Marshal Oudinot. Servant of three masters
Monument to Oudinot, Rue de Rivoli, facade of the Louvre
Previous article (Nicknamed Colander. Marshal Nicola-Charles Oudinot) we ended with a message about the arrival of our hero in Paris. From Brunn's Italian army, he brought the text of the treaty with Austria, and was well received by the First Consul Bonaparte.
On July 24, 1801, Oudinot was appointed chief inspector of the infantry, on December 18, he became an inspector of the cavalry. And in the building of the city hall of his hometown of Oudinot (Bar-le-Duc) on October 1, 1802, a bust of this general was installed.
On August 30, 1803, Oudinot was promoted to commander of the XNUMXst Infantry Division of the Boulogne military camp, which was part of the Davout corps. Three months later, he became a Knight of the new Order of the Legion of Honor, established by Bonaparte, receiving the Chevalier Cross.
But Oudinot was not among the first marshals (1804). Perhaps because of his oppositional sentiments: the general remained a republican, which did not like Napoleon, who was going to absolute power. In addition, Oudinot was not considered Bonaparte's man and was not personally obliged to him for something.
However, it must also be said that Oudinot was not among the most popular generals at that time, and in terms of fame in the army he was significantly inferior to Ney, Davout or Lannes. In addition, as you remember, Bonaparte had a low opinion of Oudinot's military leadership talents, and in his memoirs called him “a mediocre general” (which, in general, corresponds to the truth).
But the number of Davout and Lannes was limited, and therefore on February 5, 1805, the emperor appointed Oudinot as the commander of the combined reserve detachment of grenadiers, consisting of ten battalions (they were known as the "Oudinot Grenadiers" or "Infernal Column").
And in August of the same year, he was appointed commander of the XNUMXst (grenadier) division of the V corps of Jean Lanne.
Combat campaigns 1805-1807
In the 1805 campaign, Oudinot's soldiers played a decisive role, breaking open the Austrian infantry square at the Battle of Wertingen (8 October 1805).
Colonne de la Grande Armee Bataille de Wertingen bas relie
But in the battle of Austerlitz, this division did not take part, being in reserve.
Then, carrying out the order of Napoleon, Oudinot went to Neuchâtel, where he legally formalized the transition to France of the principality of Neuchâtel and Valangen, whose overlord was appointed Marshal Berthier.
Oudinot was more active in the 1807 campaign, where a horse was killed in one of the battles under him. In the 62nd bulletin of the Grand Army, Napoleon called Oudinot "fearless", and his division in the 79th bulletin - "courageous."
In the decisive battle of Friedland, Oudinot's division (as part of Lanna's corps) fought for 20 hours, losing three quarters of its personnel.
Oudinot's headquarters at the Battle of Friedland, fragment of a painting by Mesonier
Knowing that this general collects smoking pipes, after Friedland the emperor gave him one from himself with the inscription: "Let the enemies fear you."
Horace Vernet. Napoleon at the Battle of Friedland (1807)
In this picture, we see Oudinot receiving orders from the emperor. General Etienne de Nansouti is depicted between Napoleon and Oudinot, and Marshal Michel Ney is depicted behind and to the right of him.
In this picture, we see Oudinot receiving orders from the emperor. General Etienne de Nansouti is depicted between Napoleon and Oudinot, and Marshal Michel Ney is depicted behind and to the right of him.
Oudinot - Marshal of France and Duke of Reggio
Finally, on March 19, 1808, a decree was issued to elevate Oudinot to the rank of Count of the Empire. To this title, Napoleon added a million francs.
In the same 1808, Oudinot was able to afford to buy the building of the Abbey of the Order of the Premonstrants, located near his hometown of Bar-le-Duc. Around him, he began to arrange a "family estate", which he called "Zhandeur Castle". The entrance to the park was decorated with one of the cannons he personally captured at Monzenbano. And in the castle itself, in addition to numerous paintings and a library of three thousand volumes, collections were housed weapons, smoking pipes (the most valuable one, brought from Vienna in 1809, once belonged to the Polish king Jan Sobieski) and shells. Currently, this residence is included in the official list "Historical monuments of France ".
Despite the golden rain that fell on him, the costs were such that Napoleon complained:
"Oudinot never joins a campaign without crying requests for money."
Recalling that period in the life of our hero, the Countess de Boigne wrote that he was good at "playing, smoking, running after girls and getting into debt."
Then Oudinot was finally able to devote enough time to his other passion - theater and opera. However, the character “cannot be hidden in your pocket” and, according to the testimony of contemporaries, even in the theater Oudinot could make a grandiose scandal if it seemed to him that he was “looked at wrongly” or did not show sufficient respect.
But, of course, he is far from “mad” Lann or Augereau, who flaunts his rudeness.
During the grandiose meeting of the European monarchs in Erfurt (September 27 - October 14, 1808), Oudinot was temporarily appointed governor of this city, specially summoned for this occasion from Paris. Napoleon, by the way, recommended Oudinot as "Bayard of the French army".
The Russian emperor said:
"I have known him for a long time, because my old man Suvorov spoke of him with great respect."
Later, Alexander I presented Oudinot with a box decorated with diamonds.
Oudinot received the marshal's baton after the Battle of Wagram in 1809. It was Oudinot who, after the mortal wound of Marshal Lann, led the II corps of the Great Army that was left without a commander. In this battle, Oudinot and Davout became the protagonists of the day on July 6. The troops even said that Oudinot was the only general who received the rank of marshal "not from the emperor, but from the army."
And in 1810, Oudinot also received the title of Duke of Reggio (an area in Calabria, Southern Italy) with an annual rent of 100 thousand francs.
Nicolas Charles Oudinot by Robert Lefevre
In January 1810, Marshal Oudinot was sent to Holland, then ruled by Louis Bonaparte. However, the emperor was unhappy with his younger brother, believing that he was following the Dutch and sabotaging the policy of the continental blockade of Great Britain.
Under pressure from Napoleon, Louis abdicated the throne. Oudinot was tasked with overseeing the process of the Netherlands joining France. Oudinot left Holland on October 30, when he received permission to settle his affairs after the death of his first wife.
As a result, as we recall from the previous article, in January 1812, the Marshal married a second time.
1812 year
On the eve of the war of 1812, Colonel A.I. Chernyshev (military agent of the Russian Empire in France) wrote about this marshal:
“Oudinot has never been a commander-in-chief ... But at the same time, no one is as good under fire as he is; undoubtedly, of all the marshals of France, he alone can be used with the greatest success in those cases when it is necessary to carry out an assignment that requires precision and fearlessness. "
But for the commander of the independently acting II corps, these qualities were clearly not enough.
Oudinot's troops, marching on the left flank of the Great Army, were sent by Napoleon to help MacDonald's units. However, Oudinot acted indecisively and, moving towards Petersburg, was defeated at Klyastitsa. After that, he was forced to retreat to Polotsk. Here, in battles with Wittgenstein's army, the marshal was once again wounded and departed for Vilna, giving way to General Saint-Cyr as commander. He acted much more successfully, throwing Wittgenstein away from the city, for which he received the rank of marshal.
Oudinot also met in Vilna with his wife who had come to visit him. After his recovery, Oudinot again led his corps, with which he managed to occupy Borisov. As you know, Admiral Chichagov managed to burn the bridges across the Berezina, but General Corbino's cavalrymen from Oudinot's corps managed to find a ford near Studenok.
Having crossed to the other side, the units of Oudinot and Ney took the blow of Chichagov's army. Oudinot's son, Captain Nicola-Charles-Victor, also took part in this battle, the same one who, at the age of 8, was with his father in the Helvetic Army. Victor's corps at this time covered the crossing from Wittgenstein's troops.
Albrecht Adam. The passage of the French across the Berezina
At Berezina, Oudinot was again wounded, and this time the bullet could not be removed: it remained in his body for life.
During the evacuation of the marshal to Vilna, in the village of Pleshchenitsy, he was almost captured by the cavalry detachment of S. N. Lanskoy. During the ensuing firefight, Oudinot was wounded in the thigh by a splinter of wood chips. From Vilna, his wife took the marshal to their estate near the town of Bar-le-Duc.
The last battles of Marshal Oudinot
Oudinot returned to the army on April 24, 1813, receiving command of the XII Army Corps. He fought at Lutzen and at Bautzen - in two battles that ended with the victory of Napoleon. Then, at the head of four corps, he was sent to Berlin. Taking this city, he had to establish contact with the army of Davout, which was successfully operating at Hamburg.
The appointment of Oudinot as commander was Bonaparte's mistake.
The assignment clearly exceeded the level of competence of this marshal. At the Battle of Großberen on 23 August 1813, the armies of two Napoleonic marshals fought. The Northern Army of the Allies (78 thousand Prussians, about 29,6 thousand Russians and about 24 thousand Swedes, 340 artillery pieces) was commanded by Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, a former “colleague” of Oudinot (and now the regent of the Swedish kingdom).
Ludwik Filip Ier. Portrait of Bernadotte
And Oudinot was not only defeated, but also retreated in the opposite direction from Dresden, where the main forces of the French were located. Frustrated, Napoleon said upon learning of this:
"It is very difficult to know if the Duke of Reggio has a head on his shoulders."
K. Röchling. Battle of Gross Beeren on 23 August 1813
According to a number of researchers, the defeat of Oudinot forced Napoleon to abandon the plan to invade Austria and therefore played a huge role in subsequent events.
The emperor did not abandon his plans to seize Berlin, but now the campaign to the capital of Prussia was led by Marshal Ney, to whom Oudinot was subordinate. But Ney was also defeated at the Battle of Dennewitz (on September 6, 1813, in addition to two Prussian corps, up to 5 thousand Russians and Swedes took part in this battle).
Richard Knötel. The attack of the Prussian cavalry on the French squares in the battle of Dennewitz on September 6, 1813
But Napoleon did not have to choose, and therefore on September 17, Oudinot was appointed commander of two divisions of the Young Guard. With them, he took part in the "Battle of the Nations" at Leipzig (October 16-19), after which he fell ill with typhus and was again sent to his estate for treatment.
In February 1814, we see Oudinot as the commander of the VII Corps.
In the battle of Bar-sur-Aube (February 26-27), his troops met with two corps of the allies (Russian - Wittgenstein and Bavarian - General Wrede) and were forced to retreat. In fairness, it should be said that the balance of forces was not in favor of the French, and Oudinot was able to withdraw his troops in relative order, leaving the opponents without banners and guns.
The last battle of Oudinot that year was the Battle of Arsy-sur-Aube (March 20). Here, the relatively small army of Napoleon opposed the superior forces of the Main Army of the Coalition under the command of the Austrian field marshal Karl-Philip Schwarzenberg.
Field Marshal Karl-Philip Schwarzenberg in a ceremonial portrait by François Gerard. Dies on October 15, 1820 at the age of 49 in Leipzig after treating a stroke by Samuel Hahnemann - the creator of the doctrine of homeopathy, and a staunch supporter of the "coffee theory" (according to which, "all diseases are from coffee"). However, given the level of European medicine at that time, the field marshal would probably have died anyway.
In the battle of Arsy-sur-Aub, Napoleon personally led the troops and again, as in his youth, risked his life, finding himself on horseback with a sword in hand on the bridge in Arsy among his grenadiers.
Jean-Adolphe Bose. Napoleon on the bridge in Arsi
In view of the huge numerical advantage of the allied forces, the French retreated, blowing up bridges behind them.
Oudinot commanded the rearguard units. He then miraculously escaped death: a bullet hit the star of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honor (the last wound of this marshal). Napoleon led his army to Saint-Desi, and Oudinot, acting in conjunction with Victor, was unable to protect the crossings across the Seine.
As a result, the coalition army was able to pass to Paris, which was surrendered to the allies Marmont and Mortier. After that, in Fontainebleau, Oudinot became one of the participants in the "rebellion of the marshals" who refused to obey Napoleon and forced him to abdicate the throne.
It is said that, in response to the emperor's proposal to leave behind the Loire, Oudinot said then:
"That would mean that we would stop being soldiers and become partisans."
In the service of the Bourbons
Louis XVIII paid Oudinot as commander of the 3rd military district, headquartered in Metz. He was also appointed commander of the Royal Corps of Foot Grenadiers and Foot Jaegers. Became a member of the House of Peers.
After Napoleon landed in the Gulf of Juan, Oudinot tried to move the troops entrusted to him from Metz to meet the emperor and block his way to Paris, but his own officers refused to obey him. As a result, having written a letter of resignation addressed to Louis XVIII, Oudinot went to his castle Zhandeur. Here he received a letter from Davout with an offer to return to the service. Oudinot refused, but could not avoid a personal meeting with the emperor. However, it ended in vain.
"Mr. Duke of Reggio, does it appear that the Bourbons have done more for you than I have?"
- asked him disappointed Bonaparte.
Oudinot replied:
"Sire, I will not serve anyone, I will remain in retirement."
Do you think this marshal kept his word?
Louis XVIII, who arrived in Paris in a train of the occupying armies, confirmed Oudinot's ducal patent, appointed him inspector general of the Royal Guard, a member of the Council of State and commander of the National Guard of Paris. Contrary to the promise made at the last meeting with Bonaparte, Oudinot continued his service to the Bourbons with pleasure.
In 1819, by the way, the marshal founded the Masonic lodge "Adherents of Tolerance".
Oudinot was last at the head of the field forces in 1823, when he and Monsey (another Napoleonic marshal) were sent to suppress the revolution in Spain. After occupying Madrid, Oudinot for some time served as the governor of the city.
The last years of the life of Marshal Oudinot
After the final fall of the French Bourbons in 1830, the new king, Louis Philippe I, dismissed Oudinot.
The Marshal gladly left for his castle, visiting Paris only for meetings of the Chamber of Peers. However, he returned to the capital in 1839 when he became Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor.
On December 15, 1840, Oudinot participated in the ceremony of reburial of the remains of Napoleon, which were placed in the tomb of the House of the Invalids. For health reasons (he is already 73 years old, after all) left before its official end.
In October 1842, Oudinot was promoted to the prestigious position of governor of the House of Invalids. Here he was solemnly buried on October 5, 1847 (he died on September 13). Now two of Napoleon's marshals survived - Soult and Marmont (all were survived by Marmont, who died on March 24, 1852).
In 1851, one of the Parisian streets was named after Oudinot - the former rue Plumet, which leads to the Boulevard des Invalides (rue Oudinot). She is mentioned under the old name in the novels Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, Parisian Mysteries by Eugene Sue and Thirty-Year-Old Woman by Honore de Balzac. In 1863, Pierre de Coubertin was born on this street.
Rue Oudinot, Ministry of Overseas Colonies (right)
It is curious that it was in the hospital located on this street that Marshal Joffre died on January 9, 1931. And a little earlier, on January 26, 1930, the former White Guard General A. Kutepov disappeared without a trace from a house located on Oudinot Street.
Information