Draft:Battle of Ican

The Battle of Ican (Иканское сражение), occurred on 16 December 1864 near Ikan. Part of the Russian conquest of Central Asia. An Kokand army under commanded by Alimqul was defeated by cossack detachment.

Background
After taking Shymkent, the Kokand khan Alimqul tried to return to the city secretly, but the Russians noticed small groups of the Kokand vanguard and sent a hundred cossacks under the command of Vasily Serov not knowing about real size of the Kokand army.

Battle
As a result, the Cossacks were surrounded by the superior Kokand army. At this time, a detachment of 150 people and 20 guns try breaking through to Serov, but they received an order to retreat due to very large enemy army. The Cossacks shot back at the Kokand forces for two days, surrounded by the bodies of dead comrades and horses, and finally Alimqul sent them a letter: "Where are you going to leave me now? The detachment sent from Azret has been defeated and driven back; not one of your thousand (!) will remain — surrender and accept our faith: I will not offend anyone!" Gunfire was heard in response. Serov understood that time was not on his side and he decided to break out of the encirclement, he gathered the remaining Cossacks and, shouting "hurrah" in the form of a Infantry square, attacked the enemies surrounding him and broke through their formation. The Cossacks retreated for several more miles, until finally a new expedition saved the detachment and took them to Shymkent on carts.

Aftermath
The battle ended with the retreat of Alimqul. The Russian detachment lost 2 officers, 5 constables, 87 cossacks, 4 artillerymen, 2 paramedics, and 2 Kazakh escorts.