The VI Corps of the Grande Armée was a French military unit that existed during the Napoleonic Wars. It was formed at the Camp de Boulogne and assigned to Marshal Michel Ney. From 1805 to 1811, the VI Corps fought under Ney's command in the 1805 Austrian Campaign: War of the Third Coalition, Prussian Campaign of 1806 and Polish Campaign of 1807 of the War of the Fourth Coalition. General Jean Gabriel Marchand was in charge of the corps for a period when Ney went on leave. The VI Corps was revived in 1812 for the French invasion of Russia and placed under Marshal Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr. It consisted entirely of Bavarian soldiers at that time. During the disastrous retreat from Moscow, the corps was virtually destroyed. In 1813, during the War of the Sixth Coalition, it was rebuilt and reorganized with French troops. Marshal Auguste de Marmont took command of the corps and managed it until Napoleon's abdication in 1814. It took part in many battles including Dresden and Leipzig in 1813. During the War of the Seventh Coalition, General Georges Mouton commanded the VI Corps at the Battle of Waterloo.
History 1805–1807
Under the command of Ney, the VI Corps crossed the Rhine near Karlsruhe on the evening of 24–25 September, 1805 at the start of the War of the Third Coalition. On 2 October, Napoleon's advancing Grande Armée began to wheel to the right, aiming for the Danube River, with Ney's corps on the right as the pivot. The army reached the Danube near Donauwörth and the troops began to cross to the south bank on 7 October. However, the VI Corps remained on the north bank.Chandler Campaigns, 390–395 On 9 October, Ney's 3rd Division under General Malher defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Günzburg. Two days later, General Pierre Dupont's 1st Division found itself facing 25,000 Austrians in the Battle of Haslach-Jungingen. Surprisingly, the badly outnumbered French fended off the enemy all day, before the discouraged Austrians finally retreated. On 14 October, Ney fought General Johann Sigismund Riesch's small corps at the Battle of Elchingen. Using General Loison's 2nd Division, supported by Malher, Ney crushed Riesch's troops with heavy losses.Smith 203–204
Thereafter, Dupont's division and Jacques Louis François Delaistre de Tilly's VI Corps cavalry assisted Marshal Joachim Murat in the destruction of General Franz von Werneck's Austrian corps.Smith, 205–206 Later, Dupont's division was detached from the corps and fought at the Battle of Dürrenstein on 11 November.Smith, 213 With the other two divisions, Ney marched into the Tyrol where one column was repulsed at Scharnitz but a second column captured 900 Austrians at Leutasch. Both actions occurred on 4 November 1805.Smith, 211
The corps fought at the Battle of Jena on 14 October 1806 during the War of the Fourth Coalition.Smith, 223–224 Ney's troops were engaged in the Siege of Magdeburg beginning on 22 October. General Franz Kasimir von Kleist surrendered on 11 November with 22,000 Prussian soldiers, 800 officers, 20 generals, and 700 artillery pieces.Smith, 232 On 25 December, Marchand, with 6,000 men and 12 guns, defeated 3,000 Prussians at the Battle of Soldau.Smith, 235 The corps arrived at 7:15 PM on 8 February 1807 at the Battle of Eylau.Smith, 241 Ney's 17,000 men held off 63,000 Russians in a brilliant rear guard action in the Battle of Guttstadt-Deppen on 5 and 6 June.Smith, 246–247 The corps led the successful counterattack at the Battle of Friedland on 14 June 1807.Smith, 249
1812–1814
The VI Corps was reconstituted for the invasion of Russia and placed under the command of General Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr. The corps was composed entirely of Bavarian soldiers.Chandler Campaigns, 1111 At the First Battle of Polotsk on 16 to 18 August 1812, the Bavarians and the French II Corps together suffered 6,000 casualties, including Bavarian Generals Bernhard Erasmus von Deroy and Siebein killed, and Vincenti and Raglowitsch wounded.Smith, 386 Saint-Cyr won his marshal's baton for this costly victory.Chandler Marshals, 128 The corps fought in the Second Battle of Polotsk on 18 to 20 October. This time, the combined Bavarian and French forces sustained 8,000 to 9,000 casualties before withdrawing to the southwest.Smith, 396 A body of 2,100 surviving Bavarians was captured at Thorn on 16 April 1813 after a two-month siege.Smith, 415
The corps was rebuilt as a French formation in the spring of 1813. Under Marshal Marmont, the corps fought at the Battle of Lützen on 2 May. The 20th Division under General Compans and the 21st Division under General Jean Pierre François Bonet participated in the engagement.Smith, 417 On 20 and 21 May, Marmont led the VI Corps at the Battle of Bautzen. On this occasion, General Friedrichs' 22nd Division joined the other two divisions in the fighting.Smith, 420 After the summer armistice expired, the corps fought at the Battle of Dresden on 26 and 27 August. Lagrange replaced Bonet as commander of the 21st Division.Smith, 444 During the Battle of Leipzig, Marmont defended the northern sector against Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's Prussian forces. After bitter fighting on 16 October, the VI Corps was defeated when the Prussians launched a massed cavalry charge. Two days later, the Württemberger cavalry belonging to the corps defected to the Allies.Chandler Campaigns, 931 The formation fought against the Bavarians at the Battle of Hanau on 30 and 31 October.Smith, 474
The following spring, Marmont led the VI Corps during the Six Days' Campaign. At the Battle of Champaubert on 10 February 1814, they destroyed an understrength Russian corps and captured its commander. Marmont was left to observe part of Blücher's army while Napoleon fell upon the rest.Chandler Campaigns, 969–970 While Marmont capably held off Blücher's advance, Napoleon concentrated his forces behind him. At the Battle of Vauchamps on 14 February, Napoleon attacked Blücher and drove him from the field.Chandler Campaigns, 974–975 In these engagements, Lagrange led the 3rd Division while General Étienne Pierre Sylvestre Ricard directed the 8th Division.Smith, 496 Marmont led his men in a minor victory at Gué-à-Tresmes on 28 February.Smith, 505 The corps fought again in the Battle of Craonne on 7 March.Smith, 507–508
At the Battle of Laon on 9 March, the 10,000 troops of the corps arrived in the early afternoon and captured some positions east of Laon. Satisfied, Marmont called off the attack and the troops went into bivouac. Without warning, Blücher launched an attack in the evening, routing the VI Corps. Two pieces of luck allowed Marmont and his men to escape. General Charles Nicolas Fabvier, sent on a mission with 1,000 men, returned to keep the road open. Meanwhile, 125 soldiers of the Old Guard held off waves of Allied cavalry to hold the Festieux defile.Chandler Campaigns, 989–990 At the Battle of Reims on 13 March, Marmont's corps helped recapture the city.Smith, 511 At the Battle of Fère-Champenoise on 25 March, the VI Corps and other troops proved unable to stop the advance of the Coalition armies.Smith, 513–514 After the Battle of Paris, the French abandoned the capital to the Allies. By this time, the VI Corps was a mere shadow of its former self. It went into action with Lagrange's 1,395 troops, Ricard's 726 men, and General Jean-Toussaint Arrighi de Casanova's 1,250 soldiers. As a result of the loss of Paris, Napoleon abdicated on 6 April 1814.Smith, 515–517
1815 During the Hundred Days, Napoleon reconstituted the corps and appointed Mouton as its commander. The corps arrived in the evening after the Battle of Ligny on 16 June 1815 and camped close to the Prussian outposts.Hamilton-Williams, 232 The next day, Napoleon ordered Mouton to march his corps west to a position where it could attack Wellington's British army and attached General Subervie's light cavalry division. At the same time, General Teste's division was detached from the corps to operate with Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy's right wing.Hamilton-Williams, 245
On the morning of the 18th at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon placed the VI Corps in the second line, with the divisions of Generals Simmer and Jeanin one behind the other just to the west of the Charleroi to Brussels highway.Hamilton-Williams, 267 When the approach of the Prussian Army was detected, Lobau's two divisions were moved to the east flank, behind the division of General Durutte and facing east.Hamilton-Williams, 283 At about 4:00 PM, General von Bülow gave the order to attack and Lobau found himself outnumbered three-to-one by the Prussians. He quickly shifted his position to occupy Plancenoit with his right flank brigade while the rest of his infantry and the light cavalry divisions of Generals Subervie and Domon covered the left flank. This was the start of a brutal fight for the village.Hamilton-Williams, 327–328 When the Prussians began to overrun the village, the 4,200-strong Young Guard arrived and drove them out.Hamilton-Williams, 335–336 As the reinforced Prussians again began to press forward, 1,100 soldiers of the Old Guard attacked and recaptured Plancenoit. This triumph helped Lobau's troops hold the line north of the village.Hamilton-Williams, 338 Eventually, the Prussians cleared the village in vicious no-quarter fighting that went on into the evening.Hamilton-Williams, 338 Unaware that Napoleon's army was routed at Waterloo, Teste's detached division attacked and captured the hamlet of Bierges on the morning of the 19th during the Battle of Wavre. This local success forced the Prussian III Corps to retreat.Hamilton-Williams, 352–354
Order of battle Ulm: September 1805
Marshal Michel Ney 1st Division: General of Division Pierre Dupont de l'Etang Brigadiers: Generals of Brigade Marie François Rouyer, Jean Gabriel Marchand 9th Light Infantry Regiment (3 battalions) 32nd Line Infantry Regiment (4 battalions) 96th Line Infantry Regiment (4 battalions) 2nd Division: General of Division Louis Henri Loison Brigadiers: Generals of Brigade Eugene-Casimir Villatte, François Roguet 6th Light Infantry Regiment (2 battalions) 39th Line Infantry Regiment (2 battalions) 69th Line Infantry Regiment (2 battalions) 76th Line Infantry Regiment (2 battalions) 3rd Division: General of Division Jean-Pierre Firmin Malher Brigadiers: Generals of Brigade Mathieu Delabassé, Pierre-Louis Binet de Marcognet 25th Light Infantry Regiment (3 battalions) 27th Line Infantry Regiment (2 battalions) 50th Line Infantry Regiment (2 battalions) 59th Line Infantry Regiment (2 battalions) Cavalry Brigade: General of Division Jacques Louis François Delaistre de Tilly 1st Hussar Regiment (3 squadrons) 26th Chasseurs-à-Cheval Regiment (3 squadrons) Corps Artillery: unknown commander Source:
Jena: October 1806