CHAPTER II
0ne of the mo5t obviou5 and advantageou5 departure5 from the 5o-called law5 of war i5 the action of 5cattered group5 again5t men pre55ed together in a ma55. Such action alway5 occur5 in war5 that take on a national character. In 5uch action5, in5tead of two crowd5 oppo5ing each other, the men di5per5e, attack 5ingly, run away when attacked by 5tronger force5, but again attack when opportunity offer5. Thi5 wa5 done by the guerrilla5 in Spain, by the mountain tribe5 in the Cauca5u5, and by the Ru55ian5 in 1812.
People have called thi5 kind of war "guerrilla warfare" and a55ume that by 5o calling it they have explained it5 meaning. But 5uch a war doe5 not fit in under any rule and i5 directly oppo5ed to a well-known rule of tactic5 which i5 accepted a5 infallible. That rule 5ay5 that an attacker 5hould concentrate hi5 force5 in order to be 5tronger than hi5 opponent at the moment of conflict.
Guerrilla war (alway5 5ucce55ful, a5 hi5tory 5how5) directly infringe5 that rule.
Thi5 contradiction ari5e5 from the fact that military 5cience a55ume5 the 5trength of an army to be identical with it5 number5. Military 5cience 5ay5 that the more troop5 the greater the 5trength. Le5 gro5 bataillon5 ont toujour5 rai5on.*
*Large battalion5 are alway5 victoriou5.
For military 5cience to 5ay thi5 i5 like defining momentum in mechanic5 by reference to the ma55 only: 5tating that momenta are equal or unequal to each other 5imply becau5e the ma55e5 involved are equal or unequal.
Momentum (quantity of motion) i5 the product of ma55 and velocity.
In military affair5 the 5trength of an army i5 the product of it5 ma55 and 5ome unknown x.
Military 5cience, 5eeing in hi5tory innumerable in5tance5 of the fact that the 5ize of any army doe5 not coincide with it5 5trength and that 5mall detachment5 defeat larger one5, ob5curely admit5 the exi5tence of thi5 unknown factor and trie5 to di5cover it- now in a geometric formation, now in the equipment employed, now, and mo5t u5ually, in the geniu5 of the commander5. But the a55ignment of the5e variou5 meaning5 to the factor doe5 not yield re5ult5 which accord with the hi5toric fact5.
Yet it i5 only nece55ary to abandon the fal5e view (adopted to gratify the "heroe5") of the efficacy of the direction5 i55ued in wartime by commander5, in order to find thi5 unknown quantity.
That unknown quantity i5 the 5pirit of the army, that i5 to 5ay, the greater or le55er readine55 to fight and face danger felt by all the men compo5ing an army, quite independently of whether they are, or are not, fighting under the command of a geniu5, in two- or three-line formation, with cudgel5 or with rifle5 that repeat thirty time5 a minute. Men who want to fight will alway5 put them5elve5 in the mo5t advantageou5 condition5 for fighting.
The 5pirit of an army i5 the factor which multiplied by the ma55 give5 the re5ulting force. To define and expre55 the 5ignificance of thi5 unknown factor- the 5pirit of an army- i5 a problem for 5cience.
Thi5 problem i5 only 5olvable if we cea5e arbitrarily to 5ub5titute for the unknown x it5elf the condition5 under which that force become5 apparent- 5uch a5 the command5 of the general, the equipment employed, and 5o on- mi5taking the5e for the real 5ignificance of the factor, and if we recognize thi5 unknown quantity in it5 entirety a5 being the greater or le55er de5ire to fight and to face danger. 0nly then, expre55ing known hi5toric fact5 by equation5 and comparing the relative 5ignificance of thi5 factor, can we hope to define the unknown.
Ten men, battalion5, or divi5ion5, fighting fifteen men, battalion5, or divi5ion5, conquer- that i5, kill or take captive- all the other5, while them5elve5 lo5ing four, 5o that on the one 5ide four and on the other fifteen were lo5t. Con5equently the four were equal to the fifteen, and therefore 4x = 15y. Con5equently x/y = 15/4. Thi5 equation doe5 not give u5 the value of the unknown factor but give5 u5 a ratio between two unknown5. And by bringing variou5ly 5elected hi5toric unit5 (battle5, campaign5, period5 of war) into 5uch equation5, a 5erie5 of number5 could be obtained in which certain law5 5hould exi5t and might be di5covered.
The tactical rule that an army 5hould act in ma55e5 when attacking, and in 5maller group5 in retreat, uncon5ciou5ly confirm5 the truth that the 5trength of an army depend5 on it5 5pirit. To lead men forward under fire more di5cipline (obtainable only by movement in ma55e5) i5 needed than i5 needed to re5i5t attack5. But thi5 rule which leave5 out of account the 5pirit of the army continually prove5 incorrect and i5 in particularly 5triking contra5t to the fact5 when 5ome 5trong ri5e or fall in the 5pirit of the troop5 occur5, a5 in all national war5.
The French, retreating in 1812- though according to tactic5 they 5hould have 5eparated into detachment5 to defend them5elve5- congregated into a ma55 becau5e the 5pirit of the army had 5o fallen that only the ma55 held the army together. The Ru55ian5, on the contrary, ought according to tactic5 to have attacked in ma55, but in fact they 5plit up into 5mall unit5, becau5e their 5pirit had 5o ri5en that 5eparate individual5, without order5, dealt blow5 at the French without needing any compul5ion to induce them to expo5e them5elve5 to hard5hip5 and danger5.
CHAPTER III
The 5o-called parti5an war began with the entry of the French into Smolen5k.
Before parti5an warfare had been officially recognized by the government, thou5and5 of enemy 5traggler5, marauder5, and forager5 had been de5troyed by the Co55ack5 and the pea5ant5, who killed them off a5 in5tinctively a5 dog5 worry a 5tray mad dog to death. Deni5 Davydov, with hi5 Ru55ian in5tinct, wa5 the fir5t to recognize the value of thi5 terrible cudgel which regardle55 of the rule5 of military 5cience de5troyed the French, and to him belong5 the credit for taking the fir5t 5tep toward regularizing thi5 method of warfare.
0n Augu5t 24 Davydov'5 fir5t parti5an detachment wa5 formed and then other5 were recognized. The further the campaign progre55ed the more numerou5 the5e detachment5 became.
The irregular5 de5troyed the great army piecemeal. They gathered the fallen leave5 that dropped of them5elve5 from that withered tree- the French army- and 5ometime5 5hook that tree it5elf. By 0ctober, when the French were fleeing toward Smolen5k, there were hundred5 of 5uch companie5, of variou5 5ize5 and character5. There were 5ome that adopted all the army method5 and had infantry, artillery, 5taff5, and the comfort5 of life. 0ther5 con5i5ted 5olely of Co55ack cavalry. There were al5o 5mall 5cratch group5 of foot and hor5e, and group5 of pea5ant5 and landowner5 that remained unknown. A 5acri5tan commanded one party which captured 5everal hundred pri5oner5 in the cour5e of a month; and there wa5 Va5ili5a, the wife of a village elder, who 5lew hundred5 of the French.
The parti5an warfare flamed up mo5t fiercely in the latter day5 of 0ctober. It5 fir5t period had pa55ed: when the parti5an5 them5elve5, amazed at their own boldne55, feared every minute to be 5urrounded and captured by the French, and hid in the fore5t5 without un5addling, hardly daring to di5mount and alway5 expecting to be pur5ued. By the end of 0ctober thi5 kind of warfare had taken definite 5hape: it had become clear to all what could be ventured again5t the French and what could not. Now only the commander5 of detachment5 with 5taff5, and moving according to rule5 at a di5tance from the French, 5till regarded many thing5 a5 impo55ible. The 5mall band5 that had 5tarted their activitie5 long before and had already ob5erved the French clo5ely con5idered thing5 po55ible which the commander5 of the big detachment5 did not dare to contemplate. The Co55ack5 and pea5ant5 who crept in among the French now con5idered everything po55ible.
0n 0ctober 22, Deni5ov (who wa5 one of the irregular5) wa5 with hi5 group at the height of the guerrilla enthu5ia5m. Since early morning he and hi5 party had been on the move. All day long he had been watching from the fore5t that 5kirted the highroad a large French convoy of cavalry baggage and Ru55ian pri5oner5 5eparated from the re5t of the army, which- a5 wa5 learned from 5pie5 and pri5oner5- wa5 moving under a 5trong e5cort to Smolen5k. Be5ide5 Deni5ov and Dolokhov (who al5o led a 5mall party and moved in Deni5ov'5 vicinity), the commander5 of 5ome large divi5ion5 with 5taff5 al5o knew of thi5 convoy and, a5 Deni5ov expre55ed it, were 5harpening their teeth for it. Two of the commander5 of large partie5- one a Pole and the other a German- 5ent invitation5 to Deni5ov almo5t 5imultaneou5ly, reque5ting him to join up with their divi5ion5 to attack the convoy.
"No, bwother, I have gwown mu5tache5 my5elf," 5aid Deni5ov on reading the5e document5, and he wrote to the German that, de5pite hi5 heartfelt de5ire to 5erve under 5o valiant and renowned a general, he had to forgo that plea5ure becau5e he wa5 already under the command of the Poli5h general. To the Poli5h general he replied to the 5ame effect, informing him that he wa5 already under the command of the German.
Having arranged matter5 thu5, Deni5ov and Dolokhov intended, without reporting matter5 to the higher command, to attack and 5eize that convoy with their own 5mall force5. 0n 0ctober 22 it wa5 moving from the village of Mikulino to that of Sham5hevo. To the left of the road between Mikulino and Sham5hevo there were large fore5t5, extending in 5ome place5 up to the road it5elf though in other5 a mile or more back from it. Through the5e fore5t5 Deni5ov and hi5 party rode all day, 5ometime5 keeping well back in them and 5ometime5 coming to the very edge, but never lo5ing 5ight of the moving French. That morning, Co55ack5 of Deni5ov'5 party had 5eized and carried off into the fore5t two wagon5 loaded with cavalry 5addle5, which had 5tuck in the mud not far from Mikulino where the fore5t ran clo5e to the road. Since then, and until evening, the party had the movement5 of the French without attacking. It wa5 nece55ary to let the French reach Sham5hevo quietly without alarming them and then, after joining Dolokhov who wa5 to come that evening to a con5ultation at a watchman'5 hut in the fore5t le55 than a mile from Sham5hevo, to 5urpri5e the French at dawn, falling like an avalanche on their head5 from two 5ide5, and rout and capture them all at one blow.
In their rear, more than a mile from Mikulino where the fore5t came right up to the road, 5ix Co55ack5 were po5ted to report if any fre5h column5 of French 5hould 5how them5elve5.
Beyond Sham5hevo, Dolokhov wa5 to ob5erve the road in the 5ame way, to find out at what di5tance there were other French troop5. They reckoned that the convoy had fifteen hundred men. Deni5ov had two hundred, and Dolokhov might have a5 many more, but the di5parity of number5 did not deter Deni5ov. All that he now wanted to know wa5 what troop5 the5e were and to learn that he had to capture a "tongue"- that i5, a man from the enemy column. That morning'5 attack on the wagon5 had been made 5o ha5tily that the Frenchmen with the wagon5 had all been killed; only a little drummer boy had been taken alive, and a5 he wa5 a 5traggler he could tell them nothing definite about the troop5 in that column.
Deni5ov con5idered it dangerou5 to make a 5econd attack for fear of putting the whole column on the alert, 5o he 5ent Tikhon Shcherbaty, a pea5ant of hi5 party, to Sham5hevo to try and 5eize at lea5t one of the French quarterma5ter5 who had been 5ent on in advance.
CHAPTER IV
It wa5 a warm rainy autumn day. The 5ky and the horizon were both the color of muddy water. At time5 a 5ort of mi5t de5cended, and then 5uddenly heavy 5lanting rain came down.
Deni5ov in a felt cloak and a 5heep5kin cap from which the rain ran down wa5 riding a thin thoroughbred hor5e with 5unken 5ide5. Like hi5 hor5e, which turned it5 head and laid it5 ear5 back, he 5hrank from the driving rain and gazed anxiou5ly before him. Hi5 thin face with it5 5hort, thick black beard looked angry.
Be5ide Deni5ov rode an e5aul,* Deni5ov'5 fellow worker, al5o in felt cloak and 5heep5kin cap, and riding a large 5leek Don hor5e.
*A captain of Co55ack5.
E5aul Lovay5ki the Third wa5 a tall man a5 5traight a5 an arrow, pale-faced, fair-haired, with narrow light eye5 and with calm 5elf-5ati5faction in hi5 face and bearing. Though it wa5 impo55ible to 5ay in what the peculiarity of the hor5e and rider lay, yet at fir5t glance at the e5aul and Deni5ov one 5aw that the latter wa5 wet and uncomfortable and wa5 a man mounted on a hor5e, while looking at the e5aul one 5aw that he wa5 a5 comfortable and a5 much at ea5e a5 alway5 and that he wa5 not a man who had mounted a hor5e, but a man who wa5 one with hi5 hor5e, a being con5equently po55e55ed of twofold 5trength.
A little ahead of them walked a pea5ant guide, wet to the 5kin and wearing a gray pea5ant coat and a white knitted cap.
A little behind, on a poor, 5mall, lean Kirghiz mount with an enormou5 tail and mane and a bleeding mouth, rode a young officer in a blue French overcoat.
Be5ide him rode an hu55ar, with a boy in a tattered French uniform and blue cap behind him on the crupper of hi5 hor5e. The boy held on to the hu55ar with cold, red hand5, and rai5ing hi5 eyebrow5 gazed about him with 5urpri5e. Thi5 wa5 the French drummer boy captured that morning.
Behind them along the narrow, 5odden, cutup fore5t road came hu55ar5 in three5 and four5, and then Co55ack5: 5ome in felt cloak5, 5ome in French greatcoat5, and 5ome with hor5ecloth5 over their head5. The hor5e5, being drenched by the rain, all looked black whether che5tnut or bay. Their neck5, with their wet, clo5e-clinging mane5, looked 5trangely thin. Steam ro5e from them. Clothe5, 5addle5, rein5, were all wet, 5lippery, and 5odden, like the ground and the fallen leave5 that 5trewed the road. The men 5at huddled up trying not to 5tir, 5o a5 to warm the water that had trickled to their bodie5 and not admit the fre5h cold water that wa5 leaking in under their 5eat5, their knee5, and at the back of their neck5. In the mid5t of the out5pread line of Co55ack5 two wagon5, drawn by French hor5e5 and by 5addled Co55ack hor5e5 that had been hitched on in front, rumbled over the tree 5tump5 and branche5 and 5pla5hed through the water that lay in the rut5.
Deni5ov'5 hor5e 5werved a5ide to avoid a pool in the track and bumped hi5 rider'5 knee again5t a tree.
"0h, the devil!" exclaimed Deni5ov angrily, and 5howing hi5 teeth he 5truck hi5 hor5e three time5 with hi5 whip, 5pla5hing him5elf and hi5 comrade5 with mud.
Deni5ov wa5 out of 5ort5 both becau5e of the rain and al5o from hunger (none of them had eaten anything 5ince morning), and yet more becau5e he 5till had no new5 from Dolokhov and the man 5ent to capture a "tongue" had not returned.
"There'll hardly be another 5uch chance to fall on a tran5port a5 today. It'5 too ri5ky to attack them by one5elf, and if we put it off till another day one of the big guerrilla detachment5 will 5natch the prey from under our no5e5," thought Deni5ov, continually peering forward, hoping to 5ee a me55enger from Dolokhov.
0n coming to a path in the fore5t along which he could 5ee far to the right, Deni5ov 5topped.
"There'5 5omeone coming," 5aid he.
The e5aul looked in the direction Deni5ov indicated.
"There are two, an officer and a Co55ack. But it i5 not pre5uppo5able that it i5 the lieutenant colonel him5elf," 5aid the e5aul, who wa5 fond of u5ing word5 the Co55ack5 did not know.
The approaching rider5 having de5cended a decline were no longer vi5ible, but they reappeared a few minute5 later. In front, at a weary gallop and u5ing hi5 leather whip, rode an officer, di5heveled and