The Italian campaign, which made Suvorov an all-world celebrity, was not his last feat. He was destined to accomplish another great deed that immortalized his name among heroes of all times and all peoples. Until now, a great man fought with people and emerged victorious, now he had to enter into a struggle with nature itself - formidable, mighty. Suvorov had to cross the highest mountains in Europe - the Alps. And here the hero emerged victorious: nature did not break his persistent nature - he completed the work he had begun, surprising the world with an unparalleled feat.
It was a rainy autumn when the field marshal with a 20,000-strong detachment of his miraculous heroes entered Switzerland. Several mountain roads could be chosen for the crossing; Suvorov trusted the Austrians and chose the most difficult of them. The detachment moved lightly, since the entire heavy wagon train and artillery were sent in a different way. With each step the road went higher and higher, it was more and more difficult to walk. In the small town of Tavern, the Austrians promised to save more than a thousand mules for Suvorov for light artillery and provisions, but did not fulfill their promise. This negligence, or rather, perfidy, made Suvorov indignant. It took five whole days to hire mules, to negotiate with the drivers and to adapt some of the combat horses for packs, completely unsuitable for this kind of service. The difficulty of the hike in the mountains was increased by thethat in different places the French held positions one stronger than the other. I had to be always on my guard and take every step with battle.
The highest mountain Saint-Gotthard looked at the moving Russian detachment unfriendly and sternly; its snow-capped peaks went into heaven. Suvorov rode among the army on a small Cossack horse; he wore a wide-brimmed hat and a cloth cloak. He used every opportunity to cheer up the army and to cheer up the fallen soldiers.
“There, in the mountains,” he said, “the French have settled down; we will beat them in Russian!.. Let the mountains be high, let there be abysses, streams, but we will cross them, fly over them! We are Russians!.. God himself leads us! When we climb the mountains, the shooters shoot at the heads of the enemy … Shoot rarely and accurately!.. And the others act quickly, scatteringly! Take it with bayonets, hit, if you drive, don't rest! For those who ask - mercy, it is a sin to kill in vain!
It was necessary to inspire the soldiers more and more often, since the wild mountain nature acted depressingly on them. “The spectacle of hitherto unseen mountains with their ice, waterfalls, abysses, deserts,” writes the historian, “with a lack of reserves; fatigue, despondency and the thought that one must pass through these mountains and fight with the enemy, striking from behind stones and ambushes, where every shot is fatal - this sight horrified the fearless soldiers of Suvorov. The soldiers murmured. Some of the regiments dared not even obey the chiefs"
- What is he doing to us! - said the soldiers.
- He's out of his mind! Where did he take us!
Suvorov stopped the excitement quickly. Having lined up the disgruntled regiments, he ordered to dig their grave in sight.
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When everything was ready, the fearless commander turned to the disobedient with the following speech:
- You dishonor my gray hair, - he said in a voice trembling with tears, - I led your fathers to victory, but you are not my children, I am not your father! Dig my grave! Put me in my grave! I will not survive my shame and your shame!
With these words, he ran to the grave. The soldiers began to cry.
- Our father! lead us, lead us - let us die with you! - rang out in their ranks. In a crowd they rushed to Suvorov, fell to their knees, kissed his hands and vowed to die with him. And no dangers, no horrors of the mountain war, then extracted not a single word of discontent from the chest of the miraculous heroes.
The first skirmish with the French took place at the foot of S. Gotthard, then the fights continued all the time until Suvorov reached the summit. The troops were divided into three columns, each of them had to act according to the planned plan and knock the enemy out of his position. The enemy defended himself desperately; one attack followed another; finally, Bagration's detachment knocked the enemy out of its highest positions, and the summit of S. Gotthard was in the hands of the Russians. It is said that here Suvorov visited an ancient Catholic monastery, where he talked for a long time with the elderly abbot, who finally blessed the Russian leader.
Having reached the summit of S. Gotthard with incredible efforts, the Russians accomplished only less than half of the work; the main difficulties were still ahead. I had to go down the river Reisse. At one point, the road was, at a distance of 80 paces, a narrow, 4 paces wide, dark passage cut through the mountain; then she wound a narrow path along the sheer slope of a giant rock and ran abruptly to the bridge. It had been raining for several days now. Dark nights gave way to cloudy foggy days. The cold northern wind howled sadly in the narrow gorges of the mountains. Deep silence reigned in the ranks of the moving army; only restrained sighs were heard when the unfortunate soldier, slipping or exhausted, fell on a steep slope and disappeared into the bottomless abyss.
But then the troops approached the passage and then only saw that there was no way to use it, since the French were stationed on the other side, not a single shot of which could now be wasted. I had to look for a roundabout way, on the right - over the mountains, on the left - ford, across a fast mountain river. The maneuver was an excellent success: waist-deep in icy water, along the river bed cluttered with stones, the Suvorovites quickly moved to the opposite bank and struck with bayonets. The amazed French were forced to hastily retreat across the river. Leaving, they destroyed the famous Devil's Bridge, thrown over a terrible abyss with sheer walls. But this did not deter the Russians either. The Suvorovites quickly dismantled the nearest barn; boards and logs appeared; the officers' scarves were used for a bundle of separate parts, and now the bridge is ready. With great precautions, the miraculous heroes moved to the other side of the abyss and headed freely towards the city of Altorf
From here, Suvorov and his army had to either sail on Lake Zurich, which was in the hands of the French, or wade along a narrow path, along which only experienced Swiss hunters could hardly walk. Trusting the Austrians, Suvorov did not imagine that such a difficult, almost impossible path lay ahead, but there was no choice - he had to embark on a dangerous path, along a narrow path. The soldiers were exhausted to the extreme, almost all provisions were destroyed, their shoes were torn, the cartridges were used up, there was no time to hesitate: it was necessary to hurry in order to unite in time with the allied troops, which were in Switzerland, under the command of Gotz and Korsakov.
The troops set out early in the morning. The road was unspeakably difficult. Climbing from step to step, the soldiers were forced to go alone, risking every moment to stumble and disappear into the abyss. At the halts, exhausted people found only one naked stone, it was not even possible to make a fire in order to at least warm up their numb limbs a little. These torments had to be endured for 12 hours, until the troops reached Muten, having made 16 miles during this time.
In Muten, Suvorov was in for a new disappointment: he was informed that the detachment of Korsakov and Gotz had been defeated by the French. The situation was desperate. The glorious commander with a handful of troops was surrounded on all sides by the enemy. He asked for help from the Archduke Charles, but he was refused. Abandoned by everyone, far from his homeland, amid indescribable disasters, Suvorov now thought only of saving the Russian army. On September 18, he convened a council of war and before it “poured out his tormented soul.” After listing all the difficulties and disasters of the Swiss campaign, recalling the treachery of the Austrians, he ended his speech with the following words:
- We have nowhere to wait for help, only hope for God and for the greatest self-sacrifice of the troops led by us!
- Whatever troubles ahead may threaten us, - the generals, moved by the words of the field marshal, answered, - whatever misfortunes befall, the troops will endure everything, they will not shame the Russian name; and if they are not destined to prevail, they will lie down with glory!
To hide the alarming state of mind from the army and to appear as calm as possible, Suvorov ordered to give himself a box with orders and other insignia; laid them out in front of him, admired them, saying: “This is for Ochakov! This is for Prague , etc.
Providence, however, kept its chosen one: Suvorov not only managed to pave his way, but also completely defeat the ten thousandth French detachment under the command of Massena. The defeat of the French was so severe that they fled from the battlefield in panic fear, leaving us their entire camp. The Russians were now moving freely towards Glaris, where the soldiers, after a series of trials and hardships, were finally given the opportunity to reinforce their strength with wheat bread and cheese.
Having made another very difficult crossing over the mountain ridge, Suvorov's army finally united with the remnants of Korsakov's corps and bivouacked in the valley between the Iller and Lerom rivers.
Hence the glorious hero wrote to Emperor Paul:
“The exploits of the Russians on land and at sea were to be crowned with exploits on the bulk of inaccessible mountains. Leaving behind us in Italy the glory of the deliverers and the pity of the peoples we liberated, we crossed the chains of the Swiss mountain rapids. In this kingdom of terror, at every step, the abysses around us gaped like open graves. Gloomy nights, incessant thunders, rains, fogs, with the noise of waterfalls, throwing huge ice floes and stones from the top of the mountains. S.-Gotthard is a colossus, below the top of which clouds rush, - everything was overcome by us, and in inaccessible places the enemy could not resist … The Russians crossed the snowy peak of Bintner, drowning in mud, under the spray of waterfalls that carried people and horses into the abyss … Words are lacking to depict the horrors we have seen, among which the hand of Providence kept us."
“Everywhere and always you conquered enemies,” the emperor wrote in reply to Suvorov, “and you lacked one glory - to conquer nature. Putting you on the highest degree of honor, I am sure that I will elevate to her the first commander of ours and of all ages."
Having awarded the hero the title of generalissimo, Paul I then ordered to erect a monument to him in St. Petersburg. At the same time, the military collegium was ordered to write off Suvorov not by "decrees" but by "messages." Together with this, the sovereign decided to disperse from the insidious allies. Suvorov's troops were to return to Russia.
Thus ended this heroic campaign of Suvorov, which placed his name on an unattainable height of glory and greatness. Despite the fact that the hero “did not achieve the goal that was meant when he was sent to the theater of war, but he achieved something even more. The circumstances were such that he had to die along with the entire Russian army; and meanwhile, he saved her under completely hopeless circumstances - he saved her as an invincible army during all this unparalleled disastrous and unparalleled glorious campaign!.. This is the crown of his military talent, a brilliant confirmation of his entire military theory."
Almost a hundred years later, in 1898, a monument to Suvorov was erected in Switzerland.
For their treachery, the Austrians were severely punished: less than a year after the events described, the French finally defeated Austria, which immediately lost all the conquests of the great Suvorov.