Johann Hermann von Fersen (around 1740 - 9 June 1801) was a Saxon-born infantry general who served from 1770 in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, Romanization of Russian, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the earl ...

Life

He was involved in the battles at Larga and Kagul in the

military operations A military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operations ...

against

Yemelyan Pugachev Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev (russian: Емельян Иванович Пугачёв; c. 1742) was an ataman of the Yaik Cossacks who led a great popular insurrection during the reign of Catherine the Great. Pugachev claimed to be Catherine ...

. He won the battle in

Upper Kuban Kuban ( Russian and Ukrainian: Кубань; ady, Пшызэ) is a historical and geographical region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, the Volga Delta and the Caucasus, and separated ...

against

Seraskier ''Serasker'', or ''seraskier'' ( ota, سرعسكر; ), is a title formerly used in the Ottoman Empire for a vizier who commanded an army. Following the suppression of the Janissaries in 1826, Sultan Mahmud II transferred the functions of the ...

Batal-Bey and his 18,000 Turks and 15,000 Highlanders, capturing Batal-Bey and his whole camp. In 1792 he was appointed quartermaster-general under

Mikhaïl Kretchetnikov Michael N. Krechetnikov (russian: Михаил Никитич Кречетников, 1729, Moscow, Russian Empire – 9 May 1793, Medzhybizh, Podolie Vice-Royalty, Russian Empire) was a Russian military commander and General of Infantry (General-i ...

in Lithuania and in 1794 he commanded a special corps in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. Under

Paul I of Russia Paul I (russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич ; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination. Officially, he was the only son of Peter III and Catherine the Great, although Catherine hinted that he was fathered by her l ...

he served first as quartermaster-general then commanded the Russian contingent in the failed 1799

Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland The Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland (or Anglo-Russian expedition to Holland, or Helder Expedition) was a military campaign from 27 August to 19 November 1799 during the War of the Second Coalition, in which an expeditionary force of British an ...

. He was defeated at the Battle of Bergen and taken prisoner. Before news of his defeat reached

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

he had been promoted to Infantry General, but he was later excluded from service by Tsar Paul.
The captured Hermann was sent to the fortress of Lille. The French were ready to exchange him for all the French generals taken prisoner in Italy, but Paul I did not agree to this, and Herman remained in captivity until the conclusion of peace. Upon his return from captivity, Herman presented an explanation of his actions and on November 6, 1800, he was again allowed into the Russian army, but received no further appointments. These unfortunate events affected his health, and on 9 June 1801, he died in St. Petersburg.

Sources

*http://www.biografija.ru/show_bio.aspx?id=24220 *''

Russian Biographical Dictionary The ''Russian Biographical Dictionary'' (RBD, russian: Русский биографический словарь) is a Russian-language biographical dictionary published by the Russian Historian Society edited by a collective with Alexander Po ...

'' 1801 deaths 18th-century military personnel from the Russian Empire 18th-century German people Imperial Russian Army generals Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree Russian people of German descent German emigrants to the Russian Empire Saxon nobility Year of birth uncertain {{Russia-mil-bio-stub

Johann Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name '' Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Graciou ...