The Germans and the Danube

A Soldier's Story of the Crimean War, with Flourishes!

This is not a typical military memoir. It is, as Menkov says, a soldier’s story, with flourishes. I like his flourishes. Menkov was an interesting fellow. He wanted to be a writer. His family thought he should join the army to make some money. So, he did both. He wrote about the Danube Campaign of the Crimean War in this volume, but he also wrote about the people he met, sometimes humorously, sometimes insightfully, sometimes scathingly.

—Chervinsky had some conspicuous flaws. He could not speak French. Every time he reported to General Kotzebue, he broke two or three pencils and overturned the inkwell, driving the neat German into utter despair.

—The passion of Prince Gorchakov for correcting official and unofficial documents was so droll that it gave rise to a family anecdote. On his birthday, one of his little daughters presented him with a beautifully transcribed copy of the Lord's Prayer. Out of habit, the prince grabbed a pencil and only desisted when he was told that it was a prayer and should not be edited.

—Let us have a look at what General Count Anrep-Elmpt was doing during the battle. The German count was celebrating the Russian Christmas. At eight o’clock in the morning, the first shot from Cetate was heard in Băilești. The festive count forgot the combat order issued the day before. Some Vlach bastard wished him a Merry Christmas, so he decided to have a parade.

Menkov was a colonel (later a general) on the general staff, so he was a prominent player in this narrative. He writes about himself in the third person, hilariously.

—The field marshal ordered Colonel Menkov to cross over to the right bank to observe the enemy personally and to find out from General Lüders whether he had completed his last movement. The obese body of Menkov was delivered safely to the right bank. It then had to negotiate sheer bluffs to reach the position held by Lüders. Long and hard was the way. Sweat poured from Menkov. His strength failed him.

Menkov’s style invites free translation, so I have taken a few liberties. I have tried to produce this in a more idiomatic style than that typically seen in histories. I even got away from the strict transliteration scheme for Russian names I’ve developed over the years. I used contractions!

I wish I had been able to find every location mentioned here, but I simply could not. The original manuscript is in the old Cyrillic alphabet used in the 19th century. Transliterating from that to the modern Romanian Latin alphabet is certainly possible, but it does not always result in a place name that corresponds to anything on the map. In my defense, I will say that some of these towns no longer exist and maps of the campaign are few.

This is an interesting account of a military campaign that is little discussed, and it is an enjoyable read. So, enjoy it.