Domenico Pino

Domenico Pino

Domenico "Dominique" Pino (born September 8, 1760 in Milan , † March 29, 1826 in Cernobbio near Como ) was an Italian general in the Napoleonic service.

Live and act

Pino came from a respected Milanese merchant family . After visiting the Collegio Gallio in Como , he began his military career in the army of the Duchy of Parma , where he made it up to cavalry captain ( Rittmeister ). In 1796 he joined the Lombard Legion of the Cisalpine Republic as a simple grenadier , but was appointed battalion commander there after a short time . In 1797 he was promoted to colonel , in 1798 to brigadier general , in 1800 to divisional general (at that time the highest rank in the legion). He owed his rapid rise to Napoleon , in whose Italian army he had done excellent service.

After Napoleon proclaimed the "Republic of Italy" dependent on him in 1803, Domenico Pino became its Minister of War on August 13, 1804 . One year after the transformation of this republic into the Kingdom of Italy (1805), Napoleon appointed him head of his Italian guard , which he commanded only formally until the end of Napoleonic rule. Instead, he repeatedly distinguished himself as the leader of other associations: in 1807 he commanded the Italian division in Pomerania , from 1808 to 1810 the 2nd Italian division in the Spanish campaigns (with which he participated in the Battle of Valls ), and in 1812 the 15th division during the Russian campaign.

The "Italian Army" of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy (northern and central Italy) had a total of 75,000 soldiers (6 divisions) in 1812, of which 27,000 took part in the Russian campaign. There were also 12,000 from Murat's Kingdom of Naples and several thousand other Italians who fought under the French flag because their home territories had been annexed by France. The 4th Corps of the Grande Armée (13th, 14th, 15th Divisions) was under the command of Eugen Beauharnais and consisted almost exclusively of Italians. The corps fought at Ostrowno on July 26, 1812 , on August 17 at Smolensk (including infantry regiments 85, 108, 111, 127), on September 7 at Borodino (infantry regiments 9, 84, 111; Guards), near Voronovo, on November 3 at Vyazma and November 17 at Krasnoye (the 111th Line Infantry Regiment was admitted to the Guard).

During the tragic retreat ( Battle of the Beresina ) of the Napoleonic Grande Armée , Pino with his 15th Division and the Italian Guard in the battle of Malojaroslawez on October 24, 1812, was able to repel superior Russian forces. Of the 27,000 soldiers from the Kingdom of Italy who took part in Napoleon's March on Moscow, just over 1,000 returned. Napoleon I honored Pino with several high medals for his services.

In 1814 Domenico Pino is said to have tried to usurp power in the "Kingdom of Italy" by means of a coup. These allegations have always turned out to be baseless, and no corresponding evidence could ever be presented.

When, after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Austrians took control of Milan again , Emperor Franz II offered Domenico Pino the rank of Lieutenant Field Marshal . Pino refused and retired. He settled with his wife Vittoria Peluso (1766-1828) in Cernobbio on Lake Como and lived there in the Villa d'Este . At the age of 65, Domenico Pino died on March 29, 1826 in Cernobbio and found his final resting place in the Turano Lodigiano cemetery .

literature

• 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. (2 vol.) Poignavant, Paris 1852.
• Georges Six: Dictionnaire biographiques des généraux et amiraux franç. de la Révolution et de l'Émpire 1792-1814. Saffroy, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-901541-06-2 (unchanged reprint of the Paris 1934 edition)
• Digby Smith : The Greenhill Napoleonic wars data book. Greenhill, London 1998, ISBN 1-85367-276-9 .
• Jean Tulard (Ed.): Dictionnaire Napoléon. Vol. 2. Fayard, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-213-60485-1 .