Jean Lannes (The Roland of the Grande Armée)

Jean Lannes (1769–1809), 1st Duke of Montebello, was widely considered Napoleon's finest frontline tactical marshal and his closest personal friend. Enlisting as a volunteer during the French Revolution, Lannes was shot three times shielding Napoleon at the Battle of the Bridge of Arcole in 1796, winning Bonaparte's eternal affection.

In 1800, Lannes won the Battle of Montebello and held the Austrian army at bay at Marengo until Desaix arrived. At Jena in 1806, his corps bore the brunt of the Prussian army, and at Friedland in 1807, Lannes held off the entire Russian host under Bennigsen for nine hours until Napoleon arrived to deliver the knockout blow. At the Battle of Aspern-Essling in May 1809, while sitting on a ditch mourning a fallen comrade, a ricocheting three-pound cannonball shattered both his knees. Napoleon wept openly at his bedside as Lannes passed away, the first of his marshals to fall in battle.