Partisan movement- "club of the people's war"

“... the cudgel of the people’s war rose with all its formidable and majestic strength and, without asking anyone’s tastes and rules, with stupid simplicity, but with expediency, without understanding anything, rose, fell and nailed the French until the entire invasion died”
. L.N. Tolstoy, "War and Peace"

The Patriotic War of 1812 remained in the memory of all Russian people as a people's war.

Don't shut up! Let me come! Hood. V.V.Vereshchagin, 1887-1895

This definition is not accidentally firmly entrenched in her. Not only the regular army participated in it - for the first time in the history of the Russian state, the entire Russian people stood up to defend their homeland. Various volunteer detachments were formed, which took part in many major battles. Commander-in-Chief M.I. Kutuzov called on the Russian militias to help the army in the field. The partisan movement, which unfolded throughout Russia, where the French were located, received great development.

Passive resistance
The population of Russia began to resist the invasion of the French from the very first days of the war. The so-called. passive resistance. The Russian people left their houses, villages, entire cities. At the same time, people often devastated all warehouses, all food supplies, destroyed their farms - they were firmly convinced that nothing should have fallen into the hands of the enemy.

A.P. Butenev recalled how Russian peasants fought the French: “The farther the army went inland, the more deserted the villages they encountered, and especially after Smolensk. The peasants sent their women and children, belongings and cattle to the neighboring forests; themselves, with the exception of only decrepit old men, armed themselves with scythes and axes, and then began to burn their huts, set up ambushes and attacked the backward and wandering enemy soldiers. In the small towns through which we passed, almost no one was met on the streets: only local authorities remained, who for the most part left with us, having previously set fire to stocks and shops, where this was possible and time allowed ... "

"Punish the villains without mercy"
Gradually peasant resistance took on other forms. Some organized groups of several people, caught soldiers great army and killed them. Naturally, they could not act against a large number of the French at the same time. But this was quite enough to instill fear in the ranks of the enemy army. As a result, the soldiers tried not to walk alone, so as not to fall into the hands of "Russian partisans".

With weapons in hand - shoot! Hood. V.V.Vereshchagin, 1887-1895

In some provinces left by the Russian army, the first organized partisan detachments were formed. One of these detachments operated in the Sychevsk province. It was headed by Major Yemelyanov, who was the first to incite the people to adopt weapons: “Many began to pester him, from day to day the number of accomplices multiplied, and then, armed with what was possible, they chose the brave Emelyanov to be their boss, swearing not to spare their lives for the faith, the tsar and the Russian land and to obey him in everything ... Then Emelyanov introduced there is an amazing order and structure between the warriors-settlers. According to one sign, when the enemy was advancing in superior strength, the villages became empty, according to another, they again gathered in houses. Sometimes an excellent beacon and a bell ringing were announced when going to battle on horseback or on foot. But he himself, as a chief, encouraging by his example, was always with them in all dangers and everywhere pursued the wicked enemies, beat many, and took more prisoners, and, finally, in one hot skirmish, in the very brilliance of military actions of the peasants, he captured his love with life. to the fatherland…”

There were many such examples, and they could not escape the attention of the leaders of the Russian army. M.B. Barclay de Tolly in August 1812 appealed to the inhabitants of the Pskov, Smolensk and Kaluga provinces: “... but many of the inhabitants of the province of Smolensk have already awakened from their fear. They, armed in their homes, with courage worthy of the name of the Russian, punish the villains without any mercy. Imitate them all who love themselves, the fatherland and the sovereign. Your army will not go beyond your borders until it has driven out or destroyed the forces of the enemy. It decided to fight them to the very extreme, and you will only have to reinforce it with the defense of your own houses from raids more daring than terrible.

The wide scope of the "small war"
Leaving Moscow, Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov intended to wage a "small war" in order to create a constant threat to the enemy to encircle him in Moscow. This task was to be solved by detachments of military partisans and people's militias.

Being in the Tarutino position, Kutuzov took control of the activities of the partisans: “... I put ten partisans on the wrong foot in order to be able to take away all the ways from the enemy, who thinks in Moscow to find all kinds of allowances in abundance. During the six-week rest of the Main Army at Tarutino, the partisans instilled fear and horror in the enemy, taking away all means of food ... ".

Davydov Denis Vasilievich Engraving by A. Afanasiev
from the original by V. Langer. 1820s.

Such actions required courageous and resolute commanders and troops capable of operating in any conditions. The first detachment that was created by Kutuzov to wage a small war was the detachment of Lieutenant Colonel D.V. Davydov, formed at the end of August, consisting of 130 people. With this detachment, Davydov set out through Yegoryevskoye, Medyn to the village of Skugarevo, which was turned into one of the bases of the partisan struggle. He acted in conjunction with various armed peasant detachments.

Denis Davydov did not just fulfill his military duty. He tried to understand the Russian peasant, because he represented his interests and acted on his behalf: “Then I learned from experience that in a people's war one must not only speak the language of the rabble, but adapt to it, to its customs and its clothes. I put on a man's caftan, began to lower my beard, instead of the Order of St. Anne I hung the image of St. Anna. Nicholas and spoke in a completely folk language ... ".

Another partisan detachment was concentrated near the Mozhaisk road, led by Major General I.S. Dorokhov. Kutuzov wrote to Dorokhov about the methods of partisan struggle. And when information was received at the army headquarters that Dorokhov's detachment was surrounded, Kutuzov reported: “A partisan can never come to this position, for it is his duty to stay in one place for as long as he needs to feed people and horses. Marches should be made by a flying detachment of partisans secretive, along small roads ... During the day, hide in forests and lowlands. In a word, the partisan must be resolute, quick and indefatigable.

Figner Alexander Samoilovich. Engraving by G.I. Grachev from a lithograph from the collection of P.A. Erofeeva, 1889.

At the end of August 1812, a detachment was also formed Winzengerode, consisting of 3200 people. Initially, his tasks included monitoring the corps of Viceroy Eugene Beauharnais.

Having withdrawn the army to the Tarutinsky position, Kutuzov formed several more partisan detachments: the detachments of A.S. Figner, I.M. Vadbolsky, N.D. Kudashev and A.N. Seslavin.

In total, in September, 36 Cossack regiments and one team, 7 cavalry regiments, 5 squadrons and one team of light horse artillery, 5 infantry regiments, 3 battalions of rangers and 22 regimental guns operated as part of the flying detachments. Kutuzov managed to give the guerrilla war a wide scope. He entrusted them with the tasks of monitoring the enemy and delivering continuous strikes against his troops.

Caricature of 1912.

It was thanks to the actions of the partisans that Kutuzov had complete information about the movements of the French troops, on the basis of which it was possible to draw conclusions about Napoleon's intentions.

Due to the continuous strikes of flying partisan detachments, the French had to always keep part of the troops at the ready. According to the journal of military operations, from September 14 to October 13, 1812, the enemy lost only about 2.5 thousand people killed, about 6.5 thousand Frenchmen were taken prisoner.

Peasant partisan detachments
The activities of the military partisan detachments would not have been so successful without the participation of the peasant partisan detachments, which had been operating everywhere since July 1812.

The names of their "leaders" will long remain in the memory of the Russian people: G. Kurin, Samus, Chetvertakov and many others.

Kurin Gerasim Matveevich
Hood. A.Smirnov

Portrait of partisan Egor Stulov. Hood. Terebenev I.I., 1813

The Samus detachment operated near Moscow. He managed to exterminate more than three thousand Frenchmen: “Samus introduced an amazing order in all the villages subordinate to him. He performed everything according to the signs that were given by means of bell ringing and other conditional signs.

The exploits of Vasilisa Kozhina, who led a detachment in the Sychevsky district and fought against French marauders, gained great fame.

Vasilisa Kozhina. Hood. A. Smirnov, 1813

M.I. wrote about the patriotism of Russian peasants. Kutuzov report to Alexander I dated October 24, 1812 on the patriotism of Russian peasants: “With martyr firmness they endured all the blows associated with the invasion of the enemy, hid their families and young children in the forests, and the armed themselves sought defeat in the peaceful dwellings of their appearing predators. Often the women themselves caught these villains in a cunning way and punished their attempts with death, and often the armed villagers, joining our partisans, greatly assisted them in exterminating the enemy, and it can be said without exaggeration that many thousands of the enemy were exterminated by the peasants. These feats are so numerous and admirable to the spirit of the Russian…”.

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 Russian emperor Alexander I of July 6, 1812, which, as it were, allowed the people to take up and actively join the fight against the French. In reality, the situation was somewhat different, the first pockets of resistance to the invaders appeared in Belarus and Lithuania. And often the peasants did not make out where the invaders were, and where their nobles collaborating with them were.

People's War

With the invasion of the "Great Army" in Russia, many local residents initially simply left the villages and went to the forests and areas remote from hostilities, taking away their livestock. Retreating through the Smolensk region, the commander-in-chief of the Russian 1st Western Army M.B. Barclay de Tolly called on his compatriots to take up arms against the enemy. Barclay de Tolly's appeal informed him how to act against the enemy. The first detachments were formed from local residents who wanted to protect themselves and their property. They were joined by soldiers who had fallen behind their units.

French foragers gradually began to face not only passive resistance, when cattle were driven into the forest, food was hidden, but also the active actions of the peasants. In the area of ​​Vitebsk, Mogilev, Orsha, the peasant detachments themselves attacked the enemy, making not only night, but also daytime attacks on small enemy units. French soldiers were killed or taken prisoner. The people's war gained its widest scope in the Smolensk province. It covered Krasnensky, Porechsky counties, and then Belsky, Sychevsky, Roslavl, Gzhatsky and Vyazemsky counties.

In the city of Bely and Belsky district, the peasants attacked parties of French foragers moving towards them. Police officer Boguslavsky and retired major Emelyanov led the Sychev detachments, establishing proper order and discipline in them. In just two weeks - from August 18 to September 1, they made 15 attacks on the enemy. During this time, they destroyed more than 500 enemy soldiers and captured over 300. Several cavalry and foot peasant detachments were created in the Roslavl district. They not only defended their county, but also attacked enemy units that operated in the neighboring Yelnensky county. Peasant detachments were also active in the Yukhnovsky district, they interfered with the advance of the enemy to Kaluga, assisted the army partisan detachment of D.V. Davydov. In the Gzhatsk district, a detachment created by Yermolai Chetvertakov, a private of the Kiev Dragoon Regiment, gained great fame. He not only defended the lands near the Gzhatsk pier from enemy soldiers, but also attacked the enemy himself.

The people's war gained even greater scope during the stay of the Russian army in Tarutino. At this time, the peasant movement assumed a significant character not only in Smolensk, but also in Moscow, Ryazan and Kaluga provinces. So, in the Zvenigorod district, people's detachments destroyed or captured more than 2 thousand enemy soldiers. The most famous detachments were led by the volost head Ivan Andreev and the centurion Pavel Ivanov. Detachments led by retired non-commissioned officer Novikov and private Nemchinov, volost head Mikhail Fedorov, peasants Akim Fedorov, Filipp Mikhailov, Kuzma Kuzmin and Gerasim Semenov operated in the Volokolamsk district. In the Bronnitsky district of the Moscow province, local detachments included up to 2 thousand warriors. The largest peasant detachment in the Moscow region was the connection of the Bogorodsk partisans, it included up to 6 thousand people. It was headed by the peasant Gerasim Kurin. He not only reliably defended the entire Bogorodsk district, but he himself struck at the enemy.

It should be noted that Russian women also took part in the fight against the enemy. Peasant and army partisan detachments acted on enemy communications, fettered the actions of the "Great Army", attacked individual enemy units, destroying the enemy's manpower, his property, and interfered with the collection of food and fodder. The Smolensk road, where the postal service was organized, was subjected to regular attacks. The most valuable documents were delivered to the headquarters of the Russian army. According to some estimates, the peasant detachments destroyed up to 15 thousand enemy soldiers, about the same number were taken prisoner. Due to the actions of militia, partisan and peasant detachments, the enemy was unable to expand the zone controlled by him and get additional opportunities to collect food and fodder. The French failed to gain a foothold in Bogorodsk, Dmitrov, Voskresensk, capture Bryansk and go to Kiev, create additional communications to connect the main forces with the corps of Schwarzenberg and Rainier.

Captured French. Hood. THEM. Pryanishnikov. 1873

army squads

Army partisan detachments also played an important role in the campaign of 1812. The idea of ​​their creation appeared even before the Battle of Borodino, when the command analyzed the actions of individual cavalry 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 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 united into more large connections. 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 foreign languages, Figner was able to obtain important information that 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 partisan movement in the Patriotic War of 1812 significantly influenced the outcome of the campaign. The French met fierce resistance from the local population. Demoralized, deprived of the opportunity to replenish their food supplies, ragged and frozen, Napoleon's army was brutally beaten by flying and peasant partisan detachments of Russians.

Squadrons of flying hussars and detachments of peasants

The greatly stretched Napoleonic army, pursuing the retreating Russian troops, quickly became a convenient target for partisan attacks - the French often found themselves far removed from the main forces. The command of the Russian army decided to create mobile detachments to carry out sabotage behind enemy lines and deprive him of food and fodder.

During World War II, there were two main types of such detachments: flying squadrons of army cavalrymen and Cossacks, formed by order of the commander-in-chief Mikhail Kutuzov, and groups of peasant partisans, united spontaneously, without army leadership. In addition to the actual sabotage actions, the flying detachments were also engaged in reconnaissance. Peasant self-defense forces basically fought off the enemy from their villages and villages.

Denis Davydov was mistaken for a Frenchman

Denis Davydov is the most famous commander of a partisan detachment in the Patriotic War of 1812. He himself drew up a plan of action for mobile partisan formations against the Napoleonic army and offered it to Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration. The plan was simple: to annoy the enemy in his rear, to capture or destroy enemy warehouses with food and fodder, to beat small groups of the enemy.

Under the command of Davydov there were over one and a half hundred hussars and Cossacks. Already in September 1812, in the area of ​​the Smolensk village of Tsarevo-Zaimishche, they captured a French caravan of three dozen carts. More than 100 Frenchmen from the accompanying detachment were killed by Davydov's cavalrymen, another 100 were captured. This operation was followed by others, also successful.

Davydov and his team did not immediately find support from the local population: at first, the peasants mistook them for the French. The commander of the flying detachment even had to put on a peasant's caftan, hang an icon of St. Nicholas on his chest, grow a beard and switch to the language of the Russian common people - otherwise the peasants did not believe him.

Over time, the detachment of Denis Davydov increased to 300 people. The cavalrymen attacked the French units, sometimes having a fivefold numerical superiority, and defeated them, taking the carts and freeing the prisoners, it even happened to capture enemy artillery.

After leaving Moscow, on the orders of Kutuzov, flying partisan detachments were created everywhere. Mostly these were Cossack formations, each numbering up to 500 sabers. At the end of September, Major General Ivan Dorokhov, who commanded such a formation, captured the city of Vereya near Moscow. The combined partisan groups could withstand the large military formations of Napoleon's army. So, at the end of October, during a battle near the Smolensk village of Lyakhovo, four partisan detachments completely defeated the more than one and a half thousand brigade of General Jean-Pierre Augereau, capturing him himself. For the French, this defeat was a terrible blow. On the contrary, the Russian troops, this success, encouraged and set them up for further victories.

Peasant Initiative

A significant contribution to the destruction and exhaustion of the French units was made by the peasants who organized themselves into combat detachments. Their partisan units began to form even before Kutuzov's instructions. While willingly helping the flying detachments and units of the regular Russian army with food and fodder, the peasants at the same time harmed the French everywhere and in every possible way - they exterminated enemy foragers and marauders, often at the approaches of the enemy they themselves burned their houses and went into the forests. Fierce resistance on the ground intensified as the demoralized French army became more and more a collection of robbers and marauders.

One of these detachments was assembled by the dragoons Yermolai Chetvertakov. He taught the peasants how to use captured weapons, organized and successfully carried out many sabotage against the French, capturing dozens of enemy carts with food and livestock. At one time, up to 4 thousand people entered the Chetvertakov compound. And such cases when peasant partisans, led by military personnel, noble landlords, successfully operated in the rear of the Napoleonic troops, were not isolated.

The losses of the French from the actions of the partisans, apparently, will never be counted. About the "club of the people's war" tells Alexey Shishov, Research Institute employee military history Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Mistake came out

A.Sh.:- Shortly before Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Lieutenant Colonel Pyotr Chuikevich, who led military counterintelligence, filed a memorandum on arming part of the population of the western provinces to the highest name. She was supported by Minister of War Barclay de Tolly. In practice, it hardly came to this, but when the invasion began, the Smolensk and Kaluga landowners began to distribute weapons to their serfs. There were detachments of 300-400 and even a thousand people, commanded by retired military and police officers. More often, however, it happened differently: when the enemy approached, the landlords gave a tear, but the peasants had nowhere to run. Under the leadership of village elders, they united in self-defense units. They did not enter into battle with serious French forces, but they were an insurmountable obstacle in the way of their foragers - horse fodder providers. And a horse without oats is like a tank without diesel fuel.

"AiF": - Napoleon came to Russia with the idea of ​​abolishing serfdom. Why were the peasants not happy with him?

A.Sh.:- Indeed, under Napoleon serfdom was abolished in Poland, Prussia and a number of other German lands. And in Russia, the words “Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood” were inscribed on his banners. However, when in practice it came to the liberation of the peasants of the Smolensk and Vitebsk provinces, it all ended in robbery and arson of the manor estates. Apparently (documents on this score have not been preserved), these facts so impressed Napoleon that he no longer played democracy in Russia.

"AIF":- And what about the regular partisan detachments?

A.Sh.:- At the origins of their formation was General Tormasov, commander of the 3rd Army, which covered Ukraine. The most famous were the detachments of Wintzingerode, Figner, Seslavin, Ilovaisky ... Army partisans, consisting mainly of Cossacks and hussars, violated the communications of the Great Army, interfered with the supply of ammunition and the approach of reinforcements. During the retreat of the French, they, ahead of their vanguard, burned bridges and drowned ferries across the rivers. As a result of the actions of the army partisans, Napoleon lost almost half of his artillery during the retreat! As a partisan, Alexander Benckendorff, the future chief of the gendarme corps, distinguished himself in 1812.

Forks to the side!

"AIF":- Napoleon complained that the Russians were fighting “incorrectly”.

A.Sh.:- To live with wolves... In 1812, Denis Davydov, a poet and lieutenant colonel of the Akhtyrsky hussar regiment, commanded a detachment that spent 6 weeks in isolation from the main forces longer than other partisans. Here is the instruction he compiled for the Russian peasants: “Receive them (the French. - Ed.) Friendly, offer them with bows ... everything that you have to eat, and especially drink, put to bed drunk and, when you realize that they are for sure fell asleep, throw yourself all on their weapons ... and do what God commanded to be done with enemies Christ Church and your homeland. Having exterminated them, bury the bodies in a barn, in a forest or in some impassable place ... "

However, the peasants hardly needed such instructions. Unlike the army partisans, they did not take prisoners in principle. It came to quite wild incidents. A detachment of Teptyar Cossacks came to the Kaluga village - there is such a nationality in the Middle Urals. They hardly spoke Russian. The men mistook them for the French and drowned them in a pond at night. It is no coincidence that Davydov changed his hussar uniform for a peasant dress for a raid on the rear of the enemy (men did not distinguish Russian from French uniforms) and let go of his beard. Such is the "club of the people's war" ...

The partisan war (partisan movement) of 1812 is 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 the civilian population. Partisan detachments were one of the main forces participating in the war and resisting the attackers.

Prerequisites for the creation of partisan detachments

The detachments of Napoleon, who attacked Russia, moved quite quickly inland, 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 stretched communication lines, the French received food and weapons. Seeing this, the leadership of the Russian army decided to create mobile detachments 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 the Cossacks and the regular army

Davydov drew up a very effective plan for conducting a guerrilla war, 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 carrying food and additional manpower (soldiers). The French were captured or killed, and all goods destroyed. There were several such attacks - the partisans acted cautiously and always unexpectedly for the French soldiers, thanks to which they almost always managed to destroy wagons 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 had strained relations with the local peasants at first, pretty soon the locals themselves began to take part in Davydov's raids and actively help in the partisan movement.

Davydov, along 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 partisan war in all directions. By that time, partisan detachments began to grow and appeared throughout the country, they consisted mainly of the Cossacks. Partisan detachments usually numbered several hundred people, but there were also larger associations (up to 1,500 people) that could well cope with small detachments of the regular French army.

Several factors contributed to the success of the partisans. Firstly, they always acted suddenly, which gave them an advantage, and secondly, local residents quickly established contact with partisan detachments rather than with a regular army.

By the middle of the war, the partisan detachments had grown so much that they began to pose a significant danger to the French, and a real partisan war began.

Peasant partisan detachments

The success of the partisan war of 1812 would not have been so stunning if it were not for the active participation of the peasants in the life of the partisans. They always actively supported the detachments 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 - often it came to the point that the peasants burned their 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 turned to more active actions. Peasant partisan detachments began to be created, which also offered armed resistance to the French and carried out raids.

The results and role of the guerrilla war of 1812

Largely due to the active and skillful actions of the Russian partisan detachments, which eventually turned into great power, 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 of weapons and food, simply defeated small detachments in the 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 guerrilla war were rewarded.