Jean Rapp

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General Rapp

Count Jean Rapp (April 27, 1771, Colmar - November 8, 1821, Rheinweiler) was a French lieutenant general.

Rapp was born the son of the janitor of the town-hall of Colmar. He began theological studies to became a clergy man. But with his build and heated character, he was predestined for the military. From the rank of a regular of the chasseurs de Cévennes, he worked his way up the hierarchy through his courage and character to the rank of a division general and adjutant of Napoleon Bonaparte. As a lieutenant, his reputation grew through his impetuousness as well as the wounds he received in battle. He was made aide de camp of Desaix, who named him captain and took him to Egypt, where Rapp distinguished himself at Sediman, capturing an enemy battery. For that he was given a squadron and later a brigade by Napoleon.

After the Egyptian campaign, Rapp remained under the command of Desaix until his death at Marengo on June 14, 1800. He then became aide de camp of the Premier Consul, a post he held until 1814. Under this title, he was charged with many confidential missions by Napoleon in the Vendée, Switzerland and Belgium. In 1803 he became brigadier general and in December of 1805, he led a memorable attack at Austerlitz, leading as the head of the Mameluks and decimating the cavalry of the Russian imperial guard. Promoted division general, he later fought at Jena on October 14, 1806 and was wounded at Golymin.

Rapp stayed in the line of fire: at theEssling, he led the front of his fusiliers of the Garde impériale and carried the day; during the signing of the Schönbrunn, he deterred the young Friedrich Staps from assassinating Napoleon; in Russia, he was wounded by four bullets at the battle of Moscow on September 5 - 7, 1812. He saved Napoleon's life a second time by repelling an attack of Cossacks at the Gorodnia and was again wounded at the passage at the Berezina, fighting alongside Ney as the rear guard. As governor of Danzig, Rapp held the town for a year after the Grand Armée left Russia.

During the Hundred Days, Rapp rallied to Napoleon and was given command of the V Corps, of about 20,000 men. It was used to observe the border near Strasbourg,^[1] and to defend the Vosges. Ten days after Battle of Waterloo (in which his corps took no part), he met some Coalition forces near Strasbourg and defeated them at the Battle of La Suffel.^[1] After Waterloo Campaign, he offered his resignation several times, but was reinstated in grace. Rapp became deputy of the department of Haut-Rhin and became treasurer of Louis XVIII in 1819.

He died in Rheinweiler in Baden. His hometown Colmar built a statue in his honor on the Champ de Mars with the inscription Ma parole est sacrée (my word of honour is sacred). Rapp's heart is kept in a shrine in the church Saint-Matthieu.