第618章

  THE SO-CALLED “PARTISAN” WARFARE had begun with the enemy’s entrance into Smolensk. Before the irregular warfare was officially recognised by our government many thousands of the enemy’s soldiers—straggling， marauding， or foraging parties—had been slain by Cossacks and peasants， who killed these men as instinctively as dogs set upon a stray mad dog. Denis Davydov was the first to feel with his Russian instinct the value of this terrible cudgel which belaboured the French， and asked no questions about the etiquette of the military art； and to him belongs the credit of the first step towards the recognition of this method of warfare.
  The first detachment of irregulars—Davydov’s—was formed on the 24th of August， and others soon followed. In the latter stages of the campaign these detachments became more and more numerous.
  The irregulars destroyed the Grande Armée piecemeal. They swept up the fallen leaves that were dropping of themselves from the withered tree， and sometimes they shook the tree itself. By October， when the French were fleeing to Smolensk， there were hundreds of these companies， differing widely from one another in number and in character. Some were detachments that followed all the usual routine of an army， with infantry， artillery， staff-officers， and all the conveniences of life. Some consisted only of Cossacks， mounted men. Others were small bands of men， on foot and also mounted. Some consisted of peasants， or of landowners and their serfs， and remained unknown. There was a deacon at the head of such a band， who took several hundred prisoners in a month. There was the village elder’s wife， Vassilisa， who killed hundreds of the French.
  The latter part of October was the time when this guerilla warfare reached its height. That period of this warfare， in which the irregulars were themselves amazed at their own audacity， were every moment in dread of being surrounded and captured by the French， and never unsaddling， hardly dismounting， hid in the woods， in momentary expectation of pursuit， was already over. The irregular warfare had by now taken definite shape； it had become clear to all the irregulars what they could， and what they could not， accomplish with the French. By now it was only the commanders of detachments marching with staff-officers according to the rules at a distance from the French who considered much impossible. The small bands of irregulars who had been at work a long while， and were at close quarters with the French， found it possible to attempt what the leaders of larger companies did not dare to think of doing. The Cossacks and the peasants， who crept in among the French， thought everything possible now.
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