Product Code Database
Claude Jacques Lecourbe (; 22 February 1759 – 22 October 1815) was a French general during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars wars. He was especially famed for his conduct in Switzerland and as a subordinate of General Jean Victor Marie Moreau.
He fell out of favour with Napoleon as a result of his closeness with Moreau and was out of service for a decade until recalled by the Bourbons where he would briefly attempt to stop Napoleon restoration before switching sides and taking command of the defence of Belfort in 1815.
He would die soon after but before his death he gave testimony that would be used in the trial of Marshal Ney.
His father Claude-Guillaume was a cavalry officer who had received the Order of Saint Louis for his service to the Kingdom of France but by the time of his baptismal certificate change he had retired.
Lecourbe joined the Army of the North and was rapidly promoted, first to captain in the 7th Volunteer Battalion of Jura, then becoming its Chief of Battalion in November 1791. As a lieutenant-colonel, Lecourbe took part in the capture of Porrentruy in April 1792. With a transfer to the Army of the North, Lecourbe would see significant action in 1793 in the Low countries theatre, fighting at Herzeele and Hondschoote on 6-8 of September before being wounded by a cannon shot to the left thigh at the First Battle of Courtrai. Lecourbe would recover and distinguished himself at Wattignies latter in the year.
Joining the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse Lecourbe would beat Habsburg General Johann Peter Beaulieu at Sombreffe, capture Namur, and see action at the battles of the Ourthe, Roer and then at the siege of Luxembourg.
Lecourbe's rank of general of brigade would be confirmed by the Committee of Public Safety in June 1795. He transferred back to the Army of the Rhine and Moselle, joined the siege of Mainz and then was involved in covering the retreat from the failed attempt on the city in late October.
He briefly was without a command before General Moreau assigned him a brigade in General Alexandre Camille Taponier's division in May 1796. In that capacity he fought at Ettlingen and Neresheim. He repelled the Austrians during the Erlenheim Island affair, on the 2nd of December. There, during the Siege of Kehl, he was stationed on the Erlenheim island in the Rhine. He destroyed a French pontoon bridge to prevent his men from retreating, then grabbed a standard and rallied a battalion to counterattack the Austrians. Moving to Guillaume Philibert Duhesme's division, he would fight at further attempts to cross the Rhine in the following year, at Diersheim and Renchen. In 1798 Lecourbe would spend time in the Army of England, seeing little action since the invasion of Britan didn't materialise. In November he was transferred to the Army of Helvetia.
Lecourbe was made a general of division by the Directory shortly after the invasion began. Habsburg Austria would seek to contest French control and Lecourbe would take part in clashes in the far west of Switzerland in Grisons, commanding the right wing of the army during operations in Engadine. On the 12th of March Lecourbe captured the castle at Finstermünz
France would see reverses with Jourdan's Army of the Danube defeated by Archduke Charles to the north of Switzerland in the Battle of Stockach at the end of May. Lecourbe was forced to retreat behind the Reuss river at the end of April. During the campaigns in Switzerland Lecourbe would command a young Michel Ney, whom he would commend for his defensive actions. The Habsburg advance would continue with Archduke Charles retakeing Zurich in early June.
Lecourbe was not present at Zurich. Instead ordered to the south of Switzerland, Lecourbe would win at Wasenbach and Amsteg and suffered a wound to his arm. In August his division secured the Gotthard Pass, Grimsel Pass, Furka Pass and Oberalp Pass mountain passes.
His arrival was timely as the Russo-Austrian Italian expedition turned north to Switzerland. Lecourbe fought delaying actions against Russian General Alexander Suvorov. The Battle of Gotthard Pass delayed the Russian advance and contributed to the French victory at the second Battle of Zürich.
After the allied defeat at Zurich and the Russian offensive failing, Lecourbe would pursue them but failed to encircle Suvorov's army, following them to Glarus and re-occuppying the Reuss and Glarus valleys.
Lecourbe would resign command of the Army of the Rhine on the 5th of December and be appointed 2nd-in-command to General Moreau.
In 1800, Lecoubre was victorious in the Battle of Neuburg and played a part in the French victory at the Battle of Hohenlinden. Then pursuing the Austrians following their defeat with sharp actions at Rosenheim; at Salzburg Archduke John held off Lecourbe in a successful Rearguard action. However the Austrian army began to lose cohesion after a series of actions, including Kremsmünster where Lecourbe was in command. With the French army only 80km from Vienna the Austrian Army was in no state to stop Moreau's army, leading to the Treaty of Lunéville and the end of Austrian participation in the War of the Second Coalition.
Lecourbe's friendship with General Moreau and his vocal defence of the latter in the trial of Georges Cadoudal would place his position at risk. During the trial Lecourbe entered into the court, leading a little boy whom he raised up. He exclaimed, with considerable emotion, "Soldiers, behold the son of your general!". This event visibly affected many soldiers in attendance. This event as well as the conduct of Lecourbe's brother, the judge Jacques François Lecourbe, brought on the enmity of Bonaparte.
Claude Lecourbe would be forced into retirement in 1804 with the minimum required pension. He would return to Ruffey-sur-Seille where he took up farming and had a château built for himself. During his enforced exile, in September 1813 when Moreau entered the service of France's enemy the Russian Empire, Lecourbe would have his movements restricted to Bourges and be placed under police surveillance .
Lecourbe was tasked with preventing Napoleon's return to Paris after he left Elba. He was appointed a subordinate to Marshal Ney alongside fellow General Louis-Auguste-Victor Bourmont, a staunch French royalist. Lecourbe, whose own politics were strongly republican, equally opposed Ney's eventual decision to switch sides, complaining that his removal from military command in 1805 had been a personal affront to his honour. Nevertheless he attended a parade in which Ney read a proclamation from Napoleon to the assembled troops.
Upon Napoleon's return, Lecourbe would begrudgingly offer his services "to defend a threatened France" and during the Hundred Days he commanded the Army of the Jura (I Corps of Observation), operating in the Jura against Archduke Ferdinand. With an army of only 13,600, most of which were mobilised national guards, he held the city of Belfort for 15 days against 24,500 Austrians. Other sources give the number of the Austrians at 40,000. Lecourbe would only agree to a ceasefire with General Colloredo-Mansfeld on the 11th of July 1815. For his actions at Belfort then Minister of war Louis-Nicolas Davout would suggest making Lecoubre a Marshal of the Empire but this would not occur.
After Louis's second restoration, Lecourbe would retire and receive a 6,000 franc pension before dying on the 22th of October 1815 in Belfort from a bladder infection after a long illness.
Before his death he gave testimony to a magistrate that was read at the trial of Marshal Ney. He confirmed it was Ney, and not Bourmont or himself, who had decided to switch sides and support Napoleon during the Hundred Days. However Lecourbe also contradicted Bourmont's testimony that Ney's roughly 5,000 soldiers of questionable loyalty would have been able to stop Napoleon's force of over 14,000 men.
Streets named in Lecourbe's honour can also be found in Paris and Besançon.
In Belfort, a statue commemorates Lecoubre as "The glorious defender of the city", as part of a monument
Another statue by Antonine Etex made in 1853 commemorating Lecourbe, standing in the Place de la Liberté in Lons-le-Saunier, was donated by Napoleon III's government in 1854. On the side of the statue are scenes depicting battles in the 1815 Jura campaign.
The name "LECOURBE" is inscribed on the east side of the Arc de Triomphe.
Honours
Further reading
|
|
