In the Service of the Tsar is a wonderfully dramatic account of a Russian officer's exploits in the Napoleonic Wars. In the last Greenhill Military Book News we gave some background on the project; now we present a dramatic extract from these vivid writings. Davidov was a partisan officer during the 1812 campaign. Here he describes a raid on the French lines of communication in October 1812: We launched our night attack. An autumn drizzle had been falling all day and the darkness was total. We struck with our reserve regiment and some infantry. Fortunately, the enemy guards were fast asleep in their huts and refused to wake up! In the meantime, Khrapovitsky's and Chechensky's men galloped into the village; some of them dismounted and, shouting 'Hurrah!', started to fire at the windows. Reinforcing them with 100 infantrymen and taking 200 cossacks from the reserve, I crossed the Uda stream to prevent the enemy sneaking into Viazma by the side roads. But the night was so black that we lost our way and our guide brought us out at a different spot from the usual crossing. This forced us to descend by fits and starts from a considerable height and get across as best we could. Not knowing the surroundings, I decided to go slowly and keep firing away with pistols and shouting 'Hurrah!'Fortunately the enemy chose not to come this way but turned towards Kikino and fled in disorder along the road from Ukhnov to Gzhatsk. Our whole party chased them for about four versts. Then I detached 100 cossacks to pursue the fleeing French, but to bear left so as to keep closer to our group, and stay in touch with the road between Viazma and Tsarevo where I intended to turn up after our sweep on Losmino. In this operation we took prisoner one platoon leader, one officer and 376 foot soldiers. And, because it was night, I directed my men not to get involved taking a lot of prisoners. We captured as many of the enemy as we killed. After tying them up and sending them to Ukhnov, as was customary, I let the horses enjoy a well-deserved rest; then, dispatching the infantry to Ermaki, we set off for Losmino. I had to go by way of Belystchino in order to join up with Biriukov and to replace his unit with the 100 cossacks who had been sent to pursue the enemy; also I needed to gather information from him about the enemy located in Losmino; and lastly, by turning towards Derevestchin and Krasnoje Gora, we planned to arrive from the Viazma side in the rear of the enemy and fall on them like snow out of the blue. All my plans would have been fulfilled to the letter if only enemy foragers had not sighted my party and hurried on to Losmino to warn their commander of my coming. My riders chased this rabble, but because we had been on the march for the preceding 24 hours, including two hours of fighting, the horses had become weary, thus allowing some of the foragers to get away and spread the alarm through the detachment, which was clearly doomed. Meanwhile we continued to advance at full trot along the road from Viazma to Losmino. It was getting light and because of the incessant rain the road had become quite slippery. My opposite number had been careless and had omitted to shoe all his horses, so that about half of them were not properly provided. Nevertheless, upon my arrival at Losmino he met us on firm footing. As the fighting got under way, the forward elements came to grips and the action teetered back and forth inconclusively. When our whole force was battle-ready, we charged the three lines of the enemy, positioned one behind the other. At the first clash, the enemy front line tumbled back into the second and the second collided with the third. Then they all fled headlong. You had to have been a witness to this event to believe the confusion that reigned among the French ranks. To make matters worse, half of the detachment came crashing upside-down. The horses that had not been properly shod collapsed as if struck by grapeshot; their riders ran off on foot in every direction without resistance. Two squadrons did form in battle order and attempted to move forward and impede our attack, but when they sighted my hussars at the forefront of my reserve, they immediately turned back for good. The pursuit continued until noon. We cut and slashed and shot and dragged into captivity officers, soldiers and horses – in a word, the victory was complete. I was overflowing with joy! We came to a halt. There were 403 men and two officers taken, all wounded. The regimental commander, I was told, had fallen on the field of battle and with him another 150 rank-and-file men; the others scattered through fields and woods or were captured by the inhabitants. In all these engagements we lost only four cossacks and fifteen others were wounded together with two hussars; up to 50 horses had also been killed or wounded. It goes without saying that I was impatient to boast to the field marshal about this, my finest success to date! A courier was immediately dispatched with a report still smoking from the fire of the battlefield. In the Service of the Tsar against Napoleon has just been published, priced £ 18.99. Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 93 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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