In conclusion, we add a short biographical sketch of the author, and we take this opportunity to acknowledge with gratitude his most kind and invaluable assistance in the translation and illustration of the work.
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Lieutenant-General Nikolai Alexandrovitch Tretyakov was born in the Simbirsky Government in 1856. Educated in Moscow, he passed through the Constantine Military School and the Engineer Academy before being gazetted in 1875 to the 6th Sapper Battalion as Second-Lieutenant.
On the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War he accompanied this battalion to the front, and, volunteering to serve in the 4th Battalion before Plevna, took part in that famous siege, and was the first to enter the Turkish stronghold by the Grivitsa road, which he did at the head of a company of sappers. He was rewarded for his services with the 3rd Class of the Order of Stanislav and the 3rd Class of the Order of Anne, together with the rank of Staff-Captain.
At the conclusion of the war Staff-Captain Tretyakov passed through the Nicholas Engineer Academy, and was then appointed to the command of a company in a sapper battalion stationed at Kiev. Retaining this post for eight years, he attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1893, and in the same year was sent to the Far East at the head of an East Siberian Engineer battalion. During the Boxer Rising he helped to fortify the Nan Shan position, and was present at the capture of the Ta-ku Forts, afterwards joining in the advance on Pekin. General Lineivitch marked his appreciation of the good work done in this campaign by Lieutenant-Colonel Tretyakov by recommending him for “the gold sword.” This honour was followed by appointment to the command of the 5th East Siberian Rifle Regiment, and for the next two years he was engaged in protecting the railway from Pekin against the attacks of the Hunhutzes, and was again decorated, this time with the 3rd Class of the Order of Vladimir.
On the conclusion of the Russo-Japanese War the Czar conferred upon him the much-coveted “George Cross,” the 1st Class of the Order of Stanislav, the 1st Class of the Order of Anne, and the rank of Major-General. On his return to Russia he commanded the 3rd Sapper Brigade at Kiev until, on promotion to the rank of Lieutenant-General, he became Inspector-General of Engineers in the Kiev District.
F. N. B.
Note.—The notes and explanations throughout this work are by the Translator or Editor.