Guillaume Dode de la Brunerie

Guillaume Dode de la Brunerie (April 30, 1775 – February 28, 1851) was a Marshal of France. On February 12, 1812, he married the daughter of Marshal Pérignon, Agathe-Virginie.

Guillaume Dode was born in Saint-Geoire-en-Valdaine in the department of the Isère. As son of a notary, Dode was sent to the lyceum in Grenoble. Soon after the ending of his studies in 1793, he was conscripted in the French revolutionary army as a private. In March 1794, Dode was promoted to lieutenant and sent to the Military School of Engineers in Metz. By December, Dode left the school for a posting in the Army of the Rhine. By August 1795, Dode was promoted to captain. In 1796, Dode was employed at Landau, Kaiserslautern and Zweibrücken for the fortification of these towns. The same year he assisted in preparing the Rhine crossing at Kehl for Moreau's army. By January 1797, one of the bridgeheads created by Dode was under Austrian siege that lasted 200 days and Dode participated in the defense of the bridgehead until the Austrian's were forced to retire.

In January 1798, Dode joined the Army of England. However, this army was ultimately not used to invade the British isles but was sent to the Orient were under Napoléon Bonaparte it invaded Egypt. In Egypt he was employed in fortifying Gizeh, Cairo and Alexandria. Promoted to major in 1801, Dode stayed in Egypt until the French forces there capitulated, only returning to France in November 1801. In 1802 and 1803, Dode was employed in fortifying the Channel coast near Cape Gris-Nez.

During the campaign of 1805, Dode joined the Grande Armée and was employed in Marshal Lannes's V Corps. Dode was with Lannes and Joachim Murat when they famously captured a bridge over the Danube by bluffing the Austrian commander Auersperg into believing a cease fire had been signed. The French then rushed the bridge and captured it before the Austrians could blow it up. Dode didn't participate directly in the Battle of Austerlitz as he was posted in the rear of the army as a support.

...
Wikipedia