Claude-Pierre Pajol. The peak of the career of the brilliant cavalry general in Bonaparte's army.
General Pajol in a portrait by Charles Formentin
В previous article We discussed the origins and early military service of Claude-Pierre Pajol, a brilliant cavalry commander in the French army, whom Napoleon singled out even among such recognized "masters" as Marshals Murat and Bessières. Today, we will continue and conclude this story.
Brigadier General Pajol
Thus, on March 1, 1807, 35-year-old Claude-Pierre Pajol finally received his first general's rank. That same year, during the War of the Fourth Coalition, the subject of this article first took part in the drawn Battle of Guttstadt, where Bennigsen's Russian forces confronted the corps of Ney and (partially) Soult. Then came the Battle of Heilsberg, where Pajol's horse was again killed. After the final battle of that war at Friedland, Pajol's subordinates were the first to break into Tilsit, and it was he who met the Russian envoys who brought an armistice proposal.
Having received the title of Baron of the Empire from Napoleon, Pajol married Marie Oudinot on March 31, 1808, the daughter of a general, Count of the Empire and future Marshal, whom Napoleon presented to Alexander I in Erfurt as Bayard of the French ArmyThis marriage produced two sons and a daughter. One of the sons of the article's subject, Charles Pierre Victor Pajol, born in 1812, also served in the army, rising to the rank of divisional general, serving in the Franco-Prussian War, and retiring in 1877.
Charles Pierre Victor Pajol
He also turned out to be a good sculptor, wrote a biography of his father and a work on military stories during the reign of Louis XV. He also produced extremely interesting sketches of Russian military costume and portraits of Tsar Nicholas I and his sons.
Charles Pierre Victor Pajol. Grenadiers of the Imperial Palace Guard
Charles Pierre Victor Pajol, a soldier of the Russian line infantry
Charles Pierre Victor Pajol. Cossacks of the Caucasian Line
But let's return to his father, who became commander of the troops in Bohemia in 1808, and on April 9, 1809, it was to him that Austrian Field Marshal Bellegarde delivered the declaration of the beginning of a new war. At that time, Napoleon was forced to maintain large forces in Spain, and the Austrians believed the current situation was favorable for the recapture of lost lands. The French Emperor received news of the outbreak of war on April 12 (three days later)—directly at the Paris Opera, where he was staying at the time. After reading the message, Napoleon said:
I'm not dead yet.
Archduke Charles's Austrian forces were routed in the so-called Five Days' Campaign—at the battles of Tengen, Abensberg (Ebersberg), Landshut, Eckmühl, and Regensburg (Ratisbon). However, the Austrians, too, fought remarkably well. We remember how often the hero of this article's horses were killed in battle, but at the Battle of Eckmühl, he lost two horses in succession. Even Bonaparte was wounded at Regensburg—a cannonball struck his ankle, and for a time the emperor wore only a boot.
Claude Gautreau. Napoleon's wounding before the Battle of Regensburg.
And Lann, seeing the confusion of the soldiers, took the ladder and went with it alone, saying:
Now I will show you that before I became a Marshal of France, I was a grenadier!
Charles Tevelin. Marshal Lannes leads the assault on Regensburg
At Regensburg, Pajol's "Infernal Brigade" managed to capture around two thousand men. Next came the bloody battle at Essling-Aspern, in which the collapse of a pontoon bridge nearly destroyed the corps of Masséna and Lannes, who had managed to cross and found themselves cut off from the rest of their troops. Masséna nearly died: a cannonball literally tore apart the horse on which the marshal was riding, and all his aides-de-camp were killed or seriously wounded. Bonaparte's friend, General of Division Louis-Charles Vincent Le Blond de Saint-Hilaire, who had known Napoleon since the siege of Toulon, was also killed. The death of Lannes, mortally wounded, shocked the emperor even more, and the situation was so grave that the marshal told Bonaparte when he came to visit:
Save the army.
The fate of the campaign was decided by the Battle of Wagram, during which Pajol's brigade encircled and almost completely destroyed an Austrian dragoon regiment. Pajol's cavalry pursued the retreating Austrians, then fought them successfully on July 7 at Korneuburg, July 9 at Hollabrunn, and July 10–11, 1809, at Znaim. We recall that in December 1807, it was to Pajol that Bagration's envoys conveyed the text of the armistice proposal. Now, at Znaim, the subject of this article received a similar proposal from the Austrians.
On April 11, 1810, Pajol was finally able to obtain a three-month leave and join his wife in France. But on June 23, he was ordered to replace General Jacquinot as commander of the light cavalry brigade, now in Marshal Davout's corps. In the spring of 1811, we see Pajol commanding cavalry units in Danzig. Finally, on December 25, 1811, he became commander of the 1st Light Cavalry Brigade.
Division General Pajol
General Pajol in an illustration from Sytin's Military Encyclopedia
During the 1812 campaign, Pajol's brigade was one of the first to cross the Neman River and entered Kovno the same day. It then served in the vanguard of Davout's corps and captured Vilnius two days later. Pajol's major success was the capture of large warehouses in Minsk and Ashmyany, for which he was promoted to divisional general on August 7. By the 9th of that month, Pajol had assumed command of the 2nd Light Cavalry Division, part of the 2nd Cavalry Corps. He fought with this division at Smolensk and Borodino, where three of his horses were killed. After this battle, Pajol's cavalrymen captured two battalions of Russian soldiers in Mozhaisk, but he himself suffered a bullet wound to the arm and was forced to hand over command to Exelman. He was able to resume command of his division only at the end of February 1813.
On April 20 (May 2), 1813, in Saxony, the article's hero took part in the Battle of Lützen, a successful battle for Bonaparte. The French managed to repel the allied forces of Russia (commanded by Peter Wittgenstein) and Prussia (led by Gerhard Scharnhorst, who was mortally wounded there). Three weeks later, we see Pajol participating in the Battle of Bautzen, in which the allies suffered another defeat and were forced to retreat to Silesia. Pajol performed particularly well in the Battle of Dresden (August 26–27, 1813), where Napoleon said in the presence of Berthier, Caulaincourt, and Mortier:
There is no other cavalry general like Pajol; he not only knows how to fight, but also knows how to guard himself well and will never allow himself to be taken by surprise.
Commander of the Cavalry Corps
On October 13, the subject of this article became commander of the 5th Cavalry Corps, but on October 16, his horse was killed again (his sixteenth), and he received his fourteenth and most severe wound: a cannonball nearly severed his left arm and broke his ribs in numerous places. Upon learning of this, Bonaparte decided that Pajol would certainly die and said:
I have suffered an irreparable loss.
However, Pajol survived and on November 25, 1813, he received the title of count from the emperor.
To everyone's surprise, in 1814 Pajol returned to duty and was appointed commander of a special corps tasked with protecting the Seine and Yonne rivers.
At the Battle of Montereau (February 18, 1814), Pajol's cavalry division seized the bridge with a decisive attack and stormed into the city. The Württemberg troops defending it fled, losing 3,000 men killed and wounded, the same number captured, four banners, and six guns. Napoleon was lavish in his praise, saying:
Only Pajol among my generals knows how to lead cavalry.
And:
If all my generals fought like this, there would be no enemy in France!
Pajol received the badge of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, but this victory cost him dearly: due to the wounds that had opened up, he no longer took part in the campaign of 1814.
The last battles of General Pajol
Pajol recognized the authority of the returning Bourbons and even received the post of commander of the Orleans garrison from Louis XVIII. However, like many veterans of Napoleon's army, he joined the emperor after his return from Elba. He now became commander of the 1st Cavalry Corps, which reported to Emmanuel Grouchy. Pajol fought successfully at Ligny (June 16, 1815), capturing 10 guns, a Prussian supply train, and many prisoners.
Then, it was he and another cavalry general, Exelmans, who were tasked by Grouchy with reconnaissance and the direction of the retreating Prussians. Blücher's forces then split: the main body of the army headed for Wavre, while the 8-strong corps headed for Namur. Pajol's scouts discovered the second detachment, and Exelmans's subordinates encountered the Prussians at Gembloux. After this, Napoleon gave the fateful order to split his forces: he assigned Grouchy, who included Pajol's corps, to pursue Blücher's army.
In this still from the film Waterloo (1969), we see Marshal Grouchy receiving orders to begin pursuing Blucher.
It was Grouchy that Bonaparte later blamed for his defeat at Waterloo. In fact, it was Bonaparte himself who was mistaken, dividing his army and sending Grouchy to pursue an enemy whose forces outnumbered his own by more than three to one. The French emperor clearly overestimated his victory at Ligny—apparently believing the Prussians were completely demoralized and would flee at the mere sight of French soldiers.
Grouchy faithfully carried out the Emperor's orders. Moreover, at the hour when the Prussians had already attacked Napoleon's right flank at Waterloo, he received an order from Soult (Chief of Staff of the French Army) ordering him to advance to Wavre. An hour later, Grouchy received another order—to join the main army—but by that time he had already engaged Thielmann's Prussian corps, routing it by evening. It was at this moment that an adjutant arrived with news of Napoleon's catastrophic defeat. Eyewitnesses claim the marshal burst into tears.
The Prussian army was already advancing on Wavre, cutting off Grouchy's troops from the French border. But, through skillful maneuvering, he led them into France, defeating the corps of Thielmann and Pirch en route on June 20 at Namur. Bonaparte himself admitted on Saint Helena:
Grouchy's march from Namur to Paris is one of the most brilliant exploits of the war of 1815. I already thought that Grouchy with his forty thousand soldiers was lost to me, and that I would not be able to rejoin them to my army beyond Valenciennes and Bouchain.
The Bourbons returned to Paris, and it seemed Pajol's military career was over forever. However, in 1830, the 58-year-old general took an active part in the July Revolution, organizing and leading the Parisian march to Rambouillet, where Charles X was then staying. Louis-Philippe (a member of the Orléans dynasty) who came to power appointed the subject of this article commander of the 1st Military District and governor of Paris. It was Pajol who commanded all Parisian troops at the ceremonial reburial of Napoleon's ashes at Les Invalides on December 15, 1840.
Transfer of Napoleon's ashes to Les Invalides
In 1842, 70-year-old General Pajol resigned his commission and died two years later (on March 20, 1844) in Paris. The cause of death was injuries sustained in a fall down the stairs of the Tuileries Palace. He was buried with great honors in Paris's Père Lachaise Cemetery, but his family later moved his remains to his homeland. Here, in the cemetery of Nozeroy (now the smallest town in France), you can see his grave:
The author of this statue is the son of the article's hero, Charles Pierre Victor Pajol, who, as you may remember, was also a talented sculptor.
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