide. This concentrated position allowed immediate combat preparation. Beyond the Dniester and the Prut, the strategic vanguard was moved to Moldova - 17,000 mostly cavalry under the name of the Moldavian Corps and under the command of General Stofeln. Shtofeln was entrusted with the administration of Moldova, which had just sworn citizenship to the Russian Empress.
The army was reorganized. Regiments, by 2 and 3, were combined into brigades, and brigades in divisions. Artillery management was decentralized and artillery companies are assigned to the divisions. In winter, maneuvers and exercises were arranged (special attention was paid to the speed of movements and cavalry charges). Rumyantsev also sent a report pointing out that the existing Russian cavalry had been created for the European war with its need for the heavy cavalry on the big expensive horses which are not very useful in the current war where the Russians are facing the light and fast enemy’s cavalry. Thus he advocated strengthening of the light cavalry for which plenty of horses were available within the empire.
Stofeln acted bravely and energetically. In November, he captured all of Moldova to Galati and most of Wallachia, capturing both rulers - enemies of Russia. Military operations in the principalities did not stop all winter. Taking advantage of the weakness and scatteredness of the Moldavian Corps, the Turks and Tatars attacked it in early January 1770, but were utterly defeated at Fokshani. Then Stofeln took Brailov, again defeated the Turks at Zhurzha and the Wallachs at Bucharest. All these operations had been accompanied by the massive destruction to make the Ottoman operations there difficult.
These operations had a highly demoralizing effect on the Turks and especially on the Tatars. However, the sultan showed great energy. Without sparing the costs, he assembled a new army, replaced the Crimean Khan Devlet, whose zeal began to cool down, and appointed Kaplan-Giray Khan, who was ordered to prepare for a campaign from Kaushan to Iasi to take away the principalities and crush the Moldavian Corps before the arrival of the main Russian forces.
The news of the Khan's preparations for the campaign made Rumyantsev hurry with the opening of the campaign. Aware of the difficulty of holding the principalities with small forces, he ordered Shtofeln to clear Wallachia and limit himself only to the defense of eastern Moldova, the region between Prut and Seret. Without waiting for expected reinforcements, Rumyantsev went on a campaign, and on May 12 his troops concentrated near Khotin. Under the arms he had (after discounting 5 thousand non-combats and 2 thousand sick) - 32 thousands consisting of 10 infantry and four cavalry brigades. The infantry is consolidated into three divisions - Olitsa, Plemyannikov and Bruce.
Notwithstanding a promise not to interfere into his operations, Catherine, true to herself, had been sending to Rumyantsev valuable advices on how to wage a war.
“Brailov castle does not seem to have become important anymore, having been surrounded by our troops and posts, so to speak.”
“Most of all, I'm concerned about the difficulties of setting magazines in the conquered lands.” with the following ideas of how to use the local carts and oxen…
Rumyantsev’s report about Stofeln’s operations enraged Catherine. “Mr. Stofeln’s exercises in burning city after city and villages by hundreds, I confess, made me very unhappy… Perhaps take it to Shtofeln: the extermination of all the places there will not cause him laurels, nor to us a profit, most if it is Christian dwellings…” However, she left the decision to Rumyantsev “ … Leaving, however, you to do nothing less than prudent caution, and your best martial art and knowledge will put on your mind, having a perfect trust to you that you will do everything to serve the benefit of the service and the deeds entrusted to you. It may be that according to my natural tendency to create more than to exterminate, I accept these unpleasant events too hotly; however, I considered it necessary so that you know my way of thinking.” Rumyantsev replied that he does not get any pleasure out of such events but tried to defend Stofeln, whom he highly valued, by pointing out that the European methods of war are not applicable to the war with the Ottomans. “Truly, a current war has the appearance of the same barbarism that was customary for our ancestors and all wild peoples, why it is difficult to observe measures of goodness against such an enemy, whose actions are one fierceness and inhumanity.” He explained that if the region is not destroyed, the Ottomans would use it as a base and loot the population, anyway, but now, according to the given orders, the people are being evacuated with all their belongings so that they are losing only the buildings.
Regarding the territories seemingly safely under Russian control, Catherine was asking if it is possible to tax the population thus at least somewhat offsetting the military expenses. The problem was in the fact that the local administration was one set by the Ottomans and, formally, could not be taxed. But in practice, the Russian officers had been assigned to oversee the local affairs, including the tax collection. Not that there was too much to collect because the territory was thoroughly looted by the Turks and Tatars during the previous campaign.
The plague raging in Moldova prompted Rumyantsev to stop in northern Bessarabia, but the critical situation of the Moldovan Corps forced him to go forward. A significant part of this corps and Stofeln himself died from the plague. Prince Repnin, who accepted the command, collected the remnants of the corps on the Prut at Ryabaya Mogila, where since May 20 he has been steadfastly repeling the attacks of the Tatar horde of Kaplan-Girey (72 thousand people). General Baur's mounted vanguard sent by Rumyantsev came into contact with Repnin on June 10.