General Julien Augustin Joseph Mermet (born

Le Quesnoy Le Quesnoy (; pcd, L' Kénoé) is a commune and small town in the east of the Nord department of northern France. It was part of the historical province of French Hainaut. It had a keynote industry in shoemaking before the late 1940s, followed ...

9 May 1772 – died

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

28 October 1837) fought in the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

as a division commander in Italy and in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

Empire

Mermet commanded a dragoon division in Marshal

André Masséna André Masséna, Prince of Essling, Duke of Rivoli (born Andrea Massena; 6 May 1758 – 4 April 1817) was a French military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.Donald D. Horward, ed., trans, annotated, The Fre ...

's army during the 1805 Italian campaign. In 1806, still commanding his cavalry division (23rd, 29th and 30th Dragoon Regiments), he was present at the siege and capture of the fortress of Gaeta, on the west coast of Italy. During the second French invasion of Portugal in 1809, Mermet led a division under Marshal

Nicolas Soult Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia, (; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman, named Marshal of the Empire in 1804 and often called Marshal Soult. Soult was one of only six officers in Frenc ...

. He fought at the First Battle of Porto on 28 March and the

Battle of Grijó The Battle of Grijó () (10–11 May 1809) was a battle that ended in victory for the Anglo-Portuguese Army commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley (the future 1st Duke of Wellington) over the French army commanded by Marshal Nicolas Soult during ...

on 11 May. Before the

Second Battle of Porto The Second Battle of Porto, also known as the Battle of the Douro or the Crossing of the Douro, was a battle in which General Arthur Wellesley's Anglo-Portuguese Army defeated Marshal Soult's French troops on 12 May 1809 and took back the ...

his unit was sent away to guard Soult's artillery and baggage. Mermet led his infantry division at the Battle of Serem at Vouga and Marnel Rivers. In the third French invasion of Portugal, Mermet commanded the 2nd Division in Marshal

Michel Ney Michel Ney, 1st Duke of Elchingen, 1st Prince of the Moskva (; 10 January 1769 – 7 December 1815), was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one o ...

's VI Corps. He fought at the sieges of

Ciudad Rodrigo Ciudad Rodrigo () is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca, in western Spain, with a population in 2016 of 12,896. It is also the seat of a judicial district. The site of Ciudad Rodrigo, perched atop a rocky rise on the right ban ...

and Almeida, the Battle of the Côa and the

Battle of Bussaco The Battle of Buçaco () or Bussaco, fought on 27 September 1810 during the Peninsular War in the Portuguese mountain range of Serra do Buçaco, resulted in the defeat of French forces by Lord Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army. Having o ...

in 1810. During the retreat from Portugal, Mermet participated in actions at Redinha and Foz do Arouce as part of Ney's rear guard. Mermet led his division in Maj-General Louis Loison's VI Corps at the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro in May 1811. At the

Battle of Vitoria At the Battle of Vitoria (21 June 1813) a British, Portuguese and Spanish army under the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, eventually leadin ...

in June 1813, he led a light cavalry division in Maj-Gen Honoré Reille's Army of Portugal.

References

* Glover, Michael, ''The Peninsular War 1807–1814'' Penguin, 1974. * Smith, Digby, ''The Napoleonic Wars Data Book'' Greenhill, 1998.

External links

Les 660 noms inscrits sur l'Arc de Triomphe de Paris
His is one of 660 names on the Arc de Triomphe. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mermet, Julien Augustin Joseph 1772 births 1837 deaths French military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars People from Le Quesnoy Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe