From Russia with love: Remains of Napoleon's missing general return to France
The remains of Charles-Etienne Gudin have returned to French soil more than 200 years after his death during Napoleon’s disastrous Russia campaign. The repatriation is thanks to an ally of former leader of the far-right National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
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The Airbus A320 carrying the coffin of General Charles-Etienne Gudin de la Sablonnière landed at Le Bourget airport on Tuesday afternoon where the minister for veterans, Geneviève Darrieussecq, will preside over the ceremony.
Gudin was a veteran of both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, distinguishing himself in several battles, including Wagram in 1809.
In 1812, aged 44, he was hit by a cannonball during the battle of Valutina Gora, 20 kilometres east of Smolensk during the French invasion of Russia.
He had to have his leg amputated and died three days later of gangrene.
Admired for his commando skills, he was one of Napoleon’s favourite generals.
On his death, the emperor wrote a rare letter of condolence to Countess Gudin in which he said: "The loss is great for you; it is also great for me", the Napoleon Foundation writes on its website.
“We are very happy to be able to pay tribute to this general and to remind people in 2021, the year of the bicentenary of Napoleon’s death, that there were also generals around Napoleon,” Christian Bourdeille, president of the Paris Napoleon 2021 association, said.
Bourdeille will attend the ceremony alongside 50 extras dressed as “grognards”, the soldiers of the empire.
Arrivée du général #Gudin à l’aéroport du Bourget pic.twitter.com/GklYt9kMeY
— Valeurs actuelles ن (@Valeurs) July 13, 2021
Far-right associations
When Gudin was shot, the French army removed his heart and sent it back to France where it was buried in a chapel in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
But until recently the whereabouts of his grave remained a mystery.
In 2019 Pierre Malinowski, a French historian and head of a foundation for developing Russian-French historical initiatives, mounted a search with a team of Russian and French archeologists.
In July that year they discovered a skeleton in a wooden coffin in a park in Smolensk, near the border with Belarus; DNA tests showed it the corpse was that of Charles-Etienne Gudin.
“I want to find as many soldiers who disappeared on the battlefield as possible and bury them, that’s my main objective,” Malinowski told France Inter just before leaving Moscow for Paris.
Malinowski describes himself as “a patriot”, but his political affinities have also come under discussion.
He was parliamentary assistant to Jean-Marie Le Pen, the former head and founder of the far-right Front National.
"I am very close to Marion Maréchal," he said referring to Le Pen’s grand-daughter and niece of Marine Le Pen, leader of the hard-right National Rally.
"The name of Jean-Marie Le Pen puts a label on you, but I ‘m OK with that," he said, adding that it was interesting “to be able to put discussions back on track between two countries, between two similar powers, through historical discoveries”.
The vice-president of Malinowski’s foundation is the daughter of President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson. Local Russian media reported that the Airbus had been graciously lent by Russian oligarch Andry Kozystin.
To the Invalides?
Descendents of the general want him to rest alongside other illustrious military figures in Les Invalides, as does Christian Bourdeille.
"He was a great divisional general, particularly with Marshal Davout" says Bourdeille. "He was at the battle of Jena and was part of all the campaigns [...] and we must never forget that Gudin knew Napoleon very well because they were together at Brienne."
Malinowski says that after Gudin’s grave was discovered in 2019 he managed to convince the Elysée to organise a burial at Les Invalides presided jointly by Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron. But the visit and the ceremony were postponed due to the health epidemic and then abandoned in the wake of diplomatic tension over the arrest of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
While the Elysée palace has yet to confirm, Joelle Garriaud-Maylam, senator for French people abroad and honorary president of the Paris-Napoleon 2021 association, said she had been told, informally, that the Invalides ceremony would go ahead.
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