Antonio Bertoletti, also known as Antoine Marc Augustin Bertoletti (August 28, 1775 – March 6, 1846) was a

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

ese military officer who served the French Empire as a

general of brigade Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

, notably in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

Military career

During the

War of the Fifth Coalition The War of the Fifth Coalition was a European conflict in 1809 that was part of the Napoleonic Wars and the Coalition Wars. The main conflict took place in central Europe between the Austrian Empire of Francis I and Napoleon's French Empir ...

, Bertoletti served in the Italian theater under the command of

Eugène de Beauharnais Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg (; 3 September 1781 – 21 February 1824) was a French nobleman, statesman, and military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Through the second marr ...

, the Viceroy of Italy. At the outbreak of war, he led a brigade in

Achille Fontanelli Achille Fontanelli (8 November 1775 – 22 July 1838) was an Italian nationalist and Napoleonic general. Born into a low-ranking noble family, he took service with a pro-French Italian military unit in 1797. He was captured in 1799 but was repat ...

's Division. Later, Jean Rusca took command of the division, which missed the Battle of Piave River. Bertoletti led his brigade in an action at

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

on 8 June and at Papa,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

on 12 June, as well as the major

Battle of Raab The Battle of Raab or Battle of Győr ( Hungarian: ''győri csata'') was fought on 14 June 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars, between Franco-Italian forces and Habsburg forces. The battle was fought near Győr (Raab), Kingdom of Hungary, and en ...

on 14 June. During the

Battle of Wagram The Battle of Wagram (; 5–6 July 1809) was a military engagement of the Napoleonic Wars that ended in a costly but decisive victory for Emperor Napoleon's French and allied army against the Austrian army under the command of Archduke Charles ...

, his brigade defended Klagenfurt on Eugene's line of communications. In June 1813, Bertoletti famously held the fortress of

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tarr ...

with 1,600 soldiers against John Murray's 16,000-man British army. Realizing he could not hope to hold the outer walls with his small Franco-Italian garrison, he pulled back into the inner defenses and two outworks. Ultimately, Murray abandoned the siege and 18 heavy cannon when he heard that two French relief columns were due to arrive. When the British expedition sailed away, Bertoletti alertly called for help from the nearest French column, which soon marched into the fortress. At the news that French reinforcements were nearby, Murray gave up a second plan to capture Tarragona.Glover, p 271-275 After the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, Bertoletti served the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n crown as field marshal. He died in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. The Arc de Triomphe bears the inscription BERTOLETTI on the 37th column.

References

* Bowden, Scotty & Tarbox, Charlie. ''Armies on the Danube 1809''. Arlington, Texas: Empire Games Press, 1980. * Glover, Michael. ''The Peninsular War 1807-1814.'' London: Penguin, 2001. * Smith, Digby. ''The Napoleonic Wars Data Book.'' London: Greenhill, 1998.

Footnotes

External links

The Names of 660 persons inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe
* Bertoletti French Wikipedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Bertoletti, Antoine Marc Augustin 1775 births 1846 deaths French generals Austrian generals Italian generals Italian commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Italian military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Military personnel from Milan Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe