However the weakly defended Strait of Kerch meant that in May 1855 a squadron of 57 English and French ships (17,400 men in total) easily overpowered the Russian garrison there and entered the Azov bassin. Afterwards the enemy approached Berdyansk and bombarded the city from the sea. Similar attacks were experienced by Petrovskaya Stanitsa, Mariupol and numerous other locations on the coast of the northern Azov. Yet any attempts to land troops on the shores, turned out to be complete failures. When attempting to land at the headquarters of the Azov Host Petrovsky Posad (modern Volodarske, Ukraine) the Anglo-French troops demanded the Cossacks surrender and sent their landing party of 100 boasts. None were to reach the shores. Afterwards the survivors of the failed landing returned to the ships the squadron tried to land near Taganrog, but a similar fate awaited them from the hands of the Don Cossacks.