Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer (18 December 1747 – 19 August 1804), born inDelle, nearBelfort, became aFrenchgeneral during theFrench Revolutionary Wars and on three occasions led armies in battle.

Schérer served in theAustrian army long before theRevolution, but defected to France in 1775. In 1780 Schérer became amajor in an artillery regiment stationed inStrasbourg. He enteredDutch service in 1785 as a major in theLégion de Maillebois. In 1790 he was released from Dutch service with the rank oflieutenant colonel.

He returned to France in 1791 and in 1792 was made acaptain in the 82nd Infantry Regiment, serving asaide-de-camp to General Jean de Prez de Crassier at theBattle of Valmy. In 1793 he served as a senior aide-de-camp to generalAlexandre de Beauharnais on theRhine. In 1794, Schérer was promoted to the rank ofgénéral de division and commanded adivision in theArmy of the Sambre and Meuse, serving with distinction at theBattle of Aldenhoven. On 3 May he married Marie Françoise Henriette Caroline Müller in a civil ceremony atDelle in theFranche-Comté. On 3 November 1794 he was named commander of the Army of Italy before his transfer to command theArmy of the Eastern Pyrenees on 3 March 1795. On 14 June a 35,000-strong Spanish army defeated Schérer's 25,000 men in battle atBàscara inCatalonia province inSpain.^[1]

On 31 August 1795 he was again sent to Italy to replaceFrançois Kellerman (the older) as commander-in-chief of theArmy of Italy. As commander of the Army of Italy, Schérer won theBattle of Loano (22–24 November 1795) against an Austrian army but failed to exploit his advantage due to his own caution and winter weather.^[2] He was relieved of the command of this army on 23 February 1796 and replaced byNapoleon Bonaparte. Schérer was then unemployed for a number of months until being named Inspector-General of Cavalry, first of the Army of the Interior and then of the Army of the Rhine and the Moselle.

Schérer served asFrench Minister of War from 22 July 1797 to 21 February 1799. When theWar of the Second Coalition broke out, Schérer was given command of the Army of Italy once again. He won an initial clashat Pastrengo on 26 March. But he proved unable to stop the Russo-Austrian advance. He was defeated by Austrian GeneralPál Kray at theBattle of Magnano on 5 April. "Schérer went into this battle without forming a reserve and was thus unable to react to crisis or opportunities effectively."^[3] Forced to retire behind the riverMincio, he then loses the important fortress ofBrescia;^[4] he gave up command toJean Moreau, prior to being defeated by the new coalition commander,Suvorov, in theLecco engagement, which preceded theBattle of Cassano.^[5] Because of Schérer's responsibility for the loss of Italian possessions, he was forced to appear before a committee of inquiry. After securing an acquittal, he retired to private life on his estate atChauny inPicardy, where he died in 1804.

• Duffy, Christopher (1999).Eagles Over the Alps: Suvorov in Italy and Switzerland, 1799. Chicago, Illinois: The Emperor's Press.ISBN 978-1883476182.
• Chandler, David.The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York: Macmillan, 1966.
• Smith, Digby.The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill, 1998.ISBN 1-85367-276-9

• website of the city of Delle about Schérer
• Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer (1747-1804) The Encyclopedia of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

• 1747 births
• 1804 deaths
• People from Delle
• Ministers of war of France
• 18th-century French politicians
• French generals
• French Republican military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars
• Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe

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