Tolstoy explains important differences between guerrilla warfare and the so-called “laws of war” which apply in conventional military fighting. .In guerrilla warfare, the spirit of the warrior matters, more than numbers.
Tolstoy explains important differences between guerrilla warfare and the so-called “laws of war” which apply in conventional military fighting. .In guerrilla warfare, the spirit of the warrior matters, more than numbers.
Book 14, Chapter 2
Tolstoy explains important differences between guerrilla warfare and the so-called “laws of war” which apply in conventional military fighting. .In guerrilla warfare, the spirit of the warrior matters, more than numbers.
Summary:
Guerrilla warfare appears in wars of national character, such as done by the guerrillas in Spain, by the mountain tribes in the Caucasus, and by the Russians in 1812. Guerrilla warfare is always successful. The biggest difference in guerrilla warfare is that the spirit of the men matters for than their numbers. Instead of two crowds opposing each other, the men disperse, attack singly, run away when attacked by stronger forces, but again attack when opportunity offers. Such a war does not fit in under any rule and is directly opposed to a well-known rule of tactics that an attacker should concentrate his forces in order to be stronger than his opponent at the moment of conflict. Usually, when a smaller force defeats a larger one in conventional battle, the credit is given to the “heroes” who commanded the smaller but victorious force. But, Tolstoy says, it is only necessary to abandon the false view (adopted to gratify the heroes) of the efficacy of the directions issued in wartime by commanders, in order to understand the value of the spirit of the army, which shows up as a greater or lesser readiness to fight and face danger felt by all the men composing an army, quite independently of whether they are, or are not, fighting under the command of a genius, in two-or three-line formation, with clubs or with advanced rifles.
quote from the chapter:
The tactical rule that an army should act in masses when attacking, and in smaller groups in retreat, unconsciously confirms the truth that the strength of an army depends on its spirit. To lead men forward under fire more discipline (obtainable only by movement in masses) is needed than is needed to resist attacks. But this rule which leaves out of account the spirit of the army continually proves incorrect and is in particularly striking contrast to the facts when some strong rise or fall in the spirit of the troops occurs, as in all national wars.
The French, retreating in 1812-though according to tactics they should have separated into detachments to defend themselves-congregated into a mass because the spirit of the army had so fallen that only the mass held the army together. The Russians, on the contrary, ought according to tactics to have attacked in mass, but in fact they split up into small units, because their spirit had so risen that separate individuals, without orders, dealt blows at the French without needing any compulsion to induce them to expose themselves to hardships and dangers.
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