Hercule Corbineau

Marie Louis Hercule Hubert Corbineau , called Hercule Corbineau (born April 10, 1780 in Marchiennes , † April 5, 1823 in Châlons-sur-Marne ) was a French colonel in the cavalry .

Hercule Corbineau

Life

Corbineau was the youngest son of the officer Jean-Charles Corbineau; the generals Claude (1772-1807) and Jean-Baptiste Corbineau (1776-1848) were his brothers. At the beginning of their military careers, the three brothers were given the name "Les trois Horaces" - after the mythical triplets from the Horatians - and this name has remained with them to this day.

On April 1, 1793, Corbineau joined the French Navy as a midshipman . He received his first training on the Requin , later he switched to the Corvette Naïade . He distinguished himself and was promoted to Sous-lieutenant on September 20, 1796 . As such, he moved to General Lazare Hoche , who launched a campaign to Ireland in December 1796 on Napoleon's orders . Together u. a. with his brother Claude, Pierre Joseph Habert and François Watrin , an expedition army (15,000 men) was supposed to support the Society of United Irishmen under the leadership of Theobald Wolfe Tone in their struggle for independence against the British (→ Irish Rebellion of 1798 ); however, this campaign failed entirely.

When Napoleon founded the Northern Franconian Legion under the leadership of General Rudolf Eickemeyer at the end of 1799 , Corbineau volunteered in the hope of a faster career. In the year VI he was promoted to lieutenant in the guard of Général Augereau . Here he took part in all campaigns of the French army and was able to distinguish himself as the leader of a contingent of hussars in the Battle of Hohenlinden . He was then appointed Adjudant-Major and promoted to Capitaine in the 5 ^e régiment de chasseurs à cheval .

On September 12, 1805, he switched to the Guard impériale and fought at Austerlitz (December 2, 1805). Further promotions followed and he was again able to distinguish himself through bravery at Jena (October 14, 1806) and Preussisch Eylau (February 7/8, 1807). In the latter he was fighting near his brother when he was killed; he himself was wounded in this fight. It was used again at the Battle of Friedland (June 14, 1807).

With the rank of Colonel he fought at Wagram (June 5-6, 1809) and was badly wounded. His right leg had to be amputated in the hospital. In this hospital he met Pierre Daumesnil , who had a similar fate. One night Corbineau would have bled to death if Daumesnil hadn't saved him. The next day Napoleon decreed that - because of this friendship service - "the two should be listed in their regular roles forever in honor of the regiment".

Corbineau returned to France and got a job as a financial inspector (Receveur général des finances) for the Seine-Inférieure department . In 1810 he married Reine-Rose Kermarec de Travrou and had two children with her: a son, Eugène-Hercule and a daughter, Adèle-Marie , who married Napoléon-Marie in Paris on July 30, 1836 in the church of La Madeleine of the politician Jean-Baptiste Nompère de Champagny .

Hercle Corbineau died five days before his 43rd birthday on April 5, 1823 in Châlons-sur-Marne and found his final resting place there on the Cimetière de l'Ouest .

Honors

• November 5, 1804 Chevalier of the Legion of Honor
• 17th November 1808 Officer of the Legion of Honor
• June 1, 1810 Baron de l'Émpire
• The Rue Corbineau in Marchiennes was named after him and his two brothers

literature

• David Chandler: The campaigns of Napoleon . Weidenfeld, London 1993, ISBN 0-297-81367-6 (reprint of the London 1966 edition).
• Charles Mullié: Biography of the c'lébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850 . Poignavant, Paris 1851 (2 vols.).
• Alain Pigeard: Dictionnaire de la Grande Armée . Tallandier, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-84734-009-2 .
• Stephen Pope: The Cassell Dictionary of the Napoleonic Warsd Cassell, London 1999, ISBN 0-304-35229-2 .
• Fernand de Wissocq: Trois soldiers . Constant, Juvénal and Hercule Corbineau . Orphelins-Apprentis d'Auteuil, Paris 1904.