| Jean-Jacques Germain Pelet-Clozeau | |
|---|---|
Jean-Jacques Germain Pelet-Clozeau |
|
| Born | 15 July 1777 Toulouse, France |
| Died | 20 December 1858 (aged 81) Paris, France |
| Allegiance | France |
| Service/branch | Engineers, Staff, Infantry |
| Rank | General of Division |
| Battles/wars | Napoleonic Wars |
| Awards | Légion d'Honneur |
| Other work | Senate of France |
Jean-Jacques Germain Pelet-Clozeau (15 July 1777 – 20 December 1858) joined the French army in 1800 and soon became a topographic engineer. He saw much service during the Napoleonic Wars. Asked to serve on the staff of Marshal André Masséna in 1805, he fought in Italy where he was wounded. He accompanied Masséna to southern Italy in 1806 and Poland in 1807. The 1809 campaign saw him at Ebelsberg where he was wounded, and at Aspern-Essling and Wagram.
When Emperor Napoleon ordered Masséna to Spain where he was to take command of the Army of Portugal, Pelet went with him as his first aide-de-camp. Though Pelet was a relatively low-ranking officer, the marshal relied heavily on his advice during the unsuccessful 1810-1811 invasion of Portugal. Pelet fought in the French invasion of Russia, including during Marshal Michel Ney's epic retreat at Krasnoi where he was wounded again. Promoted to general officer, he led troops in the 1813 and 1814 campaigns, including a brief stint as acting division commander. He led a regiment of the Old Guard at Waterloo.
Placed on the army's inactive list, Pelet nevertheless worked in the military archives while publishing books and articles about the wars. In 1830, he was appointed director of the army staff school. Though nearly killed in an assassination attempt in 1835, he continued to publish military histories. Under the Second French Empire he engaged in diplomacy and politics. Pelet is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 19.
Late in the Battle of Waterloo, the Prussians succeeded in driving the Young Guard and the corps of Georges Mouton, Count de Lobau from Plancenoit. In this crisis, Napoleon sent Pelet with the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Guard Grenadier Regiment and Charles Antoine Morand with the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Guard Chasseur Regiment to recapture the village. As these elite troops advanced with leveled bayonets, the Prussian defenders panicked. Historian David Hamilton-Williams explained that the Prussians were accustomed to seeing the Imperial Guard committed in mass and assumed that many thousands of French guardsmen must be following in the wake of the first two battalions. The Old Guard battalions, joined by the survivors of Lobau's command and the Young Guard, swept their enemies out of Plancenoit with 3,000 casualties.[1] Later that evening, the Prussian reconquered the village house by house against desperate resistance.[2]
In their published works, both Pelet and Marshal Jacques MacDonald criticized Napoleon's choice of Eugène de Beauharnais as commander of the Army of Italy in 1809. Their low opinion of Eugène influenced later writers such as Francis Loraine Petre and J. F. C. Fuller. Historian Frederick C. Schneid believed that Pelet and MacDonald were "extremely biased" against Eugène for political and personal reasons.[3]