Jean Rapp

General Count Jean Rapp (27 April 1771 – 8 November 1821) was a French Army officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars and twice governor of the Free City of Danzig. He served as Aide-de-camp to French Generals Louis Desaix and later Napoleon Bonaparte, whose life he saved on multiple occasions.

Life

Rapp was born the son of the janitor of the town hall of

, 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 the latter's death at

.

Rapp stayed in the line of fire: at Essling, he led the front of his fusiliers of the Garde impériale and carried the day; during the signing of the Treaty of Schönbrunn, he averted a planned attempt on Napoleon by the young Friedrich Staps. Being fluent in German, Rapp acted as a translator for Staps as Napoleon personally interrogated Staps. In Russia, he was wounded by four bullets at the Battle of Borodino on 5–7 September 1812. He saved Napoleon's life a second time by repelling an attack of Don Cossacks near Maloyaroslavets and was again wounded at the passage of the Berezina, fighting alongside Ney in the rear guard. As governor of Danzig, Rapp held the town for a year after the Grande Armée left Russia.

During the

in 1819.

He died in Rheinweiler in Baden. His hometown of Colmar built a statue in his honour 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 Église Saint-Matthieu, Colmar.

Gallery

• 
  The wounded General Jean Rapp in the battle of Borodino
• 
  Jean Rapp Lithograph
• 
  Commemorative plaque on the Old Customs House
• 
  Rapp Statue at Colmar

References

• Moore, Richard. Jean Rapp, Napoleonic Guide Napoleonic Guide

See also

• Fort Rapp
• Memoirs of Count General Rapp