Friedrich Engels 
The Capture of Bomarsund 
(Second Article) 

New-York Daily Tribune. 
Nr. 4182, 13. September 1854 

The Capture of Bomarsund. 

The particulars of the capture of Bomarsund, so far as published, are still 
couched in vague and unbusiness-like language. We do not, in fact, learn at 
what distance from the forts the breaching batteries were erected or the ships 
anchored during the naval attack. We hear no further details, such as might 
be expected, on the construction of the forts, now that the allied troops have 
possession of them. Indeed, almost every point of importance is passedover 
in order to amuse the public with the more picturesque and less professional 
part of the business. In so slovenly a manner are concocted even the official 
reports, that nobody can make out distinctly, whether Fort Tzee, (as they 
spell it,) when taken by the French, had to be stormed or not, as it seems 
that hardly any one but the commanding officer resisted. 

The little we can make out is that, as we suspected from the sketches, the 
two towers were erected upon ground of so broken a nature that ravines, 
slopes and rocks formed natural approaches even up to their very ditches. In 
these ravines the allies could comfortably establish themselves, safe from 
the Russian shot, which passed over their heads; and being thus enabled to 
construct their batteries close to the place, at once began the siege with those 
which are generally the last used in such cases, namely, breaching batteries. 
That the Russians built their forts upon such ground, without at once leveling 
it up to at least six or eight hundred yards in front of them, proves that a 
serious land attack was never calculated upon by them. The breaching 
batteries must have been erected at no greater distance than five or six 
hundred yards from the forts, as the French battered them with sixteen- 
pounders, generally considered not heavy enough for breaching a wall even 
at one hundred or one hundred and fifty yards distance. Twenty-six hours' 
firing, however, so injured the tower that twelve hours' more would have 
brought down a whole front. The British battered Fort Nottich with six 
thirty-two-pounders, of forty-five cwt. each. 

The Capture of Bomarsund (Second Article) 

These guns, according to Sir Howard Douglas's Naval Gunnery, are used 
with a regulation charge of seven lbs. powder, and would, at the distance 
of four to five hundred yards, make the ball penetrate from two to two and 
a half feet into solid oak. The French sixteen-pound guns, with a charge of 
five lbs., would have, at four to five hundred yards, a penetration into oak 
of from one and a half to two feet. If the British, as may be expected, in- 
creased the regulation charge to at least eight lbs., there is no wonder that 
with twice the number of guns and double the caliber, they laid one side of 
the fort open in less than twelve hours. 

As to the sea attack, it was amere diversion. Only Captain Pelham profited 
by the occasion to make a scientific experiment. He used his long ten-inch 
pivot gun with all the steadiness and regularity of breaching fire, invariably 
hitting, as nearly as possible, the same place. These long ten-inch guns are 
the finest in the British navy. Their great weight of metal (ninety-five cwt.) 

permits a charge of sixteen pounds of powder to a solid shot of sixty-eight 
pounds. The effect of this shot, even at a distance of five or six hundred 
yards, is inconceivably greater than that of the eighteen or twenty-four- 
pound balls hitherto generally used in breaching batteries ; and when properly 
used, could not fail to produce a tremendous result. Accordingly, Captain 
Pelham's steady firing very speedily unraveled the mystery of Russian 
granite fortresses. A few shots detached what hitherto appeared a large block 
of solid granite, butturned out to be a mere facing slab, the thickness of which 
was in no wise proportionate to its hight and width. Some more shots, and 
the next adjoining slabs fell in, and then followed an avalanche of rubbish, 
rattling down the walls, and laying bare the very heart of the fortress. It then 
was clear that the "granite" was nothing but show; that as soon as the 
comparatively thin slabs which faced the escarpe were knocked down, there 
was no solid masonry inside to resist the inroads of bullets. The walls, in fact, 
were mere casings, the interstices of which were filled up with all sorts of 
broken stones, sand, etc., having neither cohesion nor stability. If the main 
fortress was thus constructed, there is no doubt the masonry of the towers 
was equally bad, and the rapid breaching is fully explained. And these walls, 
of so little intrinsic strength, had by their imposing outside sufficed to keep 
the whole Anglo-French fleet at bay for nearly four months! The disappoint- 
ment of Sir Charles Napier when he saw what they really were made of can- 
not, however, have been greater than that of the Czar, when he learned of 
what the "granite," for which he had so dearly paid, consisted. In the land 
attack, another feature is remarkable. We have already seen that broken 
ground surrounded the forts not only within gun-range, but even within 
musket-range. This was taken advantage of by the Chasseurs of Vincennes, 
who crept up very close, sheltering themselves behind stumps of trees, 

Friedrich Engels 

boulder stones, rocks, etc., and opened a murderous fire upon the embra- 
sures of the casemates. As at a distance of four to five hundred yards then- 
rifles have an unerring aim, and moreover, the sloping-side embrasures, 
like atunnel, make every bullet which strikes them enter the central opening 
at the bottom, it may well be imagined how much the gunners in the fortress 
were annoyed while loading. 

The Russians appear to have entirely neglected the commonest pre- 
cautions against this rifle fire. They, too, had rifles. Why did they not post 
them behind the parapet of the roof of the tower, where they commanded 

the enemy's skirmishers? But the Finnishrif les at Bomarsund appear to have 10 

had no inclination to fight for the glory of Holy Russia. Finally, the French 
employed, besides the three breaching guns, some mortars and three howitz- 
ers. The mortars sent their shells at a high angle on the bomb-proof roof of 
the tower, trying to crush it by the combined force of the fall and the ex- 
plosion. This, however, does not appear to have been of great effect. On the 

other hand, the French howitzers stuck to direct horizontal firing, and aimed 
at the embrasures. At the short distance of four or five hundred yards a long 
twenty-four-pound brass howitzer, throwing a shell of six inches diameter, 
might very well hit such an object as an embrasure once in three times; and 
every shell entering would disable the men at the gun, besides dismounting 

the gun itself. This fire, therefore, must have been very effective. 

Thus we see that the granite walls of Bomarsund turned out mere Russian 
humbug—heaps of rubbish kept in shape by thin stone-facings, not fit to resist 
a good and steady fire for any time. If Nicholas had been cheated by their 
constructors, he has succeeded for all that incheating the allies out of a whole 
campaign by these sham fortresses. The defense on the part of the Russians 
was, uponthe whole, indifferent; and this may be traced to the pretty plainly 
pronounced disaffection of the Finnish troops. The attack of the allies was 
characterized by a resolution unheard of hitherto in their proceedings, and 
due, evidently, to Gen. Jones. The difficulties overcome in moving and 
placing the guns, though exaggerated by Sir Charles Napier, were certainly 
great. The French attacked with breaching guns of too weak caliber and with 
mortars that could be of little use under the circumstances, but their mode 
of horizontal shell-firing and rifle-firing at the embrasures deserves high 
eulogium. The English, as usual, came down with the heaviest caliber they 
could move, gave plain, straight-forward and effective fire, underwent dif- 
ficulties and stood fire with their usual steadiness, and carried their point 
without fuss, but also without any special distinction. 

Bomarsund being taken, the question next arises, what is to be done with 
it? According to the latest dispatches from Hamburg, at acouncil of warheld 
by the Admirals, the General-in-Chief of the expeditionary troops and the 

lo 

The Capture of Bomarsund (Second Article) 

principal commanders resolved upon destroying all the fortifications and 
abandoning the island, if Sweden should not be inclined to occupy it and buy 
it at the price of a declaration of war against Russia. If this dispatch prove 
true, the expedition against the Aland Islands, so far from being a military 

move, as announced by the Moniteur, would prove simply a diplomatic one, 
undertaken with a view to entangle Sweden in a dangerous alliance with the 
same powers whose friendship, to use the words of Mr. Bright, "has brought 
upon Turkey in a single year such calamities as Russia in her wildest dreams 
of ambition never imagined." The Swedish Court hesitates, the Swedish 

press warns the people against the Dajiaos et dona ferentes, but the Swedish 
peasants have already passed a motion that the Chamber should petition the 
King to take steps that Aland may never again become Russian. There is little 
probability that the petition of the peasants will be listened to, and we may 
expect soon to hear that the fortress has been blown up.