Historical Reference

Lt. Gen. Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev

Skobelev, Michael Dimitrivich, 1841- 1882. Russian general.
An illustration of the discipline of his corps occurs to me. I had been talking with him about military breechloaders and discussing the merits of various systems. Taking a Berdan, with which the troops were latterly armed, from a soldier he undid the breech and lock and explained the mechanism with the precision of a locksmith. Returning the rifle to the soldier he turned and, walking up to a sentry a few paces distant, he said, "Let me see your rifle"— -extending his hand as he spoke. The man saluted and replied, "I cannot, your excellency." "But I want to see if it is clean," persisted the general. "I cannot, your excellency," again said the sentry, as firm as a rock. Skobelev smiled, pulled his ears and walked on. I asked an explanation, whereupon he said that a rule of war with him was that no sentry on duty was on any account to give up possession of his arms — not even to the czar himself. "But," I said, "suppose the sentry had handed you his rifle when you were seemingly so serious in asking it. What then?" "He would have been shot," quietly replied the general, "for disobedience of orders in time of war." — W. KIIWAIBD ROSE,

The Fortnightly Review, July, 1882. He was reconnoitering the Turkish position while the shots were thundering at his ears. "Why do you expose yourself thus wantonly?" an officer asked him reproachfully. "I must let my men see, you know, that the Turks do not know how to fire." The commanding officers of companies and battalions were expected to look after the provisioning of the men. "But they may embezzle," a partisan of the commissariat department once suggested. "Who — the commanding officer? that is no business of mine." "But how no business of yours?" "Of course not. If my men get as much bread and meat, tea and brandy as they want; if there are no complaints lodged against my officers; if the inhabitants of the district are satisfied — let them embezzle — what do I care?" — V. I. NEMIBOVITCH DANTCHENKO, "Personal Reminiscences of Skobelev."
Wit, Wisdom and Foibles of the Great: Together with Numerous Anecdotes Illustrative of the Characters of People and Their Rulers By Charles Anthony Shriner Published by Funk & Wagnalls, 1918

Skobelev Taunting Queen Victoria
"If we invaded India, promising to liberate that country from the English yoke, would we not have millions of Indians on our side ? "
England and Russia Face to Face in Asia: Travels with the Afghan Boundary Commission By Arthur Campbell Yate Published by W. Blackwood, 1887

Siege and assault of Denghil-Tépé, report, By Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev translated by Julian John Leverson Published, 1881

General Grodekoff on Skobelev at Geok Tepe

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When we set out for the war, Skobelev remarked, to me how barren Central Asian history was of great sieges. His siege of Geok Tepe has filled up this gap. It was a great war. It took us a year to conquer the Akhal Tekkes, with 5000 men and 100 cannon, and it cost us 20,000,000 rubles (2,500,000/.). We never meant to advance upon Merv. We had not the means to do so. You have seen what it needed to occupy the 400 versts from the Caspian to Geok Tepe: to advance another 400 versts from Geok Tepe to Merv meant a repetition of this. We commenced the war with 20,000 camels; at the close of the siege we had hardly one. When Skobelev set out for Akhal the late Emperor gave him written instructions, and these were that he was to promotion for an officer than by making himself an expert in them. We trust that what we have said in connection with this, and the move upon Sarakhs, will have duo weight with enterprising officers, and that Marvin's ' Siege of Geok Tepe' will be the last work issued by a civilian on operations which ought to be, and might be, better dealt with by professionals."

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only to occupy Akhal. He never made any preparations to do more."

I remarked that I had just completed translating and arranging the whole of the published Russian and English matter dealing with the siege and the Kandahar controversy, and that this entirely bore out what he said. Mr. O'Donovan, I observed, was constantly telegraphing that Skobelev was advancing on Merv ; but his telegrams and letters show that he never had any clear notion of the Russian operations beyond the border, and that he was constantly being misled by his Turkmen informants. But, I continued, in connection with this, there is a point around which the whole of the recent phase of the Central Asian Question revolves. It was represented in the House of Commons that when the present Emperor ascended the throne he abandoned Russia's forward policy in Central Asia, and recalled Skobelev. Outside the House it was represented that the General was recalled in disgrace, for extending, or wishing to extend, the area of operations. " That is all false," he broke in, interrupting me ; " Skobelev never wished to go to Merv; he made no preparations to do so; he fulfilled the orders given him by the late I Emperor, and came home, but not in disgrace. The Emperor was not angry with him for his acts

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in Central Asia. If he was angry at all, it was for other reasons. Do you know, I was personally against the annexation of Akhal ? I did not approve of a permanent occupation of the oasis. (But we had no thought of Merv. How could we, when we had no transport ? If Geok Tepe, with a smaller population than Merv, and having no guns, was such a difficult place to take, what was the resistance to be expected at Merv, furnished, as the Tekkes were known to be, with over thirty cannon ? No, no, all the alarm that prevailed, 011 that score, was groundless."

The Russian Advance Towards India: Conversations with Skobelev, Ignatieff, and Other Distinguished Russian Generals and Statesmen, on the Central Asian Question By Charles Thomas Marvin, Charles Marvin Published by S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1882

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