Jean-Marie Defrance | |
|---|---|
 Jean-Marie Defrance | |
| Born | 21 September 1771 Vassy, Champagne |
| Died | 6 July 1835 (aged 63) Épinay-sur-Seine |
| Allegiance |  First French Republic First French Empire Kingdom of France |
| Service | French Revolutionary Army French Imperial Army French Royal Army |
| Years of service | 1792–1829 |
| Rank | General of Division |
| Battles / wars | Haitian Revolution French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars |
| Awards |  Officier of the Légion d'honneur |
| Other work | Deputy to the National Convention Council of Five Hundred |
Jean-Marie Defrance (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ maʁi dəfʁɑ̃s]; 1771–1835) was a French General of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was also a member of the Council of Five Hundred (the lower house of the legislative branch of the French government under The Directory), and a teacher at the military school of Rebais, Champagne.
Defrance had an extensive and successful military career in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. After the First Battle of Zurich, he refused a battlefield promotion to brigadier general, asking instead for a cavalry regiment; he received command of the 12th Regiment of Chasseurs-a-Cheval (light cavalry) as Chef-de-Brigade, a rank equivalent to colonel. He led this brigade in the campaigns of 1799–1800 in southwestern Germany and northern Italy. By 1805, he had been promoted to brigadier general. At the Battle of Austerlitz and the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt, he commanded a cavalry brigade of carabiniers in Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty's First Division. By the Battle of Borodino in September 1812, he had been promoted to general of division, commanding the 4th Cuirassier Division of Nansouty's reserves, where they charged the Shevardino redoubt. He fought his way across Germany to the Rhine River after the French loss at Leipzig and participated in the Six Days' Campaign.
In the Hundred Days, he commanded part of Jean Maximilien Lamarque's Army of the West. At the second Bourbon Restoration, he retained his titles and honours and subsequently held several command posts until retirement in 1829. He died in 1835.