Napoleon's Egypt: Invading The Middle East - Reenactor.ru

THE FLIGHT OF IBRAHIM BEY91French of the location of Ibrahim Bey’s hidden baggage train. Then, al-Jabartirecalled, “Ibrahim Bey learned of this as well, so he rode with Salih Bey and anumber of emirs and slave soldiers. They encountered the French.”Leclerc’s horsemen galloped like the wind for a good league before theycame within carbine range of the Ottoman-Egyptian force. Desvernois saidthat the 1,500 Ottoman Egyptians had noticed that there were only at mosttwo hundred French cavalrymen in their rear, their horses tired from ridingthrough the desert. So the emirs and slave soldiers suddenly wheeled andcame at their tormentors. Desvernois recalled, “The shock was rude and themêlée bloody. We were one against five; the enemy approached us with aprodigious enthusiasm and horrifying cries. From the first attack, I had threekilled and eight wounded in my division on the right. Five or six Mamluks,white and black, came at me relentlessly. I killed one with a pistol shot andwounded two or three with slashes of my saber.” Darendeli observed that theFrench “cavalry was delayed, with its artillery pieces, so they fought the Mamlukswith their cavalrymen alone. Although these horsemen were numerous,they did not have the capacity to confront the Mamluk braves. They attackedthe French and scattered their ranks, and the courageous Mamluk fida’is[fighters willing to sacrifice themselves] drew their Damascene swords, plunginginto the attack and inflicting a defeat on the French.” Desvernois fearedthat his division was in danger of being destroyed. Detroye marveled of theOttoman-Egyptian horsemen that “their agility was such that the veryFrenchman who took a bullet from a carbine would receive at that very instanta saber cut from that same hand.”Luckily for Leclerc and his men, who seemed constantly to have morepluck than good sense, the 3rd and 14th Dragoons now arrived, that is, infantryand light artillery. Bonaparte related that the emirs withstood the secondFrench charge unflinchingly and inflicted real damage on their attackers. “Thesquadron chief, Détrès, of the 7th Hussars, was mortally wounded. My aidede-campSulkowsky took seven or eight cuts from a saber and was shot severaltimes.” The commander in chief was nevertheless able to admire the bravery ofthe Mamluks. “They form an excellent corps of light cavalry, richly clothed,armed with the most care and mounted on horses of the best quality.” EachFrench soldier and officer he recalled engaged a slave soldier in personal combat.Bonaparte added, “Lasalle, chief of the 22nd Brigade, dropped his saber inthe middle of the charge; he was adroit enough, and lucky enough, to be able todismount and then to be horsed again to defend himself and carry the attack toone of the most intrepid Mamluks.”