Glasgow & District Wargaming Society
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Glasgow & District Wargaming Society |
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Battle of Mount Tabor 1799 Background In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte persuaded the ruling Directory of France to invade Egypt. In truth the Directory were pleased to see the famous young General go. Napoleon’s successful Italian campaign had made him a popular figure in revolutionary France, a potential threat to the rule of the Directory.
Napoleon sailed from Toulon on 19 June 1798 with a French fleet commanded by Admiral Brueys of nearly 100 warships and 400 transports. He commanded an army of 35,000 men organised into five infantry and one cavalry divisions. The expedition also included a large number of scientists and artists (Savants) whose task it was to modernise this new French colony. After evading the British fleet they arrived in Malta on 6 June and after some limited resistance the Knights of Malta capitulated on 11 June. After securing the island and raiding the Treasury the fleet moved on to its final destination, Egypt.
In 1798 Egypt was nominally part of the Ottoman Empire and ruled by a puppet Pasha representing the Ottoman Sultan Selim III. In practice it was ruled by the Mamelukes, warrior slaves mostly originating from the Caucasus region commanded by Murad Bey.
Campaigns in Egypt Napoleon landed near Alexandria on 1 July. The city capitulated two days later after a short fight and Napoleon immediately began the advance towards Cairo. The logistical preparations for the advance were poor with little transport or even horses for the cavalry.
The first major battle of the campaign took place four miles from Cairo near the Pyramids on 21 July. The Mameluke cavalry hurled itself at the French but the divisional "squares" held firm and repelled the horsemen with point-blank musket and artillery fire. Bon's division deployed into attack columns and captured the fortified village of Embabeh. Napoleon reported a loss of 29 killed and 260 wounded. Murad's losses were far heavier, perhaps as many as 3,000 of the irreplaceable Mamluk cavalry and unknown numbers of infantry.
Murad escaped to Upper Egypt, where he carried on an active guerilla campaign before being run to earth by Desaix in late 1799.
Syrian Campaign Early in 1799 Napoleon decided to invade Syria (included modern day Palestine, Jordan and Isreal) to counter an anticipated Ottoman attack on Egypt with an army of 13,000 men.
The fortress at El Arish was captured on 20 February followed by Jaffa on 7 March. Several thousand prisoners were executed outside Jaffa. The bubonic plague infested the army at this stage causing great damage to the capacity and morale of the army. On 17 March the French occupied Haifa, however, the next day the British fleet under Sir Sidney Smith captured Napoleon’s siege guns.
Next stop was Acre defended by the Ottoman governor Ahmed Pasha el-Djezzar (known as the ‘Butcher’) supported by Sir Sidney Smith who improved the natural defences of the city that stood on a peninsular. With no siege guns Napoleon had to rely on field guns and mines. After partial breaches he organised nine major assaults between 28 March and 10 May 1799 without success.
With the failure of the the final assault and news of a planned invasion of Egypt from Rhodes, Napoleon withdrew from Acre on 14 May. After a grinding march back across the Sinai Desert he arrived back in Cairo on 14 June. The campaign cost the French 4,500 casualties from action or disease.
Mount Tabor 15/16 April 1799 During the siege of Acre Djezzar appealed for support from the Ottoman governors of Aleppo and Damascus. In April the Pasha of Damascus responded with an army of 30,000 men joined by more than 7,000 mountain men from Nablus and Arab volunteers. Napoleon with his forces committeed to the siege and other garrisons had only a fraction of this number to counter the relief army.
One of his columns was commanded by General Kleber who arrived at Nazareth on 15 April. He received intelligence that the Army of Damascus was encamped below Mount Tabor and marched to meet them. Kleber wanted a chance to make a name for himself and advised Napoleon of his plan too late to be refused. Kleber’s division of some 2000 men arrived too late for his planned surprise attack and instead found themselves surrounded by 10,000 infantry and 25,000 cavalry including the Mamelukes who had fled Egypt with Ibrahim Bey. They fiercely resisted attacks on their two squares but the situation was desperate.
Meanwhile Napoleon judged that Kleber had taken on too much so marched to his relief. Forming into three squares he swept through the Ottoman camp causing panic. At this moment Kleber counterattacked and the Army of Damascus fled.
The Armies The French Army of the Orient was organised as the standard revolutionary army with infantry in 15 Demi-Brigades of around 1700 men supported by two regiments of light cavalry and five of Dragoons. Artillery included a siege train, 72 field guns and 24 howitzers. On embarkation the army was equipped in the uniforms of the period but conditions in Egypt soon forced changes. These included a black leather peaked cap for the infantry called the "petits-casquettes" together with lightweight cotton or linen tunics. These changes were confirmed in the Kleber Ordance of 1799 that resulted in a variety of colourful uniforms. Specialist units included the Regiment de Dromedaires and locally raised forces from the Greek and Coptic communities together with some Mamelukes and even Janissaries.
The chief opponents of the French were the Mamelukes. These included the flamboyant Mameluke horse, together with local Ottoman forces including Janissaries and Sipahis. They would be supported by Bedouin Arabs from the desert tribes and mobs of fellahin some armed with little more than clubs. Ottoman invasion forces included the usual Sipahis horse and Janissaries together with Albanian and Moroccan infantry. The Wargame The wargame figures in this display game are 28mm figures mostly from the Old Glory and Dixon ranges. Other figures are from Trent Miniatures and a new range from Britannia. The rules are Principles of War. We use the brigade scale in the Napoleonic version for the larger battles such as the Pyramids. For smaller actions each unit becomes a battalion or even a company.
Further Reading The two must have titles both for the narrative and Bob Marrion's wonderful colour plates is Charles Grant's two volume Napoleon's Campaign in Egypt. There are a number of useful Ospreys including: Napoleon's Egyptian Campaigns 1798-1801 MAA 79 French Soldier in Egypt 1798 - 1801 Warrior 77 Armies of the Ottoman Empire 1775 - 1820 MAA 314 For a history of the campaign there is the recently published Napoleon in Egypt by Paul Strathern, and for the Syrian campaign, Nathan Schur's Napoleon in the Holy Land. Plus the story of the French officer Captain Moiret in Memoirs of Napoleon's Egyptian Expedition 1798-1801. |
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