Jean-Baptiste Desmarets
Jean-Baptiste François des Marets , or Desmarets , marquis de Maillebois (* 1682 in Paris , † February 7, 1762 ibid) was a French military leader and Marshal of France .
Maillebois was a son of Nicolas Desmarets, the general controller of finance , marquis de Maillebois (1648–1721) and thus a great-nephew of Colbert .
He was entrusted with the occupation of Corsica in 1739 , which rose again after his recall, and was appointed Marshal in 1741. Marshal de Belle-Isle's army was surrounded by imperial troops in Prague during the War of the Austrian Succession in 1742 and was hoping for relief from Maillebois, who was in the Netherlands with 40,000 men, in order to keep the troops of the Elector of Hanover in check . Maillebois united with the Corps des François, duc d'Harcourt , and marched with great power through Franconia eastwards. His lack of determination and an enemy army prevented him from forcing his way into Prague; which fell back to the Austrians on January 3, 1743.
Maillebois was sent to Italy in 1745 to support the Spanish Infante Don Philipp de Borbón against the Imperialists. He united with the Spanish troops under General de Gages to 60,000 men and forced the advance over the Tanaro . Then he was able to defeat a Sardinian-Austrian coalition on September 27, 1745 in the Battle of Bassignana and take up the siege of Alessandria . At the end of November 1745 the invasion of Lombardy began , in northern Italy with the Spanish troops about 39,000 infantry and 6,500 cavalry were available; Maréchal de camp de Gages operated in the Modena area with a further 35,000 infantry and 3,500 horsemen. The Spanish infantry occupied Milan .
On March 5, 1746, however, the crew of Asti fell into Piedmontese captivity, and the supply routes to France came under enemy control. Marshal Maillebois could no longer rely on the secure connections via Genoa and withdrew to Piacenza , where he united with de Gages in mid-June. He tried to regain the initiative by an offensive in the direction of La Bocchetta, but was defeated on June 16, 1746 in the Battle of Piacenza by the imperial under Prince Joseph von Liechtenstein . After retreating on the right bank of the Po , the duchies of Parma , Piacenza and Guastalla fell back into Austrian hands.
Maillebois died as governor of Alsace on February 7, 1762 , and had several children with his wife Marie Louise Emmanuelle d'Alegre, daughter of Marshal Yves d'Alegre, Marquis de Tourzel .
literature
- Johann Baptist Schels : History of the Lands of the Austrian Imperial State Volume 9, publisher. JG Heubner, Vienna 1827, p. 358 f
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frederick the Great: My Life and My Time (Memoirs), Vier Falken Verlag, Berlin 1937, p. 231
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Desmarets, Jean-Baptiste |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Marets, Jean-Baptiste François des; marquis de Maillebois |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French general and Marshal of France |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1682 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 7, 1762 |
| Place of death | Paris |