Heinrich von Hadeln (1756-1809)
Command Ratings
Heinrich Friedrich August von Hadeln was born on 13 May 1756 in Braunschweig and began his military career in the service of Fürst Friedrich Karl August von Waldeck und Pyrmont. He entered as Kapitän in January 1779 and was promoted to Major in July 1793 and to Oberstleutnant in February 1794 in the 2. Waldeckische Regiment serving with the United Provinces. He participated in the defense of Grave in Noord-Brabant during the French siege in 1794. He attained the rank of Oberst and took command of the 1st Battalion of the 2. Waldeckische Regiment in January 1795, when the Batavian Republic had been established. In July 1805 he was promoted to Generalmajor. He commanded the 2nd Brigade of the Batavian Division under General Dumonceau within II Corps under General Marmont, embarked in August 1805 at Den Helder as part of the planned but ultimately cancelled invasion of England aboard the fleet under Admiral Jan Willem de Winter. After the Batavian Republic was replaced by the Kingdom of Holland on 5 June 1806, the two Waldeck regiments were dissolved and restructured as third battalions within the 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiments of the Kingdom of Holland; he remained in Dutch service. In early 1807, upon the creation of the Kingdom of Westphalia by Jérôme Bonaparte, he was not immediately recognized as a subject and was retired in March 1809, residing in Landau in Waldeck. Meanwhile, in February 1809 a Westphalian division under General Morio was dispatched to Spain to reinforce Joseph Bonaparte’s troops in Catalonia. The force comprised two brigades; the division reached Catalonia in April 1809 and was subordinated to the Corps of the Eastern Pyrenees under General Duhesme. The division engaged in operations against the Miquelets and took part in the siege of Girona beginning in June. General Morio fell ill and Hadeln was reactivated and named as his successor in command. He arrived in the theater on 12 August 1809. He took part in intense fighting for the mountain fortress Mont Juï (Mont Juic, Mont Jovi) northeast of Girona, where the Westphalian division suffered heavy casualties. On 1 September 1809, during a major assault by roughly 6,000–8,000 Catalan militia aiming to retake the ruined fortress and relieve the besieged forces in Girona, he was killed at Sarriá de Ter just north of Girona and Mont Juï. His command passed to Brigadegeneral von Ochs. Heinrich von Hadeln married Johanna Cornelia Chassé on 14 July 1782 in Tricht (Gelderland). Their son Heinrich, born in 1796, became a general and war minister in the Duchy of Nassau; their son Wilhelm, born in 1789, became an officer and Waldeck Landstand. A daughter married the French–Westphalian General Jacques Alexandre François Allix de Vaux in his second marriage.
Sources
X 09 Spain – siege of Girona (died of Malaria)