Étienne Heudelet de Bierre

Étienne Heudelet de Bierre (born November 12, 1770 in Dijon , † April 20, 1857 in Paris ) was a French Général de division of the infantry .

Life

In 1792 Heudelet volunteered for the army and was soon able to distinguish himself. In the following year he was already active as a staff officer and after a few promotions and commendations in 1795 became chief of staff of Marshal Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr .

Heudelet fought with his own command in 1797 under the leadership of General Jean-Victor Moreau near Kehl (January 9, 1797). After further promotions he was brought to the General Staff and he fought in the first (June 4th / 7th, 1799) and second battle of Zurich (September 25th / 26th, 1799). He later switched to General Jean Victor Tharreau and fought with him a. a. in the Battle of Hohenlinden (December 3, 1800).

More commendations and promotions followed. He was in the Battle of Mariazell (November 8, 1805) and commanded the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division in the 3rd Army Corps in the Battle of Austerlitz (December 2nd, 1805).

General Heudelet was used by Napoleon in the battles near Jena (October 14, 1806), Kołozab (December 24, 1806), Golymin (December 26, 1806) and Prussian Eylau (February 7/8, 1806).

Napoleon then sent him to Spain to strengthen the Grande Armée there (→ Napoleonic Wars on the Iberian Peninsula ); u. a. he fought under the leadership of Marshals Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult and André Masséna before Porto (March 28, 1809) and Buçaco (September 27, 1810).

In the war against Prussia he took a. a. participated with his troops in the Danzig (January / December 1813) and became a prisoner of war.

After the Battle of Paris (March 30, 1814) and Napoleon's abdication (→ Treaty of Fontainebleau ) Heudelte turned to the Bourbons and supported King Louis XVIII. This appointed him to the jury of the court martial , which should judge Marshal Michel Ney ; Heudelet spoke out against the death penalty. But when Napoleon had left the island of Elba and his " rule of the hundred days " began, Heudelet and his troops ran over to him again.

After the Battle of Waterloo (June 18, 1815) he resigned almost all military duties and officially retired in 1819. During the July Revolution of 1830 he was brought out of retirement and he was on the General Staff until 1835. He then retired again and settled in Paris. Étienne Heudelet de Bierre died on April 20, 1857 at the age of over 86 in Paris, where he found his final resting place.

Honors

• 1808 Comte de l'Émpire
• 1836 Grand Croix of the Legion of Honor
• His name can be found on the eastern pillar (17th column) of the triumphal arch on Place Charles-de-Gaulle (Paris).

literature

• David Chandler: The campaigns of Napoleon . Weidenfeld, London 1993, ISBN 0-297-81367-6 . (Reprint of the London 1966 edition)
• David Gates: The Spanish Ulcer. A history of the Peninsular War . Pimlico, London 2002, ISBN 0-7126-9730-6 .
• Michael Glover: The Peninsular War 1807-1814 . Penguin, London 2001, ISBN 0-14-139041-7 .
• Philip J. Haythornthwaite: Who was who in the Napoleonic Wars . Arms & Armor, London 1998, ISBN 1-85409-391-6 .
• Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850 . Poignavant, Paris 1851. (2 vol.)
• Digby Smith : The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book . Greenhill, London 1998, ISBN 1-85367-276-9 .