Siege of Giurgiu (1770)

For other uses, see Siege of Giurgiu (disambiguation).

Siege of Giurgiu (1770)
Part of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774)
Date 4–7 February 1770 Location Giurgiu, Ottoman Empire 43°54′N 25°58′E Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Çelebi Pasha	Grigory Potemkin Christopher von Stoffeln Aleksandr Zamiatin (WIA) Peter Tekeli
Strength
16,000	Thousands
Casualties and losses
3,000 killed	77 killed 294 wounded
class=notpageimage| Location within Europe Siege of Giurgiu (1770) (Romania)

The siege of Giurgiu was a military siege undertaken by Russia between 4 and 7 February 1770 against the Ottoman city of Giurgiu. The siege was part of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774), and resulted in an Ottoman victory.

Siege

Generals Grigory Potemkin, Christopher von Stoffeln, Aleksandr Zamiatin, and Peter Tekeli marched onto Giurgiu in the morning of 4 February 1770, a day where there was a dense fog in the area. The Russian force attacked in three squares: "two infantry squares in the first line, each of two grenadier battalions and an under-strength musketeer regiment, and a third square of cavalry in the second line". The Ottoman garrison numbered 16,000 and 20 large guns were situated on a stone citadel. They were under the command of Çelebi Pasha of Rusçuk.

Although the Russians were able to clear trenches outside of the city relatively easy, when they entered Giurgiu they faced intense fire from the guns on the citadel and from barricades in narrow streets. Potemkin was sent with three battalions of grenadiers, accompanied by Peter Tekeli and his hussars to face Ottoman cavalry reinforcements arriving from the Danube. Zamiatin, on the hand, was tasked with storming Giurgiu. The citadel, however, was shielded by a curve in the river, making it difficult to access. Zamiatin’s forces were thus unable to find boats to transport troops at the foot of the fortress. At this point, 77 Russian soldiers were killed and 294 wounded (including Zamiatin). Supplies were also draining. This forced Stoffeln to abandon the siege on 7 February, with the Ottomans having lost 3,000 men after an intense defence.

Aftermath

Whilst retreating from Giurgiu, Christopher von Stoffeln burned most of Giurgiu to the ground, destroying 5,000 houses. Once he reached Brăila, he sent out some of his men to destroy 143 Turkish villages along the eastern Danube to as far as the Prut. Stoffeln's war crimes are said to have cost the Porte an estimated 3 million assignation rubles. Some of the villages destroyed were Christian. Catherine the Great called Stoffeln "barbaric" for his killing of innocent civilians. Although Pyotr Rumyantsev agreed, he had Grigory Orlov convince Catherine that they could not observe the rules of warfare as with their wars with other European countries when it came to the Turks.

Giurgiu was finally seized by Pyotr Olitz after heavy losses following a 7-day siege between 17 and 24 February 1711. However, the city was taken back by the Turks after a siege between 27 and 29 May 1771. Even if Reinhold-Wilhelm Ivanovich von Essen attempted to reclaim Giurgiu by storming it on 7 August, he was unsuccessful. The final engagement in Giurgiu during the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) was a battle on 12 September 1771, which ended with an Ottoman victory.

References

• Davies, Brian L. (2016). The Russo-Turkish War, 1768–1774: Catherine II and the Ottoman Empire. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781472512932.