Louis Henri Loison

Loison commanded a division in Jean-Andoche Junot's Invasion of Portugal in 1807.^[28] After first Spain and then Portugal rose in revolt, the position of Junot's 26,000 French troops became difficult.^[29] Ordered by Napoleon to send troops to Almeida, Portugal and open communications with Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières, Junot sent Loison with a brigade on this mission. Loison occupied Almeida and marched against Ciudad Rodrigo, chasing off the small Spanish garrison of Fort Conception. But on 12 June 1808 he found Ciudad Rodrigo held by a powerful force and the Spanish countryside in revolt against the French. He quickly fell back on Almeida, reaching there on the 15th. Hearing that the revolt had spread to northern Portugal, he set out for Porto with 2,000 men. On his way there he was severely harassed by Portuguese guerillas and had to turn back.^[30]

In view of the situation, Junot decided to abandon the north and south of the country and concentrate his army in central Portugal. He ordered Loison to leave a garrison in Almeida and march to Lisbon. Maximilien Sébastien Foy claimed that only one of twenty messages got through. Culling from his ranks all the troops unfit to march, he made up a garrison of 1,200 men to hold Almeida. Leaving the garrison behind, he put the rest of his men on the road on 4 July. He successfully fought his way through partisan ambushes for a week and lost 200 men. When Guarda resisted, the place was sacked and partly burned down. His troops left such a path of destruction that Loison became feared and hated in Portugal as Maneta or One-Hand.^[31] That Loison was missing one hand is shown by an incident that occurred before the First Battle of Porto in March 1809. The day before the battle Foy was captured by a Portuguese outpost and led into the city. Believing he was the reviled Loison, the mob was about to murder their prisoner when Foy held up both hands, proving he was not Maneta and was spared.^{[32][note 1]}

On 25 July 1808, Junot sent Loison to relieve Elvas with more than 7,000 troops. His command included two grenadier battalions, the 3rd Battalions of the 12th and 15th Light and the 58th Line Infantry Regiments, the 1st Hanoverian Legion, 12 companies of the 86th Line, the 4th and 5th Provisional Dragoons, and eight artillery pieces.^[33] On 29 July 1808, Loison and his small army crushed a Portuguese-Spanish force in the Battle of Évora.^[34] General Francisco de Paula Leite de Sousa's Portuguese troops included one and one-half battalions of raw regular infantry and one squadron cavalry. Leite was joined by Colonel Moretti Spanish troops, one-half battalions of regular foot soldiers and the Maria Luisa Hussar Regiment. Altogether, Leite controlled 2,900 soldiers and seven guns.^[35] Leite and Moretti unwisely drew up their outnumbered troops in the open in front of the town. Behind them, townsmen and country people armed with pikes and hunting guns manned the crumbling old walls of Évora.^[34]

In the face of Loison's first assault, Leite's and Moretti's men took to their heels. The Spanish hussars bolted without even attempting to stop the French charge. Leite fled, but most of his men ran back to the town and tried to defend the place. The French troops were able to fight their way into the town at a number of places. In the butchery that followed, at least 2,000 Portuguese and Spanish fell, including many townspeople. French losses were 90 killed and 200 wounded. After the killing stopped, the French soldiers thoroughly sacked Évora.^[34] According to one account, the French massacred the town's entire population. Whatever the exact truth, the atrocity made it easier for the proud Portuguese to accept British aid in their struggle.^[36] Loison continued east to drive the Portuguese away from Elvas before being ordered back to Lisbon to face a new threat.^[29]

Arthur Wellesley landed with a British army at Figueira da Foz near the end of July and pressed south.^[37] On 21 August 1808, Junot attacked Wellesley's numerically superior army in the Battle of Vimeiro. Loison's division included three battalions of Jean-Baptiste Solignac's brigade and two battalions of Hugues Charlot's brigade, a total of 4,140 bayonets.^[38] The French commander planned to hurl Loison's division and Jean Guillaume Barthélemy Thomières' brigade of Henri François Delaborde's division at Vimeiro village while sending Delaborde's second brigade under Antoine François Brenier to envelop the British left flank. After reconsidering, Junot detached Solignac's men from Loison and also sent them against the British left,^[39] without bothering to inform Brenier. The French attacks were defeated one after another. Junot even committed his grenadier reserve and saw it repulsed as well.^[40] In the subsequent Convention of Sintra, the French agreed to evacuate Portugal if the British transported them back to France.^[41]

During Marshal Nicolas Soult's second invasion of Portugal, Loison was detached to the east to make contact with Pierre Belon Lapisse's command in the west of Spain. He soon encountered 10,000 Portuguese under Francisco Silveira in the Tâmega River valley. Loison attacked, but after the Portuguese fended him off, he demanded reinforcements. Soult soon sent him 9,000 troops from his small army of 21,000. Historian David Gates stated that Loison was "lacking in initiative and unsuited for independent command". Finally on 2 May 1809, covered by a heavy fog, French sappers crept across the bridge at Amarante and cut the fuses on the demolition charges (Battle of the Bridge of Amarante). Loison sent a brigade charging across the span and Silveira's troops were routed.^[42] The Portuguese force, which consisted of two battalions of the 12th Line Infantry Regiment and militia, lost 1,600 casualties plus ten guns and five colors. Loison's force included Delaborde's division, three battalions each of the 17th Light, 70th Line, and 86th Line Infantry Regiments, and Jean Thomas Guillaume Lorge's 4th Dragoon Division, four squadrons each of the 13th, 15th, 22nd, and 25th Dragoon Regiments. The French reported only two killed and seven wounded. However, Silveira had stalled Loison's force since 18 April.^[43]

After his belated victory, Loison heard about enemy movements to his south and decided to investigate. He bumped into an 11,000-strong Anglo-Portuguese column under William Carr Beresford and retreated back to Amarante, arriving there on 12 May. Taking counsel of his fears, Loison abandoned a very strong position and fell back toward Braga.^[44] This represented a major strategic blunder, because on 12 May Wellesley defeated Soult at the Second Battle of Porto, forcing Soult to withdraw toward Amarante. When the French marshal found that he was trapped, he destroyed his vehicles and struck out across the mountains. By great exertions, he joined with Loison's force and managed to get away into Spain, but not before losing 4,000 men, his artillery, and all his equipment.^[45]

In January 1810, Loison led the enormous 3rd Division numbering 12,250 men in 19 battalions in Marshal Michel Ney's VI Corps.^[46] He was ordered to capture the town of Astorga, but without a siege train, his troops had to blockade the place. Junot finally appeared with the VIII Corps and secured the heavy artillery needed to breach the walls.^[47] The siege lasted from 21 March to 22 April, when Colonel José María Santocildes surrendered 2,500 troops. The Spanish garrison suffered 51 killed and 109 wounded while inflicting 160 killed and 400 wounded on the French. Junot's two divisions were led by Bertrand Clausel and Solignac.^[48] The surrender occurred one day after the 47th and Irish Line Infantry Regiments of Solignac's division effected a lodgement in the town.^[47][49]

Under Ney's command, Loison participated in the successful Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo from 26 April through 9 July.^[50] When the VI Corps advanced into Portugal after its victory, it encountered Robert Craufurd's Light Division near the small Portuguese fortress of Almeida. Unwisely, Craufurd decided to resist the French with the Côa River at his back. Seizing his chance, Ney hurled Loison's division at the British and Portuguese light infantry in the Battle of the Côa on 24 July 1810. The French foot soldiers, with help from the 3rd Hussar Regiment, quickly crumpled Craufurd's left flank. Part of the Light Division stampeded, but the troops quickly rallied and the division barely managed to escape across the lone bridge. Ney then tried to storm the span, but the attack failed with heavy losses.^[51] The Allies reported 308 casualties, while French losses numbered 531.^[52] The Siege of Almeida lasted from 25 July to 27 August. On the latter day, a lucky hit blew up the main powder magazine, killing 600 Portuguese troops and wounding 300 more. The 4,000 surviving members of the garrison quickly surrendered.^[53]

On 15 September, Loison's 3rd Division counted 239 officers and 6,587 rank and file. The 1st Brigade under Édouard François Simon consisted of the 1st Battalion of the Legion du Midi, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Hanoverian Legion, and the 5th, 6th, and 7th Battalions of the 26th Line Infantry Regiment. The 2nd Brigade led by Claude François Ferey included the 2nd Battalion of the 32nd Light Infantry Regiment, the 4th, 5th, and 6th Battalions of the 66th Line Infantry Regiment, and the 4th and 6th Battalions of the 82nd Line Infantry Regiment.^[54] During Marshal Masséna's third invasion of Portugal, Loison's division led the unsuccessful VI Corps attack at the Battle of Bussaco. His troops battled their way forward against a heavy Allied skirmish line and the fire of 12 artillery pieces. But when Loison's columns neared the crest of Bussaco Ridge, they were ambushed by the Light Division and chased off the heights with heavy losses.^[55][56] After being held up at the Lines of Torres Vedras all winter the French were compelled to retreat in March 1811 and Ney's corps formed the rear guard.^[57]

According to Jean Jacques Pelet, one of Masséna's staff officers, Loison was an intriguer.^[58] On at least one occasion Loison expressed his dissatisfaction with Ney,^[59] while another time the marshal unfairly blamed Loison for exposing his artillery to capture.^[60] On 22 March, when the army had nearly reached a safe position, Ney flatly refused to obey Masséna's orders and was dismissed. Command of the VI Corps passed to Loison,^[61] who led the corps at the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro on 3 to 5 May 1811.^[62] During the battle he supervised 17,406 troops in three divisions led by Jean Gabriel Marchand, Julien Augustin Joseph Mermet, and Ferey.^[63] On 3 May Ferey battered at the village of Fuentes de Onoro in vain. After a day's pause in the action, Masséna ordered Ferey to attack the village again on the 5th, supported by IX Corps. Meanwhile, Loison's other two divisions, the bulk of the French cavalry, and a third infantry division attempted an envelopment of the Anglo-Portuguese right flank. After some tough fighting, the French attacks were stopped.^[64] Soon after the battle Marshal Auguste Marmont replaced Masséna and did away with the corps organization, leaving Junot, Marchand, Mermet, and other generals without employment.^[65]

In 1812, Loison was sent with a reserve division of 10,000 newly drafted German and Italian boys to help extricate the remnants of the Grand Army in its retreat from Russia. Either the governor of Vilnius Dirk van Hogendorp or Joachim Murat stupidly ordered him to defend the road to Smarhon'. Camping on the ground when the night-time temperature dropped to minus 35 degrees Celsius proved catastrophic for his untried soldiers. Within a few days, his division of 15.000 soldiers was wiped out of existence without a battle.^{[66][note 2]}

Loison was assigned to guard the fortress of Wesel in 1813. But Napoleon arrested him for not marching with his division to the front. After this severe reprimand, his military career was over except for a short-term assignment under Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout. Unemployed after January 1815, he retired in November of the same year.^[2] On 30 December 1816 he died at Chokier near Liège in present-day Belgium. LOISON is inscribed on Column 35 of the Arc de Triomphe.^[1]

Footnotes

Citations

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