Opposing the French and the Prussians, the siege of Givet had little impact on the events following the Battle of Waterloo, apart from giving some cards to royal diplomacy and safeguarding honor. Nevertheless, the report of Lieutenant-General Bourk, "governor of the places of Givet and Charlemont", to the Duke of Richelieu allows us to grasp the reality of a besieged city between two political changes, offering a less romantic and more pragmatic vision than the image of the chivalrous General Daumesnil at the Château de Vincennes.
Following the battles at Wavre and Namur, Grouchy entered Givet with his army on June 21, transporting 1,800 wounded, some of whom were treated in local homes. The recovered wounded will provide valuable support when the gunpowder speaks. The marshal requisitioned two days of brandy and bread to feed 20,000 men and then wrote a proclamation congratulating his men for executing the retreat, asking them to be the “defenders of our dear homeland.” The Emperor not having abdicated, the continuation of the struggle remains obvious. The arrival of a retreating army, in addition to harming the morale of a disoriented population, has material effects qualified as "a calamity for the country which had to provide for their needs" according to the report written by the prefect from the North, from Mézy, in May 1816. He too was concerned by the decline of the imperial army. Already tested by these events, the inhabitants of Givet underwent other trials.
The means of defense
Following the banishment of Napoleon, France must consider defending its northern places threatened by the Prussians, the Dutch-Belgians, and the British. In the Ardennes, seven elite battalions of the National Guard guard the borders under the orders of Field Marshal Baron de Leocour. The necessary money is collected locally, 80,000 francs coming from the municipalities, 100,000 francs from the government, and 20,000 francs in replacement taxes. But as this is insufficient, we must appeal to the generosity of residents included in the roles of direct contributions while craftsmen work to dress, feed, and clothe the troop.
In less than a month, the department was in a state of defense. Nevertheless, Bourk seemed very pessimistic from the departure of Vandamme who commanded Grouchy's rearguard. He complains of a “place of enormous development and which was garrisoned by only 4,000 national guards.” Furthermore, he judges his men “poorly trained and on whose minds the passage of a retreating army had had the worst effect; the desertion began frighteningly.” Despite the efforts of the department, financial means seem to be lacking, which will be a persistent concern: "The payer of the War had only 1,700 francs left in the cash and the garrison's expenditure exceeded 80,000 francs per month, for pay only. » Fortunately, 60,000 francs arrived on June 24 to meet his needs until mid-July.
The operations
Bourk saw the first Prussian scouts on June 26. Three days later, a Prussian parliamentarian came to demand the surrender of the place in the name of Prince Augustus of Prussia (1). Bourk “responded by sending copies of the letters by which the Minister of War, after having informed me of the abdication of the Emperor and of what had happened in Paris until the 24th, urged me to conclude an armistice with the allied troops who were around Givet", without surrendering the city. Meanwhile, other Prussian corps besieged Maubeuge, Landrecies, Mariembourg, Philippeville, and Rocroi. Only Givet will resist the Prussians of General Moritz von Prittwitz for more than a few days.
On July 7, a new parliamentarian asked Bourk to hand over Givet in the name of Prince Blücher who accepted a withdrawal of the garrison beyond the Loire with the French army per the articles of the capitulation of Paris. An offer that leads to another refusal! As funds ran out to pay the salary, Bourk became tax collector: "I took out a loan of 80,000 francs on the city", then tobacconist: "At the time of the evacuation of Belgium we had transported to Givet, a certain quantity of tobacco that the general in chief had authorized me to sell for the needs of the garrison in the event of a blockade. » After having had its value estimated at 60,000 francs by merchants, 'the proceeds of this sale combined with the amount of payments from private receivers into the War Paymaster's Fund were used to pay the troops for the second half of July, to put the engineers and the artillery in a position to continue and hasten their work and there was still plenty to do.” This sale allowed him to receive a new parliamentarian more peacefully on July 14, informing him of the surrender of Maubeuge and offering him the same conditions (2).
On July 18, Bourk received news from Paris, including that of the restoration of Louis XVIII. Then bringing together the defense council, “all adhered to the proposal that I made to have the troops take the white cockade and to send to Paris an officer bearing to the king the act of submission of Givet and Charlemont”. The governor therefore proposed to the Prussian general to cease hostilities from midday on the 21st since here they were… allies! However, the Prussians, exasperated, no longer wished to negotiate with their "allies" and Prince Augustus responded with "a formal refusal to have any relations with me in the future, except for the absolute surrender of the place. All negotiations having been broken off…”
The Prussian attack becoming inevitable, the besieged decided to knock down a few houses obstructing their fire, which was done on July 23 during a sortie of two hundred men. The Prussians had forty killed while the French lost a grenadier and ten wounded. Despite this success, Bourk relates: “All I needed was a large garrison made up of better troops to be able to await the events with complete security. »
Despite the resolute attitude of Prince Augustus, he still sent a parliamentarian, a colonel of engineers, to request the surrender of the place on July 31. Bourk replies that he is waiting for orders from the king but the colonel replies that the king of France cannot decide anything without the allies. Negotiations are at a standstill. On August 8, Bourk heard a heavy cannonade from the direction of Philippeville, which capitulated. The same day he received orders asking him to do everything to keep the place for the king, but the situation became worrying: “The soldier was naked; he murmured against his situation and its indefinite duration; my resources were exhausted and I no longer knew what means to resort to to continue paying the troop. The headquarters supply of foodstuffs was not complete, many departments had only provided part of the amount of their requisitions. »
The withdrawal to Charlemont
With cash running out, Bourk this time became a meat wholesaler because the local herd was hit by an epidemic. It was therefore decided to slaughter as many animals as possible to sell the meat, this process making it possible to collect more than 93,000 francs which financed the month of August. On August 24, tension decreased and Bourk believed he detected the announcement of an upcoming peace in the courteous relations he maintained with his Prussian counterpart. This hope quickly died out since the intractable Prince Augustus, having brought down the places of Maubeuge, Mézières, Philippeville and Rocroi, “refused passports to the deputies who had to go to Mézières, spoke to those who came from Rocroi, frightened them with the threat of bombing and burning the town of Givet shortly; he showed them his camps, his munitions, his artillery parks.”
On September 3, the matter became more serious since a real fight began for control of the advanced post of Faudes where twenty-five customs officers were stationed during the day. During the night, the Prussians occupied the post and entrenched themselves there. All day long, Bourk tried to retake the post but failed, following the lack of enthusiasm of his soldiers: "I saw with difficulty that I had little to count on my garrison since a detachment of the best troops had responded badly to what I was expecting it. » That day, the French counted one killed and sixteen wounded while Bourk estimated the Prussian losses at one hundred and fifty soldiers due to the artillery of the place. Nevertheless, the Prussians now hold a position where their artillery can shell the town of Givet.
“Considering therefore that by burning the Givets, I was causing the ruin of a crowd of individuals without our future situation improving, I secretly assembled my Defense Council, and all the members, except one, thought to enter into accommodation with the enemy. » Bourk enters into discussions with the Prussians to propose his withdrawal on Charlemont, “key to the system”, by pledging until peace, the “two Givets”. Prince Augustus proved to be very difficult so much so that “after 3 hours of debates as painful as they were useless, I was forced to settle for capitulation”.
A new phase
The siege becomes a psychological war between the entrenched Charlemont and the Prussians. “We informed the national guards that they were dismissed everywhere, and the customs officers that their comrades had returned to their posts and were on duty across the board, so many attempts could not be without success. » There remained, facing the Prussians, on September 10, “168 officers and 3,443 non-commissioned officers and soldiers”. During this time, Bourk was less isolated because the Prussians allowed royal officers to pass through, giving him notices and liquidations, and he received orders to keep Charlemont with a view to peace negotiations. On September 21, Prince Augustus “came that day to establish his headquarters at Givet, he wrote to me that having officially received the announcement of an imminent peace he wanted us to agree on a suspension of all hostility, committing us in writing not to repeat them until we have been notified 24 hours in advance.
From this moment on, the French saw the barges descending the Meuse with artillery and grain following the gradual end of hostilities. On October 1, Bourk noted in his diary that desertion was increasing, and the soldiers no longer understood the point of combat. He began to dismiss twenty national guards per day from the 16th to calm things down. This decision is also pragmatic because “some reduction had become necessary. There was only fresh meat left for a small number of sick people; There remained only salted bacon in such a small proportion that more was distributed to the troop every three days, the other two days they received rice and dried vegetables. » In November, he stopped the dismissal of the national guards following a misinterpreted order from Paris and the desertion began again.
The end of the siege
Finally, on November 27, Bourk received a letter from Paris "announcing that the place of Charlemont should be handed over to the commissioners appointed by His Excellency the Duke of Wellington, warning me that this handing over would be made within 10 days to the date of the signing of the treaty”. Despite the insistence of the Prussians, it was only on December 16 that Wellington's commissioners arrived to take command of the Place de Charlemont, thus officially putting an end to military operations. Bourk ends his report with these words: “On July 30, I received from Marshal Gouvion Saint-Cyr the order to do everything to keep this place for the King of France; I consider myself only too happy to have achieved this and to have thereby given His Majesty proof of my devotion. I ask Your Excellency to be kind enough to solicit your kindness for the garrison. »
The occupation
Givet and other places escaped annexation by the powers thanks to the maneuvers of the Duke of Richelieu, the levelheadedness of the Duke of Wellington (who nevertheless took care of rectifying the border around Givet), and the support of Tsar Alexander. The peace treaty was signed between Louis XVIII and the Allies on November 20, 1815. Article 4 provided for the occupation of France by an army of 150,000 men including Givet, explicitly cited as an occupied place. Article 5 of this treaty is the subject of a convention that creates a Franco-Allied commission appointing commissioners who will take stock of the occupied places.
First occupied by the Prussians, the stronghold of Givet served as a place of imprisonment for French people who did not obey orders quickly enough, such as the sub-prefect of Avesne “kidnapped by military force and sent to Givet”. The region was then occupied by the Russians on December 1, 1815, commanded by General Vorontsov. The troop behaves well, the knout giving pause to the soldiers tempted by the excesses of victors in foreign lands. French resistance is also almost non-existent. The last Russian soldiers left France on September 29, 1818. Today the Orthodox chapel of Walcourt remains, far from the Tsar's lands, as well as some toponyms attesting to the presence of soldiers from across Niemen.
(1) Augustus of Prussia (1779-1843), nephew of Frederick II, prisoner at Auerstaedt, participated in the rebirth of the Prussian army and in the campaigns that followed Prussia's entry into the war in 1813.
(2) Dismissal of the National Guards, evacuation of the troops to the Loire, officers and non-commissioned officers retain the sword.
A strategic point
The interest of the town bordering the Meuse appeared in 1555, since Charles V had its heights fortified, which he named Charlemont. Under the Ancien Régime, Vauban modernized the fortifications to create a fortified complex divided into three parts: Givet-Notre Dame and Givet Saint-Hilaire dominated by Charlemont. This place is equipped with a hospital and provided with a garrison, following a daring policy of small places filling the gaps existing between the large places.
Portrait of a Model Officer
Lieutenant General Bourk descends from the Irish de Burgh family who followed the Stuarts to France in 1688. Born in 1772 in Lorient, he entered as a cadet-gentleman in Walsh's regiment (Irish unit in the service of the King of France) in 1788. He was sent to Santo Domingo where he distinguished himself. Arrested for a while in 1792, he was released from prosecution in 1793 and, after various commands, took part in the Irish expedition where his ship sank. Released by the English on parole, he returned to France. Following the Peace of Amiens, he was sent back to Santo Domingo and became aide-de-camp to Leclercq. Santo Domingo being lost, he was chosen by Davout as aide-de-camp for the Army of the Coasts and Oceans. He then took part in the battle of Austerlitz with the 15th Light and then in those of Auerstaedt, Eylau, and Friedland before being elevated to the dignity of commander of the Legion of Honor on July 7, 1807. Brigadier general at Wagram lost two horses and was then sent to Walcheren to repel the British landing of 1809. Bourk participated in anti-guerrilla operations in Spain. Suffering from a gunshot to the head on May 5, 1812, he escaped the Russian campaign. He returned to service in 1813 during that of Germany and obtained the rank of major general on November 7 then the government of the place of Wesel on November 17. Besieged in this place, he defended himself there until April 18, 1814, and brought back to France his entire garrison and forty cannons. After 1815, he participated in the Spanish campaign of 1823 and then retired to the lands of Ploemeur where he died on August 29, 1847.
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