‘About the Cossacks, and
their usefulness in the field’
(‘Ueber den Kosaken, und dessen Brauchbarkeit im Felde’)
by [the Austrian] Captain A.
Prokesch
Translated by Geert van Uythoven
Source: Osterreichisches Militairisches
Zeitschrift, 3. Band, 9. Heft (Wien, 1824) pp. 270 – 339.
part 2
(pp. 280 – 288)
Have these conditions been met, and knows
the commanding officer of a unit to take advantage of the fact that his tactics
are not limited by army regulations; if he by his own talent and experience
knows how to use the natural talents of the Cossacks, so that he can use them
according to the circumstances, not restricted, like digging from a just
discovered mine; does he know how to reach the mass, by being imperturbable but
with just strictness gaining their respect; does he know to be generous without
being soft; does he know how to raise the spirits at the beginning of a fight,
by speaking few but striking words about religion and fatherland; does he know
how to make use of its own luck, to overcome the superstitious fear for certain
days or signs, which is so widespread: then he will be able to rely on no other
troops more then on these Cossacks. And if he possesses more talents and knows
how to use these, does he have the abilities of a leader, then he will be able
to perform deeds which them, which cannot be carried out by any other troop of
any other army. However, the leader has to participate in the destiny of his
men. He must not think himself to good for not often eating their soup with
them together; he must take sincere care for the wounded and sick; he must know
to call out the name of God on the right moments; and above all he must be
there, were the most danger is.
It
is unbelievable how critical a Cossack will judge his leader, and his behaviour
will already give him an opinion about his usefulness. Undue haste, useless
businesses, uncertainty, will be disastrous. Rest and clearness does he have to
show at every pace he makes, to balance the uneasiness which is the nature of
the Cossacks. One who gives in to this uneasiness, who believes all reports
from the posts, will never have any rest. The wars against the Turks and
against the Asian hordes have made the Cossacks very alert, vigilant, and
careful for their security. Therefore, he is always full of reports, opinions,
conditions, and suspicions. Most of the time they believe that the stranger who
commands them is not alert enough. Therefore, it must be the goal of the leader
to show the Cossacks that he is, and that he knows to make difference between
the appearance of danger and reality. Clearly false reports, made out of fear
and not out of a calculated and objective view such as a soldiers should have
must be punished. And the whole troop must witness the punishment applied to
the coward who disturbed their rest, because of mistaking a company for a
battalion, or a battalion for a regiment.
There
is a measure which a leader of a Cossack unit always should take, because it is
an excellent measure to gain trust, and because it is a new and really military
way to award his subordinates, and finally because it will help him to prepare
the result of combats in a very reliable way. This measure consists of
surrounding one self with twenty or thirty men, chosen from those which were
the most brave and excellent during combat. This distinction cannot be
restricted to a certain amount; the way to this distinction should always be
open to every one. Fruits of such a measure are unbelievable. One who has
served in a few campaigns, and who has an eye for the nature of attacks with
cold steel, especially cavalry attacks, knows how decisive in such occasions a
small number of men can be which are determined to be victorious; how even an
individual can rouse a whole band, and only his own faith in the outcome, which
is spread to the others like some kind of magic, will suffice to gain victory.
Every army and every arm has examples of this. The affection to his leader to
which a Cossack is capable of, and when there will pass every test, is the
cause that he can execute every undertaking with a hand full of these men.
Tettenborn and Czernitschev surrounded themselves with some kind of guard,
chosen men taken from all regiments in their command. Especially Tettenborn
distributed some of these handpicked horsemen over the troops destined to
attack. These individuals, known to be brave and respected by all others,
roused these and carries them with him in moments of doubt.
A
more specific example serving as proof for the statement above, is the
excellent way how Benkendorf earned the Order of St. Georg. In February 1813,
this Lieutenant-Colonel had to cover Tettenborn’s march on Berlin. Arriving at
Zellin, he wanted to march to Writzen; but he received message that this place
was occupied by a Westphalian battalion, and that from this side it could only
be reached by a single causeway. He goes round the place during the night. In
the morning, he has surrounded Writzen already completely and he –although much weaker as the enemy and
having only Cossacks against foot-- asked for the enemy to surrender. The
answer was negative. Benkendorf called on to the Soulin Regiment,
consisting mostly of men that had already served under Suvarov, that he counted
on them to be near him. With thirty men and six Russian and Prussian officers,
which accompanied him voluntarily, he charged into the place. Four of his men
fell in a moment when he arrived at the place, surprised by musketry from a
hidden position. But the example had been made. The others reach the market
place. Here they encountered the battalion, positioned in square. The sudden
arrival of the Cossacks struck terror in the Westphalians. The cry that they,
as Germans, would be spared, did the rest. Five hundred and fifty men laid down
their arms for thirty-three. These some twenty Cossacks formed the escort of
Benkendorf from now on, as long as he had the Soulin Regiment under his
command.
Taken man to man, the Cossack is declining to the extraordinary. When a competent officer knows how to make the most of their fighting qualities and peculiarities, and when the warlike spirit of the whole troop is sufficiently prepared, deeds can be done with them for which a double amount of regular cavalry would not suffice. Napoleon himself, who had the occasion to get acquainted with them in person, says somewhere from them (and could have given no higher praise): “Nothing deserves more respect in this troop, as the Cossack himself; then he is a beautiful man, strong, adroit, smart, a wonderful horseman, indefatigable. He is born on a horse and has grown up in internal battles. He is on the plain that what a Bedouin is in the desert, and the ‘Barbet’ in the Alps. He does not live in a house, he does not sleep on a bed, and changes every sunset the plays were he stays, in order that the enemy could not reconnoitre his accommodations for the night 1)” – What a force cannot be formed from such material!
The
sharpness of the eye-sight and the ears of a Cossack are fabulous. On distances at which one would only see a moving point
which betray the presence of a living being, the Cossack distinguishes exactly
if this is a man, a pedestrian or horseman, and finally if it is one of their
own 2). Signs which are called Majak, consisting of certain
movements of the horse, serve him as a natural telegraph. From mountain to
mountain, across wide valleys, and on enormous distances in level terrain, he
is able to question other Cossacks, or even to confer with them using these
signs. It is difficult to deceive him, because even
trying to imitate these signs will betray a person quickly 3). The way a
horse of the Don walks, the way he holds his head, and a thousand other unlike
details serve the Cossacks, one by one, to recognise each other far out of
reach of every other eye.
With his ear on the ground, the Cossack hears
gunfire at distances of twenty miles or more, and is seldom mistaken in the
right direction. He is more at home with the starry sky then any other man from
some European force; the sun, the stars are his magnetic needle. There is
nearly no example that the Cossack got lost, even in countries were nobody
speaks his language, with a culture and nature that are totally strange and
unknown to him. Added to this comes the security with which he follows the
tracks of its own people; the hoof-marks and other traces of the horses, the
bend branches of the trees, etc., are as much signs to him from which he
recognises the way he has to take, and where he is.
These
abilities and qualities are the basis of the excellent use that can be made
from Cossacks for outpost duty, reconnaissance’s, and missions. The most
important dispatches, entrusted to their care, found in them the most secure
couriers. A sealed letter is for them something holy.
When a feather is attached to the seal (a sign that the dispatch is urgent),
the Cossack would even sacrifice his horse, his faithful and beloved companion,
before losing a minute of time. With the same accuracy he will treat all
goods entrusted to him to escort and defend. When the Russian eagle has been
stamped upon it, he will rather die before handing it over to the enemy.
Because of this loyalty, the guard of the imperial headquarters consists of
Cossacks only, and the Cossacks are the ones who will guarantee the Russian
people the safety of their ruler during a campaign.
The
more a Cossack is left on his own, the more he will prove his smartness, sound
view, and resoluteness. He has enough to himself, and he knows want he wants
and what he can do. Grown up with arms, used to the
rashness of Asian marches of hordes and raids, to deceptions, outwitting action
during a war that never ends, he knows to value time and ground better
then most of the common men of any arm and any army. If one despatches a
Cossack to reconnoitre the enemy position, he will execute his assignment with
so much knowledge and deliberation that he is able to paint a clear picture of
it in a short time. The spot, which a Cossack will chose to place a piquet, is
surely the best one. In addition, no force will be covered better in the face
of the enemy, as the Cossack troop or those that have Cossacks for outpost
duty. When one wants to spend the night somewhere, or
wants to rest the troops, a few words spoken to a Cossack officer or NCO will
suffice to take care of the important task of security duty. One points
out to them the main roads leading to the enemy, and everything else will be
carried out automatically, and one can spend the night light-hearted. Officers
of the line which took over command of Cossacks and, used to the unreliability
of this dangerous and laborious part of field service; who wants to see
everything with his own eyes; who wants to place all posts in person; who wants
to teach and to control, was soon surpassed by the just tactics of the Cossack,
and gladly gave up his efforts that had deprived him of hours of rest, and
which are totally unnecessary with these troops. The vigilance of the Cossacks
has become a proverb in the whole Russian army, and is so highly valued that
many generals believe not to be secure without Cossacks. In the year 1815, a
highly esteemed Russian cavalry-general said, when one took away the Cossacks
escorting his command: “How do you believe that I can undertake something in
this country, without Cossacks?”. Despite the fact that this general had four
hussar regiments left in his Division.
Surely there are only few examples in which Cossacks were surprised. When this happened it was mostly the fault of the leader, which prevented them to secure themselves according to their experience and way. This was the case in Stecknitz in the Summer of 1813, after the armistice had ended. On 16 August, it was unknown to the Allies if the armistice was extended, or if war was to be resumed. The French removed all doubt the next day, when they advanced against the Allied line, and surprised a Cossack regiment positioned in the small town of Mölln. The leader of this regiment, spoiled by the long armistice, had neglected to take any security measures at all. The Cossacks were placed in a comfortable camp and surrounded by only a few posts close by. An enemy attack was not expected at all. So it happened that the surprise-attack could succeed. But it only succeeded in name, despite the discovery of the enemy at a moment that resistance was not possible anymore, and this event gave another opportunity to observe the lightning speed with which this troop was able to form, quicker then any other force; then despite the surprise, from which the Cossacks could only escape by a quick flight, not a single man or horse fell in enemy hands.
Footnotes:
1) ‘Mémoires de Napoléon’, par Monthelon I p.261.
2) Even sharper is the eye-sight of the
Kalmucks. Reason for this may possibly be the evolution of the eye.
3) The Poles have similar signs. When they see
someone which they believe is one of its own, they turn themselves in certain
circles. If the reply is the same, they know that their assumption was right.
The Majak differs from these signs; every time the Poles tried to
deceive the Cossacks this way they failed.
© Geert van Uythoven