page_title: Jean-Pierre Doumerc
section_title: General officer
hierarchical_section_title: Jean-Pierre Doumerc / General officer
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Portrait du Général Victor de Fay de Latour-Maubourg (1768-1850)
context_page_description: Jean-Pierre Doumerc, joined a French cavalry regiment at the beginning of the French Revolution and rose in rank to command a cuirassier regiment by the start of the First French Empire. During the Napoleonic Wars he first led cavalry brigades and later divisions in many of the important battles of the era. After retiring from the army in 1815, he briefly served again during the 1830s.
context_section_description: Doumerc was appointed general of brigade on 31 December 1806, Baron of the Empire in 1808, and general of division on 30 November 1811. He led a heavy cavalry brigade in Nansouty's division at the Battle of Friedland on 14 June 1807.
  At the start of the War of the Fifth Coalition, Doumerc commanded a brigade in Nansouty's 1st Heavy Cavalry Division that included the 2nd Cuirassiers, 848 sabers, and his old 9th Cuirassiers, 875 sabers. Emperor Napoleon I of France assigned the division to an ad hoc corps led by Marshal Jean Lannes. In the Battle of Abensberg on 20 April 1809, the corps fell upon the brigades of Ludwig Thierry and Joseph, Baron von Mesko de Felsö-Kubiny near Rohr in Niederbayern. After initial resistance, the outnumbered and outgeneraled Austrians were soon fleeing down the road to Rottenburg an der Laaber with the cuirassiers slashing at the fugitives.
  Nansouty's division, less Antoine Louis Decrest de Saint-Germain's brigade, began pressing back Karl von Vincent's rear guard early on 21 April 1809. After a pause at mid-day, the French horsemen finally advanced and routed Vincent's cavalry which fled across the bridges of Landshut. The cuirassiers' role in the Battle of Landshut ended with the cavalrymen charging through the streets of the west bank suburb. Soon, infantry came up to occupy the town and later to successfully rush the bridges.
  At the Battle of Eckmühl on 22 April, the divisions of Nansouty and Raymond-Gaspard de Bonardi de Saint-Sulpice, consisting of eight cuirassier and two carabinier regiments stormed the Bettel Berg, a hill crowned with a regiment of Austrian infantry, 12 light cavalry squadrons, and 16 artillery pieces. After seeing a Bavarian charge defeated, the 8,000 French heavy cavalry surged forward. The enemy cavalry force countercharged but was beaten and the armored French horsemen overran the hilltop, capturing two batteries of Austrian 12-pounder cannons.
  That evening, the famous moonlit cavalry action near Alteglofsheim occurred. Nansouty drew up his division with Jean-Marie Defrance's carabinier brigade in the center, flanked by the cuirassier brigades of Doumerc and Saint-Germain. Each brigade deployed with one regiment in the first line and one in the second. Bavarian and Württemberg cavalry formed to the right rear while Saint-Sulpice's division was held in reserve. The 66 Allied squadrons and 24 guns faced 30 squadrons of Austrians supported by 18 cannons. Andreas Schneller's brigade comprised 12 squadrons of cuirassiers; these were deployed on the right in two lines with one regiment of six squadrons in each line. On the Austrian left were 10 squadrons of hussars backed by eight squadrons of chevau-légers in the second line. After an exchange of cannon fire, the Austrians bravely and foolishly charged while the French trotted forward to meet them. In the darkness, sparks could be seen as the cavalrymen of both sides hacked at each other. Soon the second lines were also engaged in a heaving mass of horsemen. Finally, the Austrians broke and fled. The French reported taking 300 prisoners; other losses are not known.
  On 23 April in the Battle of Ratisbon, the two sides fought another cavalry action. On this occasion, the 40 heavy cavalry squadrons of Nanouty and Saint-Sulpice were joined by French light cavalry squadrons led by Louis-Pierre Montbrun. The Austrians employed 24 squadrons of cuirassiers and 32 squadrons of light cavalry. The various cavalry clashes lasted for two hours, until the Austrians pulled back within Regensburg (Ratisbon).
  While the other two brigades of Nansouty's division fought at the Battle of Aspern-Essling on 22 May, sources are not clear if Doumerc's brigade participated. At the time of the Battle of Wagram, the 2nd Cuirassiers numbered 708 horsemen while the 9th counted 776 troopers. On 6 July, Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen launched a dangerous counterattack against the French left wing. Napoleon threw Nansouty's division at Johann Kollowrat's Austrian III Armeekorps in attempt to stop his enemies. The charge drove a wedge between Kollow
caption: Latour-Maubourg
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