Book Fourteen: 1812 - Chapter III

by Leo Tolstoy

　　The so-called partisan war began with the entry of the French intoSmolensk.

　　Before partisan warfare had been officially recognized by thegovernment, thousands of enemy stragglers, marauders, and foragers hadbeen destroyed by the Cossacks and the peasants, who killed them offas instinctively as dogs worry a stray mad dog to death. DenisDavydov, with his Russian instinct, was the first to recognize thevalue of this terrible cudgel which regardless of the rules ofmilitary science destroyed the French, and to him belongs the creditfor taking the first step toward regularizing this method of warfare.

　　On August 24 Davydov's first partisan detachment was formed and thenothers were recognized. The further the campaign progressed the morenumerous these detachments became.

　　The irregulars destroyed the great army piecemeal. They gathered thefallen leaves that dropped of themselves from that withered tree-the French army- and sometimes shook that tree itself. By October,when the French were fleeing toward Smolensk, there were hundreds ofsuch companies, of various sizes and characters. There were somethat adopted all the army methods and had infantry, artillery, staffs,and the comforts of life. Others consisted solely of Cossackcavalry. There were also small scratch groups of foot and horse, andgroups of peasants and landowners that remained unknown. A sacristancommanded one party which captured several hundred prisoners in thecourse of a month; and there was Vasilisa, the wife of a villageelder, who slew hundreds of the French.

　　The partisan warfare flamed up most fiercely in the latter days ofOctober. Its first period had passed: when the partisans themselves,amazed at their own boldness, feared every minute to be surrounded andcaptured by the French, and hid in the forests without unsaddling,hardly daring to dismount and always expecting to be pursued. By theend of October this kind of warfare had taken definite shape: it hadbecome clear to all what could be ventured against the French and whatcould not. Now only the commanders of detachments with staffs, andmoving according to rules at a distance from the French, stillregarded many things as impossible. The small bands that had startedtheir activities long before and had already observed the Frenchclosely considered things possible which the commanders of the bigdetachments did not dare to contemplate. The Cossacks and peasants whocrept in among the French now considered everything possible.

　　On October 22, Denisov (who was one of the irregulars) was withhis group at the height of the guerrilla enthusiasm. Since earlymorning he and his party had been on the move. All day long he hadbeen watching from the forest that skirted the highroad a large Frenchconvoy of cavalry baggage and Russian prisoners separated from therest of the army, which- as was learned from spies and prisoners-was moving under a strong escort to Smolensk. Besides Denisov andDolokhov (who also led a small party and moved in Denisov's vicinity),the commanders of some large divisions with staffs also knew of thisconvoy and, as Denisov expressed it, were sharpening their teeth forit. Two of the commanders of large parties- one a Pole and the other aGerman- sent invitations to Denisov almost simultaneously,requesting him to join up with their divisions to attack the convoy.

　　"No, bwother, I have gwown mustaches myself," said Denisov onreading these documents, and he wrote to the German that, despitehis heartfelt desire to serve under so valiant and renowned a general,he had to forgo that pleasure because he was already under the commandof the Polish general. To the Polish general he replied to the sameeffect, informing him that he was already under the command of theGerman.

　　Having arranged matters thus, Denisov and Dolokhov intended, withoutreporting matters to the higher command, to attack and seize thatconvoy with their own small forces. On October 22 it was moving fromthe village of Mikulino to that of Shamshevo. To the left of theroad between Mikulino and Shamshevo there were large forests,extending in some places up to the road itself though in others a mileor more back from it. Through these forests Denisov and his party rodeall day, sometimes keeping well back in them and sometimes coming tothe very edge, but never losing sight of the moving French. Thatmorning, Cossacks of Denisov's party had seized and carried off intothe forest two wagons loaded with cavalry saddles, which had stuckin the mud not far from Mikulino where the forest ran close to theroad. Since then, and until evening, the party had the movements ofthe French without attacking. It was necessary to let the French reachShamshevo quietly without alarming them and then, after joiningDolokhov who was to come that evening to a consultation at awatchman's hut in the forest less than a mile from Shamshevo, tosurprise the French at dawn, falling like an avalanche on theirheads from two sides, and rout and capture them all at one blow.

　　In their rear, more than a mile from Mikulino where the forestcame right up to the road, six Cossacks were posted to report if anyfresh columns of French should show themselves.

　　Beyond Shamshevo, Dolokhov was to observe the road in the sameway, to find out at what distance there were other French troops. Theyreckoned that the convoy had fifteen hundred men. Denisov had twohundred, and Dolokhov might have as many more, but the disparity ofnumbers did not deter Denisov. All that he now wanted to know was whattroops these were and to learn that he had to capture a "tongue"- thatis, a man from the enemy column. That morning's attack on the wagonshad been made so hastily that the Frenchmen with the wagons had allbeen killed; only a little drummer boy had been taken alive, and as hewas a straggler he could tell them nothing definite about the troopsin that column.

　　Denisov considered it dangerous to make a second attack for fearof putting the whole column on the alert, so he sent TikhonShcherbaty, a peasant of his party, to Shamshevo to try and seize atleast one of the French quartermasters who had been sent on inadvance.