page_title: Battle of Mormant
section_title: Mormant
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Mormant / Battle / Mormant
caption_attribution_description: English: Étienne Maurice Gérard, comte Gérard (4 April 1773 – 17 April 1852) was a French general and statesman. He served under a succession of French governments.
context_page_description: The Battle of Mormant was fought during the War of the Sixth Coalition between an Imperial French army under Emperor Napoleon I and a division of Russians under Count Peter Petrovich Pahlen. Enveloped by cavalry led by François Étienne de Kellermann and Édouard Jean-Baptiste Milhaud and infantry led by Étienne Maurice Gérard, Pahlen's outnumbered force was nearly destroyed, with only about a third of its soldiers escaping. Later in the day, a French column led by Marshal Claude Perrin Victor encountered an Austrian-Bavarian rearguard under Anton Leonhard von Hardegg and Peter de Lamotte in the Battle of Valjouan. Attacked by French infantry and cavalry, the Allied force was mauled before it withdrew behind the Seine River. The Mormant-Valjouan actions and the Battle of Montereau the following day marked the start of a French counteroffensive intended to drive back Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg's Allied Army of Bohemia. The town of Mormant is located 50 kilometres southeast of Paris.
context_section_description: At Mormant, Pahlen became aware that large numbers of French troops were near his position. The Russian placed two battalions in Mormant and massed the rest of his troops on both sides of the highway with his artillery in the center. He was prepared to fight or to retreat. During the night, Wittgenstein received positive orders to withdraw so he marched his corps east toward Provins at dawn. He forwarded the orders to Pahlen but they came too late. At daybreak, Pahlen saw that he faced an overwhelming force and began to retreat. The Russian commanded 2,000–2,500-foot soldiers and 1,500–1,800 mounted troops. The infantry consisted of Selenginsk, Reval, Tenguinsk and Estonia Regiments and the 4th and 34th Jäger Regiments. The cavalry were led by Theodor von Rüdiger and included 14 squadrons from the Soumy Hussar, Olviopol Hussar and Tchougoulev Uhlan Regiments plus the Illowaiski XII, Rebrikov III and two unnamed Cossack Regiments. Colonel Rosen's brigade was to the east at Bailly. Another source stated that the Grodno rather than the Olviopol Hussars were engaged, that the 20th and 21st Jägers were involved and that the Russians had 12 field pieces.
  At 5:00 a.m. the French infantry advanced with Guillaume Philibert Duhesme's II Corps division on the left, Gérard's Paris Reserve in the center and Louis Huguet-Château's II Corps division on the right. Victor's corps artillery marched in the intervals.  Milhaud's corps included Hippolyte Piré's light cavalry division, André Briche's dragoon division and Samuel-François Lhéritier dragoon division. Kellermann's corps had only Anne-François-Charles Trelliard's dragoon division, fresh from the Spanish theater. Lhéritier was temporarily assigned to Kellermann. Milhaud commanded the left wing cavalry with Piré's horsemen deployed on Duhesme's left and Briche's troopers echeloned to Piré's left rear. Kellermann commanded the right wing cavalry with Trelliard's dragoons on Huguet-Château's right and Lhéritier's troopers echeloned to Trelliard's right rear. Behind the front-line units marched two VII Corps units on the north side of the highway. Pierre François Xavier Boyer's division was in the lead with Henri Rottembourg's division 200 metres (219 yd) farther back. The Imperial Guard artillery moved along the main road beside the VII Corps. The remainder of the army followed.
  Pahlen ordered the two battalions in Mormant to hold back the French at all cost in order to allow the rest of his command to escape. Four Cossack regiments opposed Kellermann's corps while Rüdiger's regular cavalry faced Milhaud's corps. Jacques Gervais, baron Subervie's brigade of Pire's division turned half-right and swooped down on the Russian skirmishers while the rest of Milhaud's cavalry advanced on Rüdiger's horsemen. In the center, Gérard's infantry forced its way into the village of Mormant, flushing its defenders into the open. Pierre Ismert, leading one of Trelliard's brigades, hurled the 4th Dragoons at the fleeing Russians, forcing many to surrender. On the right flank, Lhéritier's first brigade under August Étienne Lamotte dispersed the first two Cossack regiments. When the Illowaiski and Rebrikov Cossacks tried to intervene they were swept away by Lhéritier's second brigade led by Jean Antoine de Collaert. As Lhéritier's horsemen galloped after the routed Cossacks, the 16th Dragoons of Trelliard's division charged and broke a Russian square.
  On the north flank, Rüdiger deployed nine squadrons in the first line and five squadrons in the second line. Against the Russian horsemen, Milhaud had Piré's division (minus Subervie's brigade) in the first line, Gabriel Gaspard Montelégier's brigade in the second and Denis Éloi Ludot's in the third. Successive charges by Piré and Montelégier broke Rüdiger's squadrons and chased them off the battlefield with the French light cavalry in pursuit. Milhaud directed Montelégier to deal with the Russian infantry while sending Ludot on a sweep to block Pahlen's escape route. Without its supporting cavalry, Pahlen's infantry battalions were compelled to form into a
caption: Étienne Gérard
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