V Corps ( Grande Armée ) The V Corps of the Grande Armée was a military unit during the Napoleonic Wars , formed in 1805 and later few times reorganized . In 1805 – 1807 there served mainly French troops under command French Marshals Lannes , Mortier , Lefebvre , general Savary and Marshal Massena . In 1812 , the V Corps was made up entirely of Polish soldiers from the Duchy of Warsaw under the command of General Józef Poniatowski . It was one of several non - French corps of the Grande Armée and at its peak in 1812 consisted of around 36 , 000 Poles . After the disastrous Russia campaign , V Corps was rebuilt in Magdeburg from newly formed French units in spring 1813 . These troops were under command of General of Division Jacques Lauriston . In March 1815 , V Corps was rebuilt again and placed under command of General of Division Jean Rapp . The V Corps varied in strength and organization . In the beginning of each campaign it had : This corps had several different troops . In 1805 there were : In 1806 and 1807 there were : In 1812 In 1813 V Corps took part in Napoleon ' s invasion of Russia and fought hard in the Battle of Smolensk and Battle of Borodino . It also fought hard and suffered heavy casualties during winter retreat . Polish soldiers from this corps got back to Warsaw and later were reinforced with new recruits . In 1813 , they went to Saxony , passing Austrian Bohemia ( today Czech ) and there formed VIII Corps in French service . In 1815 , the V Corps was commanded by Jean Rapp and was ordered to defend the north - east frontier of France . The corps consisted of four infantry divisions and one light cavalry division . There was one division of national guard and three line divisions . The division of national guard consisted of six battalions , all people of the region Haut - and Bas - Rhin . The strength was around 3000 Pers and the division was commanded by General de Berckheim . It remained in the town of Colmar during the campaign and was meant to be the reserve for the Corps . The fighting part of the corps was three divisions strong , the 15 , 16 and 17 line division . The commander of the 15 Division was general de Rottembourg with under his command 2 Brigades , the first with the 39 and 40 Line regiment and the second with the 36 and 103 line regiment . The 16 Div was commanded by Joseph Albert , first brigade with 10th light and 32nd line regiment , the second brigade with the 18 and 57 Line regiment . The last division of the Corps , the 17th was commanded by Charles Grandjean and was also four infantry regiments strong , divided in two brigades . The first two divisions were involved with delaying the progress of the Austrian - Russian army , and had success in delaying them . The light cavalry division was three brigades strong . The division was commanded by general Merlin , the first brigade was two regiments of chasseurs a cheval strong , the 2 and 7 regiment . Probably the 2 chasseurs was only two squadrons strong . The second brigade was a medium brigade , with the 11 and 19 regiment of dragoons . The third brigade was a mixture of the garnisoon squadrons , probably two to four squadrons strong . The corps had some great actions against the enemy , but with the news of the loss at Waterloo , the fighting spirit was gone . References . 1 . Memoires of General Rapp 2 . Town notes of Strasbourg 3 . Letters of Napoleon