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

THE FESTIVAL OF THE REPUBLIC165ing, they received the news that actually the attack on Damietta had failed.The inhabitants of the village began to fear French reprisals, so they packedup their belongings and families and emigrated en masse to Syria. Vial cameout to inspect the village but found it altogether deserted. The French constructeda new fort there.Vial set out with his men to attack the Egyptians based at Shu’ara. As histroops marched overland, Andréossi supported him with a flotilla. Whenthey reached the enemy-held town, they found the Bedouin arranged in asingle line of 1,200 to 1,500 men that stretched from the lake to the Nile,with a thicket of palms behind them. The Bedouin, on spotting the Frenchadvance, discharged their carbines, but from too great a distance to hit anything.Vial dispatched a company of grenadiers with a field piece to cut themoff from the palm thicket and from their boats, which were moored along theshore of the lake. The Bedouin, however, immediately saw what he was attemptingto do, and he was forced to send another hundred men against themat once. As the French soldiers advanced, the Bedouin scattered, some toShu’ara, others to the village of Minya (where, however, they found betterarmedRepublican troops awaiting them). Some managed to reach their skiffson the lake. Vial’s men captured two small cannon and two skiffs and killed ordrowned three hundred peasants and Bedouin. They suffered a handful ofkilled and twenty wounded. Captain Say recalled of Shu’ara, “The village wasburned down,” and Turk said that the French killed the remaining inhabitants.The next day, Vial plundered the deserted village of al-Izba. On thetwentieth, Gerbaud heard that General Damas, with six hundred men, hadburned several villages loyal to Tubar. Bonaparte wrote Vial on 24 September:“Citizen General, the attack you launched on the village of Shu’ara doesas much honor to you as to your troops.”Dugua’s mobile columns patrolled the provinces of Daqahliya and Damietta.Bonaparte, who was distressed that Dugua had not managed to forestall theattack on Damietta, ordered him on 24 September to arm five hundred skiffswith cannon, so as to take control of the Manzala lagoon, “so you will be completelythe master of the lake.” 4 Bonaparte added, “Try to capture Hasan Tubar,and in order to do it, resort to a ruse if it is necessary.” The commander in chiefinstructed Dugua to “make some severe examples” of the rebellious and saidthat since his contingents were not going to remain in Damietta and Mansura, itwas important that he “profit from the moment to completely subdue them. Forthat, it is necessary that you disarm them, cut off some heads, and take somehostages.”