Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle - Campaign in Prussia and Poland

Campaign in Prussia and Poland

He fought bravely at the Battle of Austerlitz with his dragoons under the command of Divisional General Klein who commanded the 1st Dragoon Division in the Cavalry Reserve of Marshal Joachim Murat. Because of his success he was given command of a Light Cavalry Brigade consisting of the 5th and 7th Hussar Regiments under the command of Marshal Murat. He and Joséphine-Jeanne had their own little girl, Charlotte-Joséphine who was born in May 1806. Lasalle’s star was high during the 1806 campaign for Prussia where his hussars became known as the “Brigade Infernale” or “Hellish Brigade” with Colonels François-Xavier Schwarz and Ferdinand-Daniel Marx as his regimental commanders. Lasalle also became good friends with Napoleon’s most famous spy, Charles Louis or Karl Ludwig Schulmeister. Lasalle was known for being utterly brave, loving of danger, often laughing at his own hardships, and frequently charging with a long pipe instead of a saber in his hand.

He fought at Schleiz and Jena-Auerstädt where he captured the bodyguard of the King of Prussia and forced the Prince of Hohenloe to Prenzlau. Lasalle and the 7th were notorious for riding up to the lines of the enemy and asking for a single combat duel just to break the boredom of the wait between battles. He and his brigade performed prodigies while relentlessly pursuing the Prussians after Jena. On 26 October 1806 Lasalle was currently in pursuit of Hohenloe’s defeated army that was heading to Prenzlau. At noon he departed for Zehdenick and observed Prussian infantry north west of himself at the edge of the forest. Without worrying about the enemy’s huge numerical superiority and convinced that these troops had already been beaten he charged with his usual impetuosity. After fierce fighting the Prussians managed to beat back Lasalle's hussars until cavalry reinforcements arrived. General Grouchy arrived around the same time as the reinforcements and the combined attacks by Lasalle and Grouchy destroyed the Prussian cavalry. Soon, the entire division broke and sought out salvation in the outskirts of the village of Zehdenick. The Prussian infantry moved into the woods and then withdrew.

On 28 October, after trying to run Hohenlohe’s army to the ground and as they approached Prenzlau they realized the Prussian Army had been inside the city for some time now. Marshal Murat arrived at 10 a.m. and ordered Lasalle to cut the road from Gustow and to storm the northern gates of the city. The approaching French set off a panic amongst the Prussians who quickly closed the city gates. Grouchy was ordered to support Lasalle. Lasalle took his troopers right up to the city gates and burst them open. He continued on through the city and out the east gates where he could see Hohenlohe’s army forming in a plain north east of the city. Shortly after 1 p.m. it was confirmed that the Prussian column was only the rearguard of Hohenlohe's army under Prinz August. The Prinz asked for terms and was informed he would be treated in the same manner as the rest of the Prussian army when they surrendered. Thinking this was not acceptable the Prinz ordered his men to press forward and cross the bridge. Lannes reacted swiftly and ordered Beaumont to hold the bridge while he attacked with his infantry. The counter-attack was too much for the Prussians; they threw down their arms and surrendered. Seeing that all was lost Von Hirschfeld also laid down his arms and surrendered. A few hours later Murat managed to convince Hohenlohe that his army was surrounded and he surrendered. The next day Lasalle and his troops marched to the fortress of Stettin. He prepared to attack the fortress though extremely outnumbered and despite the fact that many of his men were armed with fake wooden carbines due to their low amount of resources. Stettin was well defended with extensive fortifications to protect them from their enemies and a garrison of 6,000-10,000 experienced soldiers, not raw recruits, together with 120-300 guns. In the port, there were several ships of the Royal Navy, the great supplier of arms, ammunition, uniforms and subsidies to the Prussian Army. Lasalle ordered his men to cut down numerous trees and paint them black to look as if they were cannons. As everyone was about to retire for the night on 29 October 1806 the shrill sound of a trumpet was suddenly heard within the fortress. It was undoubtedly a messenger who had been sent to negotiate.

Shortly afterwards, General von Romberg was informed of the arrival of a French officer, Colonel François-Xavier Schwartz, commanding the 5th Hussars under General Lasalle. The Military Governor, General von Romberg, was an old soldier and a veteran of Rossbach, the Prussian victory over the French in 1757. “I’ve been sent by my superior, the Grand Duke of Berg, who summons you to surrender to him tomorrow morning. You will be granted the honors of war.” Not forgetting he was Prussian, von Romberg immediately retorted, “Tell your master that the town of Stettin was entrusted to my safeguard and that I shall defend it to my last man.” An hour later, the same messenger returned with another, more precise and far more alarming ultimatum. “If, by 8 a.m. you have not surrendered, the town will be bombarded by our artillery, stormed by 50,000 men, the garrison will be put to the sword and the town will be plundered during twenty-four hours.” 10,000 Prussians surrendered to 500 hussars. It was Lasalle’s greatest bluff which made him enormously famous and a national hero.

All the men of the garrison appeared in perfect order, spruced up as if they were about to go on parade in front of Frederick the Great himself, preceded by their old Commander and their officers in their superb dress uniforms, and as they marched past the French the Prussians threw down their rifles one by one. When von Romberg came up to Lasalle he was shocked to see that 10,000 soldiers in perfect fighting condition together with 300 guns and a town of 23,000 inhabitants had just surrendered to a handful of hussars. Not only that but the 500 hussars, who belonged to the 5th and 7th Regiments (also known as the “Hellish Brigade”), were spattered with mud as a result of their forced marches and mounted on horses that were even more exhausted than they were. General Lasalle later wrote: “Who could recognize the brilliant hussars from Kronach fourteen months ago, those of the 5th Regiment with their white pelisses with lemon-yellow braids and their sky-blue breeches, those of the 7th Regiment with their green pelisses with daffodil-yellow braids and their scarlet breeches? Today the whole brigade, men and horses adorned alike in mud, have neither form nor color.

Their uniform is misery.” These filthy mud-spattered hussars belonged to the Light Cavalry Brigade of the famous French hussar general, Antoine Charles Louis Lasalle, aged thirty-one. Forced to keep his word and sign the act of capitulation, von Romberg decided to be philosophical and make the best of the situation. Apparently, he bore Lasalle no grudge for he gave him a superb porcelain pipe that Lasalle would carry to the death. As a result of Lasalle’s incredible achievement, Napoleon, admiringly wrote to Murat, Lasalle’s superior, “If your Light Cavalry captures fortified towns, I’ll have to discharge my Engineer Corps and have my heavy artillery melted down.” The capitulation of Stettin which had blocked the passage over the River Oder had prevented Prussian General Blücher from passing the frontier into Eastern Pomerania. Now Blücher was determined to escape from the French at any cost. Among the French in close pursuit was Lasalle, who had a personal vendetta with the Prussian, for it was to him that Blücher had told the lie about the armistice and this episode had earned the dashing hussar a letter from the Emperor, severely reprimanding him, which Lasalle had not appreciated. Blücher now led his troops in the direction of Lübeck, near the Baltic coast and the Danish frontier. Murat, together with Lasalle, Bernadotte and Soult were hot on his heels. Blücher was forced farther and farther to the north by his pursuers.

At last, he ran out of Prussian territory. On 5 November, he marched into the neutral Hanseatic City-state of Lübeck, where he demanded money and food from the city authorities. The next day, Bernadotte's men attacked the walls. Lasalle was among these men and fought bravely during the French victory. Although adventure and war were the breath of their nostrils they were also boasters as no troops are invincible. During the Battle of Golymin, General Lasalle led his legendary “Hellish Brigade” against Russian battery of 12-15 guns as the first men to fight. The hussars charged with vigor but then were abruptly seized with panic. The two regiments turned about and, in an indescribable disorder, officers and men mixed, stampeded back to the rear. Of the whole brigade only the elite company of the 7th Hussars, placed immediately behind Lasalle himself, remained firmly at their posts. Lasalle was furious. He rode after them, screamed “Halt!” and brought them back. Lasalle kept them within a short range from the Russian guns as punishment for their earlier behavior standing 20 paces in front of his men remaining motionless and calm although under enemy fire. Now nobody dared to leave his post and for two hours they stood there under heavy fire while Lasalle had two horses and ten hussars killed under him.

He then finally rallied his troops and commanded “Break the ranks!” and with the support of Klein’s dragoon division charged the enemy from the flank. The Russians routed and fled under the cover of artillery as Lasalle pursued until the battle was won. On 30 December 1806 Lasalle was promoted to Divisional General and given command of the Light Cavalry Division in Murat’s Cavalry Reserve. In 1807 Napoleon authorized the raising of a guard regiment of Polish light horse. Applicants traveled to Paris, having established a considerable reputation for drunkenness and disorder on the way. Under General Lasalle they were given an intensive course in horsemanship and discipline becoming one of the finest regiments in the Imperial Guard. Lasalle, like many cavalry officers, enjoyed leading the Poles into combat. An officer of the Poles wrote: “It was in Lasalle's school that we learned outpost duty. We have kept a precious memory of this general in whom all the lovable and imposing qualities of a born marshal were combined ... He should have replaced Murat to whom he was vastly superior ...” In honor of the Poles, Lasalle composed a verse to the tune of their regimental march which he immortalized by singing it as he led them into battle during the Peninsular War a year later:

"The French were once in Poland, Now the Poles have come to Spain; ... For Poles and Frenchmen, in one breath, Could put all men on earth to death!”

Lasalle became great friends with General Jean-Pierre-Joseph Bruyère who commanded the 3rd Horse Chasseur Brigade under Lasalle. Although Lasalle was Bruyère’s commander, he was three years Bruyère’s junior. They shared a number of similarities. Both were of medium height although Lasalle was the shorter of the two. They were equally flamboyant in their dress, both had masses of dark wavy hair, both enjoyed riotous living in their early years and both were extremely brave to the point of recklessness. Had the two lived, they would have become related by marriage as Bruyère married Joséphine-Therese-Virginie the 16 year old second daughter of Berthier's brother Louis-Cesar-Gabriel. Lasalle then fought at the Battle of Eylau commanding the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Hussars and the 13th Horse Chasseurs. During the Battle of Heilsberg, on 12 June 1807, Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg, was surrounded at the height of a mêlée by 12 Russian dragoons.

Lasalle was in command of consisting of three brigades of light cavalry which contained the “Hellish Brigade”, two lancer regiments, and five horse chasseur regiments. Daredevil Lasalle saw Murat in trouble and charged at the enemies with the speed of lightning, killing the officer who commanded the detachment and put 11 dragoons on the run, saving Murat’s life. Shortly after, Murat and other members of the “Hellish Brigade” saved Lasalle from a certain death. Afterwards while shaking hands, Murat told Lasalle, “General, we are free.” Lasalle and his men fought in the Battle of Friedland. The following July, Napoleon made Lasalle a Grand Cross Knight of the Order of the Iron Crown. Lasalle was then sent to Spain under orders of Jean-Baptiste Bessières.