VIII Corps (Grande Armée)
The VIII Corps of the Grande Armée was a French military unit that existed during the Napoleonic Wars. Emperor Napoleon I formed it in 1805 by borrowing divisions from other corps and assigned it to Marshal Édouard Mortier. Marshal André Masséna's Army of Italy was also reorganized as the VIII Corps at the end of the 1805 campaign. The corps was reformed for the 1806 campaign under Mortier and spent the rest of the year mopping up Prussian garrisons in western Germany. A new VIII Corps was formed from Westphalians for the French invasion of Russia in 1812 and placed under Junot's command once more. The corps was effectively destroyed during the retreat. The following year, the corps was rebuilt with Polish units and assigned to Józef Poniatowski. The VIII Corps fought in the 1813 German campaign and ceased to exist after the Battle of Leipzig. History 1805 The corps was first called into existence during the War of the Third Coalition in 1805. After destroying much of the Austrian Empire's military strength in the Ulm campaign, Napoleon ordered his generals to advance toward the Austrian capital of Vienna. The emperor formed a new VIII Corps under Mortier and assigned four divisions to the new organization. Mortier's task was to operate on the north bank of the Danube and protect the French army's strategic left flank. The divisions were led by Generals Jean-Baptiste Dumonceau, Honoré Théodore Maxime Gazan de la Peyrière, Pierre Dupont de l'Etang, and Louis Klein. Dumonceau's division transferred from the II Corps, Gazan's from the V Corps, Dupont's from the VI Corps, and Klein's from the I Cavalry Corps. On 11 November 1805, Mortier with the 5,000 men of Gazan's division bumped into a greatly superior force of Russians and Austrians. In the Battle of Dürenstein, Gazan suffered 3,000 casualties but was saved from annihilation when Dupont's division arrived later in the day. Neither Klein nor Dumonceau were engaged in the action. The VIII Corps missed the Battle of Austerlitz. Even after his decisive triumph at Austerlitz, Napoleon believed Archduke Charles' large army to be a threat. Therefore, he ordered Masséna to reorganize his Army of Italy as the VIII Corps. Masséna was to march east with his main body while sending his heavy cavalry to Graz. General Auguste de Marmont assembled at Graz with the II Corps while Marshal Michel Ney arrived at Klagenfurt with the VI Corps. The emperor placed Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout's III Corps at Bratislava (Pressburg) and Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult's IV Corps south of Vienna. In this way, Charles' army was totally contained. On 26 December, the Treaty of Pressburg was signed, ending the war. 1806–1807 During the War of the Fourth Coalition, the VIII Corps was re-established at Mainz under Mortier. Together with troops from the Kingdom of Holland under King Louis Bonaparte, the corps defended against a westward thrust by Prussian forces in the former Electorate of Hanover. On 17 October 1806, Napoleon ordered Mortier to seize Fulda while Louis was