page_title: Sigismond Frédéric de Berckheim
section_title: 1812–1814
hierarchical_section_title: Sigismond Frédéric de Berckheim / Empire / 1812–1814
caption_attribution_description: French cuirassier in 1809. From book of P.-M. Laurent de L`Ardeche «Histoire de Napoleon», 1843
context_page_description: Sigismond Frédéric de Berckheim became a French division commander during the last years of the Napoleonic Wars. Born into an old Alsatian family, he joined an infantry regiment at the age of 14. In 1807 he became the commanding officer of the 1st Cuirassier Regiment. In 1809 he led his cavalrymen at Eckmühl, Ratisbon, Aspern-Essling and Wagram. Promoted to general of brigade, he fought at First and Second Polotsk and the Berezina in 1812. He led a cavalry brigade at Lützen and Bautzen in 1813. Promoted to general of division, he led a cavalry division at Dresden, Leipzig and Hanau. He commanded a cavalry division at Arcis-sur-Aube in 1814. He became an inspector general and a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1815 and 1816. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 12.
context_section_description: Berckheim led a cavalry brigade during the French invasion of Russia in 1812. The brigade was part of Jean-Pierre Doumerc's 3rd Cuirassier Division in the III Cavalry Corps under Emmanuel de Grouchy. Like all three of Doumerc's brigades, Berckheim's brigade consisted of only one strong regiment, the 4th Cuirassiers, with 35 officers and 821 rank and file. The other two brigades were led by Samuel-François Lhéritier (7th Cuirassiers) and Ignace Laurent Oullenbourg (14th Cuirassiers). At the First Battle of Polotsk on 18 August 1812, Marshal Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr surprised the Russians and drove them back. The Russian commander Peter Wittgenstein ordered a cavalry counterattack led by elements of the Chevalier Guard Regiment that broke through a gap in the Franco-Allied lines. Saint-Cyr repulsed the Russians when he threw in a Swiss infantry regiment and Berckheim's 4th Cuirassiers.
  Doumerc's division also fought at the Second Battle of Polotsk on 18–20 October 1812. The 23,000 Franco-Allies fought 40,000 Russians to a draw, but the survivors were so few that they had to retreat. On 26 November, the 3rd Cuirassier Division fought at the Battle of Berezina. That day Marshal Nicolas Oudinot with 11,000 infantry and Doumerc's cuirassiers assumed a position covering the key bridges over which Napoleon's army was escaping. On 27 November, Oudinot's troops repelled enemy attacks, but on the following day the Russians were close to breaking through. Doumerc's horsemen made a climactic charge and crushed the Russians with heavy losses; after that, they declined to close with the French. Berckheim's youngest brother Philippe-Gustave became a captain of cuirassiers and died during the 1812 campaign.
  At the Battle of Lützen on 2 May 1813, Berckheim commanded the 1st Brigade in Étienne Tardif de Pommeroux de Bordesoulle's 1st Heavy Cavalry Division in the I Cavalry Corps. The 363-man brigade consisted of the 2nd (151), 3rd (110) and 6th Cuirassiers (102). According to one source, only the 2nd Cuirassiers came into action that day. On 20–21 May at the Battle of Bautzen, Berckheim's brigade numbered 504 troopers of the 2nd (210), 3rd (199) and 6th Cuirassiers (95). This time only the 3rd Cuirassiers were engaged in action.
  For the Battle of Dresden on 26–27 August 1813, Berckheim commanded the 1st Light Cavalry Division in Victor de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg's I Cavalry Corps. The division arrived late on the first day, but participated in Marshal Joachim Murat's grand cavalry attack on the second day. In this action, the 1st Light Cavalry Division attacked an Austrian infantry square and forced it to surrender. Because it was raining hard, most foot soldiers could not fire their muskets, allowing the cavalry to approach very close to the infantry. Berckheim was promoted general of division on 3 September 1813.
  During the Battle of Leipzig on 16–19 October 1813, the 1st Light Cavalry Division numbered 1,850 sabers and had nine artillery pieces attached. Both Berckheim and Jean Corbineau are listed as the commander. The three cavalry brigades were led by Hippolyte Piré, Aime-Sulpice Pelletier de Montmarie and Cyrille Simon Picquet. Pire's brigade included the 6th, 7th and 8th Hussars; Montmarie's brigade consisted of the 1st and 3rd Chevau-léger Lancers and the 16th Chasseurs à Cheval; and Picquet's brigade comprised the 5th and 8th Lancers. Montmarie was killed in the fighting. At the Battle of Hanau on 30–31 October, Berckheim led the 1st Light Cavalry Division. The units which came into action were the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 8th Lancers, 7th Hussars, 16th Chasseurs à Cheval and 1st Italian Chasseurs à Cheval.
  At the beginning of the Allied invasion of France at the end of December 1813, the commander of the V Cavalry Corps, Édouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud suggested to Napoleon that Alsatian volunteers might be formed into a cavalry-infantry legion. Milhaud recommended that the locally popular Berckheim be appointed its leader. However, Napoleon did not authorize the unit's formation. 
  In March 1814, Berckheim took command of an 1,807-stron
caption: French Cuirassier in 1809
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