Today, the existence of this unique domestic branch of the military is only reminiscent of the expression “to move in a plastunsky way,” which means to crawl in a special way. And a century and a half ago, in the tsarist army, scouts were given a special place and bestowed with great honor. And all because their skills and versatility were so effective in battle that whole legends were made about their exploits, and the enemy almost turned to flee at the sight of them. And although with the advent of Soviet power, the scouts as a separate military unit went into oblivion, the legacy of these unique warriors is still successfully used by the Russian army today.
It is difficult to say exactly when the art of “plastunka” appeared: according to the editors of Novate.ru, even the ancient Russian chronicles preserved information about warriors who were engaged in observing the enemy, literally merging with the ground for this, and in battle they could defeat the enemy almost naked hands. Actually, the term "plastun" itself is etymologically connected with the Old Slavonic word "plazati", that is, "crawl". The official appearance of the first combat detachment of the Cossacks, who began to be called scouts, dates back to the 16th century, when the so-called Plastunovsky Kuren, engaged in monitoring the movements of Tatar, Ottoman and Polish troops on the borders of the Wild fields.
In fact, the scouts in the tsarist army, in modern terms, were someone akin to the foot "special forces", as they performed special tasks and were distinguished by "multifunctionality". So, they usually became Cossack detachments that did not have horses and were engaged in observational and reconnaissance activities, and were also guard soldiers. They also had a place in battle, and far from being in the rear - they often worked as a central force in if it was necessary to carry out a surprise attack, and in addition, they were guides for other genera troops.
For a long time, the plastun detachments as part of the Russian imperial army did not receive significant development, until in 1787 Catherine the Great issued a decree on resettlement Zaporizhzhya Cossacks to the Caucasus: By that time, the Sich had already been destroyed for more than ten years, the Dnieper line of fortifications was functioning, and the southern borders in that region did not require Cossack protection. But the borders of the state in the place of resettlement required reliable protection. The scouts, among some kurens, also moved: they received the name of the Black Sea Cossack army, and the territory of their location was now determined by the lands from the Kuban to the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov.
In fact, the life of the Cossacks in a new place did not become easier: both on the southern borders near the Dnieper, and on Azov, raids by neighboring detachments of the same Tatars or someone else were a regular thing. Therefore, the scouts did not sit idle, because it was constant observation and reconnaissance on enemy territory that was the key preserving the inviolability of the borders, and better than small detachments of Cossacks on foot, no one would have coped with this task. For a long time, it was precisely this kind of activity that was the main one for the plastun detachments, and they were not attracted anywhere except to guard the borders - the Cossacks who made up the cavalry traditionally went to war.
Everything changed when the Crimean War of 1853-1856 broke out: then the Russian army, one after another suffered defeats from the British and French, whose weapons and equipment were an order of magnitude higher and more progressive. It was simply impossible to quickly create new types of weapons, and then the command resorted to strengthening the combat resource on the fronts due to those same border scouts. Their task included not only the implementation of surveillance and reconnaissance activities, but also operations that fit to be called sabotage: often they tasks consisted of an inconspicuous approach to enemy trenches, a surprise attack and destruction of the enemy, and after that - the same quick retreat to their own positions.
The result was not long in coming: the first two battalions of Cossack scouts, who were sent to Sevastopol, turned out to be so skillful, and their combat operations were effective, that the command quickly gave a request for the mobilization of additional divisions. After the successes in the Russian-Turkish war, the crawling Cossack troops were included in the Russian ground forces. on an ongoing basis, and managed to participate in at least two more wars: the Russo-Japanese and the First world.
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The activities of the scout detachments were even immortalized in legends: for example, there is a story about a demonstrative battle that the scouts held - then they managed to capture a whole mortar battery and bring trophies in the form of three large cannons, and the French prisoners themselves dragged them soldiers. The glory of the Plastun troops was sung by soldiers and civilians, to which they only said in response: “God knows why they praised us in Sevastopol. And we are accustomed to carry out the service and did not give a miss... ".
And then the October Revolution broke out, which radically changed both the state itself and its military units. The Kuban Cossack troops, as well as the plastun battalions, did not find a place in the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, and they forever went down in history. However, this does not mean that one hundred scouts did not leave a useful legacy - rather, on the contrary: their skills were actively used by the border troops and intelligence units, and during the Great Patriotic War, according to old memory, some Cossack battalions, regiments and the entire Krasnodar Rifle Division bore the proud name "plastunskie".
Do you want to know more about the accessory that the Cossacks invariably wore and what significance it had? Then read: Why did the Cossacks wear earrings in their ears, and why their number was very important
Source: https://novate.ru/blogs/210222/62213/