VIII Corps (Grande Armée)

The VIII Corps of the ''Grande Armée'' was a French military unit that existed during the Napoleonic Wars. Emperor Napoleon I formed it in 1805 by borrowing divisions from other corps and assigned it to Marshal Édouard Mortier. Marshal André Masséna's Army of Italy was also reorganized as the VIII Corps at the end of the 1805 campaign. The corps was reformed for the 1806 campaign under Mortier and spent the rest of the year mopping up Prussian garrisons in western Germany.

A new VIII Corps was formed from Westphalians for the French invasion of Russia in 1812 and placed under Junot's command once more. The corps was effectively destroyed during the retreat. The following year, the corps was rebuilt with Polish units and assigned to Józef Poniatowski. The VIII Corps fought in the 1813 German campaign and ceased to exist after the Battle of Leipzig.

History

1805

The corps was first called into existence during the War of the Third Coalition in 1805. After destroying much of the Austrian Empire's military strength in the Ulm campaign, Napoleon ordered his generals to advance toward the Austrian capital of Vienna. The emperor formed a new VIII Corps under Mortier and assigned four divisions to the new organization. Mortier's task was to operate on the north bank of the Danube and protect the French army's strategic left flank. The divisions were led by Generals Jean-Baptiste Dumonceau, Honoré Théodore Maxime Gazan de la Peyrière, Pierre Dupont de l'Etang, and Louis Klein. Dumonceau's division transferred from the II Corps, Gazan's from the V Corps, Dupont's from the VI Corps, and Klein's from the I Cavalry Corps. On 11 November 1805, Mortier with the 5,000 men of Gazan's division bumped into a greatly superior force of Russians and Austrians. In the Battle of Dürenstein, Gazan suffered 3,000 casualties but was saved from annihilation when Dupont's division arrived later in the day. Neither Klein nor Dumonceau were engaged in the action. The VIII Corps missed the Battle of Austerlitz.

Even after his decisive triumph at Austerlitz, Napoleon believed Archduke Charles' large army to be a threat. Therefore, he ordered Masséna to reorganize his Army of Italy as the VIII Corps. Masséna was to march east with his main body while sending his heavy cavalry to Graz. General Auguste de Marmont assembled at Graz with the II Corps while Marshal Michel Ney arrived at Klagenfurt with the VI Corps. The emperor placed Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout's III Corps at Bratislava (Pressburg) and Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult's IV Corps south of Vienna. In this way, Charles' army was totally contained. On 26 December, the Treaty of Pressburg was signed, ending the war.

1806–1807

During the War of the Fourth Coalition, the VIII Corps was re-established at Mainz under Mortier. Together with troops from the Kingdom of Holland under King Louis Bonaparte, the corps defended against a westward thrust by Prussian forces in the former Electorate of Hanover. On 17 October 1806, Napoleon ordered Mortier to seize Fulda while Louis was to capture Paderborn and Münster. From these locations they would converge on Kassel whose ruler, William I, Elector of Hesse the emperor wished to depose. On 1 November, Mortier entered Kassel from the south with General Loison's 5,500-man division composed of three French light infantry regiments. Louis arrived from the north with Dutch soldiers a few hours later to complete the bloodless conquest. On 7 November, the French and their allies arrived near Hamelin (Hameln). Two days later, Louis pleaded illness and withdrew from the campaign.

Mortier left Dumonceau's Dutch division to carry out the Siege of Hameln. Though Dumonceau's 6,000 soldiers outnumbered by General Karl Ludwig von Lecoq's 10,000 defenders, the operation was a success.Smith (1998), p. 233 General Anne Jean Marie René Savary showed up on 19 November 1806 with a preliminary armistice in which all Prussian fortresses were to be surrendered. Though the document was not ratified, Savary used it to bully Lecoq into capitulating. Afterward the Dutch Division marched to Nienburg where it accepted the surrender of 2,911 Prussian soldiers on 26 November.

The VIII Corps was involved in the unsuccessful Siege of Kolberg from 20 March to 2 July 1807. Mortier's 14,000 men and 41 guns included the Fusilier-Chasseurs and Fusilier-Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard under Savary, Loison's French division of six infantry battalions and nine cavalry squadrons, General Charles Louis Dieudonné Grandjean's Dutch contingent with 12 battalions and two hussar regiments, six Italian battalions with supporting cavalry, two Polish battalions, and seven German battalions. The VIII Corps lost 5,000 killed, wounded, or died of illness. The defenders of the 230-gun Kolberg fortress lost 3,000 of the 6,000-man garrison killed, wounded, or died of disease. In June, however, Mortier was called to join the main army. He led 8,465 foot soldiers and 1,200 horsemen in the thick of the action at the Battle of Friedland on 14 June 1807. General Pierre-Louis Dupas led the all-French 1st Division, General Jean Henri Dombrowski commanded the all-Polish 2nd Division, and General Maurice Ignace Fresia directed the Dutch and Polish cavalry contingent.

1812–1813

The corps was reconstituted for the invasion of Russia and leadership was given to Vandamme. Together with the V Corps (Poles), VII Corps (Saxons), and IV Cavalry Corps, it was assigned to the 2nd Support Army under Jérôme Bonaparte. All the corps troops belonged to Jérôme's Kingdom of Westphalia. General Jean Victor Tharreau commanded the 1st Division and General von Ochs led the 2nd Division. On 24 June 1812, the corps consisted of 15,885 infantry in 18 battalions, 2,050 cavalry in 12 squadrons, and 34 artillery pieces. Jérôme's inexperience as a general was mitigated by the appointment of General Jean Gabriel Marchand as his chief of staff. Nevertheless, after being harshly criticized in a letter by his brother, Jérôme resigned his command on 14 July and went home. The command of the corps passed to Junot.

At the Battle of Valutino on 18 August 1812, the VIII Corps was ordered to cross the Dnieper River and block the retreat of the Russian Army toward Moscow. After taking a long time to cross the river, Junot failed to advance any farther, allowing the Russians to escape. At the Battle of Borodino on 7 September, the corps started out in reserve along with the Imperial Guard and the reserve cavalry. By 8:30 AM, Junot's men were sent into action. At 10:00 AM they joined the I Corps and III Corps in a massed attack on the ''flèches'' which was successful. Tharreau was among Borodino's many fatalities. That autumn, the
''Grande Armée'' withdrew from Moscow. By the time they reached Smolensk, the combined V and VIII Corps counted no more than 1,500 men.

In the following year, Prince Józef Poniatowski was appointed to command the VIII Corps, which was rebuilt as an all-Polish unit. At the Battle of Leipzig on 16–19 October 1813 the corps consisted of the 26th Infantry Division under General Kaminiecki, the 27th Infantry Division led by General of Jean Henri Dombrowski (Jan Henryk Dąbrowski), the 27th Light Cavalry Brigade under General Jan Nepomucen Umiński, and the 44 guns of the corps artillery under Colonel Redel.OSG, ''Napoleon at Leipzig'', p. 4 Marshal Joachim Murat assumed command of a wing that included the II, V, and VIII Corps plus cavalry. His orders were to delay the advance of the Army of Bohemia from the south. On 16 October, the 26th Division fought near the villages of Markkleeberg and Dölitz in the southern part of the battlefield. Meanwhile, Dombrowski's division became involved in the fighting to the north. During the rear guard fighting on the 19th, a panicky sapper prematurely blew up the bridge over the White Elster