from position to position and striking out, not just sitting in wait for the approaching enemy mass. After the Tilsit treaty—during the negotiations he saw Napoleon close up and exchanged a glare with the emperor—Davydov fought in Finland in 1808, learning from the Finns’ use of small, dispersed raiding forces and incubating ideas of his own.
Central and Eastern Europe in Napoleonic Times
In the time between Tilsit and the French invasion in June 1812, Davydov cut a dashing figure in Russian society when he wasn’t off in the field. As he described himself, he was, “a company commander in the Hussar Life Guard Regiment, with two crosses around my neck and two other decorations on my gold-braided red jacket. I was drowning in delights and, as is customary, was in love up to my ears.” 7
The conservative Russian court remained concerned about his father’s sullied reputation and about the seriousness and political reliability of the hussar poet who, even in these days—fifteen years before the rising of the liberal Decembrists—seemed to view the ruling regime with an alarming insouciance. Whatever the concerns at court, in the darkest moments of the campaign after Borodino his energy, confidence, and intelligence proved most welcome.
Davydov’s basic mission was to cripple the GRANDE ARMÉE with deep raids far behind the lines against security outposts and supply lines. He was little concerned with the small numbers that had been allotted to him, as he knew that he could rely on the fighting spirit of the Cossacks, many of whom were already roaming about and attacking targets of opportunity wherever they could find them. The great French eyewitness chronicler of the campaign, Napoleon’s aide Armand de Caulaincourt, noted in his account that, from the very outset of the war until Smolensk, for the most part “we were faced only by Cossacks.” 8 After Borodino, Clausewitz observed that their role increased hugely. The Cossacks, he recalled, “swarmed in every direction.” 9
These amazing natural horse soldiers had been living in southern Russia and Ukraine for centuries, banditry and raiding being at the core of their way of life. The best-known portrayal of the Cossack style remains Nikolai Gogol’s TARAS BULBA , a novel in which Cossacks are seen, in many respects, as the heroic personification of Russia itself. 10 It was no surprise that, though nominally under the command of their HETMAN , Matthew Ivanovitch Platov, Cossack riders soon swelled the ranks of Davydov’s force once he got moving.
In imitation of some of the “people’s war” aspects of the insurgency in Spain, Davydov also reached out to villagers living deep within the area of Russia controlled for now by the French. At first the villagers mistook him and the other hussars for Frenchmen or their allies because of their showy uniforms. So, in an act of “branding” of his own, Davydov and his men let their beards grow and put on peasant caftans. For Mina in Spain branding had been achieved by adopting his cousin’s name and cutting his men’s (and his own) hair. For Davydov, branding consisted of dressing down, looking scruffy, and speaking in peasant dialect.
Once he gained the confidence of the various villagers, Davydov proceeded to instruct them in resistance methods that he had conceived. The basic idea was to get the occupiers drunk, wait until they passed out, then kill them. Dayvdov went on to advise that the Frenchmen killed at the end of these bacchanals had to be hauled deep into the forest and buried, along with their uniforms. No clothes or trophies were to be taken, as these might be spotted by French soldiers investigating their comrades’ disappearance, and would bring retributive violence upon the village. 11 It appears that, for all his other traits, Davydov was meticulous about his insurgent tradecraft. His thoughtful dissemination of these procedures led to the establishment of what might be called
Central and Eastern Europe in Napoleonic Times
In the time between Tilsit and the French invasion in June 1812, Davydov cut a dashing figure in Russian society when he wasn’t off in the field. As he described himself, he was, “a company commander in the Hussar Life Guard Regiment, with two crosses around my neck and two other decorations on my gold-braided red jacket. I was drowning in delights and, as is customary, was in love up to my ears.” 7
The conservative Russian court remained concerned about his father’s sullied reputation and about the seriousness and political reliability of the hussar poet who, even in these days—fifteen years before the rising of the liberal Decembrists—seemed to view the ruling regime with an alarming insouciance. Whatever the concerns at court, in the darkest moments of the campaign after Borodino his energy, confidence, and intelligence proved most welcome.
Davydov’s basic mission was to cripple the GRANDE ARMÉE with deep raids far behind the lines against security outposts and supply lines. He was little concerned with the small numbers that had been allotted to him, as he knew that he could rely on the fighting spirit of the Cossacks, many of whom were already roaming about and attacking targets of opportunity wherever they could find them. The great French eyewitness chronicler of the campaign, Napoleon’s aide Armand de Caulaincourt, noted in his account that, from the very outset of the war until Smolensk, for the most part “we were faced only by Cossacks.” 8 After Borodino, Clausewitz observed that their role increased hugely. The Cossacks, he recalled, “swarmed in every direction.” 9
These amazing natural horse soldiers had been living in southern Russia and Ukraine for centuries, banditry and raiding being at the core of their way of life. The best-known portrayal of the Cossack style remains Nikolai Gogol’s TARAS BULBA , a novel in which Cossacks are seen, in many respects, as the heroic personification of Russia itself. 10 It was no surprise that, though nominally under the command of their HETMAN , Matthew Ivanovitch Platov, Cossack riders soon swelled the ranks of Davydov’s force once he got moving.
In imitation of some of the “people’s war” aspects of the insurgency in Spain, Davydov also reached out to villagers living deep within the area of Russia controlled for now by the French. At first the villagers mistook him and the other hussars for Frenchmen or their allies because of their showy uniforms. So, in an act of “branding” of his own, Davydov and his men let their beards grow and put on peasant caftans. For Mina in Spain branding had been achieved by adopting his cousin’s name and cutting his men’s (and his own) hair. For Davydov, branding consisted of dressing down, looking scruffy, and speaking in peasant dialect.
Once he gained the confidence of the various villagers, Davydov proceeded to instruct them in resistance methods that he had conceived. The basic idea was to get the occupiers drunk, wait until they passed out, then kill them. Dayvdov went on to advise that the Frenchmen killed at the end of these bacchanals had to be hauled deep into the forest and buried, along with their uniforms. No clothes or trophies were to be taken, as these might be spotted by French soldiers investigating their comrades’ disappearance, and would bring retributive violence upon the village. 11 It appears that, for all his other traits, Davydov was meticulous about his insurgent tradecraft. His thoughtful dissemination of these procedures led to the establishment of what might be called
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