Jean-Baptiste Broussier

Jean-Baptiste Broussier
Allegiance	First French Republic, First French Empire
Service/branch	Army
Rank	général de division
Battles/wars	French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars, Capture of La Spezia Wagram
Awards	Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur Comte de l'Empire

Not to be confused with Broussier, a French Foreign Legion captain present at Tuyen Quang, Yu Oc and

Jean-Baptiste Broussier
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during the Son Tay Campaign.

Jean-Baptiste Broussier, (10 March 1766, Ville-sur-Saulx - 13 December 1814, Bar-le-Duc) was a French général de division of the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.

Life

Meant by his parents for a church career, in 1791 he instead enrolled in the 3rd batallion of Meurthe and was made a captain of the Meuse volunteers in September that year. He fought his first battles under Beurnonville in the northern campaigns and was severely wounded in the Vavrin affair in year II. Shortly afterwards he was made head of the battalion and was sent with them to armée de Sambre-et-Meuse, charged with the defence of an important post, where he was hit in the head by a musket ball.

In 1797 he moved to the armée d'Italie, where he was made chef de brigade to the 43e régiment d'infanterie de ligne. He fought with distinction at the capture of La Spezia, being one of the first to break into the fort at Chiusa, and took the Austrian general prisoner with his own hands. He was made chef de brigade in March 1797 following these actions and sent to the armée de Naples, before being charged with an expedition into the Apennines. He ambushed 12,000 peasant troops that had closed off the defile and a major carnage ensued in the Caudine Forks, the same place where the Samnites had caught the Romans. Promoted to général de brigade by Championnet for this action on the same day, he was then put in charge of the conquest of Naples, wholly destroying cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo's army, submitting the whole of Apulia after it rose against the French and (after deadly attacks) captured and burned down the towns of Trani and Andria.

In 1799, the French Directory had him and Championnet dismissed and tried for extortion before a council of war, but after the coup d'État of 30 prairial year VI the charges against Broussier were waived and he was returned him to his rank. With his cousin Nicolas Broussier as his aide de camp, he continued to serve with distinction in Italy until 1803, during which time he was made commander of the place de Paris. In 1805 he was promoted to général de division, before being made grand officer of the Légion d'honneur on 21 July 1809, then comte de l'Empire the following October. He returned to Lombardy that same year, taking a large part at

Jean-Baptiste Broussier
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. He then served with equal brilliance in the French invasion of Russia and the 1813 Germany campaign. He was at

Jean-Baptiste Broussier
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,

Jean-Baptiste Broussier
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and

Jean-Baptiste Broussier
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. Straight after the disasters of 1813 he was put in command of the 3rd division of the observation corps at Mainz before being put in command of Strasbourg by Napoleon, where he was promptly besieged. In 1814 he took on command of the Meuse before dying of an apoplexy. His name is engraved on the north side of the Arc de Triomphe, in column 7.

Sources and references

• Mullié, Charles (1852). "^{article name needed}" . Biographie des célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850  (in French). Paris: Poignavant et Compagnie. ;
• Archives nationales (CARAN) – Service Historique de l’Armée de Terre – Fort de Vincennes – Dossier S.H.A.T. Côte : 7 Yd 401.
  • Côte S.H.A.T., services, awards on web.genealogie.free.fr : Les militaires