Abel Douay Charles Abel Douay ( 2 March 1809 – 4 August 1870 ) was a general in the French army during the reign of the Emperor Napoleon III . He commanded troops in numerous French campaigns in Europe and overseas . He was killed in battle at the age of sixty - one , near Wissembourg during the Franco - Prussian War . Early life and career . Charles Abel Douay was born in the city of Draguignan on 2 March 1809 . He became a well - known and well - respected military officer , described roundly as an " able " and " intrepid " soldier . He served in Algeria , in the Crimean War , and in Italy in 1859 . He was the elder brother of General Félix Charles Douay ( 1816 – 1879 ) , who was also a distinguished career officer . ( Because of their similar names and overlapping careers , the elder Douay is most frequently referred to as " Abel Douay " . ) At the beginning of the Franco - Prussian War , Abel Douay had already settled into his position as president of the military academy at Saint - Cyr . Death . Recalled to active duty at the outbreak of war in 1870 , the academy president was given command of a division under Marshal Patrice de Mac - Mahon at the frontline , and on the first day of the first battle of the war , Abel Douay was killed in combat , hit by an artillery explosion . The subsequent Battle of Wissembourg ( 4 August 1870 ) proved a disaster for the French . Demoralized by the loss of their commander , Douay ' s outnumbered division fell back . By the end of the month , a crushing loss at the Battle of Sedan eliminated Mac - Mahon ' s entire army and , with it , the Second French Empire . Battle of Wissembourg . On 3 August 1870 , the 61 - year - old Abel Douay led the forward division of Mac - Mahon ' s army group , a force of approximately 8 , 600 , into the frontier town of Wissembourg in Alsace , the border region between the two combatant nations . Faulty intelligence had characterized the Prussia ns ' border positions as weak and unready , and Abel Douay ' s superiors felt confident that he could repulse any enemy probes while making use of the town ' s badly needed food and resources . Though the logistical benefit of the seizure of Wissembourg ' s stores was keenly appreciated at first , the tactical and strategic drawbacks quickly became known : the town , a flat lowland place with antiquated seventeenth - century fortifications , faced thickly wooded countryside which would help cover the advance of the attackers . At 8 : 30am the next day , batteries of undetected Prussian artillery began pummelling the French position , and though Abel Douay attempted a rapid defensive posture , the advantage of surprise had been devastatingly complete . The massive scale of the attack quickly became apparent – total Prussian forces are estimated between 50 , 000 to 80 , 000 . By mid - morning Abel Douay was already organizing for a withdrawal when he was killed by a burst of artillery . Some writers have mistakenly reported that he was hit by gunfire , but most historians concur that he died from a shell which exploded in the nearby ammunition magazine of one of the French grapeshot cannon . The withdrawal turned into a rout , with over a thousand French soldiers dead and a thousand more taken prisoner . Aftermath . The death of Abel Douay was a deeply demoralizing blow to the French army and gave a profound shock to the nation at large . Few , however , were as shocked as Napoleon III , who immediately issued a flurry of new orders reconstituting the army ' s command structure and strategic guidelines . General Félix Douay was stationed along the same front as his older brother and fought at Sedan until the final surrender . He too served as a field commander , leader of the French 7th Corps . Twenty years after the battle , an apocryphal story was published in Germany proffering a different end for Abel Douay : a German " eyewitness " claimed that the general had been shot by one of his own men , allegedly for ordering the French retreat . This story perhaps derived from the reported words of Frederick III who , advancing through the battlefield , had come upon Abel Douay ' s corpse and made the bald observation that the general had died beyond the range of German rifle fire . A solemn portrayal of this scene was later created by the Prussian history painter Anton von Werner . General Abel Douay is buried in a stately tomb just outside Wissembourg together with many of his fallen soldiers . A large monument to the battle was erected near his tomb at the end of the First World War .