La_Maraude
La Maraude describes the tactic employed by Napoleonic armies of scavenging local villages or enemy populations for supplies instead of relying on extended lines of supply. It was Napoleon’s belief that armies should be largely self-sufficient,[1] as this freed them from the constraints of supply lines and allowed them to move far more quickly than their more static enemies.[2] The tactic proved very successful in Western and central Europe but was less successful in the more desolate regions of Spain and Russia where food was less plentiful. marauding enabled French soldiers to develop a high degree of skill in living off the country.[3] The tactic was particularly flawed whenever an army was forced to retreat over land which it had already scavenged as in the retreat from Moscow.