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 overwhelming 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. Moreover, 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, 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 units, 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 detachments under the command of Wintzingerode, Denis Vasilyevich Davydov, Ivan Semyonovich Dorokhov, Alexander Samoilovich Figner, Alexander Nikitich Seslavin and other commanders received the greatest fame.
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 Winzingerode 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 unsuccessful start of the war and the retreat of the Russian army deep into its territory showed that the enemy could hardly be defeated by the forces of regular troops alone. This required the efforts of the whole people. In the overwhelming majority of the areas occupied by the enemy, he perceived the "Great Army" not as his liberator from serfdom, but as an enslaver. The next invasion of "foreigners" was perceived by the overwhelming majority of the population as an invasion, which had the goal of eradicating the Orthodox faith and establishing godlessness.
Speaking about the partisan movement in the war of 1812, it should be clarified that the actual partisans were temporary detachments of regular military units and Cossacks, purposefully and organizedly created by the Russian command for operations in the rear and on enemy communications. And to describe the actions of the spontaneously created self-defense units of the villagers, the term "people's war" was introduced. Therefore, the popular movement in the Patriotic War of 1812 is an integral part of the more general theme "The People in the War of the Twelfth Year."
Some authors associate the beginning of the partisan movement in 1812 with the manifesto of July 6, 1812, as if allowing the peasants to take up arms and actively join the struggle. In reality, things were somewhat different.
Even before the start of the war, the lieutenant colonel drew up a note on the conduct of an active guerrilla war. In 1811, the work of the Prussian colonel Valentini "Small War" was published in Russian. However, in the Russian army they looked at the partisans with a significant degree of skepticism, seeing in the partisan movement "a pernicious system of divisive action of the army."
People's War
With the invasion of the Napoleonic hordes, local residents initially simply left the villages and went to forests and areas remote from hostilities. Later, retreating through the Smolensk lands, the commander of the Russian 1st Western Army called on his compatriots to take up arms against the invaders. His proclamation, which was obviously based on the work of the Prussian colonel Valentini, indicated how to act against the enemy and how to wage guerrilla warfare.
It arose spontaneously and was a performance of small disparate detachments of local residents and soldiers lagging behind their units against the predatory actions of the rear units of the Napoleonic army. Trying to protect their property and food supplies, the population was forced to resort to self-defense. According to memoirs, “in every village the gates were locked; with them stood old and young with pitchforks, stakes, axes, and some of them with firearms.
The French foragers sent to the countryside for food faced not only passive resistance. In the region of Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev, detachments of peasants made frequent day and night raids on enemy carts, destroyed his foragers, and captured French soldiers.
Later, the Smolensk province was also plundered. Some researchers believe that it was from that moment for the Russian people that the war became patriotic. Here the popular resistance also gained the widest scope. It began in Krasnensky, Porechsky districts, and then in Belsky, Sychevsky, Roslavl, Gzhatsky and Vyazemsky counties. At first, before the appeal of M.B. Barclay de Tolly, the peasants were afraid to arm themselves, fearing that they would then be held accountable. However, this process has since intensified.
Partisans in the Patriotic War of 1812
Unknown artist. 1st quarter of the 19th century
In the city of Bely and Belsky district, peasant detachments attacked parties of the French that made their way to them, destroyed them or took them prisoner. The leaders of the Sychevsk detachments, police officer Boguslavsky and retired major Yemelyanov, armed their villagers 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 peasant detachments on horseback and on foot, arming the villagers 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 peasant detachments operated in the Yukhnovsky district. Organizing defense along the river. Ugra, they blocked the path of the enemy in Kaluga, provided significant assistance to the army partisan detachment D.V. Davydov.
In the Gzhatsk district, another detachment was also active, created from peasants, headed by an ordinary Kiev Dragoon Regiment. The detachment of Chetvertakov began not only to protect the villages from marauders, but to attack the enemy, inflicting significant losses on him. As a result, in the entire space of 35 versts from the Gzhatskaya pier, the lands were not devastated, despite the fact that all the surrounding villages lay in ruins. For this feat, the inhabitants of those places "with sensitive gratitude" called Chetvertakov "the savior of that side."
Private Eremenko did the same. With the help of the landowner Michulovo, by the name of Krechetov, he also organized a peasant detachment, with which on October 30 he exterminated 47 people from the enemy.
The actions of the peasant 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.
Fight Mozhaisk peasants with French soldiers during and after the Battle of Borodino. Colorized engraving by an unknown author. 1830s
In the Zvenigorod district, peasant 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, such 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 detachments united up to 2 thousand people. History has preserved for us the names of the most distinguished peasants from the Bronnitsky district: Mikhail Andreev, Vasily Kirillov, Sidor Timofeev, Yakov Kondratiev, Vladimir Afanasyev.
Don't shut up! Let me come! Artist V.V. Vereshchagin. 1887-1895
The largest peasant detachment in the Moscow region was a detachment of Bogorodsk partisans. In one of the first publications in 1813 about the formation of this detachment, it was written that “the economic volosts Vokhnovskaya head, centurion Ivan Chushkin and the peasant, Amerevsky head Yemelyan Vasilyev gathered peasants under their jurisdiction, and also invited neighboring ones.”
The detachment numbered in its ranks about 6 thousand people, the leader of this detachment was the peasant 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.
It should be noted that even women participated in sorties against the enemy. Subsequently, these episodes were overgrown with legends and in some cases did not even remotely resemble real events. A typical example is with, to which popular rumor and propaganda of that time attributed no less than leadership of a peasant detachment, which in reality was not.
French guards under escort of Grandmother Spiridonovna. A.G. Venetsianov. 1813
A gift for children in memory of the events of 1812. Caricature from the series I.I. Terebeneva
Peasant and partisan detachments 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 their raids. They intercepted French correspondence, especially valuable delivered to the main apartment of the Russian army.
The actions of the peasants were highly appreciated by the Russian command. “Peasants,” he wrote, “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.”
Partisans in 1812. Artist B. Zworykin. 1911
According to various estimates, more than 15 thousand people were taken prisoner by peasant formations, the same number were exterminated, significant stocks of fodder and weapons were destroyed.
In 1812. Captured French. Hood. THEM. Pryanishnikov. 1873
During the war, many active members of the peasant detachments were awarded. Emperor Alexander I ordered to award people subordinate to the count: 23 people "in command" - insignia of the Military Order (George Crosses), and the other 27 people - a special silver medal "For Love of the Fatherland" on the Vladimir ribbon.
Thus, as a result of the actions of military and peasant detachments, as well as militias, the enemy was deprived of the opportunity to expand the zone controlled by him and create additional bases for supplying the main forces. He failed to gain a foothold either in Bogorodsk, or in Dmitrov, or in Voskresensk. His attempt to get additional communications that would link the main forces with the corps of Schwarzenberg and Rainier was thwarted. The enemy also failed to capture Bryansk and reach Kiev.
Army partisan detachments
Army partisan detachments also played an important role in the Patriotic War of 1812. The idea of their creation arose even before the Battle of Borodino, and was the result of an analysis of the actions of individual cavalry units, by the will of circumstances that fell into the rear communications of the enemy.
The first partisan actions were started by a cavalry general who formed a "flying corps". Later, on August 2, already M.B. Barclay de Tolly ordered the creation of a detachment under the command of a general. He led the combined Kazan Dragoon, Stavropol, Kalmyk and three Cossack regiments, which began to operate in the area of the city of Dukhovshchina on the flanks and behind enemy lines. Its number was 1300 people.
Later, the main task of the partisan detachments was formulated by M.I. 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 units from me in the direction of Mozhaisk, Vyazma and Smolensk.
Army partisan detachments were created mainly from the most mobile Cossack units and were not the same in size: from 50 to 500 people or more. They were tasked with sudden actions behind enemy lines to disrupt communications, destroy his manpower, strike at garrisons, suitable reserves, deprive the enemy of the opportunity to get food and fodder, monitor the movement of troops and report this to the main apartment of the Russian army. Between the commanders of the partisan detachments, interaction was organized as far as possible.
The main advantage of partisan detachments was their mobility. They never stood in one place, 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.
The partisan detachments of D.V. Davydova, etc.
The personification of the entire partisan movement was the detachment of the commander of the Akhtyrsky Hussar Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Denis Davydov.
The tactics of the actions of his partisan detachment combined a swift maneuver and striking an enemy unprepared for battle. To ensure secrecy, the partisan detachment had to be on the march almost constantly.
The first successful actions encouraged the partisans, and Davydov decided to attack some enemy convoy going along the main Smolensk road. On September 3 (15), 1812, a battle took place near Tsarev-Zaimishch on the big Smolensk road, during which the partisans captured 119 soldiers, two officers. At the disposal of the partisans were 10 food carts and a cart with cartridges.
M.I. Kutuzov closely followed the brave actions of Davydov and attached great importance to the expansion of the partisan struggle.
In addition to the Davydov detachment, there were many other well-known and successfully operating partisan detachments. In the autumn of 1812, they surrounded the French army in a continuous mobile ring. The flying detachments included 36 Cossack and 7 cavalry regiments, 5 squadrons and a team of light horse artillery, 5 infantry regiments, 3 battalions of rangers and 22 regimental guns. Thus, Kutuzov gave the guerrilla war a wider scope.
Most often, partisan detachments set up ambushes and attacked enemy transports and convoys, captured couriers, and freed Russian prisoners. Every day, the Commander-in-Chief received reports on the direction of movement and actions of enemy detachments, repulsed mail, protocols of interrogation of prisoners and other information about the enemy, which were reflected in the log of military operations.
A partisan detachment of Captain A.S. was operating on the Mozhaisk road. Figner. Young, educated, who knew French, German and Italian perfectly, he found himself in the fight against a foreign enemy, not being afraid to die.
From the north, Moscow was blocked by a large detachment of General F.F. Vintsingerode, who, by allocating small detachments to Volokolamsk, to the Yaroslavl and Dmitrov roads, blocked the access of Napoleon's troops to the northern regions of the Moscow region.
With the withdrawal of the main forces of the Russian army, Kutuzov advanced from the Krasnaya Pakhra region to the Mozhaisk road in the area of the village. Perkhushkovo, located 27 miles from Moscow, a detachment of Major General I.S. Dorokhov as part of three Cossack, hussar and dragoon regiments and half a company of artillery in order to "make an attack, trying to destroy enemy parks." Dorokhov was instructed not only to observe this road, but also to strike at the enemy.
The actions of the Dorokhov detachment were approved in the main apartment of the Russian army. On the first day alone, he managed to destroy 2 squadrons of cavalry, 86 charging trucks, capture 11 officers and 450 privates, intercept 3 couriers, recapture 6 pounds of church silver.
Having withdrawn the army to the Tarutinsky position, Kutuzov formed several more army partisan detachments, in particular detachments, and. The actions of these units were of great importance.
Colonel N.D. Kudashev with two Cossack regiments was sent to the Serpukhov and Kolomenskaya roads. His detachment, having established that there were about 2,500 French soldiers and officers in the village of Nikolsky, suddenly attacked the enemy, killed more than 100 people and took 200 prisoners.
Between Borovsk and Moscow, the roads were controlled by a detachment of Captain A.N. Seslavin. He, with a detachment of 500 people (250 Don Cossacks and a squadron of the Sumy Hussar Regiment), was instructed to act in the area of \u200b\u200bthe road from Borovsk to Moscow, coordinating his actions with the detachment of A.S. Figner.
In the Mozhaisk region and to the south, a detachment of Colonel I.M. Vadbolsky as part of the Mariupol Hussars and 500 Cossacks. He advanced to the village of Kubinsky to attack enemy carts and drive away his parties, having mastered the road to Ruza.
In addition, a detachment of a lieutenant colonel of 300 people was also sent to the Mozhaisk region. To the north, in the region of Volokolamsk, a detachment of a colonel operated, near Ruza - a major, behind Klin towards the Yaroslavl tract - Cossack detachments of a military foreman, near Voskresensk - major Figlev.
Thus, the army was surrounded by a continuous ring of partisan detachments, which prevented it from carrying out foraging in the vicinity of Moscow, as a result of which a massive loss of horses was observed in the enemy troops, and demoralization intensified. This was one of the reasons why Napoleon left Moscow.
The partisans A.N. were the first to learn about the beginning of the advance of French troops from the capital. Seslavin. At the same time, he, being in the forest near the village. Fomichevo, personally saw Napoleon himself, which he immediately reported. About Napoleon's advance to the new Kaluga road and about the cover detachments (corps with the remnants of the avant-garde) was immediately reported to the main apartment of M.I. Kutuzov.
An important discovery of the partisan Seslavin. Unknown artist. 1820s.
Kutuzov sent Dokhturov to Borovsk. However, already on the way, Dokhturov learned about the occupation of Borovsk by the French. Then he went to Maloyaroslavets to prevent the advance of the enemy to Kaluga. The main forces of the Russian army also began to pull up there.
After a 12-hour march, D.S. By the evening of October 11 (23), Dokhturov approached Spassky and united with the Cossacks. And in the morning he entered the battle on the streets of Maloyaroslavets, after which the French had only one way to retreat - Staraya Smolenskaya. And then be late report A.N. Seslavin, the French would have bypassed the Russian army near Maloyaroslavets, and what the further course of the war would have been is unknown ...
By this time, the partisan detachments were reduced to three large parties. One of them under the command of Major General I.S. Dorohova, consisting of five infantry battalions, four cavalry squadrons, two Cossack regiments with eight guns, on September 28 (October 10), 1812, went to storm the city of Vereya. The enemy took up arms only when the Russian partisans had already burst into the city. Vereya was liberated, and about 400 people of the Westphalian regiment with a banner were taken prisoner.
Monument to I.S. Dorokhov in the city of Vereya. Sculptor S.S. Aleshin. 1957
Continuous exposure to the enemy was of great importance. From 2 (14) September to 1 (13) October, according to various estimates, the enemy lost only about 2.5 thousand people killed, 6.5 thousand Frenchmen were taken prisoner. Their losses increased every day due to the active actions of the peasant and partisan detachments.
To ensure the transportation of ammunition, food and fodder, as well as road safety, the French command had to allocate significant forces. Taken together, all this significantly affected the moral and psychological state of the French army, which worsened every day.
The great success of the partisans is considered to be the battle near the village. Lyakhovo west of Yelnya, which occurred on October 28 (November 9). In it partisans D.V. Davydova, A.N. Seslavin and A.S. Figner, reinforced by regiments, 3,280 in all, attacked Augereau's brigade. After a stubborn battle, the entire brigade (2 thousand soldiers, 60 officers and Augereau himself) surrendered. This was the first time that an entire enemy military unit had surrendered.
The rest of the partisan forces also continuously appeared on both sides of the road and disturbed the French vanguard with their shots. Davydov's detachment, like the detachments of other commanders, all the time followed on the heels of the enemy army. The colonel, who followed the right flank of the Napoleonic army, was ordered to go ahead, warning the enemy and raiding individual detachments when they stopped. A large partisan detachment was sent to Smolensk in order to destroy enemy stores, convoys and individual detachments. From the rear of the French, the Cossacks M.I. Platov.
The partisan detachments were used no less vigorously in the completion of the campaign to expel the Napoleonic army from Russia. Detachment A.P. Ozharovsky was to capture the city of Mogilev, where there were large enemy rear depots. On November 12 (24), his cavalry broke into the city. And two days later, the partisans D.V. Davydov interrupted communication between Orsha and Mogilev. Detachment A.N. Seslavin, together with the regular army, liberated the city of Borisov and, pursuing the enemy, approached the Berezina.
At the end of December, the entire detachment of Davydov, on the orders of Kutuzov, joined the vanguard of the main forces of the army as his vanguard.
The guerrilla war that unfolded near Moscow made a significant contribution to the victory over Napoleon's army and the expulsion of the enemy from Russia.
Material prepared by the Research Institute (Military History)
Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
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, scouts, 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 regions. 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, fighter 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 army deep into its territory showed that the enemy could hardly be defeated by the forces of regular troops alone. This required the efforts of the whole people. In the overwhelming majority of the areas occupied by the enemy, he perceived the "Great Army" not as his liberator from serfdom, but as an enslaver. The next invasion of "foreigners" was perceived by the overwhelming majority of the population as an invasion, which had the goal of eradicating the Orthodox faith and establishing godlessness.
Speaking about the partisan movement in the war of 1812, it should be clarified that the actual partisans were temporary detachments of regular military units and Cossacks, purposefully and organizedly created by the Russian command for operations in the rear and on enemy communications. And to describe the actions of the spontaneously created self-defense units of the villagers, the term "people's war" was introduced. Therefore, the popular movement in the Patriotic War of 1812 is an integral part of the more general theme "The People in the War of the Twelfth Year."
Some authors associate the beginning of the partisan movement in 1812 with the manifesto of July 6, 1812, as if allowing the peasants to take up arms and actively join the struggle. In reality, things were somewhat different.
Even before the start of the war, the lieutenant colonel drew up a note on the conduct of an active guerrilla war. In 1811, the work of the Prussian colonel Valentini "Small War" was published in Russian. However, in the Russian army they looked at the partisans with a significant degree of skepticism, seeing in the partisan movement "a pernicious system of divisive action of the army."
People's War
With the invasion of the Napoleonic hordes, local residents initially simply left the villages and went to forests and areas remote from hostilities. Later, retreating through the Smolensk lands, the commander of the Russian 1st Western Army called on his compatriots to take up arms against the invaders. His proclamation, which was obviously based on the work of the Prussian colonel Valentini, indicated how to act against the enemy and how to wage guerrilla warfare.
It arose spontaneously and was a performance of small disparate detachments of local residents and soldiers lagging behind their units against the predatory actions of the rear units of the Napoleonic army. Trying to protect their property and food supplies, the population was forced to resort to self-defense. According to memoirs, “in every village the gates were locked; with them stood old and young with pitchforks, stakes, axes, and some of them with firearms.
The French foragers sent to the countryside for food faced not only passive resistance. In the region of Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev, detachments of peasants made frequent day and night raids on enemy carts, destroyed his foragers, and captured French soldiers.
Later, the Smolensk province was also plundered. Some researchers believe that it was from that moment for the Russian people that the war became patriotic. Here the popular resistance also gained the widest scope. It began in Krasnensky, Porechsky districts, and then in Belsky, Sychevsky, Roslavl, Gzhatsky and Vyazemsky counties. At first, before the appeal of M.B. Barclay de Tolly, the peasants were afraid to arm themselves, fearing that they would then be held accountable. However, this process has since intensified.
Partisans in the Patriotic War of 1812
Unknown artist. 1st quarter of the 19th century
In the city of Bely and Belsky district, peasant detachments attacked parties of the French that made their way to them, destroyed them or took them prisoner. The leaders of the Sychevsk detachments, police officer Boguslavsky and retired major Yemelyanov, armed their villagers 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 peasant detachments on horseback and on foot, arming the villagers 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 peasant detachments operated in the Yukhnovsky district. Organizing defense along the river. Ugra, they blocked the path of the enemy in Kaluga, provided significant assistance to the army partisan detachment D.V. Davydov.
In the Gzhatsk district, another detachment was also active, created from peasants, headed by an ordinary Kiev Dragoon Regiment. The detachment of Chetvertakov began not only to protect the villages from marauders, but to attack the enemy, inflicting significant losses on him. As a result, in the entire space of 35 versts from the Gzhatskaya pier, the lands were not devastated, despite the fact that all the surrounding villages lay in ruins. For this feat, the inhabitants of those places "with sensitive gratitude" called Chetvertakov "the savior of that side."
Private Eremenko did the same. With the help of the landowner Michulovo, by the name of Krechetov, he also organized a peasant detachment, with which on October 30 he exterminated 47 people from the enemy.
The actions of the peasant 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.
Fight Mozhaisk peasants with French soldiers during and after the Battle of Borodino. Colorized engraving by an unknown author. 1830s
In the Zvenigorod district, peasant 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, such 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 detachments united up to 2 thousand people. History has preserved for us the names of the most distinguished peasants from the Bronnitsky district: Mikhail Andreev, Vasily Kirillov, Sidor Timofeev, Yakov Kondratiev, Vladimir Afanasyev.
Don't shut up! Let me come! Artist V.V. Vereshchagin. 1887-1895
The largest peasant detachment in the Moscow region was a detachment of Bogorodsk partisans. In one of the first publications in 1813 about the formation of this detachment, it was written that “the economic volosts Vokhnovskaya head, centurion Ivan Chushkin and the peasant, Amerevsky head Yemelyan Vasilyev gathered peasants under their jurisdiction, and also invited neighboring ones.”
The detachment numbered in its ranks about 6 thousand people, the leader of this detachment was the peasant 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.
It should be noted that even women participated in sorties against the enemy. Subsequently, these episodes were overgrown with legends and in some cases did not even remotely resemble real events. A typical example is with, to which popular rumor and propaganda of that time attributed no less than leadership of a peasant detachment, which in reality was not.
French guards under escort of Grandmother Spiridonovna. A.G. Venetsianov. 1813
A gift for children in memory of the events of 1812. Caricature from the series I.I. Terebeneva
Peasant and partisan detachments 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 their raids. They intercepted French correspondence, especially valuable delivered to the main apartment of the Russian army.
The actions of the peasants were highly appreciated by the Russian command. “Peasants,” he wrote, “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.”
Partisans in 1812. Artist B. Zworykin. 1911
According to various estimates, more than 15 thousand people were taken prisoner by peasant formations, the same number were exterminated, significant stocks of fodder and weapons were destroyed.
In 1812. Captured French. Hood. THEM. Pryanishnikov. 1873
During the war, many active members of the peasant detachments were awarded. Emperor Alexander I ordered to award people subordinate to the count: 23 people "in command" - insignia of the Military Order (George Crosses), and the other 27 people - a special silver medal "For Love of the Fatherland" on the Vladimir ribbon.
Thus, as a result of the actions of military and peasant detachments, as well as militias, the enemy was deprived of the opportunity to expand the zone controlled by him and create additional bases for supplying the main forces. He failed to gain a foothold either in Bogorodsk, or in Dmitrov, or in Voskresensk. His attempt to get additional communications that would link the main forces with the corps of Schwarzenberg and Rainier was thwarted. The enemy also failed to capture Bryansk and reach Kiev.
Army partisan detachments
Army partisan detachments also played an important role in the Patriotic War of 1812. The idea of their creation arose even before the Battle of Borodino, and was the result of an analysis of the actions of individual cavalry units, by the will of circumstances that fell into the rear communications of the enemy.
The first partisan actions were started by a cavalry general who formed a "flying corps". Later, on August 2, already M.B. Barclay de Tolly ordered the creation of a detachment under the command of a general. He led the combined Kazan Dragoon, Stavropol, Kalmyk and three Cossack regiments, which began to operate in the area of the city of Dukhovshchina on the flanks and behind enemy lines. Its number was 1300 people.
Later, the main task of the partisan detachments was formulated by M.I. 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 units from me in the direction of Mozhaisk, Vyazma and Smolensk.
Army partisan detachments were created mainly from the most mobile Cossack units and were not the same in size: from 50 to 500 people or more. They were tasked with sudden actions behind enemy lines to disrupt communications, destroy his manpower, strike at garrisons, suitable reserves, deprive the enemy of the opportunity to get food and fodder, monitor the movement of troops and report this to the main apartment of the Russian army. Between the commanders of the partisan detachments, interaction was organized as far as possible.
The main advantage of partisan detachments was their mobility. They never stood in one place, 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.
The partisan detachments of D.V. Davydova, etc.
The personification of the entire partisan movement was the detachment of the commander of the Akhtyrsky Hussar Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Denis Davydov.
The tactics of the actions of his partisan detachment combined a swift maneuver and striking an enemy unprepared for battle. To ensure secrecy, the partisan detachment had to be on the march almost constantly.
The first successful actions encouraged the partisans, and Davydov decided to attack some enemy convoy going along the main Smolensk road. On September 3 (15), 1812, a battle took place near Tsarev-Zaimishch on the big Smolensk road, during which the partisans captured 119 soldiers, two officers. At the disposal of the partisans were 10 food carts and a cart with cartridges.
M.I. Kutuzov closely followed the brave actions of Davydov and attached great importance to the expansion of the partisan struggle.
In addition to the Davydov detachment, there were many other well-known and successfully operating partisan detachments. In the autumn of 1812, they surrounded the French army in a continuous mobile ring. The flying detachments included 36 Cossack and 7 cavalry regiments, 5 squadrons and a team of light horse artillery, 5 infantry regiments, 3 battalions of rangers and 22 regimental guns. Thus, Kutuzov gave the guerrilla war a wider scope.
Most often, partisan detachments set up ambushes and attacked enemy transports and convoys, captured couriers, and freed Russian prisoners. Every day, the Commander-in-Chief received reports on the direction of movement and actions of enemy detachments, repulsed mail, protocols of interrogation of prisoners and other information about the enemy, which were reflected in the log of military operations.
A partisan detachment of Captain A.S. was operating on the Mozhaisk road. Figner. Young, educated, who knew French, German and Italian perfectly, he found himself in the fight against a foreign enemy, not being afraid to die.
From the north, Moscow was blocked by a large detachment of General F.F. Vintsingerode, who, by allocating small detachments to Volokolamsk, to the Yaroslavl and Dmitrov roads, blocked the access of Napoleon's troops to the northern regions of the Moscow region.
With the withdrawal of the main forces of the Russian army, Kutuzov advanced from the Krasnaya Pakhra region to the Mozhaisk road in the area of the village. Perkhushkovo, located 27 miles from Moscow, a detachment of Major General I.S. Dorokhov as part of three Cossack, hussar and dragoon regiments and half a company of artillery in order to "make an attack, trying to destroy enemy parks." Dorokhov was instructed not only to observe this road, but also to strike at the enemy.
The actions of the Dorokhov detachment were approved in the main apartment of the Russian army. On the first day alone, he managed to destroy 2 squadrons of cavalry, 86 charging trucks, capture 11 officers and 450 privates, intercept 3 couriers, recapture 6 pounds of church silver.
Having withdrawn the army to the Tarutinsky position, Kutuzov formed several more army partisan detachments, in particular detachments, and. The actions of these units were of great importance.
Colonel N.D. Kudashev with two Cossack regiments was sent to the Serpukhov and Kolomenskaya roads. His detachment, having established that there were about 2,500 French soldiers and officers in the village of Nikolsky, suddenly attacked the enemy, killed more than 100 people and took 200 prisoners.
Between Borovsk and Moscow, the roads were controlled by a detachment of Captain A.N. Seslavin. He, with a detachment of 500 people (250 Don Cossacks and a squadron of the Sumy Hussar Regiment), was instructed to act in the area of \u200b\u200bthe road from Borovsk to Moscow, coordinating his actions with the detachment of A.S. Figner.
In the Mozhaisk region and to the south, a detachment of Colonel I.M. Vadbolsky as part of the Mariupol Hussars and 500 Cossacks. He advanced to the village of Kubinsky to attack enemy carts and drive away his parties, having mastered the road to Ruza.
In addition, a detachment of a lieutenant colonel of 300 people was also sent to the Mozhaisk region. To the north, in the region of Volokolamsk, a detachment of a colonel operated, near Ruza - a major, behind Klin towards the Yaroslavl tract - Cossack detachments of a military foreman, near Voskresensk - major Figlev.
Thus, the army was surrounded by a continuous ring of partisan detachments, which prevented it from carrying out foraging in the vicinity of Moscow, as a result of which a massive loss of horses was observed in the enemy troops, and demoralization intensified. This was one of the reasons why Napoleon left Moscow.
The partisans A.N. were the first to learn about the beginning of the advance of French troops from the capital. Seslavin. At the same time, he, being in the forest near the village. Fomichevo, personally saw Napoleon himself, which he immediately reported. About Napoleon's advance to the new Kaluga road and about the cover detachments (corps with the remnants of the avant-garde) was immediately reported to the main apartment of M.I. Kutuzov.
An important discovery of the partisan Seslavin. Unknown artist. 1820s.
Kutuzov sent Dokhturov to Borovsk. However, already on the way, Dokhturov learned about the occupation of Borovsk by the French. Then he went to Maloyaroslavets to prevent the advance of the enemy to Kaluga. The main forces of the Russian army also began to pull up there.
After a 12-hour march, D.S. By the evening of October 11 (23), Dokhturov approached Spassky and united with the Cossacks. And in the morning he entered the battle on the streets of Maloyaroslavets, after which the French had only one way to retreat - Staraya Smolenskaya. And then be late report A.N. Seslavin, the French would have bypassed the Russian army near Maloyaroslavets, and what the further course of the war would have been is unknown ...
By this time, the partisan detachments were reduced to three large parties. One of them under the command of Major General I.S. Dorohova, consisting of five infantry battalions, four cavalry squadrons, two Cossack regiments with eight guns, on September 28 (October 10), 1812, went to storm the city of Vereya. The enemy took up arms only when the Russian partisans had already burst into the city. Vereya was liberated, and about 400 people of the Westphalian regiment with a banner were taken prisoner.
Monument to I.S. Dorokhov in the city of Vereya. Sculptor S.S. Aleshin. 1957
Continuous exposure to the enemy was of great importance. From 2 (14) September to 1 (13) October, according to various estimates, the enemy lost only about 2.5 thousand people killed, 6.5 thousand Frenchmen were taken prisoner. Their losses increased every day due to the active actions of the peasant and partisan detachments.
To ensure the transportation of ammunition, food and fodder, as well as road safety, the French command had to allocate significant forces. Taken together, all this significantly affected the moral and psychological state of the French army, which worsened every day.
The great success of the partisans is considered to be the battle near the village. Lyakhovo west of Yelnya, which occurred on October 28 (November 9). In it partisans D.V. Davydova, A.N. Seslavin and A.S. Figner, reinforced by regiments, 3,280 in all, attacked Augereau's brigade. After a stubborn battle, the entire brigade (2 thousand soldiers, 60 officers and Augereau himself) surrendered. This was the first time that an entire enemy military unit had surrendered.
The rest of the partisan forces also continuously appeared on both sides of the road and disturbed the French vanguard with their shots. Davydov's detachment, like the detachments of other commanders, all the time followed on the heels of the enemy army. The colonel, who followed the right flank of the Napoleonic army, was ordered to go ahead, warning the enemy and raiding individual detachments when they stopped. A large partisan detachment was sent to Smolensk in order to destroy enemy stores, convoys and individual detachments. From the rear of the French, the Cossacks M.I. Platov.
The partisan detachments were used no less vigorously in the completion of the campaign to expel the Napoleonic army from Russia. Detachment A.P. Ozharovsky was to capture the city of Mogilev, where there were large enemy rear depots. On November 12 (24), his cavalry broke into the city. And two days later, the partisans D.V. Davydov interrupted communication between Orsha and Mogilev. Detachment A.N. Seslavin, together with the regular army, liberated the city of Borisov and, pursuing the enemy, approached the Berezina.
At the end of December, the entire detachment of Davydov, on the orders of Kutuzov, joined the vanguard of the main forces of the army as his vanguard.
The guerrilla war that unfolded near Moscow made a significant contribution to the victory over Napoleon's army and the expulsion of the enemy from Russia.
Material prepared by the Research Institute (Military History)
Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
Essay on the history of a student of grade 11, school 505 Afitova Elena
Partisan movement in the War of 1812
Partisan movement, the 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 treated the partisan movement with distrust. But in an atmosphere of patriotic upsurge, some landowners and progressively minded generals (P.I. Bagration, M.B. Barclay de Tolly, A.P. Yermolov and others). The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Field Marshal M.I., attached particular importance to the people's partisan struggle. Kutuzov. He saw in it a huge force capable of inflicting significant damage, promoted in every possible way the organization of new detachments, gave instructions on their weapons and instructions on the tactics of partisan struggle. character. This was largely facilitated by the formation of special detachments from regular troops, who acted by guerrilla 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 army partisan detachments. The detachments were commanded by generals and officers I.S. Dorokhov, M.A. Fonvizin and others. Many peasant detachments that 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, the partisan detachments exterminated enemy foragers, captured carts, and provided the Russian command with valuable information to the OPD. Under these conditions, Kutuzov set broader tasks for the Partisan movement to interact with the army and strike at 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 more than 30 thousand people as a result of partisan strikes. 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, and talented organizers of the partisan struggle came to the fore.
Why, then, did the disenfranchised peasantry, ruthlessly oppressed by the feudal landlords, rise to fight against their seemingly "liberator"? Napoleon did not think of any liberation of the peasants from serfdom or improvement of their disenfranchised position. If at first promising phrases were uttered about the liberation of the serfs, and even it was said that it was necessary to issue some kind of proclamation, then this was only a tactical move, with the help of which Napoleon hoped to intimidate the landowners.
Napoleonunderstood that the release of Russian serfs would inevitably lead torevolutionary consequences, which he feared most of all. Yes, this did not meet 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 the 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 landlords. work and duties, and those who would evade were to be severely punished, involving for this, if circumstances so required, 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 did not quickly realize 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 immediately affected the deterioration of the general condition of the army: horses began to die, soldiers starve, looting intensified. Even before Vilna, more than 10 thousand horses died.
French foragers sent to the villages for food encountered 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." In the villages there were skirmishes, including shooting, between the French soldiers sent for food and the 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 area of Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev, detachments of peasant 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 great 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.
Vg. In the Belsky and Belsky districts, partisan detachments attacked the French who made 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 took 325 prisoners.
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 Elnensky county. Many partisan detachments operated in the Yukhnovsky district. Having organized a defense along the Ugra River, they blocked the path of the enemy in Kaluga, provided significant assistance to the army partisans to the detachment of Denis Davydov.
The largest Gzhatsk partisan detachment operated successfully. Its organizer was a soldier of the Elizavetgrad regiment Fedor Potopov (Samus). Wounded in one of the rearguard battles after Smolensk, Samus ended up 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 consisted of an equestrian group of 200 men armed and dressed in French cuirassiers. The Samus detachment had its own organization, strict discipline was established in it. Samus introduced a system of 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 told when and in what quantity, on horseback or on foot, it was necessary to go into battle. In one of the battles, the members of this detachment managed to capture a cannon. Detachment Samusya inflicted minor damage to the French troops. In the Smolensk province, he destroyed about 3 thousand enemy soldiers.