Jean-Baptiste Broussier

General Jean Broussier

Jean-Baptiste Broussier (born May 10, 1766 in Ville-sur-Saulx , † December 13, 1814 in Bar-le-Duc ) was a French division general during the coalition wars .

Life

Broussier was born as the son of Nicolas François Broussier and Catherine. Fortin was born in 1766 in Ville sur Saulx, near Bar sur Ornain ( Meuse department ). Broussier was destined for the priesthood by his parents, so he attended an ecclesiastical seminary in Toul .

In the Italian coalition war

After the coalition wars began, he joined the 3rd Battalion of Volunteers in the Meurthe district in 1791 , where he was elected captain on September 6th . He made his debut in the Central Army under General Beurnonville , then in the Moselle Army and was seriously wounded on December 14, 1792 at Wavre . On February 15, 1794 he was appointed battalion commander and on April 26, 1794 joined the 34th half-brigade in the Sambre and Maas Army.

On February 20, 1796, he joined the 43rd Line Regiment of Colaud's Division and was wounded in the forehead at the end of that year. The following year he joined the Italian Army, where he participated in the occupation of Stepizza in March 1797 and was one of the first to penetrate Fort Klausen near Tarvisio . Bonaparte provisionally appointed him head of the 34th Half-Brigade. He moved to Rome and was assigned to the Duhesme division staff on October 24, 1798. He took part in the siege of Civita del Tronto on December 7, and in the occupation of Pescara on December 18, and in January 1799 in the capture of Benevento. He was provisionally appointed Général de brigade by General Championnet on January 23, 1799 (rank confirmed on February 15, 1799) and overcame peasants who obstructed the route through the Caudine passes and took part in the conquest of Naples ( 21–23 . January). With the Duhesme division , he fought against the rebels of Apulia (occupation of Andria on March 20th and Trani on April 2nd) in the Union of the Army of Naples. On March 19, 1799, Championnet was charged by the board of directors with indicting General Duhemse for embezzlement of war funds; Broussier was also named as the culprit. However, a council of war was not formed, instead Broussier was released in April and received command of the Valenciennes fortress on November 25, 1799 . Broussier was transferred to the Reserve Army on March 29, 1800, which hurried back to Italy. Within the Loison division, he fought in front of Fort Bard (May 25), besieged Pizzighettone (June 5) and at the crossing of the Adda (June 12). The next day his troops occupied Cremona . After a brief visit to the Amiens camp , he returned to the Italian Army on October 12, 1800, and commanded the division that was involved in the crossing of the Adige on January 1, 1801 . He was then appointed governor of Milan , a position he held for the next two years.

In the 1805 and 1806 campaign

In 1804 Broussier returned to take over the 1st Military Division in Paris . In the following year 1805 he was promoted to General de División . On September 22, 1805 he was appointed commandant of the armory of Paris and on November 7th, he was appointed chief of staff of the Northern Army. On February 1, 1805, Broussier commanded the reserve division under Lefebvre until February 1806 , before he was sent to Italy again in July 1806, where he replaced Sébastiani and was given command of the 2nd Division of the II Corps.

In the campaign of 1809 and 1812

In the campaign of 1809 Broussier remained in charge of the 2nd division under the Viceroy of Italy. On April 11th he was repulsed by the Austrians at Dignano, commanded the left wing at Sacile on April 16th and, after retreating on April 28th, took command of the 1st division of the Macdonald Corps . In May Broussier's troops pursued the Austrians and fought on the Piave (May 8), Villanova (May 11), Präwald (May 16) and at Tarvisio (May 18). Then his troops occupied Ljubljana on May 21st and advanced to Graz . In June he blocked the Schlossberg before lifting the siege of Graz and evacuating his troops. Broussier then defeated the Hungarian Lieutenant Field Marshal Ignácz Gyulay near St. Leonhard and completely recaptured Graz. After reunification with the bulk of the Italian army, he reinforced Napoleon's troops on the Danube . Broussier and his division played an important role in the victory in the Battle of Wagram . He was made Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor on July 21, 1809 , then made Count of the Empire in October of the same year and returned to Italy.

In 1810 he commanded the 2nd Military Corps of the Kingdom of Italy , then from April 20, 1811 the 2nd Division of the Italian Observation Corps. He took part in the Russian campaign from June 1812 and led the 14th Division in the IV Army Corps under the command of Eugène Beauharnais . His troops fought in the Battle of Ostrovno (July 27th), on the Moskova (September 7th), in the Battle of Maloyaroslavz (October 24th) and Krasnoye (November 15th).

End of life

During the campaign of 1813 he commanded the 3rd division of the observation corps off Mainz . In November he was appointed military commander of the Strasbourg and Kehl fortress . After Napoleon's fall, he joined the Restoration and was appointed military governor of the Maas department in June 1814, and on July 29, 1814, he was made Knight of the Order of St. Louis. Jean-Baptiste Broussier died unexpectedly of a stroke on December 13, 1814 in Bar-le-Duc at the age of only 48 .

literature

• Georges Six: Dictionnaire Biographique des Généraux & Amiraux Français de la Révolution et de l'Empire (1792-1814). Gaston Saffroy, Paris 2003.
• Robert Laffont: Histoire et dictionnaire du Consulat et de l'Empire . Bouquins. Paris 1995, p. 571.
• Charles Mullié: Biographie des célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850 , Volume 1, Paris 1851, p. 241

Web links

• histoire-empire.org