François-Joseph Westermann

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General Westermann

François-Joseph Westermann (born September 5, 1751 in Molsheim , Alsace , † April 5, 1794 in Paris ) was a general of the French Revolutionary period from Alsace . He was notorious for his atrocities against the insurgent royalists in the Vendée uprising .

Life

He is said to have started his military career in 1767 in a Habsburg hussar regiment "Esterhazy". In 1787 he is a stud rider with Comte d'Artois . He is also said to have been a clerk in the administration of Hagenau before the revolution.

At the beginning of the Revolution he joined Georges Danton in Paris and played a role in the assault on the Tuileries on August 10, 1792, and then became an aide to the general in the Ardennes Army. As a Colonel in the Northern Army, he took part in the fighting in the Netherlands, but was suspected of having been an accomplice to Dumouriez's overturning plans and was temporarily placed under arrest.

In 1793 he was sent to the army of La Rochelle and was Général de brigade of the Légion Germanique , a unit of former mercenaries, deserters and adventurers, mostly of German origin. After a defeat by the Vendéens in Châtillon-sur-Sèvre, he was suspended, but shortly afterwards he was given command of the avant-garde of the Western Army - presumably on probation . Under the command of Generals Kléber and Marceau , he was involved in the destruction of many fleeing insurgents in the fighting at Le Mans and the Battle of Savenay .

His letter to the government in Paris is said to come from this phase of the war: “  Il n'y a plus de Vendée. Elle est morte sous notre sabre libre, avec ses femmes et ses enfants. Je viens de l'enterrer dans les marais et dans les bois de Savenay. Je n'ai pas un prisonnier à me reprocher. J'ai tout exterminé  ».

Translated: “There is no more Vendée. She was slain with our saber of freedom, along with women and children. I buried her in the swamps and woods of Savenay. I cannot be held prisoner. I've erased everything. "

The authenticity of this letter is doubtful: the war in the Vendée was not over after Savenay, thousands of prisoners were taken who were incarcerated in Nantes , and as an officer of the lowest rank of general he was hardly responsible for sending war reports to the government.

As a friend of Danton's , he was arrested at Robespierre's instigation and died after a brief trial on April 5, 1794, along with Danton on the guillotine .

He had a reputation for being a daring but tactically awkward soldier. His temporary superior in the Vendée, General Turreau, ruled: […] La révolution n'a pas eu de charlatan qui eût aussi peu de talents et autant d'imprudence que Westermann.

(German: In the revolution there was no charlatan with so little talent and so much carelessness as Westermann.)

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