IV Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée)

The IV Cavalry Corps of the Grande Armée was a French military unit that existed during the Napoleonic Wars.

During the War of the Sixth Coalition in 1813, General François Étienne de Kellermann commanded the all-Polish corps at Leipzig.

At the beginning of the invasion of Russia, the IV Cavalry Corps numbered 7,964 troopers in 40 squadrons with 24 cannons attached.

According to the Saxon colonel of the Zastrow Regiment, the young-looking La Tour-Maubourg deftly led the corps past the left end of the redoubt.

Massed inside the Great Redoubt, the Russian infantry refused to give up as infantrymen and horsemen engaged in a wild frenzy of slaughter.

[4] After the capture of Moscow, the French cavalry under Marshal Joachim Murat were assigned to watch the Russian camp near Tarutino.

On this occasion, the corps held off Russian cavalry and Cossacks, allowing the retreating army to utilize the main highway.

[7] When the 1813 summer armistice ended, the IV Cavalry Corps counted 3,923 horsemen in 24 squadrons with 12 artillery pieces attached.

Though the French held their ground, the combat was not a success because Murat's dense tactical formations were fended off by only 5,570 Allied horsemen.

[14] The corps comprised the 7th and 8th Light Cavalry Divisions under Generals Michael Sokolnicki and Antoni Pawel respectively.

[16] The III Cavalry Corps under General Jean-Toussaint Arrighi de Casanova and the IV Cavalry Corps under General Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta served in Marshal Jacques MacDonald's command during the first week of February 1814.

IV Cavalry Corps: General of Division François Étienne de Kellermann Source: "French Order of Battle at Leipzig".

Saxon cavalrymen at left attacking Russian cuirassiers at Borodino
Michał Sokolnicki
Victor de La Tour Maubourg
François de Kellermann