Jacques Gervais, Baron Subervie

Jacques Gervais, Baron Subervie

Jacques Gervais Baron Subervie (born September 1, 1776 in Lectoure , † March 10, 1856 at Château de Parenchère in Ligueux ) was a French general in the coalition wars and briefly war minister in the provisional cabinet of Lamartine in the course of the March Revolution in 1848 .

Life

The later General Subervie is said to have usurped the identity of his brother Jacques, who was born in 1776, and according to some evidence he was actually born on January 4, 1772 under the name of Gervais Protais Subervie.

Early military career

Subervie entered the Pyrenees Army on June 20, 1792 with his friends Jean Lannes and Pierre Banel as a lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion of Volunteers von Gers under Joseph Lagrange , where he rose to captain on September 21, 1793 . After being transferred to the Italian Army, he became Lannes' adjutant. With these Subervie went to the Egyptian expedition and took part in the occupation of Malta on June 10, 1798 . He fell ill in Malta and was able to stay behind during Bonaparte's expedition. After his recovery he served under General Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois to defend the island until it finally had to surrender to the British in September 1800. After returning to France, Subervie resumed his services as adjutant general von Lannes and initially accompanied him as ambassador to Portugal . The poorly respected Portuguese authorities provoked Subervie in an attempt to discredit the French ambassador . The harassment became so severe that Subervie personally defended himself in a brawl.

In the middle coalition wars

In 1803, Subervie was promoted to squadron chief and returned to France alongside Lannes and was assigned to the Coast Army in Occitania . He was involved in the following major campaigns in Austria, Prussia and Poland . On June 14, 1804 he was ennobled as baron of the empire. In the 1805 campaign he replaced General Pierre David de Colbert-Chabanais in Ulm as chief of the 10th Chasseur Regiment and joined Michel Neys VI. Corps. He received his patent as colonel on December 27, 1805 and was shot wounded during the Battle of Austerlitz (December 2) after his horse was killed under him. In the campaign of 1806 reinstated the corps of Marshal Ney, his cavalry recorded in the Battle of Jena from (October 14th), where he ran a battery of 10 guns and the Prussians in the direction of Braunschweig pursued. After standing in Magdeburg on November 8th, he was at the head of the troops crossing the Vistula near Thorn . On February 8, 1807 he took part in the battle of Preussisch Eylau against the Russians. His right shoulder was injured and a horse was killed under him. On May 15, he was appointed officer of the Legion of Honor . On June 12, 1807 after the Battle of Heilsberg , he pursued the enemy in the direction of Friedland. In the Battle of Friedland on June 14th, he carried out several effective attacks. On June 15 he pursued the enemy to Insterburg , took 200 prisoners and reached the Nyemen on June 16 .

After the Peace of Tilsit on July 9, 1807, he returned to France. From 1808 to 1811 he was with the French troops in Spain and Portugal. As part of the Lasalle division, he dispersed an enemy contingent at Torquemada at the beginning of June 1808 and pursued enemy troops via Valladolid to Valencia , where he pushed into the rear of the Spanish army. On July 14th, his horsemen secured victory in the Battle of Medina de Rioseco . During the retreat to the Ebro he took part in the Battle of Burgos (November 10th). After the victory in the Battle of Somosierra (November 30th) the entry into Madrid succeeded on December 4th . On March 21, 1809, he pursued the rearguard of the Spanish army under General Gregorio García de la Cuesta on the way to Trujillo , near Miajadas , which was surrounded on all sides by wooded hills, where the Spanish cavalry lay in wait. He repulsed the larger forces seven times, passed the Guadiana on March 28 and dispersed the opposing infantry in the Battle of Medellín under Jean-Baptiste Bessières . On July 27th and 28th, he took part in the Battle of Talavera . He was appointed Baron of the Empire on November 28, 1809. In 1810 and 1811 he fought the English army corps of General Joaquín Blake y Joyes in Murcia and took part in the Battle of Sagunto (October 25, 1811) under Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet . His achievements brought him on August 6, 1811 the rank of Général de brigade .

In the wars of freedom

He returned to France in early 1812 and was appointed commander of the 16th Light Cavalry Brigade. When Napoleon's army was preparing to invade Russia, Subervie commanded the 2nd Light Cavalry Division in Jean-André-Tiburce Sébastiani's II Cavalry Corps. He fought on the Disna in July 1812 and was transferred to General Pierre-Claude Pajol's cavalry division in August . The King of Naples continued to follow the enemy's rearguard. On July 5, he hit the enemy cavalry on the Daugava River , its front rider troops under Baron Subervie attacked the Prussian regiments that Wuerttemberg and Poland took 200 prisoners, including a horse. When they reached the other side of the Daugava, they broke the bridges and showed readiness to defend the river. The cavalry under General Count Montbrun smashed five enemy batteries of light artillery. In the Battle of Borodino (September 7, 1812) Subervie was hit by two grenades in the right thigh and seriously injured. After Vilnius for rehabilitation returned, he escaped the horrors of the later French retreat.

By mid-1813, Subervie had recovered enough to return to active service, and in August he took command of the 9th Light Cavalry Division in Pajol's V Cavalry Corps. After his service in Saxony, he received the honor of being made a Knight of the Iron Crown in December. In the spring campaign of 1814 Subervie commanded the 1st Brigade of the Piré Division and fought in the Battle of Brienne (January 29), Champaubert (February 10) and the Battle of Montereau (February 18). On March 30th, he was wounded several times by a lance in the Battle of Montmartre, but was rewarded with a promotion to Général de division . Unfortunately for Subervie, the new Bourbon government revoked his promotion near the Restoration and put him back at half pay. During the reign of the Hundred Days in 1815 he commanded the 5th Cavalry Division, consisting of hunters and lancers in Pajol's 1st Cavalry Corps. After fighting in the Battle of Waterloo , he joined the Loire Army. After Napoleon's second abdication, he retired into private life for a few years.

Minister of War and the End

Subervie as Minister of War

As a representative of the district of Lectoure and Nogent-le-Rotrou , he became a member of the constituent and legislative assembly in Paris at the end of the July monarchy in 1848 . From February 25 to March 20, 1848, he served as Minister of War in the Lamartine Provisional Cabinet. He received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor on December 11, 1848, should he become Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor; Marshal Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor was preferred to him in this position . Napoleon's coup on December 2, 1851 put an end to his political career. He retired to his castle Parenchere on the Gironde, which he kept from his wife, the daughter of General Count Boudet, and died there on March 10, 1856 at the age of 84.

literature

• Georges Six: Dictionnaire Biographique des Généraux & Amiraux Français de la Révolution et de l'Empire (1792-1814). Librairie G. Saffroy, Paris 1934, 2 vol., Pp. 480-481.

Web links

• Biography on www.frenchempire