Gimrinsky tower ( Avar. Genub si ) - a defensive tower in the village of Gimry , Untsukulsky district of the Republic of Dagestan . Built in the 19th century . One of the examples of the defensive structures of the highlanders of Dagestan , which was built for defense against the attacking enemy.
| Fortress | |||
| Gimrinsky tower | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| avar. Genub Si | |||
 | |||
| A country |  Russia | ||
| Location | Dagestan , aul of Gimry | ||
| Building | 1830 | ||
| Status |
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In the history of the Caucasian war
The tower was built for the defense of the village of Gimra, the first imam of Dagestan, Gazi-Muhammad and his murids, including Shamil , after the defeat at Khunzakh in 1830. Two years after the construction on October 10, 1832, the troops of Baron G.V. Rosen approached aul of Gimra .
According to Velyaminov’s plan, 4 infantry battalions and 300 Georgians with two guns were supposed to go down the rear to the defenders of the first wall. After that, two battalions with 2 guns were supposed to attack the first wall in front. But this plan did not work: the attackers were repelled, having lost a significant number of dead and wounded.
Then Velyaminov himself, with reinforcements, came to the aid of a detachment sent to bypass the wall. After a short battle, the Russian detachment took possession of the mountainside. At this time, another part of the detachment attacked the first wall in front. The defenders of the first wall, fearing to be surrounded, retreated, hoping to gain a foothold in the second wall. But they failed to do so. The second wall was taken in the same way.
After the attackers took possession of the second wall, they connected and occupied the third wall without resistance. The bulk of the defenders scattered along the side of the mountain towards Gimra . But there were those who, taking up blockages made of stones, continued to resist. The battalion of the 41st Jaeger Regiment was in a place where the Highlanders could not retreat. In this place, the highlanders fought fiercely and were exterminated to the last.
The battle on this day ended when it was already dark. The coming night did not allow the Russian troops to enter Gimry on the same day. The main part of Velyaminov’s detachment was located for the night between the third wall and the village. The next morning, the Russians occupied Gimry without resistance.
The death of Ghazi Muhammad
Behind the first wall were two towers with loopholes. After the Russian troops captured the first wall, several people remained in the towers who were surrounded. They began to shoot back. Then Velyaminov ordered to shoot at the towers from a cannon. The action of artillery forced some of the highlanders who had taken refuge in the tower to leave it. Russian soldiers, surrounding the tower, pricked with bayonets running out of the tower. So the leader of the highlanders, Ghazi-Muhammad, was killed. Other defenders, despite the crumbling walls, continued to shoot, but were soon killed.
Only the next day it became known that among the killed defenders of the tower was Gazi-Muhammad [1] .
According to legend, the body of Ghazi-Muhammad assumed the position of a prayer: one hand held on to the beard, the other pointed to the sky.
Shamil's Breakthrough
One of the few who managed to escape death, among the defenders of the towers, was Shamil - the future imam of Chechnya and Dagestan, who managed to escape from the surrounded tower. At the same time, Shamil slaughtered several soldiers and was seriously wounded with a bayonet in his chest.
A.F. Rukevich - an officer of the Erivan Regiment, in his memoirs reports:
After stubborn resistance, the tower was taken by our troops, and all the defenders, together with Kazi-Mulla himself, were stabbed, but one, almost a young man, pressed against the wall with a sapper bayonet, stabbed the soldier with a dagger, then pulled the bayonet out of his wound, jumped over the corpses and jumped into The abyss gaping near the tower. It happened in front of the entire squad. Baron Rosen, when informed of this, said:
- Well, this boy will do us trouble over time ....
- From the memoirs of the old Erivan Historical Bulletin . Number 9, 1914
After the capture of Shamil, M. N. Chichagov, the wife of Colonel M. Chichagov, who was assigned to Shamil during his life in Kaluga, compiled and published a biographical sketch. The episode with the death of Gazi-Muhammad, according to Shamil, was as follows:
“ Then Kazi-Magomed told Shamil,“ They will kill us all here, and we will die without doing harm wrong, we better go out and die, making our way . ” With these words, having pulled a hat over his eyes, he threw himself out of the door. He had just run out of the tower when a soldier hit him in the back of the head with a stone. Kazi-Magomed fell and was immediately stabbed with bayonets. Shamil, seeing that two soldiers were standing against the doors with aimed guns, jumped out of the door in an instant and found himself behind both of them. The soldiers immediately turned to him, but Shamil chopped them off. A third soldier ran away from him, but he caught up and killed him. At this time, the fourth soldier stuck a bayonet in his chest, so that the end went into his back. Shamil, grabbing the gun’s barrel with his right hand, chopped off the soldier with his left (he was left-handed), pulled out the bayonet and, holding the wound, he began to cut in both directions, but did not kill anyone, because the soldiers ran away from him, struck by his courage, and were afraid to shoot, Do not hurt your people around Shamil. „
The most comprehensive report of Baron Rosen from the camp at the village of Gimry on October 25, 1832 said:
“ Fearlessness, courage and zeal of your troops to my superiors, the most graciously entrusted, having overcome all obstacles by nature in a huge form, arranged and fortified with arms with sufficient military consideration, despite the severity of the mountain climate, they led them through hitherto impassable ridges and gorges of the Caucasus, to the impregnable Gimri, which had become the nest of all since 1829 plans and revolts of Dagestanis, Chechens and other mountain tribes led by Kazi-mullah, known for his atrocities, cunning, fanaticism and courageous military enterprise ... The death of Kazi-mullah, the capture of Guy the gloom and subjugation of the Khoisubulians, serving as a striking example for the entire Caucasus, now promise peace in Mountain Dagestan. ”
Tower List
- Gazimagomed - the first imam of Dagestan and Chechnya, from Gimrov
- Shamil - the future imam of Dagestan and Chechnya, from Gimrov
- Magomedsultan - the cousin of Imam Shamil, from Gimrov
- Magomedali - senior muezzin of the village of Gimry
- Githynus - the Imam's standard bearer, from Gimry
- Alihaji - Naib from Harahi
- Said - Naib of Harikolo
- Haji Ali Efendi - Naib from Vini Yarag
- Isa - Naib of Chirkey
- Salman - Naib of Igali
- Nurmagomed - Naib of Inho
- Sheikh-ul-Islam - Naib from Kudutli
- Nurmagomed - naib from Kakha (Azerb.)
- Ahmed Mula - Naib from Cuba (Azerb.)
- Ahmed - Naib of Igali
Reconstruction
The very first tower was not preserved, only ruins of the foundation remained from it. But in 1997, the new Gimrinsky Tower was built in the same place. Inside it is completely empty, you can climb the wooden stairs to the roof, which offers a beautiful view of the surroundings. The new building is equipped with loopholes and has an observation deck; it looks like a once destroyed old tower. Memorial plaques were placed around one of which has the following words: "Imam Shamil landed here after jumping from a hut on the day of the death of the first imam of Dagestan and Chechnya, Gazi-Magomed."