Rising rapidly through the ranks, he served in northern Germany, and commanded an artillery brigade at Austerlitz in 1805 before becoming governor of Magdeburg in 1806 and Minister of War for Westphalia in 1808.

Eblé discovered he had inherited a rag-tag collection of boatmen, yet in less than a year he had turned them into a disciplined, highly trained and skilled force who would soon prove indispensable.

Besides training, Eblé also issued his pontonniers specialized tools and equipment, the most notable of which were the mobile wagon-mounted forges, that could quickly make any needed but unavailable metal parts or items.

During the disastrous retreat from Moscow in 1812, Napoleon ordered Eblé to destroy the pontonniers' mobile forges, so that these valuable pieces of engineering technology would not fall into enemy hands.

Eblé argued with his Emperor, that without the forges his men could not perform their duty and the greater danger to the Armée was to be caught between an uncrossable river and a vengeful, pursuing enemy.