Jacques Desjardin
Encyclopedia
Jacques Desjardin or Jacques Jardin or Jacques Desjardins; (9 February 1759 11 February 1807) enlisted in the French royal army as a young man and eventually became a sergeant. During the first years of the French Revolutionary Wars
he enjoyed very rapid promotion to the rank of general officer in the army of the First French Republic. He saw a great deal of fighting in the north of France, Belgium
, and the Netherlands
. In the campaign of 1805, he led an infantry division under Marshal
Pierre Augereau in Emperor Napoleon's
Grande Armée and saw limited fighting. In 1806 and 1807, he fought in several actions, was mortally wounded at the Battle of Eylau
, and died three days later.
, France, Desjardin joined the French army on 8 December 1776 at the age of 17. Since his father worked as a humble valet, Desjardin's prospects of advancement in the Vivarais
Infantry Regiment were poor. He became a corporal
in 1781 and sergeant
in 1789. He was granted leave to see his father in 1790 and immediately threw himself into the task of drilling his hometown National Guard
unit. Coming to the attention of the revolutionary authorities, he was appointed adjutant general
on 5 August 1791.
After a reorganization, Desjardin became lieutenant colonel
of the 2nd Battalion of the Maine-et-Loire National Guard. He led his troops in the Army of the North at the Battle of Jemappes
on 6 November 1792. This action was followed by the Siege of Namur, which lasted from early November until the Austrian surrender on 2 December. During the siege, Desjardin's battalion served in the Left Brigade of Louis Auguste Juvénal des Ursins d'Harville
's Reserve Division. In the actions during Charles François Dumouriez
's subsequent retreat from Belgium, Desjardin greatly distinguished himself. On 3 September 1793, he received promotion to general of brigade. When he became a general of division on 19 March 1794, he already had charge of three divisions.
By 4 May 1794, Desjardin had command over the 31,736-strong Army of the Ardennes
. This army consisted of Miller's Division, 14,075 men, Jacques Pierre Fromentin's Division, 10,619 soldiers, and Eloi Laurent Despeaux's Division, 7,042 troops. One month later, Desjardin led the Right Wing of the Army of the North with a strength of 37,147 men. There were 43 infantry battalions, nine cavalry regiments, and three artillery companies under his orders.
With the better part of this force, Desjardin laid siege to Charleroi
. On 3 June, a 28,000-man Austro-Dutch relief force under William V, Prince of Orange
defeated him at Gosselies
, inflicting 2,000 casualties on the 27,000 French who were present and capturing one 12-pound cannon. For a loss of 424 killed and wounded, the allies drove the French south of the Sambre
River and broke the siege. Jean Baptiste Jourdan's 45,000-strong Army of the Moselle soon joined Desjardin's forces to his own army to form the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse
. He participated in the siege of Le Quesnoy
, which ended on 16 August 1794 with an Austrian surrender. After the reduction of Luxembourg City
, which lasted until June 1795, Desjardin remained in the Army of the North. During 1796 or 1797, he became part of the occupation forces of the former Dutch Republic
. In October 1801 he was placed on inactive duty.
and recalled him to military service at Brest
. In recognition of his services, the emperor appointed him a Commander of the Légion d'Honneur on 14 June 1804. In 1805, Desjardin was appointed to command a division in Marshal Augereau's VII Corps.
Having a long march from Brest to the Danube
at the start of the War of the Third Coalition, Augereau's corps missed the Ulm Campaign
in October 1805. While the main army was headed for a showdown at the Battle of Austerlitz
, the VII Corps operated against enemy troops in the Voralberg. The French tracked down Franz Jellacic
's Austrian division on the upper reaches of the Iller
River. On 13 November 1805, Augereau, accompanied by Desjardin's 1st Division forced Jellacic to surrender at Dornbirn
. Three generals, 160 officers, and 3,895 rank and file laid down their arms and were permitted to march to Bohemia
where they were not to undertake operations against France for one year. Seven colors became trophies of the French.
At the beginning of the War of the Fourth Coalition
, Desjardin still commanded the 1st Division of the VII Corps, a total of 8,242 soldiers and eight artillery pieces. Pierre Belon Lapisse
's brigade consisted of the 4-battalion 16th Light Infantry Regiment. Jacques Lefranc's brigade comprised the 44th and 105th Line Infantry Regiments, three battalions each, and the 2nd Battalion of the 14th Line Infantry Regiment. The divisional artillery was made up of a half company each of foot and horse artillery and included two 12-pound guns, four 6-pound guns, and two 6-inch howitzers.
At the Battle of Jena, Augereau's corps formed the left flank as Napoleon engaged the Prussian-Saxon army of Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen
. Led by Lapisse's 16th Light, Desjardin led his division up the Schneke Pass against Hans Gottlob von Zeschwitz's Saxon Division posted on the Prussian right flank. They soon bore to the right to form a flank guard to Marshal Jean Lannes
' main attack. As the French attack pressed forward, the 1st Division captured the village of Isserstadt around 11:30 AM.
When Ernst von Rüchel
made his belated and futile attack after 1:00 PM, it was opposed by the artillery of Desjardin, as well as the guns of Marshals Nicolas Soult, Michel Ney
, and Lannes. Meanwhile, Augereau's main assault fell on Zeschwitz's Saxons and a supporting Prussian brigade under Karl Anton Andreas von Boguslawsky. While Etienne Heudelet de Bierre's 2nd Division hammered at the Saxons from the front, part of Desjardin's division turned their left flank. By 3:00 PM, the Saxons were completely cut off from Hohenlohe's main army. Seeing an opportunity, Marshal Joachim Murat
led Louis Klein
's dragoons to take the Saxons in the rear while Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul
's cuirassiers attacked their left flank. Zeschwitz cut his way out of the trap at the head of 300 cavalrymen, but a total of 6,000 Saxons and Prussians were forced to surrender.
In November, the corps of Lannes, Augereau, and Marshal Louis Nicolas Davout
thrust into Prussian Poland. In late December, Napoleon launched an offensive against the Russian Empire
armies that were gathering against him. At the Battle of Czarnowo
on 23 and 24 December, the French pressed their enemies back. Also on the 24th, Augereau directed his two divisions to force a crossing of the Wkra
River in the face of nine Russian infantry battalions and five cavalry squadrons under Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly
. Heudelet's attack at Sochocin
was repulsed by three battalions. Furious at this setback, he ordered a second attack which only resulted in more casualties. At Kołoząb, Desjardin ordered the 16th Light to line the west bank of the river to give covering fire while the grenadier company of the 14th Line stormed the incompletely demolished bridge. Securing a foothold, the grenadiers were rapidly reinforced and repelled counterattacks by Russian infantry and hussars. Aided by Lapisse's task force which crossed 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) downstream, Desjardin's men drove off the Russians and captured six cannons. Augereau lost 66 men killed and 452 wounded in these two actions.
Two days later, Desjardin fought at the Battle of Gołymin. In this action, Dmitry Golitsyn with 16,000 to 18,000 Russians held off 37,000 to 38,000 Frenchmen under Marshals Davout and Augereau. The large French numerical advantage was partly offset by the fact that Golitsyn had taken up an excellent defensive position. The Russians also employed 28 pieces of artillery, while the French could get no guns forward because of the poor condition of the roads. After a cavalry clash, Desjardin's division was the first French infantry to reach the battlefield. Heudelet's division marched on a different road and took position on Desjardin's left. Repeatedly attacked by cavalry, Heudelet was forced to keep his men in square and consequently could make little forward progress. Desjardin attacked with more verve, pressing back a Russian infantry regiment. Reinforced, the Russians pushed his troops back in turn. Rallying his men, Desjardin ordered a new advance but it was stopped by point-blank artillery fire. After Augereau's advance ended in a stalemate, Davout's troops appeared on the scene. At first they were successful, but this attack eventually stalled and the Russians retreated that evening in good order. Russian casualties are put at 775, but this may be too low. The French claimed that their losses were the same as their adversaries.
On 7 and 8 February, the French and Russian-Prussian armies fought the costly Battle of Eylau
. Soult's troops were involved in a hot fight with the Russian rear guard on the 7th. Augereau was ordered to help by moving against the enemy right flank, but his troops were not seriously engaged. At 8:00 AM on the 8th, the VII Corps was brought into the battle line with its left flank at the Preußisch Eylau church. Desjardin's division was in the first line and Heudelet's was in the second. This move split Soult's IV Corps, placing the divisions of Claude Legrand and Jean François Leval to Augereau's left and Louis-Vincent-Joseph Le Blond de Saint-Hilaire's division to his right. This day, Augereau was not in good health. He had asked Napoleon for sick leave the evening before, but the emperor talked him into staying on for one more day.
Around 9:00 AM, Napoleon ordered Soult to attack on the left, but his two divisions were thrown back by the Russians after a terrific struggle. Fearing that his enemies might crush his left flank, the emperor ordered Augereau and Saint-Hilaire to advance. They were instructed to bear slightly to the right in order to contact Davout's corps, which was beginning to arrive on the right flank. At 10:00 AM, when the troops were set in motion, a blinding snowstorm swept across the field.
Augereau arranged his divisions so that the leading brigade's battalions were deployed in line and the trailing brigade's battalions formed in mobile squares. Historian David G. Chandler
suggests that Augereau should have formed his men in battalion columns in the prevailing weather conditions. Saint-Hilaire's division managed to keep a true course, but the VII Corps soon lost its way, veering to the left. Not only did this create a dangerous gap on Augereau's right flank, but it sent his men marching blindly into range of a 70-gun grand battery in the center of the Russian line. When the Russian guns opened up, they began to mow down hundreds of Augereau's hapless infantry.
The Russian commander Levin August, Count von Bennigsen
, sent his reserves to counterattack the badly disordered French infantry. In the white-out conditions, Russian cavalry appeared out of nowhere and began to cut down the French foot soldiers. Survivors related that their muskets often misfired because of the wet snow. Massacred by artillery and assailed by infantry and cavalry, the VII Corps panicked and fled. As the snowstorm began to abate, Napoleon watched their mob-like flight to the rear. He ordered Murat to lead a massed cavalry charge, which put the Russians back on the defensive and gave Davout time to start pressing back the enemy's left flank. That evening, the acting VII Corps commander Jean Dominique Compans reported that only 700 men were with the colors from each of the divisions. He stated that 30 officers above the rank of chef de bataillon (major
) were killed or wounded. Later, Augereau's official report noted that he lost 929 killed and 4,271 wounded, but did not give the number of missing. One of Augereau's aides, Jean Baptiste Antoine Marcellin de Marbot believed that only 3,000 men were unwounded out of the 15,000 present for duty on the morning of the 8th. Soon after, Napoleon dissolved the VII Corps and sent the surviving units to fill out the other army corps.
During the slaughter of his division, Desjardin fell gravely wounded. He was removed to the town of Landsberg (Gorowo Ilaweckie) where he died on 11 February 1807. The name DESJARDINS is inscribed on Column 16 of the Arc de Triomphe
in honor of the fallen general.
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
he enjoyed very rapid promotion to the rank of general officer in the army of the First French Republic. He saw a great deal of fighting in the north of France, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. In the campaign of 1805, he led an infantry division under Marshal
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
Pierre Augereau in Emperor Napoleon's
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
Grande Armée and saw limited fighting. In 1806 and 1807, he fought in several actions, was mortally wounded at the Battle of Eylau
Battle of Eylau
The Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a Russian Empire army under Levin August, Count von Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians...
, and died three days later.
Revolution
Born on 9 February 1759 in AngersAngers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....
, France, Desjardin joined the French army on 8 December 1776 at the age of 17. Since his father worked as a humble valet, Desjardin's prospects of advancement in the Vivarais
Vivarais
Vivarais is a traditional region in the south-east of France, covering the département of Ardèche, named after its capital Viviers on the river Rhône...
Infantry Regiment were poor. He became a corporal
Corporal
Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....
in 1781 and sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
in 1789. He was granted leave to see his father in 1790 and immediately threw himself into the task of drilling his hometown National Guard
National Guard (France)
The National Guard was the name given at the time of the French Revolution to the militias formed in each city, in imitation of the National Guard created in Paris. It was a military force separate from the regular army...
unit. Coming to the attention of the revolutionary authorities, he was appointed adjutant general
Adjutant general
An Adjutant General is a military chief administrative officer.-Imperial Russia:In Imperial Russia, the General-Adjutant was a Court officer, who was usually an army general. He served as a personal aide to the Tsar and hence was a member of the H. I. M. Retinue...
on 5 August 1791.
After a reorganization, Desjardin became lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
of the 2nd Battalion of the Maine-et-Loire National Guard. He led his troops in the Army of the North at the Battle of Jemappes
Battle of Jemappes
The Battle of Jemappes took place near the town of Jemappes in Hainaut, Belgium, near Mons. General Charles François Dumouriez, in command of the French Revolutionary Army, defeated the greatly outnumbered Austrian army of Field Marshal Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen and his second-in-command...
on 6 November 1792. This action was followed by the Siege of Namur, which lasted from early November until the Austrian surrender on 2 December. During the siege, Desjardin's battalion served in the Left Brigade of Louis Auguste Juvénal des Ursins d'Harville
Louis Auguste Juvénal des Ursins d'Harville
Louis Auguste Jouvenel des Ursins, Count of Harville , was a general of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, and a politician of France. He was present at the Battle of Jemappes on 6 November 1792 and led the Reserve Division at the subsequent Siege of Namur....
's Reserve Division. In the actions during Charles François Dumouriez
Charles François Dumouriez
Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. He shared the victory at Valmy with General François Christophe Kellermann, but later deserted the Revolutionary Army and became a royalist intriguer during the reign of Napoleon.-Early life:Dumouriez...
's subsequent retreat from Belgium, Desjardin greatly distinguished himself. On 3 September 1793, he received promotion to general of brigade. When he became a general of division on 19 March 1794, he already had charge of three divisions.
By 4 May 1794, Desjardin had command over the 31,736-strong Army of the Ardennes
Army of the Ardennes
The Army of the Ardennes was a French Revolutionary Army formed in 1792 by splitting off the right wing of the Army of the North, commanded from July to August that year by La Fayette...
. This army consisted of Miller's Division, 14,075 men, Jacques Pierre Fromentin's Division, 10,619 soldiers, and Eloi Laurent Despeaux's Division, 7,042 troops. One month later, Desjardin led the Right Wing of the Army of the North with a strength of 37,147 men. There were 43 infantry battalions, nine cavalry regiments, and three artillery companies under his orders.
With the better part of this force, Desjardin laid siege to Charleroi
Charleroi
Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. , the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of and had a total population of 522,522 as of 1 January 2008, ranking it as...
. On 3 June, a 28,000-man Austro-Dutch relief force under William V, Prince of Orange
William V, Prince of Orange
William V , Prince of Orange-Nassau was the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, and between 1795 and 1806 he led the Government of the Dutch Republic in Exile in London. He was succeeded by his son William I...
defeated him at Gosselies
Gosselies
Gosselies is a section of the Belgian town of Charleroi within the Walloon region in the Province of Hainaut. It was a commune of its own before the merger of the communes in 1977. Gosselies is the home for the headquarters of Caterpillar Belgium, and Solar Turbines Europe....
, inflicting 2,000 casualties on the 27,000 French who were present and capturing one 12-pound cannon. For a loss of 424 killed and wounded, the allies drove the French south of the Sambre
Sambre
The Sambre is a river in northern France and Wallonia, southern Belgium, left tributary of the Meuse River. The ancient Romans called the river Sabis.-Course:...
River and broke the siege. Jean Baptiste Jourdan's 45,000-strong Army of the Moselle soon joined Desjardin's forces to his own army to form the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse
Army of Sambre-et-Meuse
The Army of Sambre-et-Meuse is the best known of the armies of the French Revolution. It was formed on 29 June 1794 by combining three forces: the Army of the Ardennes, the left wing of the Army of Moselle, and the right wing of the Army of the North. It had a brief but celebrated existence...
. He participated in the siege of Le Quesnoy
Le Quesnoy
Le Quesnoy is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.Le Quesnoy's inhabitants are known as Quercitains.- Economy :The town of Le Quesnoy has somehow missed much of the Industrial Revolution. Unlike the neighboring towns of Valenciennes or Maubeuge, iron/steel works did not take hold...
, which ended on 16 August 1794 with an Austrian surrender. After the reduction of Luxembourg City
Luxembourg (city)
The city of Luxembourg , also known as Luxembourg City , is a commune with city status, and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse Rivers in southern Luxembourg...
, which lasted until June 1795, Desjardin remained in the Army of the North. During 1796 or 1797, he became part of the occupation forces of the former Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
. In October 1801 he was placed on inactive duty.
Empire
On 28 February 1804, the soon-to-be Emperor Napoleon made Desjardin a member of the Légion d'HonneurLégion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
and recalled him to military service at Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
. In recognition of his services, the emperor appointed him a Commander of the Légion d'Honneur on 14 June 1804. In 1805, Desjardin was appointed to command a division in Marshal Augereau's VII Corps.
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
at the start of the War of the Third Coalition, Augereau's corps missed the Ulm Campaign
Ulm Campaign
The Ulm Campaign consisted of a series of French and Bavarian military maneuvers and battles to outflank and capture an Austrian army in 1805 during the War of the Third Coalition. It took place in the vicinity of and inside the Swabian city of Ulm...
in October 1805. While the main army was headed for a showdown at the Battle of Austerlitz
Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition...
, the VII Corps operated against enemy troops in the Voralberg. The French tracked down Franz Jellacic
Franz Jellacic
Baron Franjo Jelačić Bužimski , born 14 April 1746 – died 4 February 1810, was a Croatian nobleman, a member of the House of Jelačić...
's Austrian division on the upper reaches of the Iller
Iller
The Iller is a river in Bavaria, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Danube, 147 km in length.The source is located near Oberstdorf in the Allgäu region of the Alps, close to the Austrian border. From there it runs northwards, passing the towns of Sonthofen, Immenstadt, and Kempten...
River. On 13 November 1805, Augereau, accompanied by Desjardin's 1st Division forced Jellacic to surrender at Dornbirn
Dornbirn
Dornbirn is a city in Vorarlberg, Austria. It is the administrative center of the district Dornbirn, which also includes the city of Hohenems, and the market town Lustenau....
. Three generals, 160 officers, and 3,895 rank and file laid down their arms and were permitted to march to Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
where they were not to undertake operations against France for one year. Seven colors became trophies of the French.
At the beginning of the War of the Fourth Coalition
War of the Fourth Coalition
The Fourth Coalition against Napoleon's French Empire was defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. Coalition partners included Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and the United Kingdom....
, Desjardin still commanded the 1st Division of the VII Corps, a total of 8,242 soldiers and eight artillery pieces. Pierre Belon Lapisse
Pierre Belon Lapisse
Pierre Belon Lapisse, Baron de Sainte-Hélène enlisted in the French Army during the reign of Louis XVI and fought in the American Revolutionary War. Appointed an officer at the start of the French Revolutionary Wars, he rose in rank to become a general officer by 1799...
's brigade consisted of the 4-battalion 16th Light Infantry Regiment. Jacques Lefranc's brigade comprised the 44th and 105th Line Infantry Regiments, three battalions each, and the 2nd Battalion of the 14th Line Infantry Regiment. The divisional artillery was made up of a half company each of foot and horse artillery and included two 12-pound guns, four 6-pound guns, and two 6-inch howitzers.
At the Battle of Jena, Augereau's corps formed the left flank as Napoleon engaged the Prussian-Saxon army of Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen
Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen
Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen was a Prussian general and the eldest son of Prince John Frederick of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen....
. Led by Lapisse's 16th Light, Desjardin led his division up the Schneke Pass against Hans Gottlob von Zeschwitz's Saxon Division posted on the Prussian right flank. They soon bore to the right to form a flank guard to Marshal Jean Lannes
Jean Lannes
Jean Lannes, 1st Duc de Montebello, was a Marshal of France. He was one of Napoleon's most daring and talented generals. Napoleon once commented on Lannes: "I found him a pygmy and left him a giant"...
' main attack. As the French attack pressed forward, the 1st Division captured the village of Isserstadt around 11:30 AM.
When Ernst von Rüchel
Ernst von Rüchel
Ernst von Rüchel, born 21 July 1754 – died 14 January 1823, fought in the army of the Kingdom of Prussia during the French Revolutionary Wars. Afterward he held various appointments as a diplomat and a military inspector. In 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars he held an important army command...
made his belated and futile attack after 1:00 PM, it was opposed by the artillery of Desjardin, as well as the guns of Marshals Nicolas Soult, Michel Ney
Michel Ney
Michel Ney , 1st Duc d'Elchingen, 1st Prince de la Moskowa was a French soldier and military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of France created by Napoleon I...
, and Lannes. Meanwhile, Augereau's main assault fell on Zeschwitz's Saxons and a supporting Prussian brigade under Karl Anton Andreas von Boguslawsky. While Etienne Heudelet de Bierre's 2nd Division hammered at the Saxons from the front, part of Desjardin's division turned their left flank. By 3:00 PM, the Saxons were completely cut off from Hohenlohe's main army. Seeing an opportunity, Marshal Joachim Murat
Joachim Murat
Joachim-Napoléon Murat , Marshal of France and Grand Admiral or Admiral of France, 1st Prince Murat, was Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808 and then King of Naples from 1808 to 1815...
led Louis Klein
Louis Klein
Louis Klein served in the French military during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars as a general of cavalry....
's dragoons to take the Saxons in the rear while Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul
Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul
Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul was a French cavalry general of the Napoleonic wars. He came from an old noble family of France whose military tradition extended for several centuries....
's cuirassiers attacked their left flank. Zeschwitz cut his way out of the trap at the head of 300 cavalrymen, but a total of 6,000 Saxons and Prussians were forced to surrender.
In November, the corps of Lannes, Augereau, and Marshal Louis Nicolas Davout
Louis Nicolas Davout
Louis-Nicolas d'Avout , better known as Davout, 1st Duke of Auerstaedt, 1st Prince of Eckmühl, was a Marshal of France during the Napoleonic Era. His prodigious talent for war along with his reputation as a stern disciplinarian, earned him the title "The Iron Marshal"...
thrust into Prussian Poland. In late December, Napoleon launched an offensive against the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
armies that were gathering against him. At the Battle of Czarnowo
Battle of Czarnowo
The Battle of Czarnowo on the night of 23–24 December 1806 saw troops of the First French Empire under the eye of Emperor Napoleon I launch an evening assault crossing of the Wkra River against Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Ostermann-Tolstoy's defending Russian Empire forces...
on 23 and 24 December, the French pressed their enemies back. Also on the 24th, Augereau directed his two divisions to force a crossing of the Wkra
Wkra
Wkra is a river in north-eastern Poland, a tributary of the Narew river, with a length of 249 kilometres and the basin area of 5,322 km². .Towns and townships:* Bieżuń* Radzanów* Strzegowo* Glinojeck* Sochocin...
River in the face of nine Russian infantry battalions and five cavalry squadrons under Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly
Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly
Prince Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly , was a Russian Field Marshal and Minister of War during Napoleon's invasion in 1812 and War of the Sixth Coalition.-Early life:...
. Heudelet's attack at Sochocin
Sochocin
Sochocin is a village in Płońsk County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Sochocin. It lies approximately north-east of Płońsk and north-west of Warsaw....
was repulsed by three battalions. Furious at this setback, he ordered a second attack which only resulted in more casualties. At Kołoząb, Desjardin ordered the 16th Light to line the west bank of the river to give covering fire while the grenadier company of the 14th Line stormed the incompletely demolished bridge. Securing a foothold, the grenadiers were rapidly reinforced and repelled counterattacks by Russian infantry and hussars. Aided by Lapisse's task force which crossed 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) downstream, Desjardin's men drove off the Russians and captured six cannons. Augereau lost 66 men killed and 452 wounded in these two actions.
On 7 and 8 February, the French and Russian-Prussian armies fought the costly Battle of Eylau
Battle of Eylau
The Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a Russian Empire army under Levin August, Count von Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians...
. Soult's troops were involved in a hot fight with the Russian rear guard on the 7th. Augereau was ordered to help by moving against the enemy right flank, but his troops were not seriously engaged. At 8:00 AM on the 8th, the VII Corps was brought into the battle line with its left flank at the Preußisch Eylau church. Desjardin's division was in the first line and Heudelet's was in the second. This move split Soult's IV Corps, placing the divisions of Claude Legrand and Jean François Leval to Augereau's left and Louis-Vincent-Joseph Le Blond de Saint-Hilaire's division to his right. This day, Augereau was not in good health. He had asked Napoleon for sick leave the evening before, but the emperor talked him into staying on for one more day.
Around 9:00 AM, Napoleon ordered Soult to attack on the left, but his two divisions were thrown back by the Russians after a terrific struggle. Fearing that his enemies might crush his left flank, the emperor ordered Augereau and Saint-Hilaire to advance. They were instructed to bear slightly to the right in order to contact Davout's corps, which was beginning to arrive on the right flank. At 10:00 AM, when the troops were set in motion, a blinding snowstorm swept across the field.
Augereau arranged his divisions so that the leading brigade's battalions were deployed in line and the trailing brigade's battalions formed in mobile squares. Historian David G. Chandler
David G. Chandler
David G. Chandler was a British historian whose study focused on the Napoleonic era.As a young man he served briefly in the army, reaching the rank of captain, and in later life he taught at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Oxford University awarded him the D. Litt. in 1991...
suggests that Augereau should have formed his men in battalion columns in the prevailing weather conditions. Saint-Hilaire's division managed to keep a true course, but the VII Corps soon lost its way, veering to the left. Not only did this create a dangerous gap on Augereau's right flank, but it sent his men marching blindly into range of a 70-gun grand battery in the center of the Russian line. When the Russian guns opened up, they began to mow down hundreds of Augereau's hapless infantry.
The Russian commander Levin August, Count von Bennigsen
Levin August, Count von Bennigsen
Levin August Gottlieb Theophil , Count von Bennigsen was a German general in the service of the Russian Empire....
, sent his reserves to counterattack the badly disordered French infantry. In the white-out conditions, Russian cavalry appeared out of nowhere and began to cut down the French foot soldiers. Survivors related that their muskets often misfired because of the wet snow. Massacred by artillery and assailed by infantry and cavalry, the VII Corps panicked and fled. As the snowstorm began to abate, Napoleon watched their mob-like flight to the rear. He ordered Murat to lead a massed cavalry charge, which put the Russians back on the defensive and gave Davout time to start pressing back the enemy's left flank. That evening, the acting VII Corps commander Jean Dominique Compans reported that only 700 men were with the colors from each of the divisions. He stated that 30 officers above the rank of chef de bataillon (major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
) were killed or wounded. Later, Augereau's official report noted that he lost 929 killed and 4,271 wounded, but did not give the number of missing. One of Augereau's aides, Jean Baptiste Antoine Marcellin de Marbot believed that only 3,000 men were unwounded out of the 15,000 present for duty on the morning of the 8th. Soon after, Napoleon dissolved the VII Corps and sent the surviving units to fill out the other army corps.
During the slaughter of his division, Desjardin fell gravely wounded. He was removed to the town of Landsberg (Gorowo Ilaweckie) where he died on 11 February 1807. The name DESJARDINS is inscribed on Column 16 of the Arc de Triomphe
Arc de Triomphe
-The design:The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin , in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture . Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot; François Rude; Antoine Étex; James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire...
in honor of the fallen general.