December 26, 1770 (Nantes) - January 29, 1842 (Nantes)
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- Portrait of Cambronne
Volunteering with the 1st Battalion of the Loire-lntérieure in September 1791, Cambronne first served in the armies of the Ardennes and the North, then was sent to the West to fight the Vendée insurrection.
Lieutenant in September 1793, captain a year later, he was assigned to the Irish expedition in 1797, then on the Rhine and in Switzerland. He accomplished a feat of arnes at the capture of Zurich, seizing two cannons. On June 27, 1800, in the battle of Oberhausen, he was proclaimed second grenadier of France after the Tour d'Auvergne which had just perished. However, he was still only a captain in 1805. At Austerlitz and at Jena, he distinguished himself again, as well as at the headquarters of Zaragoza in Essling, in Wagram. The Emperor made him baron of the Empire in June 1810 and colonel-major of a regiment of voltigeurs of the guard in 1811. In Spain until the beginning of 1813, he joined the large army in Germany and distinguished himself at all the battles by his intrepidity. Eventually gaining the rank of brigadier general in Hanau, a faithful among the faithful, Cambronne follows Napoleon to the island of Elba. It is to him that falls the perilous task of commanding the tiny vanguard when Napoleon returns. On his arrival in Paris, the Emperor made him general of division, but Cambronne refused, saying:"It looks like it's a free pass".
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- Cambronne in Waterloo
On August 16, 1815, he attacked Ligny with a bayonet and, two days later, at Waterloo, it was he who formed the last four against the English. Cambronne denied having uttered his famous "shit" that day. But, having later become the husband of an Englishwoman (in fact Scottish) and made a viscount in 1822 by Louis XVIII, it was difficult for him to appear a rude but sincere soldier. However, it is very likely that he shouted it, exasperated by the enemy's repeated warnings. Cambronne's name appears on the Arc de Triomphe.