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

4GRAND CAIROHungry, thirsty, and exhausted on the march away from Wardan,Bonaparte’s army now had to fight the enemy on his terrain. 1 “Theheat suffocated us and took away our breath,” Moiret panted. Hisdivision had marched since the morning in a square, and there was no way asoldier might detach himself from it so as to run to the nearby Nile for a sip offresh water. Bonaparte and his generals had imposed this discipline of marchingin formation quite deliberately, since they did not want their soldiers nearthe Nile, which the Ottoman Egyptians controlled. Some unfortunates, unableto bear the thirst, did break ranks and run to the river. They had barelytaken a few gulps when the enemy appeared, and they had hastily to rejointheir lines.Bonaparte’s grand words about forty centuries of history had gone over theirheads, and Adjutant-Major Lieutenant Pierre Pelleport admitted as much, “Itwas Greek to most of our comrades.” They did know that their bravery and abilityto ignore their discomfort were about to be tested. Their army, an Enlightenmentjuggernaut, consisted of two huge squares, each six lines of infantrymendeep, with the artillery advancing between the squares. Captain Jean-BaptisteVertray wrote that the few cavalry divisions were at the beginning inside the infantrysquares, where they were protected from the intrepid Ottoman-Egyptianhorsemen but remained available to go on the attack at the right opportunity.The cavalry under Murad Bey had taken up a strong position in the villageof Imbaba behind a formidable battery of artillery. Bonaparte knew that the cannonof his enemies were not mounted on mobile carriages, and being fixed fatallylimited their utility. At the backs of the Ottoman-Egyptian horsemen wasthe river, across which lay Cairo proper, where Ibrahim Bey and his retainerswere similarly entrenched along the banks at Shubra and Bulaq.