Page 211 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

THE 1860 CAMPAIGN IN SICILY 209

commander, qualities that those who insisted in seeing in him only a guer-
rilla too easily denied to him. He never had the opportunity of leading large
corps of the three armed forces; he always had too few too low quality
artillery pieces and just a few mounted scouts. The infantry, too, was badly
armed, but it is curious that, since he could defeat his enemies and win tri-
umphantly over them with such poor, imperfect and inadequate means, some
insisted that he was a commander for smaller rather than greater wars. Were
the operations carried out in Sicily those of a lesser war? As we repeatedly
stressed in our narration, Garibaldi took care of the scouting and the safety
in every detail and he knew very well how to reconcile bravery and wisdom.
His decisions were never thoughtless, although he was capable of quick
insights, they were the result of mature reflection. He did not disdain to hear
the opinion of those he esteemed highly, although he always reserved for
himself the right to operate according to his own convictions.
He was quick to decide to change his orders and adjust them to a chang-
ing situation that showed up in an unforeseeable way. He gave clear evidence
th
of this in the manoeuvres around Palermo from May 20 th to 27 .
He had a sure eye for the ground, as is often noted; he knew how to assess
rapidly and precisely its topographic characteristics and he knew how to use
them for his tactical purposes, as he demonstrated in Calatafimi and Milazzo,
and, most of all, he had the subtle insight of realising the decisive moment
when he had to stake everything to solve the battle. In short, he had what it
is commonly called a good tactical perspective, a virtue much less common
than it is generally believed.
Out of necessity and because of his character, he fought a war of move-
ments and clearly offensive operations, and made up for his lack of forces and
armaments by the continuous movement and speed of his actions, which
often took his enemies by surprise. The almost total absence of services facil-
itated his tactical operations, but obliged his forces to endure really extraor-
dinary privations and to live almost exclusively on local resources, that often
were very limited.
Time and again, Garibaldi showed his faith in the bayonet. This orderly
book that he gave on May 7 th is clear of his belief: “if you shoot at the enemy
– he said - you must kill him, because shooting without striking makes our
enemy grow prouder and wins us a very poor reputation. Therefore you must
be really sparing of shots and take advantage, when in a fight, of the quicker
expedient of the bayonet”.