Louis Henri Loison
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Loison, General Louis Henri (May 16, 1771 - December 30, 1816) commanded a division in the armies of Napoleon in the Marengo, Ulm, Peninsular and Russian campaigns during the Napoleonic Wars.
[edit] Revolution
Loison, born in Damvillers, entered the army in 1787 and was commissioned an officer in 1791. His father had served as a Deputy in the Constituent Assembly. He served with the Army of the North and received promotion to general of brigade in 1795. When royalist sympathizers tried to overthrow the Directory on October 5 (13 Vendémiaire), 1795 and Napoleon Bonaparte dispersed them with his cannon, Loison supported his colleague.
He was unemployed for a few years then re-entered military service in January 1799. Serving under Generals André Masséna and Claude Lecourbe, Loison commanded a brigade in a series of small actions in Switzerland from March through May and from August to September. He was promoted to general of division that October.
In 1800, Loison was posted to the Army of the Reserve to command a 5,300-man division and crossed the Great St Bernard Pass with Napoleon. He missed the Battle of Marengo because his men served in General Philibert Duhesme's corps in the capture of Milan and other cities.
[edit] Empire
During the Ulm campaign in 1805, Loison served in the VI Corps under Marshal Michel Ney at the Battle of Elchingen. He commanded a division in General Jean Andoche Junot's first invasion of Portugal in 1808, where his troops brutally put down a revolt. He fought at the Battle of Vimeiro. Loison commanded a detached force during Marshal Nicolas Soult's second invasion of Portugal. In 1810, he rejoined Ney's VI Corps at the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida. During Marshal Masséna's third invasion of Portugal, his division led Ney's unsuccessful attack at the Battle of Bussaco. Loison commanded the VI Corps at the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro in May 1811.
In 1812, Loison was sent with a division of 10,000 newly drafted German and Italian boys to help extricate the remnants of the Grand Army in its retreat from Russia. He was stupidly ordered by the governor of Vilna to defend a position outside the city. Camping on the ground when the night-time temperature dropped to -35 degrees Celsius proved catastrophic for his untried soldiers. Within a few days, his division was wiped out of existence without a battle.
Loison was assigned to guard the fortress of Wesel in 1813. But Napoleon arrested him for failing to accompany his division to the front. After this severe reprimand, his military career was virtually over. Loison died in Chikel, near Liège on 30 December 1816.
[edit] References
- Arnold, James R., Marengo & Hohenlinden, Pen & Sword, 1999.
- Chandler, David, Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars, Macmillan, 1979.
- Smith, Digby, The Napoleonic Wars Data Book, Greenhill, 1998.
- Zamoyski, Adam, Moscow 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March, Harper, 2004.
