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My favorite is Grouchy, just because I like his name.

Ok, he was strictly a cavalry commander and didnt do a whole lot. But I still like him.

No, Grouchy was a Marshal of France did command a corps(+) at one point, not just Cavalry.

And I am sure he was the Duke of Wellington's favorite Marshal too:D

IIRC, Grouchy's Marshalat was never recognised (had to be ratified by parliament or other), so technically he was no marshal. But otherwise correct, he had some experience of combined arms, but would have been better used to command a unified cavalry reserve in the hundred days.

Marc aka Caran...

General Amable Humbert.

The only Frenchman to have ever defeated the British on their own soil since William the Conqueror.

Originally posted by Snigbert
My favorite is Grouchy, just because I like his name.

Ok, he was strictly a cavalry commander and didnt do a whole lot. But I still like him.

I hope you don't like him from a facial English-speaking pronunciation of the name. To the French, he is "GROO-shee."

I suppose Davout.

Originally posted by Arinvald
You beat me to it jnier; Davout was the first leader who came to my mind. I have always enjoyed imagining how the Hundred Days would have played out if Napoleon had not thought it necessary to leave Davout in Paris. There are just so many excellent leaders in this era that it boggles the mind. Lannes has always been a favorite as well. Then there's Wellington and Moore; and Massena and on and on.

Napoleon was hardly a fool. He left Davout in Paris because he could not trust anyone else to get the job done.

It would do little good to take Davout with him, and win at Waterloo, and find Paris in revolt behind him, or the supply
and organisation systems in chaos.

However, Could he have left Ney behind? Then taken Davout?

Originally posted by Chiteng
Napoleon was hardly a fool. He left Davout in Paris because he could not trust anyone else to get the job done.

It would do little good to take Davout with him, and win at Waterloo, and find Paris in revolt behind him, or the supply
and organisation systems in chaos.

However, Could he have left Ney behind? Then taken Davout?

Napoleon didn't fully trust Ney. The whole "bring him back in a cage" thing probably was bothering Napoleon. I think that his his distrust of Ney (and missing Berthier) undermined Ney's effectiveness.

The whole point was that he trusted Davout.

Speaking of Trust, I have a soft spot for Bernadotte. Not brilliant on the battlefield pherhaps, but he sure got more out of the Napoleonic Wars than anyone else (His dynasty still sits on the throne of Sweden). And there's no arguing with success!

Ragnar

He had a inscription on his backside supposedly saying death to all kings. Ironic.

Bernadotte was an intresting character, really no scruples at all, but as Marbot said unquestionably brave and was kind to men how he did not need to be jealous of, by which I mean subordinates.