Hi Wellington,
Here is the info you seek on General Dorsenne…courtesy of Osprey Elite book “Napoleon’s Commanders (1)” – and it’s in English!
Dorsenne, General Jean-Marie-Pierre-Francois Lepaige, Comte (1773-1812)
‘Le beau Dorsenne’ – ‘handsome Dorsenne’ – was one of the most famous officers of the Imperial Guard. Enlisting as a volunteer in 1791, he was a captain by September 1792, and served with distinction in the Armies of the North and Sambre & Meuse before he attracted Napoleon’s attention in Italy. Advanced to chef de brigade in Egypt, he joined the Grenadiers à Pied of the Imperial Guard in March 1805, rising to général de brigade after Austerlitz; he distinguished himself at Eylau and in 1808 became colonel of the Grenadiers. Dorsenne was the strictest of commandants: his weekly inspections of his guardsmen were, according the Jean-Roch Coignet, occasions to fear, with punishments handed out to those who exhibited even a speck of dirt as Dorsenne inspected fingernails and lifted up waistcoats to look at the shirts underneath. The maintenance of such discipline was repaid on the battlefield, however: at Essling the Guard stood immobile under fire, with Dorsenne setting the example while commanding the brigade of the Chasseurs and Grenadiers à Pied. Two horses were killed beneath him, so he stood on foot at the head of his men, covered in mud, and declared, ‘Your general is not hurt. You may depend upon him, he will know how to die at his post’. As Coignet remarked, ‘how grateful the country ought to be for such men!’. Dorsenne was wounded in the head on that occasion, but survived. He was promoted to général de division in June 1809, serving at Wagram; commanded the Guard in Spain in the following year; and subsequently led the Army of the North in the Peninsula, numerically a larger command than that of any of the four marshals serving in Spain at that time. He relinquished this position in May 1812, and died in the following July, after a trepanning operation made necessary by his Essling wound.
All the best and…happy collecting!
Andy C. Neilson
