page_title: Pierre-Joseph Habert
section_title: Late Empire
hierarchical_section_title: Pierre-Joseph Habert / Late Empire
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Maison du général Pierre Joseph Habert, à Montréal (Yonne)
context_page_description: Pierre-Joseph Habert enlisted in the French army at the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars and led a division during the Napoleonic Wars. After serving in the army from 1792 to 1797, he fought in Ireland and Egypt, rising in rank to become a colonel by 1802. Under Emperor Napoleon, he led his regiment in the 1805 campaign against Austria. In the 1806-1807 campaign he saw action at Jena, Golymin, Eylau, and Heilsberg and was wounded twice in the last-named battle.
  Promoted to general officer, Habert was posted to Spain where he achieved fame in the Peninsular War. After he fought with varying fortunes in 1808 and 1809, General and later Marshal Louis-Gabriel Suchet arrived to take command in Aragon. A string of almost unbroken successes followed. Though only a general of brigade he was named to lead Suchet's 3rd Division in actions at Lerida, Tortosa, and Tarragona. After being promoted, he led his division at Saguntum, Valencia, Castalla, and Ordal. He became known as the Ajax of the Army of Catalonia for his prolonged defense of Barcelona in 1814. He commanded a division during the Hundred Days at Ligny and Wavre, though he missed the Battle of Waterloo.
context_section_description: Suchet soon fell ill with fever and was unable to mount further operations. Overstretched by his conquests, Suchet went over to the defensive during 1812. In mid-autumn of that year, a French order of battle listed seven battalions and 4,975 soldiers in Habert's division. Great events were occurring elsewhere in Spain during this time, including the Battle of Salamanca on 22 July and the Siege of Burgos in the fall. During this period, King Joseph abandoned Madrid and sought refuge with Suchet in Valencia before the king and Marshal Nicolas Soult recaptured Madrid.
  Habert's next action was the Battle of Castalla on 13 April 1813. In that conflict, Suchet sent Louis-Benoit Robert's division to attack the left flank of John Murray, 8th Baronet's Anglo-Spanish army. Meanwhile, the marshal ordered Habert to contain Murray's center, Boussart to observe the enemy right flank, and Harispe to remain in reserve. When Robert's assault failed, Suchet directed Habert to withdraw and Harispe to cover the retreat. At the battle Habert commanded only 2,722 men in four battalions. These units were two battalions of the 14th Line Infantry Regiment and one battalion each of the 16th and 117th Line. At the time of the Siege of Tarragona in June 1813, Habert's 3rd Division numbered 4,120 men in six battalions. After the Battle of Vitoria on 21 June, Suchet was forced to evacuate Valencia and Aragon, while falling back to Catalonia.
  Habert led the 3rd Division at the Battle of Ordal on 13 September 1813. The 14th, 16th, and 117th Line each had two battalions in the fight. Suchet attacked the inadequately patrolled Anglo-Spanish positions in the night and administered a one-sided drubbing to his enemies. A late 1813 order of battle placed Habert in command of Suchet's 4th Division, counting 3,975 men in four battalions. As Napoleon drained Suchet's strength away in order to defend eastern France, the marshal was left with only 17,000 soldiers. Forced to abandon most of Catalonia, he installed Habert as governor of Barcelona. For his tenacious defense of that city in the face of a besieging army of 30,000 and a British naval squadron, Habert earned the sobriquet the Ajax of the Army of Catalonia. He surrendered Barcelona on 25 April, long after Napoleon's abdication, and only with "great reluctance".
  Habert became a grand officer of the Légion d'Honneur on 29 July 1814 after King Louis XVIII of France restoration to power. After commanding the 2nd Division, he joined Napoleon during the Hundred Days and was appointed to lead the 10th Division in Dominique Vandamme's III Corps. The division included the 22nd, 34th, 70th, and 88th Line Infantry Regiments. At the Battle of Ligny on 16 June 1815, his division attacked the Prussians holding the village of Saint-Amand. His troops captured the place, lost it to a counterattack, and captured it again.
  At the Battle of Wavre on 18 June, Vandamme, without waiting for orders from Marshal Emmanuel Grouchy, ordered Habert to attack the town. His troops quickly flushed the Prussian skirmishers out of Aisemont, south of the Dyle River. Habert launched a strong column of infantry at the main bridge, covered by two 12-pounder batteries, one on each side of the main road. The initial attempt failed, along with two more assaults. In the attack, Habert and 600 of his men were struck down by Prussian fire. Shot in the lower abdomen, he was placed in inactive status on 1 August 1815 though he was assigned to the general staff. He bought a home in Montréal, Yonne and moved there in 1817. He was still officially part of the general staff as late as 30 December 1818 and retired on 1 December 1824. He died of an unhealed war wound at his house in Montréal on 19 May 1825 and is buried nearby. HABERT is inscribed on Column 36 of the Arc de Triomphe.
caption: Habert's house in Montréal
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