Military Maxises of Napoleon.
Tents are injurious to health. It is much better for the soldier to bivouac, because he then sleeps with his feet to the fire, which quickly dries the ground on which he lies. A few boards or a little straw shelter him from the wind.Tents, however, are necessary for the leaders, who have to write and consult the map. They should be given, therefore, to the superior officers, who should be ordered never to lodge in a house.
Tents attract the observation of the enemy's staff, and make known your numbers and the position you occupy. But of an army bivouacking in two or three lines, nothing is perceived at a distance except the smoke, which the enemy confounds with the mist of the atmosphere. He cannot count the fires.
Nothing is more important in war than unity in command. When, therefore, you are carrying on hostilities against a single power only, you should have but one army, acting on one line, and led by one commander.
The effect of discussing, making a show of talent, and calling councils of war, will be what the effect of these things has been in every age; they will end in the adoption of the most pusillanimous, or (if the expression be preferred) the most prudent measures, which in war are most uniformly the worst that can be adopted. True wisdom, so far as a General is concerned, consists in energetic determination.
There are certain things in war, of which the commander alone comprehends the importance. Nothing but his superior firmness and ability can subdue and surmount all difficulties.
To authorize Generals and officers to lay down their arms by virtue of a special capitulation, under any other circumstances than when they constitute the garrison of a fortified place, would unquestionably be attended with dangerous consequences. To open this door to cowards, to men wanting in energy, or even to misguided brave men, is to destroy the military spirit of the nations. An extraordinary situation requires extraordinary resolution. The more obstinate the resistance of an armed body, the more chances it will have of being succored or of forcing a passage. How many things apparently impossible, have nevertheless been performed by resolute men who had no alternative but death.
No sovereign, no people, no General can be secure, if the officers are permitted to capitulate on the field and lay down their arms by virtue of an agreement favorable to themselves and to the troops under their command, but opposed to the interests of the remainder of the army. To withdraw from peril themselves, and thus render the position of their comrades more dangerous, is manifestly an act. of baseness. Such conduct ought to be proscribed, pronounced infamous, and punishable with death. The Generals, officers and soldiers, who, in a battle, have saved their lives by capitulating, ought to be decimated. He who commands the arms to be surrendered, and they who obey him, are alike traitors, and deserve capital punishment.
There is but one honorable way of being made a prisoner of war; that is, by being taken separately, and when you can no longer make use of your arms. Then there are no conditions — for there can be none, consistently with honor — but you are compelled to surrender by absolute necessity.
To be familiar with the geography and topography of the country; to be skilful in making a reconnaissance; to be attentive to the dispatch of orders; to be capable of exhibiting with simplicity the most complicated movements of the army;--these are the qualifications that should distinguish the officer called to the station of chief of the staff.
A general of artillery should be acquainted with all the operations of the army, as he is obliged to supply the different divisions of which he is composed with arms and ammunition. His communications with the artillery officers at the advance posts should keep him informed of all the movements of the troops, and the management of his great park must be regulated by this information.
To reconnoitre rapidly defiles and fords; to obtain guides that can be relied upon; to interrogate the clergyman and the postmaster; to establish speedily an understanding with the inhabitants; to send out spies; to seize the letters in the mails, translate and make an abstract of their contents, in short, to answer all the inquiries of the General-in-Chief on his arrival with the whole army;--such are the duties which come within the sphere of a good General of an advanced post.
Commanders-in-Chief are to be guided by their own experience or genius. Tactics, evolutions, the science of the engineer and the artillery officers, may be learned from treaties, but generalship is acquired only by experience and the study of the campaigns of all great captains. Gustavus Adolphus, Turenne, and Frederic, as also Alexander, Hannibal, and Cæsar, have all acted on the same principle. To keep your forces united, to be vulnerable at no point, to bear down with rapidity upon important points — these are the principles which insure victory.
It is by the fear which the reputation of your arms inspires that you maintain the fidelity of your allies and the obedience of conquered nations.
