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

212 NAPOLEON’S EGYPTThe morning of Tuesday 23 October, Bonaparte fired off a brief, coldbloodedletter to General Berthier. “Citizen General, please give the order tothe commander of the plaza to cut off the heads of all the prisoners that weretaken with arms in their hands. They will be transported tonight to the bankof the Nile between Bulaq and Old Cairo; their headless cadavers will bethrown in the river.” 21 Detroye recorded in his journal for 3 Brumaire (24 October),“They began to execute some of the rebels. These executions tookplace at the Citadel, almost secretly, with blows of bayonets.” 22 This descriptionof the executions makes French troops the executioners, and, indeed,mass murderers.The quartermaster Bernoyer, who, as a civilian distant from the scene willonly have heard lurid rumors, attempted to place the blame elsewhere, thoughhis account is fantastic. He remarked, “Despite the ignorance and inefficiencyof the Turks, they demonstrated, during this execution, a most particular intelligenceand savoir-faire.” Bernoyer described a procedure for the executions,which began Wednesday morning. The general in charge summoned the chiefexecutioner of the city, who had once served the Ottoman emirs, and gave him alist of those he had to dispatch. One source identifies him as none other thanBartholomew al-Rumi, the new head of the Janissary Corps. Bernoyer observed,“His victims (I call ‘victim’ any person who is made to die without the determinationof a court) were assembled in a great courtyard. The executioner calledthem one after another.” They had them go out by way of a small door that ledinto another courtyard. There the captive was taken in hand by two guards, whograsped his arms as though to bring him before his judges. “The executioner approachedhim with a fistful of sand, which he threw into his eyes. The condemned,naturally, brought his hands to his eyes, lowering his head.Immediately, it was cut off with the aid of a Damascene sword that the executionerhad hidden in his robe.” He said that the execution hall was equippedwith drains that took away the blood, that the bodies were promptly removed,and that sand was spread over the stains so that the next to arrive would not suspectwhat was about to befall him.The death sentences, he wrote, began being imposed at 7 A.M. and theprocess ended at noon. When noon came and the soldiers informed their superiorsthat the task was accomplished, it seemed incredible to them. The generalin charge, “who had retired to his rooms so as not to be a witness to these scenesof horror, at first believed that they wanted to fool him. He went immediately tothe place, and there he was extremely surprised not to see any individual or anytrace of that fairly sizable execution.” Captain Joubert assured the general that