The Napoleonic Wars

An extract from ‘Lannes, Marshal of France’

Jean Lannes was insecure, crude, blunt and reckless, but he may have been Napoleon’s greatest marshal.

Lannes in the Napoleonic Wars

Though Lannes was a very forthright personality, very prone to lose his temper when he felt put upon, he was capable of rising above it when necessary. Despite his animosity for Murat, Lannes gave him his best support when Murat’s cavalry trapped the Austrian column at Wertingen. When Murat followed the wrong trail before Vienna and had to recuperate by stealing a bridge across the Danube, Lannes was at his side to overawe and bamboozle the Austrian bridge guards.

By the time the guards realized that they had been taken, French grenadiers were within the defenses. Seldom have such high-ranking officers been ready to lead special operations from the front-line. Because Murat in turn fell for the ruse of a false armistice, Lannes was robbed of enough daylight to destroy Bagration’s rearguard at Schongrabern.

Before Austerlitz Lannes fell out with Soult after the latter had put him up to challenging Napoleon’s plan but then backed down when the reaction was very hostile. After a hard fight on the northern flank under the insufferable Murat, Lannes thought his achievements were underrated in the victory bulletin compared to those of the despised Soult. Lannes stormed off from the army, and no one dared tell him to return.The “AWOL” marshal rejoined his corps on the Prussian frontier on 7 October 1806, the same day that war was declared. Three days later he crushed the corps of Prince Louis at Saalfeld, beginning the cascade of French victories. For only 172 casualties, 900 Prussians and Saxons were dead including their leader, 1800 more were captured, and 6000 scattered, even though they were good troops. Training and leadership made the difference.

Lannes was first up the escarpment at Jena, and on 13October he was in the forefront of battle the entire day, until the French army had gained another great victory. Without sleep or rest, his corps went on to round up the scattered Prussian survivors. In fact Lannes kept pushing all the way into Poland, though as winter closed in, the mud and cold slowed V Corps. In the end it took an entire Russian army to stop him at Pultusk, though in a desperate battle he tried hard to break through that as well. Finally the pace was too much for him, and he was sent on sick leave to Warsaw for his wife to nurse him back to health. She did a good job, despite depression caused by what he saw as the intrigues of jealous rivals, for in the spring he was in his best form. He skillfully held the Russian army in play at Friedland until Napoleon could bring up enough troops to launch a decisive attack. When the moment came, Lannes led his corps from the front, and the day ended in another glorious victory.

For once Lannes was satisfied with his share of praise and rewards, and he enjoyed several months in France with his family. He was called to action once again when the best generals were needed in Spain to repair the damage caused by lesser ones. Lannes was not even given time to gather his baggage, but literally had to gallop the length of France to get to his new command. Within days he was leading it into combat at Tudela on 23 November 1808. Catching a Spanish army unready, deployed over far too great a distance, he took the opportunity to crush one half while the other looked on aghast. When Lannes’s attention shifted their way they ran. Lannes moved on to Saragossa, where fanatical resistance and demoralized troops had led to a series of costly and botched attempts at siege. Despite difficult conditions, Lannes revitalized the attack in this hardest form of warfare, street fighting against a determined foe.

Victory came, but at a terrible cost for besieger and besieged. It was a hard job well done, but observers remarked that Lannes was now war weary and depressed. His spirits rose when news came of battles on the Danube front. Lannes leapt at this chance to rejoin his beloved commander, Napoleon, and once more galloped the length of Europe to get there in time. He was one of the few French commanders to leave Spain with his reputation enhanced.

In 1809 he fought the Austrians once more, crowning a legendary career with more victories and acts of heroism. Before the walls of Ratisbon (Regensburg), when the troops hung back, he grabbed a ladder and tried to scale the walls himself. Leading from the front was his one military vice. After a dogged defensive action around Essling in May, Lannes paid for this when he was mortally wounded.

Lannes had been one of the few men who could speak to Napoleon on intimate terms, and never thought his respect for Napoleon should prevent honest criticism. Napoleon could never replace him. He died with a record of no defeats on the battlefield, and more than enough victories. His battle record was enough to cover the Arc de Triomphe by itself. He had grown from being a brave uncouth grenadier to being a man highly regarded for both his personal and military virtues. So much had he grown that Napoleon said of him after that “He had found a pygmy and lost a giant.”