Roger de Damas

Roger de Damas (4 September 1765 - 18 September 1823) was a French general who fought against the French Revolutionary forces for the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Naples.

Biography
He was born in Paris, and began his military career in 1779 in a French regiment commanded by his uncle. In 1787 he went to Russia, where a large army was being prepared for the war against the Ottoman Empire, as a guest of its commander, Grigory Potemkin. After gaining the latter's esteem, he fought in the naval battles against the Turks and, once the land operations began, at the head of a grenadiers column. Later, at Saint Petersburg, he received several honors by empress Catherine and obtained the permission from the French king to fight for Russia; de Damas took part to the rest of the Russian-Turkish war in 1789-1790, leading an army corps during the sieges of Kilia and Akerinan.

In the meantime, the French Revolution had broken out, and de Damas joined the French Émigré armies, as aide-de-camp of the count of Artois (1791–1792). In 1793, after accompanying Artois at Saint Petersburg, he joined the army of Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé serving with the Mirabeau Legion. In 1796 he was elevated to command the legion of 1,200 men, 400 hussars and 4 artillery pieces. Damas fought in the campaigns of 1795, 1796 and 1797. In 1798 he entered service of the King of Naples with the permission of emperor Paul I of Russia. He was given command of the 3rd Camp under Mack in the ill-fated invasion of the Roman Republic. He took command of a corps of 7,000 men, survivors of Mack’s defeat at Civita Castellana during the French counter-invasion in December 1798. His forces were driven back at Toscanella by Kellermann on 7 December. Attempting to pass through Rome to re-join Mack, Damas was intercepted by General Bonamy, who denied the validity of a safe passage for his column. Seriously wounded in the retreat, he nevertheless managed to skilfully evacuate a large part of his command from Orbetello under Naselli and reach Naples.

He was later appointed as Field Marshal, General Lieutenant and finally commander-in-chief of the Neapolitan armed forces, which he directed in the campaigns of 1799, 1800, 1801 and 1806.

In 1801 he was forced to flee Naples and moved to Vienna, where he wrote his memoirs. In 1804 he was recalled to southern Italy to reorganize the Neapolitan army. After French diplomatic pressures had him expelled in 1805, he retired to Messina. After the fall of Ferdinand IV of Naples's troops in face of the French invasion in 1806, he for a short time defended Calabria with a few troops, being defeated at the Battle of Campo Tenese on 10 March 1806. de Damas moved first to Trieste and then to Vienna, where he stayed for seven years without taking part in any military activity.

After the fall of Napoleon and the restoration of the French royal family, he was appointed Governor of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Military Divisions, later of the 19th Division and of Lyon. Following Napoleon's return from Elba he was unable to prevent his troops from following him, and thus went in exile to Ghent with the king. In September 1815, after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo he returned to France and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies.

He died at the castle of Cirey in 1823.