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Rear Support and Logistics of the Crimean Army from Kherson Region

Rear support and logistics for the Crimean Army from Kherson Region during the Eastern (Crimean) War of 1853–1856 covered the supply of ammunition, fodder, and food, the deployment of repair facilities, and the organization of evacuation routes in the front-line zone.

Overview

In 1853–1856, Kherson Governorate became the principal rear base and front-line zone for the military formations of the russian empire that fought in Crimea and held back the allied landing of Anglo-Franco-Turkish troops. The geographical proximity to the Crimean theater of operations demanded the immediate mobilization of all material and transport resources of the region. In Kherson, Beryslav, Oleshky, and other localities, reserve units of the Southern Army, repair workshops, commissariat warehouses, and evacuation centers were concentrated. The governorate served as the corridor for the continuous transport of weapons and provisions, as well as for the evacuation of wounded defenders of Sevastopol and of state institutions from the occupation-prone coastal towns.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Production and supply of weapons and ammunition: The Vadon mechanical and iron foundry in Kherson produced 60 gun carriages for fortifications. In 1854, more than 6,000 poods of gunpowder were supplied from the artillery depots of Kherson, and thousands of cartridge pouches and cartouche boxes were allocated from the clothing stores of the Kherson Commissariat Commission to arm the rifle companies of Mykolaiv and Izmail.
  • Transport arteries and popular donations: Day and night, convoys carrying ammunition, "cartridge paper," and equipment moved along the roads of Kherson Region. Landowners and peasants of the Tiraspol, Kherson, and other counties provided the field army with foodstuffs, fodder, money, livestock, and hundreds of horses with carts.
  • Defensive works in the rear: To guard against a possible enemy landing by the Anglo-French fleet, retrenchments and coastal fortifications were erected on Karantynnyi (Quarantine) Island in Kherson, at Hola Prystan, on Potemkin Island, and near the Dnieper crossings.
  • Evacuation of state and banking institutions: Under the threat of bombardment and amphibious landing, the provincial institutions were evacuated from Kherson to Poltava, the treasuries and archives of the Odesa district treasury — to Voznesensk, Ananiv, and Severynivka, and those of the Kherson Public Welfare Board — to Oleksandriia.