The Romanov family (and all those who chose to accompany them into imprisonment) was assassinated #OnThisDay in 1918.
Photo: The basement where the family was killed, colorized for The Colour of Time.
Photo: The basement where the family was killed, colorized for The Colour of Time.
More here waterstones.com/book/the-colou…
The Empress and Grand Duchess Olga, according to a guard's reminiscence, had tried to bless themselves, but failed amid the shooting. Yurovsky reportedly raised his Colt gun at Nicholas's torso and fired; Nicholas fell dead, pierced with at least three bullets in his upper chest.
The intoxicated Peter Ermakov, the military commissar for Verkh-Isetsk, shot and killed Alexandra with a bullet wound to the head. He then shot at Maria, who ran for the double doors, hitting her in the thigh.
The remaining executioners shot chaotically and over each other's shoulders until the room was so filled with smoke and dust that no one could see anything at all in the darkness nor hear any commands amid the noise.
The noise of the guns had been heard by households all around. The executioners were ordered to use their bayonets, a technique which proved ineffective and meant that the children had to be dispatched by still more gunshots, this time aimed more precisely at their heads.
The Tsarevich was the first of the children to be executed. Yurovsky watched in disbelief as Nikulin spent an entire magazine from his Browning gun on Alexei, who was still seated transfixed in his chair; he also had jewels sewn into his undergarment and forage cap.
Ermakov shot and stabbed him, and when that failed, Yurovsky shoved him aside and killed the boy with a gunshot to the head. The last to die were Tatiana, Anastasia, and Maria. Olga sustained a gunshot wound to the head.
While Yurovsky was checking the victims for pulses, Ermakov walked through the room, flailing the bodies with his bayonet. The execution lasted about 20 minutes.
Future investigations calculated that a possible 70 bullets were fired, roughly seven bullets per shooter.
Future investigations calculated that a possible 70 bullets were fired, roughly seven bullets per shooter.
Their bodies were then mutilated, burned and buried in a field called Porosenkov Log in the Koptyaki forest.
