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Battle of Eupatoria, 1855: Omer Pasha holds the Crimean port

Crimean War · 17 February 1855 · Ottoman Empire, France and Britain vs Russian Empire · ~5 min read · Updated October 2026

Next anniversary: 17 February 2027, the 172nd anniversary 17 February in history ›

By Echoes of Battle

Nineteenth-century wood engraving of a low coastal town seen from the sea, with sailing ships at anchor, a small boat with two lateen sails in the foreground and choppy waves.

“Eupatoria from the Sea”, wood engraving from George Dodd, Pictorial History of the Russian War 1854-5-6 (1856), via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

At a glance

Ottoman Empire, with a French detachment and British, French and Ottoman warshipsOmer Pasha; Captain Hastings of HMS Curaçoa, commanding the British ships in the bay
vs
Russian EmpireA corps drawn from the army at Sevastopol and from Perekop and Simferopol
Date
17 February 1855, from daybreak until about 10 a.m.
Location
Eupatoria (Yevpatoriya), on the west coast of Crimea
War
Crimean War
Strength
Russian: 36 battalions, 6 cavalry regiments, 400 Cossacks and 80 guns by Omer Pasha's estimate; not less than 40,000 of all arms by Colonel Simmons's first estimate
Losses
Ottoman: 87 killed and 277 wounded in Omer Pasha's letter, 97 killed in Simmons's count, including General Selim Pasha; French: 4 killed; Russian: 453 dead buried by the town, by Omer Pasha's report
Outcome
Ottoman victory; the Russians withdrew
Quick answer

What happened at the Battle of Eupatoria?

At daybreak on 17 February 1855 a large Russian force with heavy artillery attacked Eupatoria, a port on the west coast of Crimea held by an Ottoman army under Omer Pasha. Supported by British, French and Ottoman warships in the bay and a small French detachment, the defenders beat off three assaults on their half-finished earthworks, and by about 10 a.m. the Russians had withdrawn.1

Eupatoria was the Ottoman army's battle in the Crimea. While the British and French besieged Sevastopol, Omer Pasha's troops, landed at Eupatoria that winter, held a port on the flank of the Russian army in the peninsula. The Russian attempt to take it failed, and HistoryOfWar.org counts it among the Russian efforts to break the siege that came to nothing.2

A port on the Russian flank

Eupatoria lies on the west coast of Crimea, north of Sevastopol. In the winter of 1854 to 1855 Ottoman troops, among them Egyptian units, were landed there to hold it. Lord Raglan, the British commander, wrote that they had come from the Danube with a reputation to keep up.3

On 15 February long convoys and columns of troops were seen moving along the north shore of the Sasik lake, and Omer Pasha put the garrison on the alert. According to his own report, the attacking force had left the camp before Sevastopol six days earlier and was joined by troops from Perekop and Simferopol on the night of the 16th.4

Daybreak, 17 February

The attack began at daylight with a heavy cannonade, in which the Russians used even 32-pounders. Colonel John Simmons, the British liaison officer with Omer Pasha, wrote that afternoon that the Russian guns opened at about 1,200 yards and then moved up to some 400 yards from a small crownwork being built in front of the windmills at the northeast of the town; he thought sixty guns were firing at once.5

The two eyewitness estimates of the Russian force differ. Omer Pasha, relying partly on prisoners, counted thirty-six battalions of infantry, six regiments of cavalry, four hundred Cossacks and eighty guns in position, with more horse artillery in reserve; Simmons, writing the same day, thought there were not less than 40,000 men of all arms, and noted that prisoners spoke of 100 guns.6

Seeing that the Ottoman left was covered by warships, the Russians concentrated against the center and the right. Omer Pasha asked the senior British officer to move the gunboat Viper to the right, near the French steamer Véloce and the Ottoman steamer carrying Vice Admiral Ahmed Pasha, and shifted infantry and guns from his left. The British ships Curaçoa, Furious, Valorous and Viper, Raglan reported, greatly contributed to the success of the day by the power of their fire.7

Three assaults

Under cover of artillery and skirmishers, Russian infantry carrying planks and ladders tried three times to storm the works and was driven back each time. A correspondent of the Daily News, quoted in the Household Narrative, watched the last column come out of the graveyard to within twenty yards of the ditch before it broke. General Selim Pasha led a brigade of Egyptians out in a bayonet charge and was shot dead at its head. Omer Pasha's few hundred cavalry could not pursue the Russian columns in the face of their heavy cavalry and guns, and the attackers withdrew in good order, the Russian retreat beginning, Raglan reported, at about 10 a.m..8

The count of the dead

The figures differ even between the two allied reports. Omer Pasha gave his losses as 87 killed and 277 wounded, with 79 horses killed; Simmons's count the next day was 97 Turks killed and 277 wounded, besides 4 French killed and 9 wounded and 13 townspeople killed. One Ottoman battery lost most of its horses and 19 men, with all its guns disabled. On the Russian side Omer Pasha reported, from the civil authorities who buried them, 453 dead, though the attackers had carried off many dead and almost all their wounded.9

The victory raised the spirits of the Ottoman army, which at once set about strengthening its works and bringing up more guns. The siege of Sevastopol went on, and on the night of 8 September 1855, after the French stormed the Malakoff, the Russians evacuated the city.10 › Siege of Sevastopol, 1854

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

  1. The London Gazette, “Despatch of Lord Raglan, 24 February 1855, with the translation of Omer Pasha's letter on the attack on Eupatoria”; The Household Narrative of Current Events, “Narrative of foreign events”. ↩
  2. The Household Narrative of Current Events, “Narrative of foreign events”; John Rickard, “Crimean War, 1853 to 1856”. ↩
  3. The London Gazette, “Despatch of Lord Raglan, 24 February 1855, with the translation of Omer Pasha's letter on the attack on Eupatoria”; The Household Narrative of Current Events, “Narrative of foreign events”. ↩
  4. The Household Narrative of Current Events, “Narrative of foreign events”; The London Gazette, “Despatch of Lord Raglan, 24 February 1855, with the translation of Omer Pasha's letter on the attack on Eupatoria”. ↩
  5. The London Gazette, “Despatch of Lord Raglan, 24 February 1855, with the translation of Omer Pasha's letter on the attack on Eupatoria”; The Household Narrative of Current Events, “Narrative of foreign events”. ↩
  6. The London Gazette, “Despatch of Lord Raglan, 24 February 1855, with the translation of Omer Pasha's letter on the attack on Eupatoria”; The Household Narrative of Current Events, “Narrative of foreign events”. ↩
  7. The London Gazette, “Despatch of Lord Raglan, 24 February 1855, with the translation of Omer Pasha's letter on the attack on Eupatoria”; The Household Narrative of Current Events, “Narrative of foreign events”. ↩
  8. The London Gazette, “Despatch of Lord Raglan, 24 February 1855, with the translation of Omer Pasha's letter on the attack on Eupatoria”; The Household Narrative of Current Events, “Narrative of foreign events”. ↩
  9. The London Gazette, “Despatch of Lord Raglan, 24 February 1855, with the translation of Omer Pasha's letter on the attack on Eupatoria”; The Household Narrative of Current Events, “Narrative of foreign events”. ↩
  10. The London Gazette, “Despatch of Lord Raglan, 24 February 1855, with the translation of Omer Pasha's letter on the attack on Eupatoria”; The Household Narrative of Current Events, “Narrative of foreign events”; John Rickard, “Crimean War, 1853 to 1856”. ↩

Sources

Frequently asked questions

When was the Battle of Eupatoria?

On 17 February 1855, from daybreak until the Russian withdrawal at about 10 a.m.

Who won the Battle of Eupatoria?

The Ottoman army of Omer Pasha, supported by a French detachment and British, French and Ottoman warships. The Russian assaults were repulsed and the attackers withdrew.

Where is Eupatoria?

Eupatoria, today Yevpatoriya, is a port on the west coast of Crimea, north of Sevastopol.

How many Russians attacked Eupatoria?

Omer Pasha counted 36 battalions, 6 cavalry regiments, 400 Cossacks and 80 guns; the British liaison officer Colonel Simmons estimated not less than 40,000 men of all arms.

Who was killed at Eupatoria?

Among the defenders, the Egyptian general Selim Pasha, killed leading a bayonet charge, and 87 or 97 Ottoman soldiers by different counts. The town buried 453 Russian dead.

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