But they were guerillas, not regulars; they had no good officers, no serviceable artillery, and very little money; and all the foreign powers to whom Rakoczy turned for assistance (excepting France, who fed them occasionally with paltry subsidies) would not commit themselves to a formal alliance with rebels who were defeated in every pitched battle they fought.
For weeks he scoured the interminable snow-covered plains of Poland in pursuit of the Polish guerillas, penetrating as far south as Jaroslau in Galicia, by which time he had lost two-thirds of his 15,000 men with no apparent result.
His energy and ability as a leader of guerillas hampered Charles X.
Instead, the country was traversed by flying columns, and the guerillas dealt with by a French service of " contre-guerilla," who fought with much the same savagery as their foes.
Yet on the 3rd of October 1865, Maximilian, misled by a false report that Juarez had left the country, issued a decree declaring the Juarists guerillas, who, whenever captured, were to be tried by courtmartial and shot.
