text: honoré théodore maxime gazan de la peyrière honoré théodore maxime gazan de la peyrière ( october 29 , 1764 – april 9 , 1845 ) was a french general who fought in the french revolutionary wars and the napoleonic wars . gazan started his military career as a in the french coast guard . he was later appointed to the royal life guards and , upon the beginning of the french revolution in 1789 , he joined the french national guard . after service in the upper rhine valley and the netherlands , he joined andré masséna in switzerland in 1799 , and fought at the battles of winterthur and first zurich . in august 1805 , gazan commanded of a division of the army that encircled the austrians in ulm . on november 11 , under joseph mortier , his division provided the advance guard in the advance on vienna . mortier over - extended his line of march and gazan 's division was surrounded by kutuzov 's coalition army ; gazan lost 40 percent of his force in the battle of dürenstein . following the prussian defeat at the battle of jena - auerstadt , he transferred with jean lannes to the iberian peninsula . there he participated in the french capture of zaragoza and in several important actions of the long peninsular war , including the battle of albuera and the battle of vitoria . during the hundred days , gazan eventually joined napoleon 's cause , although he did not have a field command . in 1815 , he judged michel ney 's trial for treason , but refused to reach a verdict . he dabbled briefly , and unsuccessfully , in politics in the 1820s . in 1830 , he was raised to the french peerage and held a divisional command in , but by then was an old man , and he retired in 1832 . he died in 1845 . family and early military career gazan was born in the small town of grasse , in the alpes - maritimes . his father , a lawyer , sent him to the college of , where he received military training . gazan was a second lieutenant in the coast guard of antibes at the age of fifteen . in 1786 , he was appointed to the royal life guards , company écossaise . afterward he also joined the freemasons . french revolutionary wars at the outbreak of the french revolution in 1789 , gazan returned to grasse and joined the national guard . in 1790 , he became a captain and , in 1791 , a lieutenant colonel of the local volunteer battalion of the var . in 1792 , with the declaration of war with austria , he was sent to the 27th regiment . his regiment first served garrison duty in strasbourg , but in december 1793 , participated in the battle of wissembourg . in may 1794 , gazan became a battalion commander of the new 54th demi - brigade . on 4 july , he routed the prussians in by ordering his drummers to beat a charge , convincing the prussians that they were outnumbered . he was promoted to brigade colonel on 11 july and led his troops to victory against the prussians at . in 1796 , he joined the army of the rhine , under the command of jean victor moreau . this was his first campaign and he was promoted to brigadier general in recognition of his outstanding achievements at the battle of ettlingen . gazan was wounded on 22 november 1796 and taken to hospital in strasbourg for his recovery , where he met marie madeleine reiss ; after their marriage , she frequently accompanied him on his campaigns and they had several children . swiss campaign on 4 april 1799 , his superior and friend andré masséna transferred him to the army of the danube , at that time located in the northeastern swiss plateau . there , he took command of a weak ( under - manned ) brigade at the small town of winterthur , in northern switzerland . on 26 may , michel ney , the newly appointed general of division , took command of the forward line protecting the main french force at zürich . the following day , friedrich , baron von hotze , arrived with close to 8 , 000 battle - hardened and experienced austrian border troops , including the 12th infantry manfredini , a battalion of hungarian grenadiers , and six squadrons of the waldeck dragoons . in the ensuing clash , ney ordered gazan 's under - manned brigade to the center , where it was soon overwhelmed . in retreat , they safely crossed a bridge spanning a small river , the töss , but the cavalry guarding the bridge was itself forced back . after stationing his batteries on a slight incline , to protect the retreat from the austrians , the injured ney handed command to gazan , who organized and conducted the successful retreat . a few days later , at the first battle of zürich ( 4 june 1799 ) , the austrian force overpowered the french lines . as part of the v. division of the army of the danube , gazan again commanded the rear guard after massena 's force disengaged from archduke charles ' army and withdrew across the limmat river . later that year , he faced a combined austrian and russian force at the second battle of zürich ( 27 september ) . his division repulsed russian outposts at the limmat river . he subsequently participated in the wild pursuit of the austrians , resulting in a decisive french victory . he was promoted to division commander and continued in the campaign against coalition troops in switzerland . in 1800 , gazan accompanied the masséna 's army of italy , as a general of division in the corps of jean - de - dieu soult . the 1st division included the grenadiers , the 30th ( light infantry ) , and portions of the 2nd , 3rd , and 78th regiments ligne ( line infantry ) , totaling approximately 4 , 500 men . while soult 's corps campaigned in central northern italy , masséna was besieged in genoa by an austrian army of 24 , 000 and a british naval squadron . soult moved his corps to the east to relieve genoa . as part of soult 's corps , gazan participated in the battle at ( 9 april ) , where he commanded the right wing , and again at the battle of sassello ( 10 april ) . in both clashes , his division was outnumbered nearly three to one took heavy casualties french had heavy casualties . later in the month , he participated in the clash at ( 18 april 1800 ) . to relieve masséna at genoa , soult organized several assaults on strong austrian positions around the city . at monte ( 13 may 1800 ) , gazan 's division and the first column of soult 's main force ( approximately 5 , 000 men ) , attacked a stronger austrian position of 7 , 000 , under command of prince hohenzollern . soult was taken prisoner , general of brigade joseph perrin was killed , and the cavalry commander , jean - joseph gauthier , was badly wounded . the defeat could be seen from the ramparts at genoa and caused the french garrison 's morale to plummet ; many units were already near mutiny and food was scarce . gazan , who had been wounded , took his troops to lozano and joined louis gabriel suchet . there he commanded a division of the army of italy and fought in a french victory at the battle in ( 25 december ) against the austrians . he was appointed commander of the first subdivision of the 27th military division in piedmont . after the peace in 1801 , gazan returned home , but shortly after his return , received a new assignment as commander of a brigade in northern italy , where he stayed until the declaration of the first french empire in 1804 . service during the napoleonic wars and jena in the war of the third coalition , gazan initially was assigned as a division commander of napoleon 's grande armée in lille , in preparation for the planned invasion of england ; he remained there until the idea was abandoned . in august 1805 , gazan commanded of a division of the army that encircled austrians in ulm . on november 11 , under marshal mortier , his division provided the advance guard in the march against kutuzov 's army . as they advanced through a narrow danube canyon , the division was isolated from the main force , near dürenstein . by the small village on the danube , famous as the prison of richard the at the end of the twelfth century , he and his division were trapped in a narrow canyon , attacked by a russian force at his rear and more russians at his front . gazan 's division fought desperately for a harrowing day and suffered 40 percent casualties . he and mortier were finally rescued by the arrival of the viii . corps ' 1st division , commanded by pierre dupont de l 'étang , but only after the loss of nearly 4 , 000 men . in addition , 47 officers and 895 men were captured , and he lost five guns , as well as the eagles of the 4th infantry regiment , and the eagle and guidon of the 4th dragoons . as recognition of his conduct in " the immortal battle of dürenstein , " he received the officers grand cross of the legion of honor and the survivors of his division was sent to vienna to recuperate . when austria sued for peace , gazan 's division was sent to würzburg in bavaria , where it remained until prussia declared war in october 1806 . gazan 's division fought in the french victory over prussia at the battle of jena - auerstedt ( 14 october 1806 ) . at ( 16 february 1807 ) , gazan 's troops took three guns and two russian colors . otherwise , his troops stayed in their winter quarters . after the new peace treaty , gazan 's troops were sent to silesia to restore order . in 1808 , he was named comte de la . early peninsular war in october 1808 , now attached to the vi . corps , gazan went to spain with jean lannes and arrived at zaragoza in december . the city was under siege and defended by spanish under josé de palafox . lannes ordered an attack on 22 january 1809 to capture the city in street by street fighting ; when the french took a block , sappers tunneled under the houses and blew them up , which prevented spanish street fighters from slipping into houses behind them . the method was effective but painstaking . gazan 's assignment , to take the well - fortified jesus convent . palafox surrendered on 20 february . the vi . corps occupied northern aragon afterward . in july 1810 , gazan 's force guarded the valleys of extremadura , near alcantara . in september he fought against spanish general la romana . in january 1811 he crossed the sierra morena to guard the supply on 15 – 21 march , his 2nd division of the v. corps besieged and captured the small fortified town of campo maior , in eastern portugal . there they captured 50 guns and the 100 - man portuguese garrison . as general latour - maubourg , four squadrons of dragoons and hussars and three battalions of the 100th light infantry moved the cannons to badajoz the following week , a combined force of the 1st and 7th portuguese cavalry and the british 13th light dragoons , commanded by brigadier general robert ballard long , charged and scattered the french 26th dragoons . in the melee , the drivers of the convoy were cut down , but instead of securing the convoy of guns , the british and portuguese enthusiastically pursued the fleeing infantry for more than 11 kilometers ( 6 . 8 mi ) ; meanwhile , the french sallied out of badajoz , carefully avoiding the fleeing infantry and its pursuers , and recovered all but one of the guns . at the battle of albuera ( 16 may 1811 ) , the " bloodiest battle of the peninsular campaign , " gazan 's division was hammered by the british . the force , composed of two brigades of infantry , one of cavalry and 40 guns , were enveloped by the british on three sides . general of division girard 's 1st division was also trapped . the fire - fight wrought massive casualties , and the bodies were reportedly stacked three and four men high ; the distinction was in 360 french muskets in deep and narrow columns versus 2000 british flintlocks in a double line of infantry . only a costly mistake by the british commander , major general colborne , prevented a worse disaster for the french . colborne had deployed his infantry in the standard line , two men deep , and had prepared to fire close range volleys into the french flank . recognizing the opportunity , latour - 's 2nd hussars and first vistula lancers ( a polish unit ) to attack the british line before the infantry could form its defensive squares . the french cavalry wrought massive casualties on colborne 's brigade . the 3rd ( east kent ) regiment of foot ( " the buffs " ) lost 643 of its 754 men at albuera , most of them in the initial onslaught of french cavalry . the next two regiments in line lost over 500 men combined and colborne ’ s brigade lost 1 , 413 out of its 2 , 166 men . despite the mounted assault , however , the french 2nd division suffered high casualties and lost five colors , a significant blow to its morale and pride . gazan was wounded in the battle , and returned to seville , where he was assigned to a staff position during his recovery . gazan and the 1813 peninsular war in june 1813 , gazan was appointed commander of the joseph bonaparte 's army of the south . joseph had established a long defensive line on the heights of puebla , with the army of portugal at the left flank , the army of the center , commanded by jean - baptiste drouet , comte d 'erlon and the army of the south , at the southern flank . on 21 june , generals rowland hill and pablo morillo moved toward the south end of the valley ; gazan and d 'erlon asked jean - baptiste jourdan for reinforcements , but the corps ' commander was preoccupied with the possibility of an attack at the opposite flank , and sent none . in their own turn , d 'erlon and gazan could not agree on how to deal with the approaching threat . in the initial stages of battle , the army of portugal started to pull back . realizing that his southern flank would not hold up in the face of hill and morillo , joseph ordered gazan to withdraw in ordered masses . hill and morillo attacked gazan 's forces with such force that gazan withdrew . this was gazan 's last field command . gazan 's pre - emptive withdrawal created a gap in french line , exposing d 'erlon 's army in the center . d 'erlon held his position as long as he could , but the line collapsed around him . joseph 's planned orderly withdrawal turned into a rout . gazan abandoned all his artillery . the allies captured the entire supply convoy , all the baggage and took many prisoners , including gazan 's wife and children , although they later managed to rejoin him . after losing their supply train , the plight of the french army was terrible . gazan mentioned that general officers and subordinates alike " were reduced to the clothes on their backs and most of them were barefoot , " but the rank and file of the army also suffered enormously from hunger , exposure , and disease . when soult took command of the new army of the pyrenees , gazan became his chief of staff until napoleon 's abdication . napoleon 's return and later life during the hundred days , gazan hesitated but eventually joined napoleon , with little enthusiasm and he did not receive a field command . after the war , jean - baptiste jourdan persuaded gazan to be part of the conseil convened on 9 november 1815 to try michel ney for treason . despite his oath of allegiance to the restored monarchy , the loyal ney had rallied to napoleon 's banner immediately upon his landing in southern france and had led a corps into battle at waterloo . the king wished to make a point to napoleon 's former marshals and ney became the focus of his wrath . gazan 's relationship with ney had begun in the french revolutionary wars shortly after ney 's promotion to general of division . at the battle of winterthur ( 1799 ) , he had been one of ney 's first brigade commanders . although the king 's government may have expected the conseil to find ney guilty , the members voted 5 – 2 to declare themselves incapable of reaching a verdict , and deferred the case to the chamber of peers . some historians maintain that that ney 's death penalty resulted from the military court 's refusal to act in the case ; only the military court could have returned a verdict of " guilty under exceptional circumstances . " such a verdict would have meant ney 's lifelong incarceration , but would not have required his execution . when the military court refused to reach a verdict , ney 's case went to the chamber of peers , which was populated by a mix of old and new peers . the old peers might not have been receptive to ney 's predicament ; he had been , after all , a highly visible party to napoleon 's success throughout europe . if some of the new peers were sympathetic to ney 's situation , they may also have been anxious to prove their own loyalty to the new regime . ney 's penalty was a foregone conclusion . despite this , or perhaps because of it , louis xviii forced gazan into retirement in grasse , where the aging general dabbled unsuccessfully in politics . after the 1830 revolution , the new king of the french louis philippe made gazan a peer of france , and he received a command of a military division in marseille . by this time , he was an old man , and in poor health , and he retired in june 1832 . gazan de la died in grasse on 9 april 1845 .