The Fighting Marshals
Marshal Suchet
Duc d'Albufera
by Ian Barstow, UK
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Strangely enough Suchet's subsequent rise to glory was markedly slower than the likes of Marmont or Victor, and it has been suggested that the personal relationship between Suchet and his future emperor were by no means electric at this time. Following Toulon, Suchet was made its governor where he remained until being posted to La Harpe in the Army of Italy. During this time Suchet appears to have been an extremely zealous Jacobin, and it is a shame that he did not extend his cordial treatment of enemies to his own people. This can, however, be regarded as the attitudes of an easily-influenced young man, for the older Suchet, as we shall see, was a much finer fellow.
Suchet fought at Loano in 1795 and at Dego, Lodi and Castiglione the following year. Bonaparte had arrived and things were hotting up. Amalgamated into the 18th Regiment, Suchet found himself in temporary charge when the regiment's colonel was killed. He had command of a ragged outfit, under fed and heavily under-equipped. Many had no weapons other than rudimentary clubs and swords. Suchet did his best to look after his men, another characteristic which he was to retain in the glory years.
Wounded
On September 12, 1796, Suchet was wounded at Cerea leading his exhausted troops against the Austrians, and he was left to recover amidst the delights of Milan until December, when he rejoined his 1st battalion of the 18th under Massena in Verona. He went on the fight at Arcola and Rivoli, performing capably, before leading the advance guard into Austria. He was slightly wounded again at Tarvis and then more seriously at Neumarkt, where he was promoted to Chef de Brigade on the battlefield. However, one must say that in comparison to others his rise had been painfully slow, particularly as he had hardly put a foot wrong. The answer lies in his continuing dislike of Bonaparte, who on more than one occasion he was heard to publicly criticise.
By way of recuperation Suchet was made Chief of Staff to General Brune in Switzerland, and in March 1798 he was promoted to General of Brigade whilst in Paris delivering 19 captured standards. Continuing to serve as a Chief of Staff first under Brune and then his successor, Joubert, things finally became interesting in December 1798 when he received orders to either return to Paris or be designated an émigré. One of the Directors, Reveillerie-Lepeaux was a severe anti-Jacobin, and having heard Suchet's fired-up speech when delivering the captured flags, he made a mark against him. Now Suchet found himself accused of intrigue and plundering whilst serving under Brune - who was also in the Director's bad books - and for good measure he was accused of being an Aristocrat! His current commander, Joubert, was so incensed at the allegations that he resigned in protest.
Nevertheless, Suchet was relieved of duties on December 27, 1798. Clearly the Directors had no sense of Christmas spirit. On a more personal note, Suchet found time to fall in love and marry - the daughter of Joseph Bonaparte's sister-in-law no less!
Still in the 18th, Suchet was listed to go with Bonaparte to Egypt. This was his big chance to get in close with the Coming Man, but Suchet blew it. It seems that whilst a good soldier he had little head for the intrigue of which he had been accused. Instead, he miffed Bonaparte by preferring to rejoin Brune who was with Massena. A little fighting followed before the fresh political upheavals of 1799. Joubert was given command of the Army of Italy, and requested Suchet as his Chief of Staff. He left for his new post on July 10, suitably bumped up the General of Division.
Things were not going well in Italy. The Russians had arrived and with them had come a string of defeats for the French. Following these defeats, at Novi in August Suchet counselled Joubert to retreat and gather reinforcements, particularly as they were outnumbered by Suvarov's better equipped troops. However the general hesitated - fatally as it turned out for he died in Suchet's arms on the field.
In Action
When Bonaparte became First Consul even Suchet believed that things, particularly for the army, would get better. Joining Massena, Suchet was involved almost continual action, although he was mercifully elsewhere during the Siege of Genoa. He held the Var River against Melas with only 8000 troops, and when the opportunity to counter-attack presented itself he roughed up the Austrians with aplomb. It was an excellent performance, but more importantly it was a sign that he could do what many of his colleagues could not - command independently and win.
Meeting back with Massena after Genoa ended, the two men now had clearly different attitudes. Massena was already showing signs of being burnt out, whilst Suchet was fired up for more glory, and he requested strenuously to allow his troops to join Bonaparte, who he now realised was indeed the country's future.
Unfortunately because of Massena's attitude Suchet missed Marengo. Both men were equally furious. Massena over what he perceived to be Suchet's grovelling to Bonaparte, and Suchet because he blamed Massena for missing out on the glory of the victory. He sent his own chief of staff to inform the First Consul that it was Massena's fault that he had missed Marengo. Massena of course blew up. He assigned Suchet to the awful job of negotiating with the British over Genoa.
Suchet remained with the Army of Italy following Brune's appointment as its commander, but saw woefully little action. In 1801 he was named governor of Padua where he remained until May before returning to Paris following the Treaty of Luneville. In the capital things were now clearly on a warmer footing with Bonaparte, even if it was clear that Suchet would never be in the in-crowd. Essentially Suchet lacked charisma. He was able and could be relied upon, but ironically these are the easiest people to ignore or take for granted.
Inspector General
For a while there was peace. Suchet did a little easy work as an inspector-general of infantry, but nothing demanding. In June 1084 he was made a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, his first real step in the right direction. Then, by means of deflation he was overlooked to command a corps in the Grad Army and instead found himself leading a division in Soult's corps. It was scant reward and he deserved and was capable of better, and he was understandably resentful. Transferred to Lannes' V Corps before the off, Suchet was engaged at Ulm and Hollabrunn before taking position on the Santon Hill at Austerlitz where he did more than well. 1806 boded to be a god year when in February Suchet was awarded the Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour.
He led the assault at Saalfeld where the Prussian Prince Louis was killed, and on the eve of Jena Suchet's camp was visited by no less than the Emperor himself. The following day Suchet once more performed admirably, yet still no further promotions came his way. His ambition growing rather than wilting, Suchet stirred uncomfortably. In October he fought a vicious defensive engagement against Kamenskoi's Russians at Pultusk, but still no glory came. V Corps then missed both Eylau and Friedland, and Suchet must have been thinking that the letter of promotion would never arrive.
He had to wait until March 10, 1808. Then the rewards came as an avalanche. Count of the Empire, Chevalier of the Iron Crown, and a hat-full of estates. Then on September 8, he was posted to the graveyard of generals - our old friend Spain.
Expecting to join Napoleon - who he now regarded as a friend - at Madrid, Suchet was instead ordered to Saragossa joining Mortier's V Corps, where his division was charged with maintaining communications with Madrid. In such a role it was not long before Suchet came up against the guerrillas, and he alone of the French commanders appears to have formulated a hearts and minds approach to the Spanish people. Saragossa surrendered in February 1809 and Lannes, who had been commanding the siege, recommended that Suchet replace the inept and oft-unstable Junot, and Napoleon concurred. On April 5, 1809, Suchet was given III Corps, soon to become the Army of Aragon.
It was Suchet's job to secure and hold Aragon, and he had control over both the military and civil aspects of the mission. At this stage III Corps, 20,000 strong, were at best mediocre, and it was clear that Suchet had his work cut out. The first threat on the horizon, discounting the ever-present partisans, was the Spanish General Blake. Not appreciating just how poor his troops were, Suchet immediately attacked. On May 23, he lost to the Spanish at Alcaniz. He was furious. Following the retreat the III Corps felt a hand just as iron-bound as ever Davout's was. One senior officer was put against a wall and shot. Then there were court-martials, reprimands and dismissals. The troops got the message.
Blake of course now fancied his chances, and began probing towards Saragossa. During June his opinion quickly changed. Suchet's rapidly reformed Corps came out swinging, twice giving the Dons a bloody nose and leaving Aragon open to French control. By French standards Suchet accomplished this in outstanding fashion. He was far and away the best administrative governor that Napoleon had on his books, and in many ways was wasted and underutilised where he was.
Then in February 1810 Napoleon ordered Suchet to capture Catalonia and Valencia. It was a tall order, for even under Suchet's capable rule the ornery Spanish refused to lie down quietly. A full quarter of his 20,000 troops were required for garrison duties, so only 15,000 were available for the job in hand. The outlying strongholds, such as Lerida, Tortosa and Tarragonna, fell easily enough, but before they did Valencia would have none of it. Unable to break in, Suchet was obliged to withdraw. During the capture of the outlying cities, Suchet had been obliged - albeit begrudgingly - with Macdonald, for whom he rightly had scant regard, but at least it appeased Napoleon who was unhappy at the failure to take Valencia. Nevertheless it marked rare success for the Eagles in the Peninsula.
In May 1811 Suchet finally got a worthy adversary, although from a rather unexpected quarter. It was Lacuee, the intendant-general put in charge of collecting taxes. Suchet instinctively hated the man, probably seeing his appointment as a personal slight. He wrote to Berthier complaining that the tax man was 'stupid and incompetent' and asking that he be dismissed, all to no avail. It is a safe bet that Suchet's fury was somewhat mellowed when on July 8, 1811 he received the baton which he most definitely deserved. Ranked 23rd on the marshals' list of seniority, there were few above him who could touch him on the field. The new marshal's first task was to capture Valencia. Suchet won a further series of engagements against Blake, with Suchet getting a nasty shoulder wound at Sagunto on October 26.
Valencia Once More
On the day after New Year, 1812, Suchet besieged Valencia once more, but this time he had come tooled up. He had successfully bottled Blake up in the city, meaning that there was little hope of relief. Within the week the mighty city had surrendered, turning over Blake and over 18,000 Spanish troops into captivity. Napoleon was delighted, and promptly made Suchet Duke of Albufera. Bizarrely, Albufera is a small lake near Valencia. Why he was not made Duke of Valencia beats me. Things were all going swimmingly until Joseph arrived.
The some-time King of Spain had been with Marmont when defeated at Salamanca, and he had fled with 14,000 men to seek sanctuary with Suchet. It is a mark of Suchet's excellent organisation that he took them all in and fed them better than they had been feeding themselves. After he got rid of Joseph and his entourage in November 1812, Suchet turned to deal with General Murray's Anglo-Spanish forces around Alicante. However, he underestimated his opponents strength and in April 1813 got a bloody nose at Castella, and was embarrassingly obliged to abandon his wounded during the retreat. He recovered well, however. Murray moved on Tarragonna, but Suchet bluffed him into quitting his positions and forced the British to retire.
Things were getting continually worse, following the disaster in Russia and the campaigning in Germany during 1813 came the news of the defeat at Vitoria. Then Madrid was vacated. Amongst all these disasters Suchet was made Colonel-General of the Imperial Guard following Bessieres death at Lutzen. Despite doing sterling service in Catalonia, as he had done in Aragon, he was compelled to evacuate the kingdom in April 1814, conducting a typically capable withdrawal into Southern France.
Following the Abdication, Suchet concluded an armistice with Wellington and wrote to the new provisional government assuring them of his loyalty. Fat Louis, grateful for Suchet's loyalty to France, made him a peer of France and commander-in-chief of the Army of the Midi. All looked well for Suchet's future. He had made the transition to the Bourbons without much of the tainting that accompanied some of his fellows. Then Napoleon went and spoilt it all by turning up on the doorstep in 1815. Suchet rallied to Napoleon with the easy soldier's loyalty that had turned him to the Bourbons. It may have been this easy attitude which caused Napoleon to make what in my opinion was the critical mistake of failing to utilise Suchet properly during the 100 Days. Posted to the Army of the Alps, what did he expect his marshal to accomplish. As it was, the answer is nothing, for defeat had arrived all too quickly.
In the aftermath, Suchet was one of the few who tried to help Ney. He offered him money to pay for an escape abroad, but Ney was taken, and the rest is history. At least he tried. The returning Bourbons were conspicuously lacking in charity this time around. Suchet was struck from the list of peers and his military career effectively ended. Then in 1819 he was taken back into the fold, his peerage reinstated, and he lived in reclusive obscurity until his death on January 3, 1826.
So, what do we make of Suchet. He was a soldiers' soldier, that much is certain. It is refreshing that he kept well clear of politics, particularly once the eagerness of his formative years cooled. Administratively he was top notch, and although he got turned over in the field a couple of times he never got a real pasting, which implies that his foundations were solid. He was unfortunate to miss out on most of the major central campaigns, and one cannot help but wonder what impact he would have had in the run up to Leipzig. I must confess that I rather like the chap. Having seen some of his peers it isn't difficult. Anyway, I always favour anybody who tried to help out Ney. I think in this case we can leave the final words to an even better tabletop general than myself. Asked on St. Helena which of his generals were the most skilful, Napoleon replied: "That is difficult to say, but it seems to me that it is Suchet."
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Louis Gabriel Suchet was born the son of a silk manufacturer at Lyons on March 2, 1770. His father was comfortably wealthy, and Suchet was brought up in a splendid country house in the Saone valley. Destined for a career in commerce, the outpourings of the Revolution left their mark, and Suchet entered the National Guard Cavalry in 1791, where he was commissioned. By the following September the popular Suchet had been elected to command 4th Battalion of the Ardeche Volunteers, serving with distinction at Toulon in 1793 coming to the notice of Bonaparte himself during an abortive assault and following that up by capturing the English General O'Hara. Throughout, Suchet displayed a decency and sensitivity to his enemies which do him much credit whilst shaming many of his more celebrated colleagues.