Napoleon in Egypt

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Authors: Paul Strathern
Tags: History, Military, Naval
returning from the Crusade of Louis IX, and was thought to tell the tale of a legendary mixed-race Franco-Arab called Mabrou. Later the name of the great English general Marlborough, who defeated the French, had somehow replaced that of the obscure Mabrou; though according to Arago this “only came about through a gross blunder.” Either way, it is evident that the Egyptians certainly knew what sort of music they liked: their own.

XXIII
    The Battle of Mount Tabor
    A T the outset of Napoleon’s invasion of Syria, Djezzar had appealed to the governors of Aleppo and Damascus for support, and as Napoleon marched towards Acre he had continued to monitor the situation to the north, receiving intelligence through the network of Christian communities. According to his memoirs it was now, at the beginning of April, that “secret agents from the north announced the departure of an army from Damascus, adding that it was innumerably large.” 1 Further intelligence reports soon indicated that this army was more than 30,000 strong, and had been joined by 7,000 men from the mountain tribes around Nablus, as well as attracting several thousand other Arab volunteers as it marched south.
    Napoleon assessed his own situation: of the original army of 13,000 men who had set out from Egypt on the Syrian campaign, 1,000 had been killed, 1,000 were sick, 2,000 had been left behind to garrison El-Arish, Gaza and Jaffa, and 5,000 men would have to remain at Acre if the siege was to be maintained properly, with the artillery protected from enemy sorties. As he recorded in his memoirs: “This left only 4,000 at Napoleon’s disposal to track down and fight the Army of Damascus and Nablus which was 40,000 strong.” 2 He decided to dispatch three of his generals to investigate: General Vial’s division was sent up the coast towards Tyre, while Murat and Junot were sent inland towards the River Jordan and Lake Galilee with much smaller forces. Bernoyer recalled that: “Generals Murat and Vial returned several days later. In their reports they mentioned having seen nothing which would make them believe in the existence of large troop concentrations.” 3 Napoleon was worried. He felt certain that the enemy was out there, stalking him, and he was caught in the one situation he abhorred: he and his troops in front of Acre were immobile, as well as being vulnerable from the rear. He ordered Junot and Murat back into the field, dispatching Junot towards Nazareth and Murat towards Lake Galilee. On April 8 Junot encountered the enemy. According to Napoleon’s report: “General Junot with 300 men . . . has defeated 3 to 4,000 cavalry, inflicting 5–600 casualties. . . . This was one of the most brilliant military feats.” 4 A day later Napoleon dispatched Kléber with his division of 1,500 infantry to support Junot, and on April 11 Kléber came across 5,000 enemy near Cana, quickly putting them to flight. Four days later Murat heard that a large force of enemy soldiers had crossed the River Jordan north of Lake Galilee. Racing overnight to the scene with just two infantry battalions at his disposal, he arrived at dawn to discover 5,000 enemy cavalry. The men were undaunted and formed up in two battalion squares. They had seen the tents of the enemy camp on the other side of the river, and sensed that victory was liable to result in a rich haul of booty. In the words of the commissary Miot, who was accompanying General Murat: “Soon our troops were no longer marching, they ran and tumbled down the slope.” The enemy was caught completely by surprise: “As there was so little time between our appearance and our charge, this part of the Army of Damascus simply scarpered . . . not even having time to pack up their tents, their ammunition or their supplies.” General Murat and a cavalry detachment set off in pursuit, leaving Miot in command, and telling him to seize everything in the enemy camp:
     
    But the soldiers beat me to it. Filled with joy at

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