Paul Grenier

Count Paul Grenier (; 29 January 1768 – 17 April 1827) was a French military officer. He joined the French royal army and rapidly rose to general officer rank during the French Revolutionary Wars. He led a division in the 1796-1797 campaign in southern Germany. During the 1800 campaign in the Electorate of Bavaria he was a wing commander. Beginning in 1809, in the Napoleonic Wars, Emperor Napoleon entrusted him with corps commands in the Italian theater. A skilled tactician, he was one of the veteran generals who made the Napoleonic armies such a formidable foe to the other European powers. After the Bourbon Restoration he retired from the army and later went into politics. Grenier is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe.

French Revolution Born in 1768 to a father who was a minor government official in Saarlouis (then a French territory), Grenier joined the French royal army as a private soldier in the Nassau Infantry Regiment on 21 December 1784. After the French Revolution broke out he continued in the army. He fought at the Battle of Valmy, becoming a captain. After notable actions at the Battle of Jemappes, he received promotion to adjutant general. He was elevated to the rank of general of brigade on 29 April 1794. Grenier later fought at the Battle of Fleurus in Jean Étienne Championnet's division. His brigade included the 18th Line Infantry Regiment and the 1st Dragoon Regiment. For his distinguished actions, he was promoted to general of division on 11 October. He commanded the advance guard at the passage of the Rhine River on 6 September 1795. He won praise for his leadership in the Battle of Neuwied on 18 April 1797. Later he fought in the Army of the Alps under Championnet. At Centallo on 31 October, Grenier's 7,000 troops fought 15,000 Austrians under Michael von Melas. This time he was drubbed, losing 1,000 casualties and four guns, while the Austrians only lost 200 men.

In 1800, he served under Jean Moreau, fighting at the Battle of Höchstädt on 18 and 19 June 1800. Two days later, he commanded the three divisions of Ney, Louis Bastoul (for the wounded Hardÿ), and Claude Legrand in Moreau's decisive victory at the Battle of Hohenlinden.

Napoleonic Wars Grenier became the governor of Mantua after the 1805 campaign. Emperor Napoleon I made him a count of the Empire.

At the start of the 1809 campaign, Grenier commanded an infantry division in Eugène de Beauharnais' Army of Italy. He fought at the Battle of Sacile on 16 April. At the Battle of Piave River on 8 May, he led a 16,800-strong corps of two divisions. At the Piave, his successful attack on the right flank caused the Austrian withdrawal. He intercepted and crushed Franz Jellacic's Austrian division in the Battle of Sankt Michael on 25 May, where he demonstrated his superior generalship. He also led his corps at the Battle of Raab on 14 June and at the Battle of Wagram on 5–6 July. At the latter battle he commanded three divisions and was rewarded with the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur.

The spring of 1813 found Grenier serving under Eugène in Saxony as Napoleon assembled a new army to replace the one destroyed in Russia. In the Battle of Möckern on 5 April, Grenier was wounded. After the summer armistice, Eugène and Grenier returned to Italy to prepare the Italian army for hostilities with Austria. One authority notes that Grenier was "perhaps the best commander in Italy" at this time and was assigned to lead the 1st Corps. During August 1813, he led his troops with success against the Austrian army of Johann von Hiller near Villach. When Hiller established a bridgehead across the Drava River at Feistritz an der Drau, Grenier attacked and defeated the Austrians on 6 September. The Franco-Italian strategic situation soon deteriorated and Eugène slowly withdrew to the Adige River in October and November. On 31 October, Grenier won a smart victory over Christoph Ludwig von Eckhardt's column at Bassano del Grappa, sending the Austrians fleeing into the mountains. He commanded his corps under Eugène at the Battle of the Mincio River on 8 February 1814. In independent command, he defeated an Austrian force at Parma in northeast Italy on 2 March 1814. Hostilities ended in mid-April when the news of Napoleon's abdication arrived.

Later career Grenier played a role in the provisional government after the Hundred Days. He retired from military service at the second restoration of King Louis XVIII. In 1818 he became a deputy in the Assembly. He died on 17 April 1827 in Dammartin-Marpain. The name GRENIER is inscribed on Column 14 of the Arc de Triomphe.

Footnotes