page_title: Jacob François Marulaz
section_title: French Empire
hierarchical_section_title: Jacob François Marulaz / French Empire
caption_attribution_description: English: Battle of Neumarkt-Sankt Veit map, 24 April 1809
context_page_description: Jacob François Marulaz or Marola, born 6 November 1769, died 10 June 1842, joined the Army of the Kingdom of France as a cavalry trooper and rose to become a field officer during the French Revolutionary Wars. Under the First French Empire, he became a general officer and fought under Emperor Napoleon I of France in two notable campaigns.
  He became a cavalryman under the Ancien Régime and by 1798 he commanded a regiment of cavalry. He fought in the 1806–1807 campaign in Poland, commanding a brigade of cavalry. During the 1809 Danube campaign, he led a division of corps cavalry and played a prominent role. Afterward, he commanded forces in the interior. He retired from service after the Hundred Days and briefly returned to active duty in the 1830s. MARULAZ is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 11.
context_section_description: In 1803, Marulaz was confirmed as colonel of the 8th Hussars. He became a member of the Légion d'honneur and a Baron of the Empire in 1804. He was elevated to the rank of general of brigade on 6 March 1805 and briefly was in charge of the Haute-Saône. In October he was called to command a cavalry brigade in the Grande Armée.
  During the War of the Fourth Coalition, Marulaz led a cavalry brigade at the Battle of Golymin on 26 December 1806. At the Battle of Eylau on 8 February 1807, he led Marshal Louis Davout's  III Corps cavalry brigade. Under his orders were the 1st and 12th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiments, the 2nd Chasseurs having been assigned to other duties. At first his troopers covered the advance of Louis Friant's division, then drove off some cossacks. Marulaz took a position guarding the right flank and repelled an attack by Russian cavalry. He became embroiled in the bitter fight over possession of the village of Klein Sausgarten. During Davout's subsequent advance, Marulaz protected the extreme right flank of the III Corps. Late in the afternoon, his cavalry were attacked by the late-arriving Prussians near the village of Kutschitten and driven back along with the rest of Davout's troops. The 12th Chasseurs of his brigade was present at the Battle of Heilsberg on 10 June 1807.
  Still a general of brigade, Marulaz found himself leading Marshal André Masséna's IV Corps cavalry division at the outset of the War of the Fifth Coalition. His 2,765-man command included the 3rd, 14th, 19th, and 23rd Chasseurs à cheval Regiments, in addition to the Baden Light Dragoon and Hesse-Darmstadt Chevauléger Regiments. On the morning of 21 April 1809, the 23rd Chasseurs seized the bridge over the Isar River at Moosburg in a brilliant coup. Marulaz's cavalry quickly crossed to the east bank and turned northeast toward Landshut where Johann von Hiller's Austrians were making a stand. That day, Napoleon defeated Hiller in the Battle of Landshut. The emperor hoped to catch the Austrians in a pincer attack between his forces and Masséna's.
  Marulaz marched rapidly down the east bank of the Isar until he found his way blocked by Austrian infantry defending the southwest suburbs of Landshut. He sent a courier galloping for infantry assistance. Soon Louis Jacques de Coehorn's infantry brigade arrived and Marulaz asked him to clear away the Austrian foot soldiers. However, Coehorn was unwilling to advance without orders from his division commander, Michel Marie Claparède. When one of Masséna's staff officers tried to argue with Claparède, that general obstinately refused to help Marulaz. By the time Masséna appeared and ordered the infantry forward, it was too late; Hiller's troops escaped what might have become a trap.
  On 22 April, Napoleon took most of his troops to the north to fight Archduke Charles in the Battle of Eckmühl. The emperor appointed Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières to lead a task force consisting of Marulaz's division, Karl Philipp von Wrede's Bavarian division, and Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor's French infantry division. The force was instructed to pursue Hiller's command. Late on 23 April, Hiller turned on his pursuers. Marulaz, leading the 3rd and 19th Chasseurs and an infantry battalion, collided with the Austrians at Erharting village, just north of Mühldorf. The outnumbered French quickly pulled back to Neumarkt-Sankt Veit. Hiller attacked Bessières on 24 April in the Battle of Neumarkt-Sankt Veit. During the action, Marulaz was unable to hold back the Austrian center column. After the defeat, Bessières pulled back to Vilsbiburg.
  Hiller was soon in full retreat to the east with the French in pursuit. Near the villages of Kallham and Riedau on 1 May 1809, Marulaz's Baden Dragoons scored a splendid success when they broke an Austrian infantry square. After the foot soldiers fired a volley, the dragoons charged, broke into the square, and cut down its commanding officer. At this, the 3rd battalion of the Jordis Infantry Regiment # 59 laid down its weapons and 16 officers and 690 soldiers became prisoners.
  On the morning o
caption: Map of the Battle of Neumarkt-Sankt Veit, 24 April 1809
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