Balthazar Grandjean

Balthazar Grandjean (born January 26, 1760 in Nancy , Département Meurthe-et-Moselle , † December 3, 1824 in Orléans ) was a French general de brigade and mayor of Orleans.

He became a soldier when he was barely 17 and was placed in an infantry regiment. In 1778 he took part in the French expedition under Admiral Charles Henri d'Estaing to the West Indies in support of the American War of Independence . In 1783 he and his corps joined the Spanish-French army, which was united in front of Cádiz . When the Treaty of Versailles ended the American War in 1783 , he had made it to the Sergent .

He returned to France and took his leave. But when after the storming of the Bastille all citizens were called to defend their freedom, he joined the militia of his department on February 22, 1790 . There he fought against the Prussians and emigrants who were to be led by the Duke of Braunschweig against the National Convention . They soon had to retreat. Thereupon he went with his battalion to the Moselle Army and drew the attention of General Jacopin so much at Wavre and in several other skirmishes that he made him his adjutant on November 21, 1793 (1st frimaire of the year II). The following month he distinguished himself in the battle of Kaiserslautern , which pushed the Austrians back onto the lines of Weißenburg and their entrenchments near Landau. On May 3, 1794 (14th Floreal of the year II) appointed Chef de bataillon in the 110th demi-brigade , he received orders to join the Sambre and Maas Army . There he acquired the rank of Chef de brigade on (25th Prairial of the year III) June 10, 1795 through his deeds .

On September 5th (19th Fructidor ) he was ambushed by the Austrians during the night crossing the Rhine. But he managed to free himself and throw back the enemy, he was wounded by a shotgun bullet. After the war between France and Austria flared up again in 1796, he managed to cross the Rhine with a company of grenadiers under fire from the enemy guns near Neuwied and began the siege of Ehrenbreitstein . When the Sambre and Maas Army withdrew in Franconia, Graudjean was given the task of breaking through the Austrian lines. At the head of a battalion and a few squadrons he made an attack and not only repulsed the enemy, but also took many prisoners and took several baggage carts. After the battle of Würzburg , he used clever maneuvers to hold back the pursuing enemy and prevent them from taking too great advantage of his victory. In 1797 he fought with the usual bravery near Neuwied under the command of General Hoche and from November 27th, 1797 (6th Frimaire of the year VI) was fortress commander of Aachen . In 1803 he was promoted to Général de brigade as a reward for his services and was made a member of the Legion of Honor in the following year . After he had participated in the Fourth Coalition War in Germany, he was ordered to the Reserve Division of Orleans and moved with this to Spain . There he was able to distinguish himself in several skirmishes, but had to be put into retirement in 1811 because of his injuries. He retired to the department of the Loiret and was appointed Mayor of Orléans in 1815 , where he died on December 3, 1824.

literature

• General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts, Volume 79, pp.271f