General François Roguet

Nicknamed "Old Man Roguet" or "Father Roguet", General Roguet was an outstanding infantry commander who eventually rose to command units of the Imperial Guard. Most famous for being unbreakable during the retreat from Russia, Roguet had served under Napoleon Bonaparte since the first Italian campaign.

Due to the turmoil of the Revolution, in 1793 Roguet suddenly found himself placed in charge of training new recruits, despite not knowing anything about training. As the new recruits began to stream in, Roguet feigned illness and spent three days reading drill manuals until he felt confident enough to be able to teach the new soldiers.

While serving in Spain, Roguet grew frustrated with the guerrilla warfare and decided to turn the guerrillas against one another. Drawing up fake documents about an agreement between himself and various guerilla bands, he ensured that these documents would fall into different guerrilla bands' hands. Before long the rival bands were filled with mistrust for one another.

Sources:

Boycott-Brown, Martin. The Road to Rivoli: Napoleon's First Campaign. London: Cassell & Co, 2001.

Elting, John R. Swords Around a Throne: Napoleon's Grande Armee. USA: Da Capo Press, 1997.

Haythornthwaite, Philip J. Who Was Who in the Napoleonic Wars. London: Arms & Armour, 1998.

Six, Georges. Dictionnaire Biographique des Generaux & Amiraux Francais de la Revolution et de l'Empire (1792-1814). Paris: Gaston Saffroy, 2003.