page_title: III Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée)
section_title: 1813–1814
hierarchical_section_title: III Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée) / History / 1813–1814
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Jean-Marie-Antoine Defrance, général (1771-1835)
context_page_description: The III Cavalry Corps of the Grande Armée was a French military unit that existed during the Napoleonic Wars. The corps was created in 1812 and reconstituted in 1813 and 1815. Emperor Napoleon I first mobilized the corps for the invasion of Russia. Commanded by General Emmanuel de Grouchy, two divisions of the corps fought at Borodino, Tarutino, and Vyazma. A third division fought at the First and Second battles of Polotsk and the Berezina. During the War of the Sixth Coalition in 1813, General Jean-Toussaint Arrighi de Casanova led the corps at Großbeeren, Dennewitz, Leipzig, and Hanau. During the Hundred Days in 1815, Napoleon reorganized the corps and appointed General François Étienne de Kellermann to lead it. One brigade of the corps was engaged at Quatre Bras and both divisions fought at Waterloo.
context_section_description: After the disaster in Russia, Napoleon was determined to recreate four bodies of cavalry for his army in Germany. These were the Imperial Guard cavalry, the I Cavalry Corps under General Victor de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg, the II Cavalry Corps under General Horace François Bastien Sébastiani, and the III Cavalry Corps under General Jean-Toussaint Arrighi de Casanova. The last formation was to be created by taking one squadron from each cavalry regiment serving in Spain. On 1 May, the III Cavalry Corps was located at Hanau with 3,895 men present and fit for duty. On 15 April, the II Cavalry Corps counted 149 officers, 3,144 men, and 3,581 horses. At the end of April, the I Cavalry Corps had 172 officers, 3,343 men, and 3,705 horses along the Elbe River. On 15 May, the I Cavalry Corps in Napoleon's main army numbered 9,800 troopers in 45 to 50 squadrons. That same day, the II Cavalry Corps in Ney's army counted 3,000 horsemen in 15 squadrons. But the III Cavalry Corps is not otherwise mentioned in the spring campaign.
  When the summer armistice ended, Napoleon had amassed 400,000 infantry in 559 battalions, almost 40,000 cavalry in 400 squadrons, and 1,284 artillery pieces. Though the French artillery was superior to their opponents, the cavalry was poorly trained. Napoleon's army in Germany was split into two major groups. While Napoleon led the bulk of the army, Marshal Nicolas Oudinot commanded a northern group consisting of the IV Corps, VII Corps, and XII Corps, plus the III Cavalry Corps under Arrighi. Oudinot had orders to march upon Berlin. At this time, Arrighi's corps numbered about 6,000 horsemen in 27 squadrons supported by 24 artillery pieces. Arrighi's three divisions were led by Generals Jean-Marie Defrance, Jean Thomas Guillaume Lorge, and François Fournier-Sarlovèze. Defrance led the 4th Heavy Cavalry Division, Lorge commanded the 5th Light Cavalry Division, and Fournier directed the 6th Light Cavalry Division. Oudinot's army of 67,000 men and 216 guns was to be supported by Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout and 37,500 men with 94 guns from Hamburg, plus smaller forces.
  On 23 August 1813, the three divisions of the III Cavalry Corps were split among several formations as Oudinot's army advanced through broken terrain. Fournier accompanied the XII Corps on the left flank, Defrance marched with the IV Corps on the right flank, while Lorge was held back with two infantry divisions to guard the rear. On the right flank, the IV Corps skirmished with General Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel von Tauentzien's 13,000 Prussians and 32 guns. At 2:00 PM, the IV Corps abruptly pulled back. In the center, the 27,000-strong VII Corps occupied a feature called the Windmill Height and went into camp around 3:00 PM. General Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow's 38,000-man Prussian corps soon arrived and a 90-minute artillery bombardment ensued. Bülow finally advanced and drove the VII Corps out of its positions after some stiff fighting. At 8:00 PM, Fournier came upon the battlefield and soon a melee was raging between his division and the Prussian hussars. Seeing that his foot soldiers were helpless in a cavalry combat, Bülow withdrew most of his troops. However, that night Oudinot conceded the Battle of Großbeeren to the Prussians when he ordered his army to retreat. For a loss of 1,000 casualties, the Prussians inflicted losses of 3,000 men and 13 guns on the French and Saxons.
  Napoleon was livid at Oudinot's poor showing and demoted him to the leadership of the XII Corps. Ney, now the new army commander, was ordered to march east from Wittenberg to Baruth south of Berlin. Ney assumed command on 3 September and put his 58,000-man army in motion on the 5th. That day there was a sharp fight at Zahna in which Oudinot's corps drove Tauentzien's troops out of the town. As at Großbeeren, the III Cavalry Corps was distributed among the different units of the army. Fournier accompanied XII Corps and Lorge marched with IV Corps. The Battle of Dennewitz began at 11:00 AM on 6 September when a IV Corps infantry division, supported by Lorge and
caption: Jean-Marie Defrance
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