Patriotic War 1812 gave birth to a new phenomenon in history - the mass partisan movement. During the war with Napoleon, Russian peasants began to unite into 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 of the War of 1812.
Partisan
At the time of the invasion French troops 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 Napoleonic troops. Another version says that Kozhina’s husband was alive and himself led a partisan detachment, and his wife decided to follow the example of her husband.
In any case, to fight the French, Kozhina organized her own detachment of women and teenagers. The partisans used what was available on the peasant farm: pitchforks, scythes, shovels and axes. Kozhina's detachment collaborated with Russian troops, often handing over captured enemy soldiers to them.
Recognition of merit
In November 1812, the magazine “Son of the Fatherland” wrote about Vasilisa Kozhina. The article was devoted to how Kozhina escorted prisoners to the location Russian army. One day, when the peasants brought several 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 blow to the head with her scythe. Kozhina shouted to the remaining prisoners that they should not dare to be insolent, because she had already cut off the heads of 27 “such mischievous people.” This episode, by the way, was immortalized in a popular print by artist Alexei Venetsianov about the “elder Vasilisa.” In the first months after the war, such pictures were sold throughout the country as a memory of the people's feat.
It is believed that for her role in the war of liberation, the peasant woman was awarded a medal, as well as a cash prize personally from Tsar Alexander I. The State Historical Museum in Moscow houses a portrait of Vasilisa Kozhina, painted by the artist Alexander Smirnov in 1813. A medal on the St. George's ribbon is visible on Kozhina's chest.
And the name of the brave partisan is immortalized in the names of many streets. So, on a map of Moscow, near the Park Pobedy metro station, you can find Vasilisa Kozhina Street.
Popular 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, overgrown with rumors and inventions. According to these 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, the partisan once took pity on a captured Frenchman, fed him and even gave him warm clothes. Unfortunately, it is unknown whether at least one of these stories is true - 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 also could not resist myth-making. In 2013, the mini-series “Vasilisa” was released, which was later remade into a full-length film. The title character 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 French fluently), still such films speak of that the memory of the brave partisan is alive even two centuries after her death.
By the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812, Denis Vasilyevich, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, commanded a battalion of the Akhtyrsky Hussar Regiment in Bagration’s 2nd Western Army. After Napoleon's invasion of Russia, he took part in heated defensive battles, and together with the commander he passionately experienced the protracted retreat. Shortly before the Battle of Borodino, Davydov turned to Bagration with a request, given the fragility of communications of the French army, to allow him to organize partisan raids on the enemy’s rear with the support of the population. 5 It was, in essence, a people's war project. Davydov asked to give him one thousand people (cavalrymen), but “for experience” he was given only fifty hussars and eighty Cossacks. From Davydov’s letter to Prince General Bagration:
“Your Excellency! You know that I, leaving the position of your adjutant, so flattering for my pride, joining the hussar regiment, had the subject of partisan service both according to the strength of my years, and because of my experience, and, if I dare say, because of my courage... You are my only benefactor ; allow me to appear before you to explain my intentions; if they are pleasing to you, use me according to my desire and be hopeful that the one who bears the title of Bagration’s adjutant for five years in a row will support this honor with all the zeal that the plight of our dear fatherland requires...” 6
Bagration's order to create a flying partisan detachment was one of his last before the Battle of Borodino, where he was mortally wounded. On the very first night, Davydov’s detachment of 50 hussars and 80 Cossacks was ambushed by peasants, and Denis almost died. The peasants had little understanding of the details of military uniforms, which were similar among the French and Russians. Moreover, the officers spoke, as a rule, French. After this, Davydov put on a peasant's caftan and grew a beard. In the portrait by A. Orlovsky (1814), Davydov is dressed in Caucasian fashion: a checkmen, a clearly non-Russian hat, a Circassian saber. With 50 hussars and 80 Cossacks in one of the forays, he managed to capture 370 French, while repelling 200 Russian prisoners, a cart with ammunition and nine carts with provisions. His detachment grew rapidly at the expense of peasants and freed prisoners.
On his first raid, September 1, when the French were preparing to enter Moscow, Davydov and his detachment defeated one of the enemy’s rear groups on the Smolensk road, near Tsarev Zaymishche, repelling a convoy with property looted from residents and a transport with military equipment, taking more than two hundred people were captured. The success was impressive. The captured weapons were distributed to the peasants here.
His rapid successes convinced Kutuzov of the advisability of guerrilla warfare, and he was not slow to give it wider development and constantly sent reinforcements. The second time Davydov saw Napoleon was when he and his partisans were in ambush in the forest, and a dormez with Napoleon drove past him. But at that moment he had too little strength to attack Napoleon’s guards. Napoleon hated Davydov and ordered him to be shot on the spot upon his arrest. For the sake of his capture, he allocated one of his best detachments of two thousand horsemen with eight chief officers and one staff officer. Davydov, who had half as many people, managed to drive the detachment into a trap and take him prisoner along with all the officers.
Davydov’s guerrilla tactics consisted of avoiding open attacks, attacking by surprise, changing the direction of attacks, probing the enemy’s weak spots. The partisan hussar was helped by his close connection with the population: the peasants served him as scouts, guides, and themselves took part in the extermination of French foragers. Since the uniform of the Russian and French hussars was very similar, at first residents often mistook Davydov’s cavalrymen for the French, and then he dressed his subordinates in caftans, he himself also dressed in peasant clothes, grew a beard, and hung the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on his chest. Knowing that some people were laughing at the new appearance of the hussar commander and that this angered Davydov, Kutuzov, on occasion, calmed him down with a smile, saying: “In a people’s war this is necessary. Act as you act. There is a time for everything, and you will be in your shoes.” shuffle at court balls." One of Davydov’s outstanding feats during this time was the case near Lyakhov, where he, along with other partisans, captured General Augereau’s two-thousand-strong detachment; then, near the city of Kopys, he destroyed the French cavalry depot, scattered the enemy detachment near Belynichi and, continuing the search to the Neman, occupied Grodno.
Denis Davydov was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd class, and St. George, 4th class, for the 1812 campaign. With Davydov’s successes, his squad also grew. Denis Vasilyevich was given two Cossack regiments, in addition, the detachment was constantly replenished with volunteers and soldiers repulsed from captivity. 7
On November 4, near Krasnoye, Davydov captured generals Almeron and Byurt, many other prisoners and a large convoy. On November 9 near Kopys and November 14 near Belynichi he also celebrated victories. On December 9 he forced the Austrian general Fröhlich to surrender Grodno to him. Davydov was not distinguished by cruelty and did not execute prisoners, as Figner did, for example; on the contrary, he restrained others from arbitrary reprisals and demanded a humane attitude towards surrendered enemies. After crossing the border, Davydov was assigned to the corps of General Wintzingerode, participated in the defeat of the Saxons near Kalisz and, having entered Saxony with an advanced detachment, occupied Dresden. For which he was put under house arrest by General Wintzingerode, since he took the city without permission, without orders. Throughout Europe, legends were made about Davydov’s courage and luck. When Russian troops entered a city, all the residents went out into the street and asked about him in order to see him.
For the battle on the approach to Paris, when five horses were killed under him, but he, together with his Cossacks, still broke through the hussars of the Jacquinot brigade to the French artillery battery and, having chopped up the servants, decided the outcome of the battle, Davydov was awarded the rank of major general.
He achieved wide popularity in 1812 as the head of a partisan detachment, organized on his own initiative. At first, the higher authorities reacted to Davydov’s idea with some skepticism, but the partisan actions turned out to be very useful and brought a lot of harm to the French. Davydov had imitators - Figner, Seslavin and others.
The most massive form of struggle of the Russian people against the invaders was the struggle for food. From the first days of the invasion, the French demanded from the population large quantity bread and fodder to supply the army. But the peasants did not want to give their grain to the enemy. Despite the good harvest, most fields in Lithuania, Belarus and the Smolensk region remained unharvested. On October 4, the chief of police of the Berezinsky subprefecture, Dombrovsky, wrote: “I am ordered to deliver everything, but there is nowhere to take it from... There is a lot of grain in the fields that was not harvested due to the disobedience of the peasants.”
Peasants are increasingly beginning to move from passive forms of resistance to active, armed ones. Peasant partisan detachments are beginning to emerge everywhere - from the western border to Moscow. In the occupied territory there were even areas where there was no French or Russian administration and which were controlled by partisan detachments: Borisov district in the Minsk province, Gzhatsky and Sychevsky districts in Smolensk, Vokhonskaya volost and the environs of the Kolotsky monastery in Moscow. Usually, such detachments were led by wounded or lagged by illness career soldiers or non-commissioned officers. One of these large partisan detachments(up to 4 thousand people) was led in the Gzhatsk region by soldier Eremey Chetvertakov.
Eremey Vasilyevich Chetvertakov was an ordinary soldier of the dragoon cavalry regiment, which was part of the rearguard of the Russian army under the command of General Konovnitsyn in August 1812. In one of these skirmishes on August 31 with the vanguard of the French troops rushing to Moscow, near the village of Tsarevo-Zaymishche, the squadron in which Chetvertakov was located found itself in a difficult situation: it was surrounded by French dragoons. A bloody battle ensued. Making its way with sabers and pistol fire, the small Russian squadron escaped from the encirclement, but at the very last moment a horse was killed near Chetvertakov. Having fallen, she crushed the rider, and he was taken prisoner by the enemy dragoons who surrounded him. Chetvertakov was sent to a prisoner of war camp near Gzhatsk.
But the Russian soldier was not the type to accept captivity. Guard duty in the camp was carried out by forcibly 172 Dalmatian Slavs mobilized into the “great army”, who only became “French” in 1811 after the inclusion of the so-called Illyrian provinces on the Adriatic coast - Dalmatia French Empire. Chetvertakov quickly found a common language with them and on the fourth day of captivity, with the help of one of the guard soldiers, he escaped.
At first, Eremey Vasilyevich tried to break through to his own people. But this turned out to be a difficult matter - enemy horse and foot patrols loomed everywhere. Then the savvy soldier made his way along forest paths from the Smolensk road to the south and reached the village of Zadkovo. Without waiting for any order, Chetvertakov, at his own peril and risk, began to create a partisan detachment from the residents of this village. The serf peasants all responded as one to the call of the experienced soldier, but Chetvertakov understood that to fight a strong and well-trained enemy, impulse alone is not enough. After all, none of these patriots knew how to wield a weapon, and for them a horse was only a draft force to plow, mow, and pull a cart or sleigh.
Almost no one knew how to ride a horse, and speed of movement and maneuverability were the key to success partisans. Chetvertakov began by creating a “partisan school.” To begin with, he taught his charges the elements of cavalry riding and simple commands. Then, under his supervision, the village blacksmith forged several homemade Cossack pikes. But it was necessary to get a firearm. Of course he was not in the village. Where to get? Only the enemy.
And so 50 of the best-trained partisans on horseback, armed with homemade pikes and axes, made their first raid under the cover of darkness. Napoleon's troops marched along the Smolensk road in a continuous stream towards the Borodino field. To attack such an armada would be suicide, although everyone was eager and eager to fight. Not far from the road, in the forest, Chetvertakov decided to set up an ambush, expecting that some small group of the enemy would deviate from the route in search of food and feed for the horses. And so it happened. About 12 French cuirassiers left the road and went deeper into the forest, heading towards the nearest village of Kravna. And suddenly trees fell in the path of the cavalrymen. With a cry of "Ambush! Ambush!" The cuirassiers turned back, but even here, on their way, centuries-old fir trees fell right onto the road. Trap! Before the French had time to come to their senses, bearded men with pikes and axes flew at them from all sides. The fight was short. All 12 died on a remote forest road. The partisans received ten excellent cavalry horses, 12 carbines and 24 pistols with a supply of charges for them.
But the Russian dragoon was in no hurry - after all, none of his army had ever held a cavalry carbine or pistol in their hands. First we had to learn how to wield a weapon. Chetvertakov himself went through this science for two whole years as recruits of the reserve dragoon regiment: he learned to load, shoot from a horse, from the ground, standing and lying down, and not just shoot into God’s light like a penny, but with precision. Eremey led his detachment back to the partisan base in Zadkovo. Here he opened the “second class” of his “partisan school” - he taught peasants how to own firearms. Time was running out, and there were few gunpowder charges. Therefore, the course is accelerated.
They hung armor on the trees and started shooting at them as if at targets. Before the peasants had time to practice shooting a couple of times, a patrolman galloped up on a lathered horse: “The French are coming to the village!” Indeed, a large detachment of French foragers, led by an officer and a whole column of food trucks, was moving through the forest towards Zadkovo.
Eremey Chetvertakov gave the first military command - “Get to the gun!” There are twice as many French, but the partisans have ingenuity and knowledge of the area on their side. Again an ambush, again a short battle, this time with shooting not at targets, and again success: 15 invaders remain lying on the road, the rest hastily flee, abandoning ammunition and weapons. Now we could fight in earnest!
Rumors about the successes of Zadkov's partisans under the command of a dashing dragoon who escaped from captivity spread widely throughout the district. Less than two weeks had passed since the last battle, when peasants from all the surrounding villages flocked to Chetvertakov: “Take him, father, under your command.” Soon Chetvertakov’s partisan detachment reached three hundred people. A simple soldier showed remarkable leadership thinking and ingenuity. He divided his squad into two parts. One carried out patrol duty on the border of the partisan area, preventing small groups of foragers and marauders from entering it.
The other became a “flying detachment” that carried out raids behind enemy lines, in the vicinity of Gzhatsk, to the Kolotsky monastery, and to the city of Medyn.
The partisan detachment grew continuously. By October 1812, he had already reached a strength of almost 4 thousand people (an entire partisan regiment!), this allowed Chetvertakov not to limit himself to the destruction of small gangs of marauders, but to smash large military formations. So, at the end of October, he completely defeated a battalion of French infantry with two cannons, captured food looted by the invaders and a whole herd of cattle taken from the peasants.
During the French occupation of the Smolensk province, most of the Gzhatsky district was free from invaders - the partisans vigilantly guarded the borders of their “partisan region”. Chetvertakov himself turned out to be an extremely modest person. When the army Napoleon hastily fled from Moscow along the Old Smolensk Road, the dragoon gathered his army, bowed low to them “for their service to the Tsar and the Fatherland,” dismissed the partisans to their homes, and he himself rushed to catch up with the Russian army. In Mogilev, where General A.S. Kologrivov formed reserve cavalry units, Chetvertakov was assigned to the Kyiv Dragoon Regiment, as an experienced soldier, and promoted to non-commissioned officer. But no one knew that he was one of the heroic partisans of the Patriotic War of 1812. Only in 1813, after the peasant partisans of the Gzhatsky district themselves turned to the authorities with a request to celebrate the merits of “Chetvertak” (this was his partisan nickname) as the “savior of the Gzhatsk district”, who again became commander-in-chief after the death of M. I. Kutuzov M. B. Barclay de Tolly awarded "the Kyiv Dragoon Regiment non-commissioned officer Chetvertakov for his exploits against the enemy in 1812, with the insignia of the Military Order" (the Cross of St. George, the highest award for soldiers of the Russian army). Chetvertakov fought bravely during the foreign campaign of the Russian army in 1813-1814. and ended the war in Paris. The partisan detachment of Eremey Chetvertakov was not the only one. In the same Smolensk province in Sychevsky district, a partisan detachment of 400 people was led by a retired Suvorov soldier S. Emelyanov. The detachment fought 15 battles, destroyed 572 enemy soldiers and captured 325 people. But often ordinary peasants also became the leaders of partisan detachments. For example, a large detachment of the peasant Gerasim Kurin operated in the Moscow province. What especially amazed the occupiers was the participation of women in the partisan movement. History has preserved to this day the exploits of the village elder of Gorshkov, Sychevsky district, Smolensk province, Vasilisa Kozhina. “Praskoveya the lacemaker” (her last name remained unknown) from the village of Sokolovo in the same Smolensk province was also a match for her.
Especially many partisan detachments arose in the Moscow province after the French occupied Moscow. The partisans were no longer limited to ambushing individual foragers, but fought real battles with the invaders. For example, Gerasim Kurin’s detachment fought such continuous battles from September 25 to October 1, 1812. On October 1, partisans (500 horsemen and 5 thousand foot soldiers) defeated a large detachment of French foragers in a battle near the village of Pavlov Posad. 20 carts, 40 horses, 85 rifles, 120 pistols, etc. were captured. The enemy was missing more than two hundred soldiers.
For your selfless actions Gerasim Kurin received the St. George Cross from the hands of M.I. Kutuzov himself.
This was a rare case of awarding a non-military person, and even a serf. Along with peasant partisan detachments, on the initiative of Barclay de Tolly and Kutuzov, in August 1812, so-called military (flying) partisan detachments from regular and irregular (Cossacks, Tatars, Bashkirs, Kalmyks) troops began to be created.
Military partisan detachments. Seeing the stretched nature of the enemy’s communications, the absence of a continuous line of defense, and roads not protected by the enemy, the Russian military command decided to use this to strike with small flying cavalry detachments sent to the rear of the “great army.” The first such detachments were created even before the Battle of Smolensk by Barclay de Tolly (August 4 - the military partisan detachment of F. F. Wintsengerode). The Wintzengerode detachment initially operated in the rear of the French troops in the area of Vitebsk and Polotsk, and after leaving Moscow it urgently moved to the St. Petersburg road directly in the vicinity of the “second capital”. Then a detachment of military partisans by I. I. Dibich 1 was created, operating in the Smolensk province. These were large detachments, uniting from six, like Winzengerode, to two, like Diebitsch, cavalry regiments. Along with them, small (150-250 people) mobile mounted military partisan teams operated. The initiator of their creation was the famous partisan poet Denis Davydov, supported Bagration And Kutuzova. Davydov led the first such maneuverable detachment of 200 hussars and Cossacks shortly before the Battle of Borodino.
Davydov's detachment acted first against small 180 enemy groups (foraging teams, small convoys, etc.). Gradually, Davydov’s team grew in number due to the repulsed Russian prisoners. “In the absence of Russian uniforms, I dressed them in French uniforms and armed them with French guns, leaving them Russian caps instead of shakos for identification,” he later wrote D. Davydov. “Soon Davydov already had 500 people. This allowed him to increase the scope of operations. On September 12, 1812, Davydov’s detachment defeated a large enemy convoy in the Vyazma area. 276 soldiers, 32 carts, two wagons with cartridges and 340 guns were captured, which Davydov handed it over to the militia.
The French were seriously alarmed when they saw the successful actions of Davydov’s detachment in the Vyazma area. To defeat him, a 2,000-strong punitive detachment was allocated, but all efforts were in vain - local peasants warned Davydov in time, and he evaded the punitive forces, continuing to destroy the enemy’s convoys and repelling Russian prisoners of war. Subsequently, D. V. Davydov generalized and systematized the military results of the actions of military partisans in two of his works of 1821: “An Experience in the Theory of Partisan Actions” and “Diary of Partisan Actions in 1812,” where he rightly emphasized the significant effect of this new for the 19th century. forms of war to defeat the enemy.
The successes of the military partisans prompted Kutuzov to actively use this form of fighting the enemy during the retreat from Borodino to Moscow. This is how a large detachment of military partisans arose (4 cavalry regiments) under the command of another famous partisan, General I. S. Dorokhov.
Dorokhov's detachment successfully destroyed enemy transports on the Smolensk road from September to 14, capturing more than 1.4 thousand enemy soldiers and officers. Major squad operation Dorokhova The defeat of the French garrison in the city of Vereya occurred on September 19, 1812. The Westphalian regiment from Junot's corps guarding the city was completely defeated. It is characteristic that the peasant partisan detachment of Borovsky district also participated in the assault along with the military partisans.
The obvious successes of the detachments of Davydov and Dorokhov, and the rumor about their victories quickly spread throughout all the central provinces of Russia and in the Russian army, stimulated the creation of new detachments of military partisans. During his stay at the Tarutino position, Kutuzov created several more such detachments: captains A. N. Seslavin and A. S. Figner, colonels I. M. Vadbolsky, I. F. Chernozubov, V. I. Prendel, N. D. Kudashev and others. All of them operated on the roads leading to Moscow.
Figner's detachment acted especially boldly. The commander of this detachment himself was distinguished by his unbridled courage. Even during the retreat from Moscow, Figner obtained permission from Kutuzov to remain in the capital to commit an assassination attempt on Napoleon. Disguised as a merchant, he spied on Napoleon's headquarters in Moscow day after day, simultaneously creating a small detachment of urban partisans. The detachment smashed the occupiers' guards at night. Figner failed to assassinate Napoleon, but he successfully applied his experience as a military intelligence officer by leading the partisans. Having hidden his small team in the forest, the commander himself, in the uniform of a French officer, went to the Mozhaisk road, collecting intelligence data. It could never have occurred to Napoleonic soldiers that the brilliantly French-speaking officer was a partisan in disguise. After all, many of them (Germans, Italians, Poles, Dutch, etc.) understood only commands in French, explaining themselves to each other in that unimaginable jargon that could only conditionally be called French.
Figner and his squad more than once found themselves in difficult troubles. One day they were surrounded on three sides by punitive forces. It seemed like there was no way out, we had to give up. But Figner came up with a brilliant military trick: he dressed half of the detachment in French uniforms and staged a battle with the other part. The real French stopped, waiting for the end and preparing carts for trophies and prisoners. Meanwhile, the “French” pushed the Russians back to the forest, and then they disappeared together.
Kutuzov praised Figner's actions and placed him in charge of a larger detachment of 800 people. In a letter to his wife, sent with Figner, Kutuzov wrote: “Look at him closely, he is an extraordinary man. I have never seen such a height of soul, he is a fanatic in courage and patriotism...”
Serving clear example patriotism, M.I. Kutuzov sent his son-in-law and adjutant, Colonel Prince N.D. Kudashev, to join the military partisans. | Like Davydov, Kudashev led a small mobile detachment of 300 Don Cossacks and, leaving Tarutino at the beginning of October 1812, began to actively operate in the area of the Serpukhov road.
On October 10, at night, with a sudden blow, the Donets defeated the French garrison in the village of Nikolskoye: out of more than 2 thousand, 100 were killed, 200 were captured, the rest fled in panic. On October 16, Kudashev’s detachment near the village of Lopasni scattered a large detachment of French cuirassiers, captured their convoy and 16 prisoners. On October 17, near the village of Alferovo, the Donets of Kudashev again ambushed another Napoleonic cavalry detachment stretched along the Serpukhov road and again captured 70 people.
Kutuzov closely followed the partisan combat successes of his beloved son-in-law (he called him “my eyes”) and wrote with pleasure to his wife - his daughter: “Kudashev is also a partisan and does a good job.”
On October 19, Kutuzov ordered the expansion of this “small war.” In his letter to his eldest daughter in St. Petersburg on October 13, he explained his intention this way: “We have been standing in one place for more than a week (in Tarutino - V.S.) and Napoleon and I are looking at each other, each is biding its time. Meanwhile, in small parts We fight every day and to this day everywhere successfully. Every day we take almost three hundred people in full and we lose so little that it’s almost nothing..."
But if Napoleon really waited (and in vain) for peace with Alexander I, then Kutuzov acted - he expanded the “small war” around Moscow. The detachments of Figner, Seslavin and Kudashev operating near Tarutin were ordered from October 20 to 27, 1812 to walk along the rear of the Napoleonic army - from Serpukhov to Vyazma - with small maneuverable detachments, no more than 100 people each. The main task is reconnaissance, but combat should not be neglected. The commanders of the military partisans did just that: smashing individual military units and foraging teams of the enemy along the road (Kudashev’s detachment alone captured 400 people and recaptured 100 food carts), they collected valuable information about the deployment of enemy troops. By the way, it was Kudashev, looking through the papers found on one of the murdered French staff officers, who discovered a secret order from the chief of staff of the “grand army,” Marshal Berthier, to send “all the burdens” (i.e., property looted in Moscow - V.S.) to Mozhaisk road and further to Smolensk, to the west. This meant that the French intended to leave Moscow soon. Kudashev immediately forwarded this letter to Kutuzov.
It confirmed the strategic calculation of the great Russian commander. Even on September 27, almost a month before the French left the “first throne,” he wrote to his eldest daughter (not without intent - she was a lady of state at court and was well known to the Tsar’s wife): “I won the battle before Moscow (on Borodino. - V . C), but it is necessary to save the army, and it is intact. Soon all our armies, that is, Tormasov, Chichagov, Wittgenstein and others will act towards the same goal, and Napoleon will not stay long in Moscow..."
Military partisans caused a lot of trouble and anxiety to Napoleon. He had to divert significant forces from Moscow to guard the roads. Thus, parts of Victor’s reserve corps were deployed to guard the section from Smolensk to Mozhaisk. Junot And Murat received an order to strengthen the security of Borovskaya and Podolskaya roads. But all efforts were in vain. Kutuzov had every reason to inform the tsar that “my partisans instilled fear and terror in the enemy, taking away all means of food.”
Guerrilla warfare(partisan movement) 1812 - an armed conflict between Napoleon's troops and Russian partisans during the Patriotic War of 1812.
The partisan troops consisted of detachments of the Russian army located in the rear, escaped Russian prisoners of war and numerous volunteers from civilian population. Partisan units were one of the main forces participating in the war and resisting the attackers.
Prerequisites for the creation of partisan detachments
Napoleon's troops that attacked Russia moved quite quickly into the interior of the country, pursuing the retreating Russian army. This led to the fact that the French army was quite stretched across the territory of the state, from the borders to the capital itself - thanks to the extended communication lines, the French received food and weapons. Seeing this, the leadership of the Russian army decided to create mobile units that would operate in the rear and try to cut off the channels through which the French received food. This is how partisan detachments appeared, the first of which was formed by order of Lieutenant Colonel D. Davydov.
Partisan detachments of Cossacks and regular army
Davydov compiled a very effective plan conducting partisan warfare, thanks to which he received from Kutuzov a detachment of 50 hussars and 50 Cossacks. Together with his detachment, Davydov went to the rear of the French army and began subversive activities there.
In September, this detachment attacked a French detachment transporting food and additional manpower (soldiers). The French were captured or killed, and all goods were destroyed. There were several such attacks - the partisans acted carefully and always unexpectedly for the French soldiers, thanks to which they almost always managed to destroy carts with food and other belongings.
Soon peasants and Russian soldiers released from captivity began to join Davydov’s detachment. Despite the fact that the partisans’ relations with the local peasants were strained at first, quite soon the local residents themselves began to take part in Davydov’s raids and actively help in the partisan movement.
Davydov, together with his soldiers, regularly disrupted food supplies, freed prisoners and sometimes took weapons from the French.
When Kutuzov was forced to leave Moscow, he gave the order to start an active guerrilla war in all directions. By that time, partisan detachments began to grow and appeared throughout the country; they consisted mainly of Cossacks. Partisan detachments usually numbered several hundred people, but there were also larger formations (up to 1,500 people) that could easily cope with small detachments of the regular French army.
Several factors contributed to the partisans' success. Firstly, they always acted suddenly, which gave them an advantage, and secondly, local residents quickly established contact with partisan detachments rather than with the regular army.
By the middle of the war, the partisan detachments had grown so large that they began to pose a significant danger to the French, and a real guerrilla war began.
Peasant partisan units
The success of the partisan war of 1812 would not have been so stunning if not for the active participation of peasants in the life of the partisans. They always actively supported the units working in their area, brought them food and provided assistance in every possible way.
The peasants also offered all possible resistance to the French army. First of all, they refused to conduct any trade with the French - this often went so far as the peasants burning own houses and food supplies if they knew that the French would come to them.
After the fall of Moscow and discord in Napoleon's army, the Russian peasantry moved to more active action. Peasant partisan detachments began to be created, which also offered armed resistance to the French and carried out raids.
Results and role of the partisan war of 1812
Largely thanks to the active and skillful actions of Russian partisan detachments, which over time turned into a huge force, Napoleon’s army fell and was expelled from Russia. The partisans actively undermined the ties between the French and their own, cut off the supply routes for weapons and food, and simply defeated small detachments in dense forests - all this greatly weakened Napoleon’s army and led to its internal disintegration and weakening.
The war was won, and the heroes of the partisan war were awarded.
While Napoleonic troops are relaxing with drunkenness and looting in Moscow, and the regular Russian army is retreating, making clever maneuvers that will then allow it to rest, gather strength, significantly replenish its strength and win victories over the enemy, let's talk about club of people's war as we like with light hand Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy called the partisan movement of 1812.
Partisans of the Denisov detachment
Illustration for Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace
Andrey NIKOLAEV
Firstly, I would like to say that this club has a very distant relationship with guerrilla warfare in the form in which it existed. Namely, army partisan detachments consisting of military personnel of regular units and Cossacks, created in the Russian army to operate in the rear and on enemy communications. Secondly, reading even in Lately various materials, not to mention Soviet sources, you often come across the idea that their ideological inspirer and organizer was solely Denis Davydov, famous poet and the partisans of that time, who were the first to propose the creation of detachments, like the Spanish guerrillas, through Prince Bagration to Field Marshal Kutuzov before the Battle of Borodino. It must be said that the dashing hussar himself put a lot of effort into this legend. Happens...
Portrait of Denis Davydov
Yuri IVANOV
In fact, the first partisan detachment in this war was created near Smolensk by order of the same Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly, even before Kutuzov’s appointment as commander-in-chief. By the time Davydov turned to Bagration with a request to allow the creation of an army partisan detachment, Major General Ferdinand Fedorovich Wintzingerode (commander of the first partisan detachment) was already in full swing and successfully smashing the rear of the French. The detachment occupied the cities of Surazh, Velezh, Usvyat, and constantly threatened the outskirts of Vitebsk, which was the reason that Napoleon was forced to send the Italian division of General Pino to help the Vitebsk garrison. As usual, we have these things to do Germans forgotten...
Portrait of General Baron Ferdinand Fedorovich Wintzingerode
Unknown artist
After Borodino, in addition to Davydov’s (by the way, the smallest detachment), several more were created that began active fighting after leaving Moscow. Some detachments consisted of several regiments and could independently solve large combat missions, for example, the detachment of Major General Ivan Semenovich Dorokhov, which included a dragoon, hussar and 3 cavalry regiments. Large detachments were commanded by colonels Vadbolsky, Efremov, Kudashev, captains Seslavin, Figner and others. Many glorious officers fought in the partisan detachments, including future satraps(as they were previously introduced to us) Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf, Alexander Ivanovich Chernyshev.
Portraits of Ivan Semenovich Dorokhov and Ivan Efremovich Efremov
George DOW Unknown artist
At the beginning of October 1812, it was decided to surround Napoleonic army with a ring of army partisan detachments, with a clear plan of action and a specific area of deployment for each of them. Thus, Davydov’s detachment was ordered to operate between Smolensk and Gzhatsk, Major General Dorokhov – between Gzhatsk and Mozhaisk, Staff Captain Figner – between Mozhaisk and Moscow. In the Mozhaisk area there were also detachments of colonels Vadbolsky and Chernozubov.
Portraits of Nikolai Danilovich Kudashev and Ivan Mikhailovich Vadbolsky
George DOW
Between Borovsk and Moscow, attacks on enemy communications were carried out by detachments of Captain Seslavin and Lieutenant Fonvizin. North of Moscow, a group of detachments under the overall command of General Wintzingerode waged an armed struggle. Colonel Efremov’s detachment operated on the Ryazan road, Colonel Kudashev’s on Serpukhovskaya, and Major Lesovsky’s on Kashirskaya. The main advantage of partisan detachments was their mobility, surprise and swiftness. They never stood in one place, they constantly moved, and no one except the commander knew in advance when and where the detachment would go. If necessary, several detachments were temporarily united to conduct large operations.
Portraits of Alexander Samoilovich Figner and Alexander Nikitich Seslavin
Yuri IVANOV
Without in any way detracting from the exploits of Denis Davydov’s detachment and himself, it must be said that many commanders were offended by the memoirist after the publication of his military notes, in which he often exaggerated his own merits and forgot to mention his comrades. To which Davydov replied innocently: Fortunately, I have something to say about myself, why not say it? And it’s true, the organizers, generals Barclay de Tolly and Wintzingerode, passed away one after another in 1818, so what to remember about them... And written in a fascinating, rich language, the works of Denis Vasilyevich were very popular in Russia. True, Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky wrote to Xenophon Polevoy in 1832: Let it be said between us, he wrote out more than he knocked out his reputation as a brave man.
A memoirist, and even more so a poet, and even a hussar, well, how can we do without fantasies :) So let’s forgive him these little pranks?..
Denis Davydov at the head of the partisans in the vicinity of Lyakhovo
A. TELENIK
Portrait of Denis Davydov
Alexander ORLOVSKY
In addition to partisan detachments, there was also a so-called people's war, which was waged by spontaneously created self-defense units of villagers and the importance of which, in my opinion, is greatly exaggerated. And it’s already teeming with myths... Now they say they’ve made a film about the elder Vasilisa Kozhina, whose very existence is still disputed, and we can’t even say anything about her exploits. But strangely enough, the same man also had a hand in this movement German Barclay de Tolly, who back in July, without waiting for instructions from above, addressed through the Smolensk governor Baron Kazimir Asha to the residents of the Pskov, Smolensk and Kaluga regions with an appeal:
The inhabitants of Pskov, Smolensk and Kaluga! Hear the voice calling you to your own peace, to your own safety. Our irreconcilable enemy, having taken a greedy intention against us, has hitherto nourished himself with the hope that his impudence alone will be enough to frighten us, to triumph over us. But our two brave armies, stopping the daring flight of his violence, confronted him with their breasts on our ancient borders... Avoiding a decisive battle, ... his bandits of bandits, attacking unarmed villagers, tyrannized over them with all the cruelty of barbarian times: they rob and burn their houses; they desecrate the temples of God... But many of the inhabitants of the Smolensk province have already awakened from their fear. They, armed in their homes, with courage worthy of the Russian name, punish the villains without any mercy. Imitate them, all who love themselves, the fatherland and the sovereign!
Of course, ordinary people and peasants behaved differently in the territories abandoned by the Russians. When the French army approached, they moved away from home or into the forests. But often, some first of all destroyed the estates of their tyrant landowners (we must not forget that the peasants were serfs), robbed, set fire, ran away in the hope that the French would come now and free them (the earth was full of rumors about Napoleon’s intentions to rid the peasants of serfdom ).
The destruction of the landowner's estate. Patriotic War of 1812
Looting of a landowner's estate by peasants after the retreat of Russian troops before Napoleon's army
V.N. KURDIUMOV
During the retreat of our troops and the entry of the French into Russia, landowner peasants often rose up against their masters, divided the master's estate, even tore up and burned houses, killed landowners and managers- in a word, they destroyed the estates. The passing troops joined the peasants and, in turn, carried out plunder. Our picture depicts an episode of such a joint robbery of civilians with the military. The action takes place in one of the rich landowners' estates. The owner himself was no longer there, and the remaining clerk was captured so that he would not interfere. The furniture was taken out into the garden and broken. The statues that decorated the garden were broken; the flowers are wrinkled. There is a wine barrel lying around with its bottom knocked out. The wine spilled. Everyone takes whatever they can for themselves. And unnecessary things are thrown away and destroyed. A cavalryman on a horse stands and calmly looks at this picture of destruction.(original caption for illustration)
Partisans of 1812.
Boris ZVORYKIN
Where the landowners behaved humanely, the peasants and courtyard people armed themselves with whatever they could, sometimes under the leadership of the owners themselves, attacked the French troops, convoys and repulsed them. Some detachments were led by Russian soldiers who lagged behind their units due to illness, injury, captivity and subsequent escape from it. So the audience was varied.
Defenders of the homeland
Alexander APSIT
Scouts Plastun
Alexander APSIT
It is also impossible to say that these detachments operated on a permanent basis. They were organized for as long as the enemy was on their territory, and then disbanded, all for the same reason that the peasants were serfs. After all, even from the militias created at the behest of the emperor, fugitive peasants were escorted home and put on trial. So Kurin’s detachment, whose exploits were sung by Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, lasted 10 days - from October 5 to 14, until the French were in Bogorodsky district, and then was disbanded. And not the entire Russian people participated in the people's war, but only residents of several provinces where the fighting took place, or adjacent to them.
French guards under the escort of grandmother Spiridonovna
Alexey VENETSIANOV, 1813
I started this whole conversation in order, firstly, to understand that our club of people's war could not stand any comparison with the Spanish-Portuguese guerrillas (you can read a little about this), which we supposedly looked up to, and, secondly, to show once again that the Patriotic War was won primarily thanks to the actions of our commanders, generals, officers , soldier. And the emperor. And not by the forces of the Gerasimov Kurins, the mythical lieutenants Rzhevskys, Vasilis Kozhins and other entertaining characters... Although it could not have happened without them... And we will talk more specifically about partisan warfare in the future...