Charles de Warnery

Charles Emanuel de Warnery (13 March 1720 – 3 May 1776) was a royal Prussian colonel, later a royal Polish general. He was born 13 March 1720 at Morges on Lake Geneva, Canton Vaud, served in the Sardinian service on the Regiment Desportes, and participated in the Upper Italy campaign against Austria during the War of Polish Succession. He briefly served in the Russian army during the Russo-Swedish War. In 1743, he joined the Prussian army and served in the War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War. Upon his retirement in 1758, he entered a second career in military writing, developing commentaries on military tactics, particularly those of mounted troops, from the time of the Caesars to Frederick the Great.

Early life Warnery was born 13 March 1720 in Morges at the upper end of Lake Geneva in the Swiss canton of Vaud.

Military career At the age of fourteen, he entered the military service of the King of Sardinia. He participated in the Battle of Parma on 29 June and the Battle of Guastalla on 19 September, both in 1734, in the War of Polish Succession. After peace was concluded in 1735, he took leave and in 1737, when the Austro-Turkish War broke out against the Turks, he served as a lieutenant in the Infantry Regiment Königsegg and as an adjutant of his countryman, Robert Scipio von Lentulus.

Warnery was wounded in the Russo-Swedish War on 3 September 1741. In 1742, he left Russian service and entered the Prussian army During a skirmish, he and about 30 hussars were trapped at Krzanowice and forced to surrender; he entered for the first time into Austrian captivity, with several of his comrades, including Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz.

At the head of his squadron in the Second Silesian War, he fought at the battles of Hohenfriedberg, Soor, and Catholic Hennersdorf, and was promoted from the youngest Rittmeister to major during the campaign. In the last winter of the war, near Zittau, he and Seydlitz surprised the Austrian rear-guard that was plodding slowly through the back roads, attacked and routed them. After the autumn review of 1746, King Frederick presented him with a costly Turkish sabre as a mark of his esteem and appreciation. That autumn, the Austrians besieged Schweidnitz; Warnery was trapped there with half of his regiment. In the capitulation of the fortress in the autumn of 1757, he fell into Austrian hands for a second time as a prisoner of war. After his exchange, Warnery insisted on a court-martial to clear his name: he was exonerated. When he requested this procedure also for the generals who were involved in the capitulation of the fortress, the courts declined. Considering this a dishonor, Warnery quit his service to Prussia and retired to his wife's estates.

Publications The State Library of Berlin lists the following publications: Remarks on cavalry, tr. [by G.F. Koehler].(1798) Sämtliche Schriften: Bemerkungen über das türkische und russische ..., Volume 1-6 (Helwieg, 1787) Feldzüge Friedrichs des Zweyten, Königs von Preußen, seit 1756 bis 1762 Commentaires sur les commentaires du Comte de Turpin sur Montec 1777, 779 Mélange de remarques, sur-tout sur César, et autres auteurs. 1782 Remarques sur l'essai général de tactique de Guibert. 1782 Remarques sur le militaire des Turcs et sur la Façon de les co. 1770 Remarques sur le militaire des Turcs et des Russes. 1771 Des Herrn Generalmajor von Warnery sämtliche Schriften. 1785, 1791 Campagnes de Fréderic II, Roi de Prusse, de 1756 à 1762. 1788 Feldzüge Friedrichs des Zweyten, Königs von Preußen, seit 1756 Remarques sur le militaire des Turces et de Russes .... 1771

Polish service and death The Polish king, Stanislaus Poniatowski, appointed him general and adjutant general in 1776, but he lived mostly in Silesia, in Langenhof near Oels, on property which his wife, Louise Henriette von Koschenbahr (19 February 1725–20 March 1799), had brought to their marriage. He died in Breslau on 8 May 1786, a relatively young man, aged 56 years.