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

144 NAPOLEON’S EGYPThundred Bedouin of the tribe of Dirn, from the desert on the other side ofAlexandria. They were summoned here four years ago by Eyyüb Bey, the patronof Sonbat, to restrain the inhabitants, who were killing one another every day.”The French had a grudge with the Dirn, who had led the charge in the killing ofthe contingent at Mansura. Dugua wanted to mount an expedition to punishSonbat but said he needed to be well armed, since its three hundred peasant villagershad contracted alliances with the tribesmen. He felt that the Dirn hadmade themselves so hated in other neighboring villages with their recent pillagingthat he could count on neutrality from that quarter. 3Bonaparte wrote back to Dugua on 6 September, saying he was sending thecartridges that the general had requested. He added that they ought to arrivewith the enclosed letter and “I hope you will have instilled some sense in the accursedBedouin of the village of Sonbat. Burn that village! Make a terrifying exampleof it and do not permit these Arabs to return and inhabit the village untilthey have delivered to you ten hostages from among their principal men, whomyou will send to me for internment in the Citadel.” 4 Under the tutelage of localmagnates such as Emir Ibrahim, Bonaparte and his generals were adopting Ottoman-Egyptiantechniques for dealing with political forces such as the Bedouinand recalcitrant villagers, techniques terrifying in their ruthlessness.On 12 September, Dugua dispatched Gen. Jean-Antoine Verdier up theNile with 550 men and some artillery pieces. 5 On the fourteenth, they disembarkednear Sonbat. Verdier sought out the village headman of neighboringHanud for help in reconnoitering the area and in avoiding quagmires that hadspread with the inundation of the Nile. When the French had invaded Egypt inJuly, the Dirn had taken advantage of the breakdown in law and order to pillagethis sheikh and other village notables, starting a local feud. The sheikh ofHanud therefore “constantly marched at our head, showing us with pleasure theroads that would lead most promptly to the enemy,” according to Verdier’s reportto Dugua. An advance party encountered a Dirn camp of six hundred outsideSonbat. About half the men came at the French, while an equal numberattempted to get away with their baggage, women, and livestock.Verdier reported, “The grenadiers, under the orders of Brigade ChiefLaugier, attacking with their usual impetuosity, repulsed the three hundredBedouin and obliged the others to abandon everything in order to come to theaid of their comrades and to attempt to jointly defend their encampment, intowhich Brigade Chief Laugier had entered, forcing it with his right wing.”Verdier in the meantime led his own contingent of five hundred men around tocome at the camp from farther to the right, disconcerting the Bedouin and pro-