VIII Corps (Grande Armée)
| VIII Corps (Grande Armée) | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1805–1813 |
| Country |
 First French Empire
|
| Branch | Army |
| Type | Army Corps |
| Size | One to three infantry divisions, cavalry, artillery |
| Engagements | Napoleonic Wars |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Édouard Mortier André Masséna Jean-Andoche Junot Dominique Vandamme Józef Poniatowski |
The VIII Corps of the Grande Armée was the name of a French military unit that existed during the Napoleonic Wars. Emperor Napoleon formed it in 1805 by borrowing divisions from other corps and assigned it to Marshal Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier. Marshal André Masséna's Army of Italy was also reorganized as the VIII Corps at the end of the 1805 campaign. The corps was reformed for the 1806 campaign under Mortier and spent the rest of the year mopping up Prussian garrisons in western Germany.
After Jean-Andoche Junot's Army of Portugal was repatriated after the Convention of Cintra in 1808, it was reconstituted as the VIII Corps. However, Junot's command was broken up before the end of the year. In 1809, the soldiers from the Kingdom of Württemberg were formed into a new VIII Corps under the leadership of Dominique Vandamme. After seeing a few battles, they were used to protect Napoleon's rear areas. By January 1810 a new VIII Corps was created in Spain and placed under Junot. This unit participated in Masséna's invasion of Portugal before being discontinued in 1811.
A new VIII Corps was formed from Westphalians for the 1812 French invasion of Russia and placed under Junot's command. The corps was effectively destroyed during the retreat. The following year, the corps was rebuilt with Polish units and assigned to Józef Poniatowski. The VIII Corps fought in the fall 1813 campaign and ceased to exist after the Battle of Leipzig.
The corps was first called into existence during the War of the Third Coalition in 1805. After destroying much of the Austrian Empire's military strength in the Ulm Campaign, Emperor Napoleon ordered his generals to advance toward the Austrian capital of Vienna. The emperor formed a new VIII Corps under Marshal Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier and assigned four divisions to the new organization. Mortier's task was to operate on the north bank of the Danube River and protect the French army's strategic left flank. The divisions were led by Generals of Division Jean-Baptiste Dumonceau, Honoré Théodore Maxime Gazan, Pierre Dupont, and Louis Klein. Dumonceau's division transferred from the II Corps, Gazan's from the V Corps, Dupont's from the VI Corps, and Klein's from the Cavalry Corps. On 11 November 1805, Mortier with the 5,000 men of Gazan's division bumped into a greatly superior force of Russians and Austrians. In the Battle of Dürenstein, Gazan suffered 3,000 casualties but was saved from annihilation when Dupont's division arrived later in the day. Neither Klein nor Dumonceau were engaged in the action. The VIII Corps missed the Battle of Austerlitz.
...
Wikipedia