The losses of the French from the actions of the partisans, apparently, will never be counted. About the "club of the people's war" tells Alexey Shishov, employee of the Research Institute of Military History of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces.
Mistake came out
A.Sh.:- Shortly before Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Lieutenant Colonel Pyotr Chuikevich, who led military counterintelligence, filed a memorandum on arming part of the population of the western provinces to the highest name. She was supported by Minister of War Barclay de Tolly. In practice, it hardly came to this, but when the invasion began, the Smolensk and Kaluga landowners began to distribute weapons to their serfs. There were detachments of 300-400 and even a thousand people, commanded by retired military and police officials. More often, however, it happened differently: when the enemy approached, the landlords gave a tear, but the peasants had nowhere to run. Under the leadership of village elders, they united in self-defense units. They did not enter into battle with serious French forces, but they were an insurmountable obstacle in the way of their foragers - horse fodder providers. And a horse without oats is like a tank without diesel fuel.
"AiF": - Napoleon came to Russia with the idea of abolishing serfdom. Why were the peasants not happy with him?
A.Sh.:- Indeed, under Napoleon serfdom was abolished in Poland, Prussia and a number of other German lands. And in Russia, the words “Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood” were inscribed on his banners. However, when in practice it came to the liberation of the peasants of the Smolensk and Vitebsk provinces, it all ended in robbery and arson of the manor estates. Apparently (documents on this score have not been preserved), these facts so impressed Napoleon that he no longer played democracy in Russia.
"AIF":- And what about the regular partisan detachments?
A.Sh.:- At the origins of their formation was General Tormasov, commander of the 3rd Army, which covered Ukraine. The most famous were the detachments of Wintzingerode, Figner, Seslavin, Ilovaisky ... Army partisans, consisting mainly of Cossacks and hussars, violated the communications of the Great Army, interfered with the supply of ammunition and the approach of reinforcements. During the retreat of the French, they, ahead of their vanguard, burned bridges and drowned ferries across the rivers. As a result of the actions of the army partisans, Napoleon lost almost half of his artillery during the retreat! As a partisan, Alexander Benckendorff, the future chief of the gendarme corps, distinguished himself in 1812.
Forks to the side!
"AIF":- Napoleon complained that the Russians were fighting “incorrectly”.
A.Sh.:- To live with wolves... In 1812, Denis Davydov, a poet and lieutenant colonel of the Akhtyrsky hussar regiment, commanded a detachment that spent 6 weeks in isolation from the main forces longer than other partisans. Here is the instruction he compiled for the Russian peasants: “Receive them (the French. - Ed.) Friendlyly, offer them with bows ... everything that you have to eat, and especially drink, put to bed drunk and, when you realize that they are for sure fell asleep, throw yourself all on their weapons ... and do what God commanded to do with the enemies of Christ's church and your homeland. Having exterminated them, bury the bodies in a barn, in a forest or in some impassable place ... "
However, the peasants hardly needed such instructions. Unlike the army partisans, they did not take prisoners in principle. It came to quite wild incidents. A detachment of Teptyar Cossacks came to the Kaluga village - there is such a nationality in the Middle Urals. They hardly spoke Russian. The men mistook them for the French and drowned them in a pond at night. It is no coincidence that Davydov changed his hussar uniform for a peasant dress for a raid on the rear of the enemy (men did not distinguish Russian from French uniforms) and let go of his beard. Such is the "club of the people's war" ...
protracted military conflict. The detachments, in which people were united by the idea of the liberation struggle, fought on an equal footing with the regular army, and in the case of a well-organized leadership, their actions were highly effective and largely decided the outcome of the battles.
Partisans of 1812
When Napoleon attacked Russia, the idea of strategic guerrilla warfare arose. Then, for the first time in world history, Russian troops used a universal method of conducting military operations on enemy territory. This method was based on the organization and coordination of the actions of the rebels by the regular army itself. To this end, trained professionals - "army partisans" - were thrown over the front line. At this time, the detachments of Figner, Ilovaisky, as well as the detachment of Denis Davydov, who was a lieutenant colonel of Akhtyrsky, became famous for their military exploits.
This detachment was separated from the main forces longer than others (for six weeks). The tactics of Davydov's partisan detachment consisted in the fact that they avoided open attacks, swooped in by surprise, changed the direction of attacks, and felt for the enemy's weak points. the local population helped: the peasants were guides, spies, participated in the extermination of the French.
In the Patriotic War, the partisan movement was of particular importance. The basis for the formation of detachments and units was the local population, who were well acquainted with the area. In addition, it was hostile to the invaders.
The main goal of the movement
The main task of the guerrilla war was the isolation of enemy troops from its communications. The main blow of the people's avengers was directed at the supply lines of the enemy army. Their detachments violated communications, prevented the approach of reinforcements, the supply of ammunition. When the French began to retreat, their actions were aimed at destroying ferry crossings and bridges across numerous rivers. Thanks to the active actions of the army partisans, almost half of the artillery was lost by Napoleon during the retreat.
The experience of conducting a partisan war in 1812 was used in the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). During this period, this movement was large-scale and well organized.
The period of the Great Patriotic War
The need to organize a partisan movement arose due to the fact that most of the territory of the Soviet state was captured by German troops, who sought to make slaves and eliminate the population of the occupied areas. The main idea of the partisan war in the Great Patriotic War is the disorganization of the activities of the Nazi troops, inflicting human and material losses on them. For this, extermination and sabotage groups were created, and a network of underground organizations was expanded to direct all actions in the occupied territory.
The partisan movement of the Great Patriotic War was bilateral. On the one hand, detachments were created spontaneously, from people who remained in the territories occupied by the enemy, and sought to protect themselves from mass fascist terror. On the other hand, this process was organized, under the leadership from above. Diversionary groups were thrown behind enemy lines or organized in advance on the territory, which was supposed to be left in the near future. To provide such detachments with ammunition and food, caches with supplies were previously made, and they also worked out issues of their further replenishment. In addition, issues of secrecy were worked out, the places for basing detachments were determined in the forest after the front retreated further to the east, and the provision of money and valuables was organized.
traffic guidance
In order to lead the guerrilla war and sabotage struggle, workers from among the local residents who were well acquainted with these areas were thrown into the territory captured by the enemy. Very often, among the organizers and leaders, including the underground, were the leaders of the Soviet and party organs, who remained in the territory occupied by the enemy.
The guerrilla war played a decisive role in the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany.
The unsuccessful start of the war and the retreat of the Russian troops deep into the territory of the state showed that the enemy could hardly be defeated by the forces of one regular army. To defeat a strong enemy, the efforts of the entire Russian people were needed. In the vast majority of the counties occupied by the enemy, people perceived Napoleon's troops not as liberators from serfdom, but as rapists, robbers and enslavers. The actions of the invaders only confirmed the opinion of the people - the European hordes robbed, killed, raped, and rampaged in the temples. The next invasion of foreigners was perceived by the overwhelming majority of the people as an invasion, which had the goal of eradicating the Orthodox faith and establishing godlessness.
When studying the theme of the partisan movement in the Patriotic War of 1812, it should be remembered that partisans were then called temporary detachments of regular troops and Cossacks, which were purposefully created by the Russian command to act on the flanks, in the rear and communications of the enemy. The actions of spontaneously organized self-defense units of local residents were designated by the term "people's war".
Some researchers associate the beginning of the partisan movement during the war of 1812 with the manifesto of the Russian Emperor Alexander I of July 6, 1812, which, as it were, allowed the people to take up and actively join the fight against the French. In reality, the situation was somewhat different, the first pockets of resistance to the invaders appeared in Belarus and Lithuania. And often the peasants did not make out where the invaders were, and where their nobles collaborating with them were.
People's War
With the invasion of the "Great Army" in Russia, many local residents initially simply left the villages and went to the forests and areas remote from hostilities, taking away their livestock. Retreating through the Smolensk region, the commander-in-chief of the Russian 1st Western Army M.B. Barclay de Tolly called on his compatriots to take up arms against the enemy. Barclay de Tolly's appeal informed him how to act against the enemy. The first detachments were formed from local residents who wanted to protect themselves and their property. They were joined by soldiers who had fallen behind their units.
French foragers gradually began to face not only passive resistance, when cattle were driven into the forest, food was hidden, but also the active actions of the peasants. In the area of Vitebsk, Mogilev, Orsha, the peasant detachments themselves attacked the enemy, making not only night, but also daytime attacks on small enemy units. French soldiers were killed or taken prisoner. The people's war gained its widest scope in the Smolensk province. It covered Krasnensky, Porechsky counties, and then Belsky, Sychevsky, Roslavl, Gzhatsky and Vyazemsky counties.
In the city of Bely and Belsky district, the peasants attacked parties of French foragers moving towards them. Police officer Boguslavsky and retired major Emelyanov led the Sychev detachments, establishing proper order and discipline in them. In just two weeks - from August 18 to September 1, they made 15 attacks on the enemy. During this time, they destroyed more than 500 enemy soldiers and captured over 300. Several cavalry and foot peasant detachments were created in the Roslavl district. They not only defended their county, but also attacked enemy units that operated in the neighboring Yelnensky county. Peasant detachments were also active in the Yukhnovsky district, they interfered with the advance of the enemy to Kaluga, assisted the army partisan detachment of D.V. Davydov. In the Gzhatsk district, a detachment created by Yermolai Chetvertakov, a private of the Kiev Dragoon Regiment, gained great fame. He not only defended the lands near the Gzhatsk pier from enemy soldiers, but also attacked the enemy himself.
The people's war gained even greater scope during the stay of the Russian army in Tarutino. At this time, the peasant movement assumed a significant character not only in Smolensk, but also in Moscow, Ryazan and Kaluga provinces. So, in the Zvenigorod district, people's detachments destroyed or captured more than 2 thousand enemy soldiers. The most famous detachments were led by the volost head Ivan Andreev and the centurion Pavel Ivanov. Detachments led by retired non-commissioned officer Novikov and private Nemchinov, volost head Mikhail Fedorov, peasants Akim Fedorov, Filipp Mikhailov, Kuzma Kuzmin and Gerasim Semenov operated in the Volokolamsk district. In the Bronnitsky district of the Moscow province, local detachments included up to 2 thousand warriors. The largest peasant detachment in the Moscow region was the connection of the Bogorodsk partisans, it included up to 6 thousand people. It was headed by the peasant Gerasim Kurin. He not only reliably defended the entire Bogorodsk district, but he himself struck at the enemy.
It should be noted that Russian women also took part in the fight against the enemy. Peasant and army partisan detachments acted on enemy communications, fettered the actions of the "Great Army", attacked individual enemy units, destroying the enemy's manpower, his property, and interfered with the collection of food and fodder. The Smolensk road, where the postal service was organized, was subjected to regular attacks. The most valuable documents were delivered to the headquarters of the Russian army. According to some estimates, the peasant detachments destroyed up to 15 thousand enemy soldiers, about the same number were taken prisoner. Due to the actions of militia, partisan and peasant detachments, the enemy was unable to expand the zone controlled by him and get additional opportunities to collect food and fodder. The French failed to gain a foothold in Bogorodsk, Dmitrov, Voskresensk, capture Bryansk and go to Kiev, create additional communications to connect the main forces with the corps of Schwarzenberg and Rainier.
Captured French. Hood. THEM. Pryanishnikov. 1873
army squads
Army partisan detachments also played an important role in the campaign of 1812. The idea of their creation appeared even before the Battle of Borodino, when the command analyzed the actions of individual cavalry detachments, which, by chance, fell into enemy communications. The first partisan actions were started by the commander of the 3rd Western Army, Alexander Petrovich Tormasov, who formed the "flying corps". In early August, Barclay de Tolly formed a detachment under the command of General Ferdinand Fedorovich Wintzingerode. The number of the detachment was 1.3 thousand soldiers. Wintzingerode received the task of covering the St. Petersburg highway, operating on the flank and behind enemy lines.
M.I. Kutuzov attached great importance to the action of partisan detachments, they were supposed to wage a "small war", to exterminate individual detachments of the enemy. Detachments were usually created from mobile, cavalry units, often Cossack ones, they were most adapted to irregular warfare. Their number was usually insignificant - 50-500 people. If necessary, they interacted and combined into larger compounds. Army partisan detachments were given the task of delivering surprise attacks behind enemy lines, destroying his manpower, disrupting communications, attacking garrisons, suitable reserves, disrupting actions aimed at obtaining food and fodder. In addition, the partisans performed the role of army intelligence. The main advantage of partisan detachments was their speed and mobility. The most famous were the detachments under the command of Wintzingerode, Denis Vasilievich Davydov, Ivan Semenovich Dorokhov, Alexander Samoilovich Figner, Alexander Nikitich Seslavin and other commanders.
In the autumn of 1812, the actions of the partisan detachments took on a wide scope, as part of the army flying detachments, there were 36 Cossack and 7 cavalry regiments, 5 separate squadrons and a team of light horse artillery, 5 infantry regiments, 3 jaeger battalions and 22 regimental guns. The partisans set up ambushes, attacked enemy carts, intercepted couriers. They made daily reports on the movement of enemy forces, transmitted captured mail, information received from prisoners. Alexander Figner, after the capture of Moscow by the enemy, was sent to the city as a scout, he cherished the dream of killing Napoleon. He failed to eliminate the French emperor, but thanks to his extraordinary resourcefulness and knowledge of foreign languages, Figner was able to obtain important information, which he transmitted to the main apartment (headquarters). Then he formed a partisan (sabotage) detachment from volunteers and stragglers, which operated on the Mozhaisk road. His enterprises so disturbed the enemy that he attracted the attention of Napoleon, who put a reward on his head.
To the north of Moscow, a large detachment of General Wintzingerode operated, which, having allocated small formations to Volokolamsk, on the Yaroslavl and Dmitrov roads, blocked the enemy’s access to the northern regions of the Moscow region. Dorokhov's detachment was actively operating, which destroyed several enemy teams. A detachment under the command of Nikolai Danilovich Kudashev was sent to the Serpukhov and Kolomenskaya roads. His partisans made a successful attack on the village of Nikolskoe, killing more than 100 people and capturing 200 enemy soldiers. Seslavin's partisans operated between Borovsk and Moscow, he had the task of coordinating his actions with Figner. Seslavin was the first to reveal the movement of Napoleon's troops to Kaluga. Thanks to this valuable report, the Russian army managed to block the enemy's path at Maloyaroslavets. In the Mozhaisk region, a detachment of Ivan Mikhailovich Vadbolsky operated, under his command was the Mariupol hussar regiment and five hundred Cossacks. He established control over the Ruza road. In addition, a detachment of Ilya Fedorovich Chernozubov was sent to Mozhaisk, a detachment of Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf acted in the Volokolamsk region, Viktor Antonovich Prendel at Ruza, behind the Klin in the direction of the Yaroslavl tract - the Cossacks of Grigory Petrovich Pobednov, etc.
An important discovery of the partisan Seslavin. Unknown artist. 1820s.
In fact, the "Great Army" of Napoleon in Moscow was surrounded. Army and peasant detachments prevented the search for food and fodder, kept the enemy units in constant tension, this significantly affected the moral and psychological state of the French army. The active actions of the partisans became one of the reasons that forced Napoleon to decide to leave Moscow.
On September 28 (October 10), 1812, several united partisan detachments under the command of Dorokhov stormed Vereya. The enemy was taken by surprise, about 400 soldiers of the Westphalian regiment with a banner were captured. In total, in the period from 2 (14) September to 1 (13) October, due to the actions of partisans, the enemy lost only about 2.5 thousand people killed and 6.5 thousand enemies were captured. To ensure security on communications, the supply of ammunition, food and fodder, the French command had to allocate more and more forces.
October 28 (November 9) at the village. Lyakhovo, west of Yelnya, the partisans of Davydov, Seslavin and Figner, reinforced by units of V.V. Orlova-Denisov, were able to defeat an entire enemy brigade (it was the vanguard of the 1st Infantry Division of Louis Barage d'Illier). After a fierce battle, the French brigade under the command of Jean-Pierre Augereau capitulated. The commander himself and 2 thousand soldiers were captured. Napoleon was extremely angry when he learned of what had happened, he ordered the division to be disbanded and an investigation into the behavior of General Barague d'Hilliers, who showed indecision and did not provide timely assistance to Augereau's brigade, the general was removed from command and placed under house arrest on his estate in France.
The partisans were also active during the retreat of the "Great Army". Platov's Cossacks attacked the rear units of the enemy. Davydov's detachment and other partisan formations acted from the flanks, followed the enemy army, raiding individual French units. Partisan and peasant detachments made a significant contribution to the common cause of victory over Napoleon's army and the expulsion of the enemy from Russia.
Cossacks attack the retreating French. Drawing by Atkinson (1813).
The Patriotic War of 1812 gave birth to a new phenomenon in history - the mass partisan movement. During the war with Napoleon, Russian peasants began to unite in small detachments to defend their villages from foreign invaders. The brightest figure among the partisans of that time was Vasilisa Kozhina, a woman who became a legend in the war of 1812.
partisan
At the time of the invasion of French troops into Russia, Vasilisa Kozhina, according to historians, was about 35 years old. She was the wife of the headman of the Gorshkov farm in the Smolensk province. According to one version, she was inspired to participate in the peasant resistance by the fact that the French killed her husband, who refused to provide food and fodder for the Napoleonic troops. Another version says that Kozhina's husband was alive and led a partisan detachment himself, and his wife decided to follow her husband's example.
In any case, to fight the French, Kozhina organized her own detachment of women and teenagers. The partisans wielded what was available in the peasant economy: pitchforks, scythes, shovels and axes. The Kozhina detachment cooperated with the Russian troops, often handing over captured enemy soldiers to them.
Merit recognition
In November 1812, the Son of the Fatherland magazine wrote about Vasilisa Kozhina. The note was devoted to how Kozhina escorted prisoners to the location of the Russian army. One day, when the peasants brought in some captured Frenchmen, she gathered her detachment, mounted her horse, and ordered the prisoners to follow her. One of the captured officers, not wanting to obey "some peasant woman", began to resist. Kozhina immediately killed the officer with a scythe on the head. Kozhina shouted to the remaining prisoners that they should not dare to be impudent, because she had already cut off the heads of 27 “such mischievous people”. This episode, by the way, was immortalized in a lubok picture by the artist Alexei Venetsianov about the “old man Vasilisa”. In the first months after the war, such pictures were sold throughout the country as a memory of a national feat.
It is believed that for her role in the liberation war, the peasant woman was awarded a medal, as well as a cash prize personally from Tsar Alexander I. The State Historical Museum in Moscow has a portrait of Vasilisa Kozhina, painted by the artist Alexander Smirnov in 1813. A medal on the St. George ribbon is visible on Kozhina's chest.
And the name of the brave partisan is immortalized in the names of many streets. So, on the map of Moscow, not far from the Park Pobedy metro station, you can find Vasilisa Kozhina Street.
folk rumor
Vasilisa Kozhina died around 1840. Almost nothing is known about her life after the end of the war, but the fame of Kozhina's military exploits spread throughout the country, acquiring rumors and fictions. According to such folk legends, Kozhina once lured 18 Frenchmen into a hut by cunning, and then set it on fire. There are also stories about Vasilisa's mercy: according to one of them, a partisan once took pity on a captured Frenchman, fed him and even gave him warm clothes. Whether at least one of these stories is true, unfortunately, is not known - there is no documentary evidence.
It is not surprising that over time, many tales began to appear around the brave partisan - Vasilisa Kozhina turned into a collective image of the Russian peasantry who fought against the invaders. And folk heroes often become characters in legends. Modern Russian directors could not resist myth-making either. In 2013, the mini-series "Vasilisa" was released, later remade into a full-length film. The title character in it was played by Svetlana Khodchenkova. And although the fair-haired actress does not at all look like the woman depicted in the portrait by Smirnov, and the historical assumptions in the film sometimes look completely grotesque (for example, the fact that the simple peasant woman Kozhina speaks fluent French), nevertheless, such films say that that the memory of the brave partisan is alive even two centuries after her death.
Partisan movement in the Patriotic War of 1812.
Essay on the history of a student of grade 11, school 505 Afitova Elena
Partisan movement in the War of 1812
A partisan movement, an armed struggle of the masses for the freedom and independence of their country or social transformations, conducted in the territory occupied by the enemy (controlled by the reactionary regime). Regular troops operating behind enemy lines may also take part in the Partisan Movement.
The partisan movement in the Patriotic War of 1812, the armed struggle of the people, mainly the peasants of Russia, and detachments of the Russian army against the French invaders in the rear of the Napoleonic troops and on their communications. The partisan movement began in Lithuania and Belarus after the retreat of the Russian army. At first, the movement was expressed in the refusal to supply the French army with fodder and food, the massive destruction of stocks of these types of supplies, which created serious difficulties for the Napoleonic troops. With the entry of the pr-ka into the Smolensk, and then into the Moscow and Kaluga provinces, the partisan movement assumed an especially wide scope. At the end of July-August, in Gzhatsky, Belsky, Sychevsky and other counties, the peasants united in foot and horseback partisan detachments armed with pikes, sabers and guns, attacked separate groups of enemy soldiers, foragers and carts, disrupted the communications of the French army. The partisans were a serious fighting force. The number of individual detachments reached 3-6 thousand people. The partisan detachments of G.M. Kurin, S. Emelyanov, V. Polovtsev, V. Kozhina and others became widely known. Tsarist law reacted with distrust to the Partisan movement. But in an atmosphere of patriotic upsurge, some landowners and progressive-minded generals (P.I. Bagration, M.B. Barclay de Tolly, A.P. Yermolov and others). Field Marshal M.I., Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, attached particular importance to the people's partisan struggle. Kutuzov. He saw in it a huge force capable of inflicting significant damage on the pr-ku, assisted in every possible way in the organization of new detachments, gave instructions on their weapons and instructions on the tactics of guerrilla warfare. After leaving Moscow, the front of the Partisan movement was significantly expanded, and Kutuzov, to his plans, gave it an organized character. This was largely facilitated by the formation of special detachments from regular troops operating by partisan methods. The first such detachment of 130 people was created at the end of August on the initiative of Lieutenant Colonel D.V. Davydov. In September, 36 Cossack, 7 cavalry and 5 infantry regiments, 5 squadrons and 3 battalions acted as part of the army partisan detachments. The detachments were commanded by generals and officers I.S. Dorokhov, M.A. Fonvizin and others. Many peasant detachments, which arose spontaneously, subsequently joined the army or closely cooperated with them. Separate detachments of the formation of bunks were also involved in partisan actions. militia. The partisan movement reached its widest scope in the Moscow, Smolensk and Kaluga provinces. Acting on the communications of the French army, partisan detachments exterminated enemy foragers, captured carts, and reported valuable information about the pr-ke to the Russian command. Under these conditions, Kutuzov set before the Partisan movement broader tasks of interacting with the army and delivering strikes against individual garrisons and reserves of the pr-ka. So, on September 28 (October 10), on the orders of Kutuzov, a detachment of General Dorokhov, with the support of peasant detachments, captured the city of Vereya. As a result of the battle, the French lost about 700 people killed and wounded. In total, in 5 weeks after the Battle of Borodino in 1812, the pr-k lost over 30 thousand people as a result of partisan attacks. Throughout the retreat of the French army, partisan detachments assisted the Russian troops in pursuing and destroying the enemy, attacking his carts and destroying individual detachments. In general, the Partisan movement provided great assistance to the Russian army in defeating the Napoleonic troops and driving them out of Russia.
Causes of guerrilla warfare
The partisan movement was a vivid expression of the national character of the Patriotic War of 1812. Having flared up after the invasion of Napoleonic troops into Lithuania and Belarus, it developed every day, took on more and more active forms and became a formidable force.
At first, the partisan movement was spontaneous, represented by performances of small, scattered partisan detachments, then it captured entire areas. Large detachments began to be created, thousands of folk heroes appeared, talented organizers of the partisan struggle came to the fore.
Why, then, did the disenfranchised peasantry, mercilessly oppressed by the feudal landlords, rise to fight against their seemingly "liberator"? Napoleon did not even think about any liberation of the peasants from serfdom or improvement of their disenfranchised position. If at first promising phrases were uttered about the emancipation of the serfs and there was even talk of the need to issue some kind of proclamation, then this was only a tactical move with which Napoleon hoped to intimidate the landowners.
Napoleon understood that the liberation of the Russian serfs would inevitably lead to revolutionary consequences, which he feared most of all. Yes, this did not meet his political goals when entering Russia. According to Napoleon's comrades-in-arms, it was "important for him to strengthen monarchism in France and it was difficult for him to preach revolution in Russia."
The very first orders of the administration established by Napoleon in the occupied regions were directed against the serfs, in defense of the serf landowners. The interim Lithuanian "government", subordinate to the Napoleonic governor, in one of the very first decrees obliged all peasants and rural residents in general to unquestioningly obey the landlords, to continue to perform all work and duties, and those who would evade were to be severely punished, involving for this if circumstances so require, military force.
Sometimes the beginning of the partisan movement in 1812 is associated with the manifesto of Alexander I of July 6, 1812, as if allowing the peasants to take up arms and actively join the struggle. In reality, things were different. Without waiting for orders from their superiors, when the French approached, the inhabitants went into the forests and swamps, often leaving their homes to be looted and burned.
The peasants quickly realized that the invasion of the French conquerors put them in an even more difficult and humiliating position, something in which they were before. The peasants also associated the struggle against foreign enslavers with the hope of liberating them from serfdom.
Peasants' War
At the beginning of the war, the struggle of the peasants took on the character of mass abandonment of villages and villages and the departure of the population to forests and areas remote from hostilities. And although it was still a passive form of struggle, it created serious difficulties for the Napoleonic army. The French troops, having a limited supply of food and fodder, quickly began to experience an acute shortage of them. This was not long in affecting the general condition of the army: horses began to die, soldiers starved, looting intensified. Even before Vilna, more than 10 thousand horses died.
The French foragers sent to the countryside for food faced not only passive resistance. One French general after the war wrote in his memoirs: "The army could only eat what the marauders, organized in whole detachments, got; Cossacks and peasants daily killed many of our people who dared to go in search." Skirmishes took place in the villages, including shootings, between French soldiers sent for food and peasants. Such skirmishes occurred quite often. It was in such battles that the first peasant partisan detachments were created, and a more active form of people's resistance was born - partisan struggle.
The actions of the peasant partisan detachments were both defensive and offensive. In the region of Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev, detachments of peasants - partisans made frequent day and night raids on enemy carts, destroyed his foragers, and captured French soldiers. Napoleon was forced more and more often to remind the chief of staff Berthier about the heavy losses in people and strictly ordered that an increasing number of troops be allocated to cover the foragers.
The partisan struggle of the peasants acquired the widest scope in August in the Smolensk province. It began in Krasnensky, Porechsky counties, and then in Belsky, Sychevsky, Roslavl, Gzhatsky and Vyazemsky counties. At first, the peasants were afraid to arm themselves, they were afraid that they would later be held accountable.
In the city of Bely and Belsky district, partisan detachments attacked French parties making their way to them, destroyed them or took them prisoner. The leaders of the Sychevsk partisans, police officer Boguslavskaya and retired major Yemelyanov, armed their detachments with guns taken from the French, established proper order and discipline. Sychevsk partisans attacked the enemy 15 times in two weeks (from August 18 to September 1). During this time, they destroyed 572 soldiers and captured 325 people.
Residents of the Roslavl district created several partisan detachments on horseback and on foot, arming them with pikes, sabers and guns. They not only defended their county from the enemy, but also attacked marauders who made their way to the neighboring Yelnensky county. Many partisan detachments operated in the Yukhnovsky district. Having organized a defense along the Ugra River, they blocked the enemy's path in Kaluga, and provided significant assistance to the army partisans to Denis Davydov's detachment.
The largest Gzhatsk partisan detachment successfully operated. Its organizer was a soldier of the Elizavetgrad Regiment Fyodor Potopov (Samus). Wounded in one of the rearguard battles after Smolensk, Samus found himself behind enemy lines and, after recovering, immediately set about organizing a partisan detachment, the number of which soon reached 2 thousand people (according to other sources, 3 thousand). Its strike force was a cavalry group of 200 men armed and dressed in French cuirassier armor. The Samusya detachment had its own organization, strict discipline was established in it. Samus introduced a system for warning the population about the approach of the enemy by means of bell ringing and other conventional signs. Often in such cases, the villages were empty, according to another conventional sign, the peasants returned from the forests. Lighthouses and the ringing of bells of various sizes informed when and in what quantity, on horseback or on foot, one should go into battle. In one of the battles, the members of this detachment managed to capture a cannon. The Samusya detachment inflicted significant damage on the French troops. In the Smolensk province, he destroyed about 3 thousand enemy soldiers.
In the Gzhatsk district, another partisan detachment was also active, created from peasants, headed by Yermolai Chetvertak (Chetvertakov), a private of the Kiev Dragoon Regiment. He was wounded in the battle near Tsarevo-Zaimishch, and taken prisoner, but he managed to escape. From the peasants of the villages of Basmany and Zadnovo, he organized a partisan detachment, which at first consisted of 40 people, but soon increased to 300 people. The detachment of Chetvertakov began not only to protect the villages from marauders, but to attack the enemy, inflicting heavy losses on him. In the Sychevsky district, partisan Vasilisa Kozhina became famous for her courageous actions.
There are many facts and evidence that the partisan peasant detachments of Gzhatsk and other areas located along the main road to Moscow caused great trouble to the French troops.
The actions of partisan detachments were especially intensified during the stay of the Russian army in Tarutino. At this time, they widely deployed the front of the struggle in the Smolensk, Moscow, Ryazan and Kaluga provinces. Not a day went by that in one place or another the partisans did not raid the enemy’s moving convoy with food, or did not break a French detachment, or, finally, suddenly raided the French soldiers and officers located in the village.
In the Zvenigorod district, peasant partisan detachments destroyed and captured more than 2 thousand French soldiers. Here the detachments became famous, the leaders of which were the volost head Ivan Andreev and the centurion Pavel Ivanov. In the Volokolamsk district, partisan detachments were led by retired non-commissioned officer Novikov and private Nemchinov, volost head Mikhail Fedorov, peasants Akim Fedorov, Filipp Mikhailov, Kuzma Kuzmin and Gerasim Semenov. In the Bronnitsky district of the Moscow province, peasant partisan detachments united up to 2 thousand people. They repeatedly attacked large parties of the enemy and defeated them. History has preserved for us the names of the most distinguished peasants - partisans from the Bronnitsky district: Mikhail Andreev, Vasily Kirillov, Sidor Timofeev, Yakov Kondratiev, Vladimir Afanasyev.
The largest peasant partisan detachment in the Moscow region was the detachment of the Bogorodsk partisans. He had about 6,000 men in his ranks. The talented leader of this detachment was the serf Gerasim Kurin. His detachment and other smaller detachments not only reliably protected the entire Bogorodsk district from the penetration of French marauders, but also entered into an armed struggle with the enemy troops. So, on October 1, partisans led by Gerasim Kurin and Yegor Stulov entered into battle with two squadrons of the enemy and, skillfully acting, defeated them.
Peasant partisan detachments received assistance from the commander-in-chief of the Russian army M. I. Kutuzov. With satisfaction and pride, Kutuzov wrote to St. Petersburg:
The peasants, burning with love for the Motherland, arrange militias among themselves ... Every day they come to the Main Apartment, convincingly asking for firearms and cartridges to protect themselves from enemies. The requests of these respectable peasants, true sons of the fatherland, are satisfied as far as possible and they are supplied with rifles, pistols and cartridges.
During the preparation of the counteroffensive, the combined forces of the army, militias and partisans fettered the actions of the Napoleonic troops, inflicted damage on the enemy's manpower, and destroyed military property. The Smolensk road, which remained the only protected postal route leading from Moscow to the west, was constantly subjected to partisan raids. They intercepted French correspondence, especially valuable ones were delivered to the Headquarters of the Russian army.
The partisan actions of the peasants were highly appreciated by the Russian command. “Peasants,” wrote Kutuzov, “from the villages adjacent to the theater of war, inflict the greatest harm on the enemy ... They kill the enemy in large numbers, and deliver those taken prisoner to the army.” The peasants of the Kaluga province alone killed and captured more than 6,000 French. During the capture of Vereya, a peasant partisan detachment (up to 1 thousand people), led by priest Ivan Skobeev, distinguished himself.
In addition to direct hostilities, the participation of militias and peasants in reconnaissance should be noted.
Army partisan detachments
Along with the formation of large peasant partisan detachments and their activities, army partisan detachments played an important role in the war.
The first army partisan detachment was created on the initiative of M. B. Barclay de Tolly. Its commander was General F.F. Vintsengerode, who led the combined Kazan Dragoon, Stavropol, Kalmyk and three Cossack regiments, which began to operate in the area of the city of Dukhovshchina.
A real thunderstorm for the French was the detachment of Denis Davydov. This detachment arose on the initiative of Davydov himself, lieutenant colonel, commander of the Akhtyrsky hussar regiment. Together with his hussars, he retreated as part of Bagration's army to Borodin. A passionate desire to be even more useful in the fight against the invaders prompted D. Davydov "to ask for a separate detachment." In this intention, he was strengthened by Lieutenant M.F. Orlov, who was sent to Smolensk to clarify the fate of the seriously wounded General P.A. Tuchkov, who was captured. After returning from Smolensk, Orlov spoke about the unrest, the poor protection of the rear in the French army.
While driving through the territory occupied by Napoleonic troops, he realized how vulnerable the French food warehouses, guarded by small detachments. At the same time, he saw how difficult it was to fight without an agreed plan of action for the flying peasant detachments. According to Orlov, small army detachments sent behind enemy lines could inflict great damage on him and help the actions of the partisans.
D. Davydov asked General P.I. Bagration to allow him to organize a partisan detachment for operations behind enemy lines. For a "test" Kutuzov allowed Davydov to take 50 hussars and 80 Cossacks and go to Medynen and Yukhnov. Having received a detachment at his disposal, Davydov began bold raids on the rear of the enemy. In the very first skirmishes near Tsarev - Zaymishch, Slavsky, he achieved success: he defeated several French detachments, captured a wagon train with ammunition.
In the autumn of 1812, partisan detachments surrounded the French army in a continuous mobile ring. Between Smolensk and Gzhatsk, a detachment of Lieutenant Colonel Davydov, reinforced by two Cossack regiments, operated. From Gzhatsk to Mozhaisk, a detachment of General I. S. Dorokhov operated. Captain A. S. Figner with his flying detachment attacked the French on the road from Mozhaisk to Moscow. in the Mozhaisk region and to the south, a detachment of Colonel I. M. Vadbolsky operated as part of the Mariupol hussar regiment and 500 Cossacks. Between Borovsk and Moscow, the roads were controlled by the detachment of Captain A.N. Seslavin. Colonel N. D. Kudashiv was sent to the Serpukhov road with two Cossack regiments. On the Ryazan road there was a detachment of Colonel I. E. Efremov. From the north, Moscow was blocked by a large detachment of F. F. Vintsengerode, who, separating small detachments from himself to Volokolamsk, on the Yaroslavl and Dmitrov roads, blocked access to Napoleon's troops in the northern regions of the Moscow region.
The main task of the partisan detachments was formulated by Kutuzov: “Since now the autumn time is coming, through which the movement of a large army becomes completely difficult, I decided, avoiding a general battle, to wage a small war, because the separate forces of the enemy and his oversight give me more ways to exterminate him , and for this, being now 50 versts from Moscow with the main forces, I am giving away important parts from me in the direction of Mozhaisk, Vyazma and Smolensk.
Army partisan detachments were created mainly from the Cossack troops and were not the same in size: from 50 to 500 people. They were tasked with bold and sudden actions behind enemy lines to destroy his manpower, strike at garrisons, suitable reserves, disable transport, deprive the enemy of the opportunity to get food and fodder, monitor the movement of troops and report this to the General Staff Russian army. The commanders of the partisan detachments were indicated the main direction of action, and the areas of operations of neighboring detachments were reported in case of joint operations.
Partisan detachments operated in difficult conditions. At first, there were many difficulties. Even the inhabitants of villages and villages at first treated the partisans with great distrust, often mistaking them for enemy soldiers. Often the hussars had to change into peasant caftans and grow beards.
Partisan detachments did not stand in one place, they were constantly on the move, and no one except the commander knew in advance when and where the detachment would go. The actions of the partisans were sudden and swift. To fly like snow on the head, and quickly hide became the basic rule of the partisans.
Detachments attacked individual teams, foragers, transports, took away weapons and distributed them to the peasants, took tens and hundreds of prisoners.
On the evening of September 3, 1812, Davydov's detachment went to Tsarev-Zaimishch. Not reaching 6 miles to the village, Davydov sent reconnaissance there, which established that there was a large French convoy with shells, guarded by 250 horsemen. The detachment at the edge of the forest was discovered by French foragers, who rushed to Tsarevo-Zaimishche to warn their own. But Davydov did not let them do this. The detachment rushed in pursuit of the foragers and almost broke into the village with them. The baggage train and its guards were taken by surprise, and an attempt by a small group of Frenchmen to resist was quickly crushed. 130 soldiers, 2 officers, 10 wagons with food and fodder ended up in the hands of the partisans.
Sometimes, knowing in advance the location of the enemy, the partisans made a sudden raid. So, General Vinzengerod, having established that in the village of Sokolov there was an outpost of two squadrons of cavalry and three companies of infantry, singled out 100 Cossacks from his detachment, who quickly broke into the village, killed more than 120 people and captured 3 officers, 15 non-commissioned officers , 83 soldiers.
The detachment of Colonel Kudashev, having established that there were about 2,500 French soldiers and officers in the village of Nikolsky, suddenly attacked the enemy, more than 100 people and 200 captured.
Most often, partisan detachments set up ambushes and attacked enemy vehicles on the way, captured couriers, and freed Russian prisoners. The partisans of the detachment of General Dorokhov, acting along the Mozhaisk road, on September 12 seized two couriers with dispatches, burned 20 boxes of shells and captured 200 people (including 5 officers). On September 16, a detachment of Colonel Efremov, having met an enemy convoy heading for Podolsk, attacked it and captured more than 500 people.
The detachment of Captain Figner, who was always in the vicinity of the enemy troops, in a short time destroyed almost all the food in the vicinity of Moscow, blew up the artillery park on the Mozhaisk road, destroyed 6 guns, exterminated up to 400 people, captured a colonel, 4 officers and 58 soldiers.
Later, partisan detachments were consolidated into three large parties. One of them, under the command of Major General Dorokhov, consisting of five battalions of infantry, four squadrons of cavalry, two Cossack regiments with eight guns, took Vereya on September 28, 1812, destroying part of the French garrison.
Conclusion
It was not by chance that the War of 1812 was called the Patriotic War. The popular character of this war was most clearly manifested in the partisan movement, which played a strategic role in the victory of Russia. Responding to reproaches of "a war against the rules," Kutuzov said that such were the feelings of the people. Responding to a letter from Marshal Berthier, he wrote on October 8, 1818: “It is difficult to stop a people who have been embittered by everything they have seen, a people who have not known war on their territory for so many years, a people ready to sacrifice themselves for the Motherland... ".
Activities aimed at attracting the masses to active participation in the war proceeded from the interests of Russia, correctly reflected the objective conditions of the war and took into account the broad possibilities that emerged in the national liberation war.
Bibliography
PA Zhilin The death of the Napoleonic army in Russia. M., 1968.
History of France, v.2. M., 1973.
O. V. Orlik "Thunderstorm of the twelfth year ...". M., 1987.
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