Louis Klein's cavalry played critical roles in the battles of Austerlitz and Jena and Auerstadt.
21 Facts About Louis Klein
1.
2.
Louis Klein was appointed general of division in 1799 and crossed the Rhine at Kehl in Jean-Baptiste Jourdans Army of the Danube.
3.
Louis Klein commanded the right flank of the Advance Guard, under command of Francois Joseph Lefebvre.
4.
Louis Klein's command included the 4th and 5th Hussar Regiments, the 17th Dragoons, the 1st Chasseurs a cheval, a light horse regiment, two companies of horse artillery, two of foot artillery, and a company of sappers.
5.
At the Battle of Ostrach, Louis Klein's cavalry helped to secure the village of Hosskirch, a strategically important forward post, prior to the general engagement.
6.
The reserve cavalry and most of Louis Klein's division crossed the mountains and quartered near Offenburg, where their horses could find better forage.
7.
Louis Klein was responsible for guarding the Frick valley.
8.
Louis Klein prepared to support either the troops of Jean Thomas Guillaume Lorge or Edouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, on the north or south flanks respectively, as required.
9.
Louis Klein's reserve enabled the French to retake and hold the village.
10.
Louis Klein was given command of the 1st Division of Dragoons and in 1804 was made a Grand Officer of the Legion d'honneur.
11.
In 1805, Louis Klein's division was part of the newly created VIII.
12.
Louis Klein's division did not take part in the Battle of Durenstein, although his dragoons were with Mortier and Gazan immediately prior to the engagement.
13.
Louis Klein's division was part of the decisive defeat of the Austrian and Russian force at the subsequent Battle of Austerlitz three weeks later.
14.
Consequently, Louis Klein's dragoons, held the road between Austerlitz and Vienna, eliminating a possible Austrian retreat.
15.
Some historians assert that Louis Klein believed him, and learned too late that he had been deceived.
16.
Louis Klein had only 800 cavalry and Antoine Lasalle, to the west, had two regiments.
17.
Charles Mullie maintains that Louis Klein vowed revenge; with his division, he pursued and attacked Blucher force the following day.
18.
Frances Lorraine Petrie gives that credit to Soult, and so does Adolphe Thiers; furthermore, Petre maintains, Louis Klein's dragoons were sent to guard the communications lines between Erfurt and Weimar, where several groups of Prussians had skirmished with the French rear guard.
19.
Louis Klein remained in the Senate until April 1814, when he voted for Napoleon's abdication.
20.
Louis Klein did not support Napoleon's return in the Hundred Days.
21.
In 1808, Louis Klein divorced Pierron, with the Emperor's permission, and on 2 July of that year remarried to Caroline of Valangin-Arberg, daughter of the Countess of Arberg, a lady-in-waiting to the Empress Josephine de Beauharnais.