Charles-Étienne Gudin de La Sablonnière, count, (born in Montargis on 13 February 1768, died in Smolensk on 22 August 1812) was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars

French Revolutionary Wars

The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...

 and Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

.

Early career and Revolutionary Wars

An aristocrat by birth, Gudin was admitted to the military school of Brienne and in 1782 entered the King's Guard. A lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

, he embarked for Santo-Domingo in 1791 and spent a year there, before returning to France in July 1792. He was appointed to several positions as a general staff officer in the Armies of the North, then of the Rhine-and-Moselle. He became a brigadier general

Brigadier General

Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...

 at the beginning of 1799 and was given a command during the Swiss campaign. The following year he took part in the battles of Stein, Stockach, Mösskirch, Memmingen, Hocstädt

Battle of Höchstädt

The first Battle of Höchstädt was fought on 20 September 1703, near Höchstädt in Bavaria, and resulted in a French-Bavarian victory under Marshal Villars against the Austrians under General Limburg Styrum.-Prelude:...

 and Neuburg. Promoted to general of division for his valor on the battlefield, on 11 July 1800 he took Füssen

Füssen

Füssen is a town in Bavaria, Germany, in the district of Ostallgäu situated from the Austrian border. It is located on the banks of the Lech river. The River Lech flows into the Forggensee...

.

Napoleonic Wars

General Gudin de La Sablonière was given the command of a division in the Grande Armée and fought in the wars of the Third Coalition and Fourth Coalition

War of the Fourth Coalition

The Fourth Coalition against Napoleon's French Empire was defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. Coalition partners included Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and the United Kingdom....

 between 1805 and 1807, taking a serious wound at Auerstädt, then forcing the town of Custrin to capitulate and then playing an important part at the battles of Pultusk

Battle of Pultusk

The Battle of Pułtusk took place on 26 December 1806 during the War of the Fourth Coalition near Pułtusk, Poland. Approximately 35,000 Russian soldiers with 128 guns under General Levin August, Count von Bennigsen resisted the attacks of 25,000 First French Empire soldiers under Marshal Jean...

 and Eylau

Battle of Eylau

The Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a Russian Empire army under Levin August, Count von Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians...

. A count of the First French Empire

First French Empire

The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...

 in 1808, he was named governor of the castle of Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the arrondissement of Fontainebleau...

 the following year. He then took part in several battles of the War of the Fifth Coalition

War of the Fifth Coalition

The War of the Fifth Coalition, fought in the year 1809, pitted a coalition of the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom against Napoleon's French Empire and Bavaria. Major engagements between France and Austria, the main participants, unfolded over much of Central Europe from April to July, with...

: Thann, Landshut

Battle of Landshut (1809)

The Battle of Landshut took place on April 21, 1809, between the French, Württembergers and Bavarians under Napoleon which numbered about 77,000 strong, and 36,000 Austrians under the General Johann von Hiller...

, Eckmühl

Battle of Eckmühl

The Battle of Eckmühl fought on 21 April – 22 April 1809, was the turning point of the 1809 Campaign, also known as the War of the Fifth Coalition...

, the taking of Ratisbon

Battle of Ratisbon

The Battle of Ratisbon, also called the Battle of Regensburg, of the Napoleonic Wars was fought on the 23 April 1809 between the army of the First French Empire, led by Napoleon I, and that of the Austrian Empire, led by Archduke Charles...

. He was wounded at the great battle of Wagram

Battle of Wagram

The Battle of Wagram was the decisive military engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition. It took place on the Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. An important site of the battle was the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 kilometres northeast of Vienna, which would give its name to the...

. In 1812 he was given the command of a division of the second Grande Armée. He was struck by a cannonball during the battle of Valutino

Battle of Valutino

The Battle of Valutino took place on 18 August 1812, between Marshal Ney's corps, about 30,000 strong, and a strong rear-guard of General Barclay de Tolly's army of about 40,000, commanded by the General himself. The Russians were strongly posted in marshy ground, protected by a small stream...

and died on the battlefield.