The Adventures of Henri Bonhomme - Prequel 1

Henri Bonhomme was finding his posting rather tedious. Since landing in Egypt on 1 July 1798 he had seen little action. While Bonaparte had taken Alexandria his battalion has been assigned to guard the trains. Then as the main army marched across the desert on Cairo, gaining laurels at the Battle of the Pyramids, he had remained in garrison at Alexandria for nine months before being sent to the Nile in April 1799. 

Here the French established a garrison in an old Ottoman fort about two miles north-east of the port of Rashid, or Rosetta as the French called it. Renamed Fort Julien the fort was a terrible mosquito ridden place, but it was better than the squalor of Rosetta. There was no social life, but the redeeming feature was that since it had been set up as a supply base a good supply of wine could be found there. 

The constant threat of  raids by the mamluks and the fear that the Royal Navy could sail up the Nile meant that fort needed to be strengthened and better armed. Colonel d'Hartpoul had been assigned as the chief engineer charged with making the improvements and he seconded Bonhomme's Second battalion, 6lst Demi-brigade to assist. 

With the annual inundation well under way the country around Fort Julien was lush and the malmuks became bolder, raiding farms to deny the French access to grain. On 13 July a body of malmuks raided within a kilometre of the fort and were chased by a squadron of dragoons. However, the dragoons quickly found themselves outnumbered and fell back in haste to a small village near where Bonhomme's battalion was working.

The infantry quickly dropped their tools, grabbed their weapons and fell in. The chasseur company began sniping at the mamluks while the remainder of the battalion formed square. Bonhomme took position in the centre. 

The malmuks closed in at frightening speed, but Bonhomme ordered the battalion to hold fire. 

When they came within 60 metres he yelled, "leading face, front rank...FIRE!" The front rank of company that formed the lead face of the square fired and many of the horsemen fell, but still they came on. He ordered the second rank to fire. Still more mamluks fell but they still came on. At 30 metres he ordered the third rank to fire. 

Less than a third of the mamluks remained alive and their horses shied away from the wall of bayonets. Those riders drifted  past the sides of the square that now fired independently. Bonhomme thought that they looked fabulous, dressed in silk with gold and silver ornaments, and mounted on magnificent steeds. Some fired pistols, each man seemed to carry several, while others tried to strike with swords and lances. He saw one huge man dressed in yellow silk and an absurdly tall hat swing a vicious looking mace at the bayonets, but received a musket shot in the face for his effort. 

Another drew a blunderbuss that was slung across his back and fired it at blank range killing a young soldier in the third rank before a half dozen bayonets brought about his end.

Soon there were just a few dozen shocked riders left, milling around not knowing where to go. Bonhomme ordered the  dragoons to chase them off. Only a few riders managed to escape with their lives.

When it was over it was an awful sight. Dozens of men and horses lay dead or dying in front of the square. Little quarter was given. Many of the French helped themselves to the possessions of the dead - weapons, gold and silver trinkets, and the occasional purse of coins. Bonhomme secured a beautiful curved sword with deep engraving on the blade and a large jewel on the hilt. His time in Egypt had stirred an interest in collecting interesting, and sometimes valuable, items and this seemed to fit both criteria.

The loss to the infantry was slight, just two killed and three wounded and with the crisis passed the men returned to their work. With little interest in the task Bonhomme headed back towards his tent with his newly acquired sword to enjoy the bottle of Bordeaux he had won at cards the night before.  As he passed one group of men attempting to demolish an old wall saw a man fall and cry out. 

The man had stood on a loose stone that had given way and he fell into a cavity beneath. By the time Bonhomme reached the place the man had been extracted and although bruised was not seriously injured. He looked into the darkness of the cavity and it seemed to contain a number of items that might be worthwhile collecting. Unseen by others he secured what appeared to be several pieces of jewellery and a couple of small statues. He crammed them into his jacket as best he could and ordered the men to move some more stones so that he could have a better look. This could be one of those tombs of the ancients he had heard about.

As the men worked to open the cavity more Lieutenant Bouchard from the second company came by.

"That darker stone there, sir, the black one...is very different. It seems to have some fine writing on it," he said.

Bonhomme thought, "interfering little..." then said sarcastically, " it's probably just sign saying 'keep out' or something".

"I don't think so," Bouchard insisted, not picking the sarcasm. "It is very different to any other writing we have seen. I think I can see some Greek there."

Bonhomne was becoming irritated with Bouchard. One of the negatives of the Revolution and this "Enlightenment" nonsense is that anyone, like Bouchard, who could read could pick up some volumes in the libraries of former aristocracy, see some Greek characters and suddenly become an expert in all things Greek. Bonhomme was about to find an assignment for him when the lieutenant called out to Colonel d'Hartpoul who was nearby. D'Hartpoul came across at once and quickly agreed that this was different and sent for General Menou who was a short distance away on a tour of inspection of the construction.

"Damn it!" Bonhomme thought as he looked down into the hole and was sure he could see more items of interest in there.

About half an hour later Menou arrived accompanied by a savant, a technical expert from what Bonaparte called the Commission des Sciences et des Arts. The savant was immediately excited about the find, particularly the dark stone that Bouchard had identified. 

Menou ordered that the site was to be secured and he put the  pompous Bouchard in charge with orders to shoot anyone other than the savants who entered or tried to remove anything. Bonhomme pushed this collected pieces deeper into his pocket, looked into the hole again, then returned to his tent and that bottle of Bordeaux.

He took out the items he found at the fort. They were splendid. The statues were richly decorated in black, gold and reds. There were three pieces of jewellery, two that looked like bracelets and one a neck piece or possibly a head dress. All were gold inlaid with lapis of varying shades of blue. The gold work was fine and clearly very old. He wondered just how old.

For the next three days Bonhomme went down to the site of the 'dig' as the savants called it. He watched these dapper men poking around the hole, then examine and sketch numerous items before packing them carefully into crates. 

Finally they declared the find significant. The stone they said contained Greek text and hieroglyphs and might provide help in translating ancient Egyptian texts. An important cache of valuable ancient artefacts was also found in the hole and recovered, but it was clear that tomb robbers had been though recently as the dust had been disturbed and some items appeared to have been removed. Bouchard was hailed as the discoverer of this important discovery, rather than the poor bugger who had nearly broken his neck stumbling into the hole, and was ordered to escort the collection to Cairo. 

Bonhomme determined to keep his pieces. The statues were a nice addition to his growing collection and he was certain that his sister Marie-Claire would appreciate the jewellery pieces. His problem was how to get them home. Shipping in the Mediterranean was difficult thanks to the Royal Navy. The only communication with France was by the fast cutters that sailed close to the shore at night carrying dispatches. However, for an enterprising man like himself, armed with a few good bottles of wine, getting his parcel on board was not too difficult a task - even if the trip would take two or three weeks.

And so the first items of what promised to be an eclectic collection of artefacts found a new home near Bordeaux

The Savants

When he went to Egypt in 1798 Napoleon developed a fascination with Egyptology. That fascination was sparked and then nurtured by the inclusion in his expedition of a contingent of more than 160 savants or scholars.

Their original purpose was to investigate the practicality of creating a canal to Suez, but during their time in Cairo the savants established the Instiut d'Égypt to spread the Republic's  principle of Enlightenment, improving its agricultural processes and architecture and they studied in depth the fauna, flora and history of Egypt. 

This group of six Savants are joining my French in Egypt army and in the not too distant future will feature in an adventure with a character who has featured on these pages in the past.

Action with the Mamelukes

With the completion of the Ottoman artillery I turned my attention to a game to use them in. From the start of the Ottoman expansion the plan was to base the game around the Battle of the Pyramids where a force of infantry and artillery held a fortified camp around the village of Embarbeh on the West Bank of the Nile, opposite Cairo, while a large force of mounted Mamelukes hurled themselves repeatedly against the French divisional squares. The problem here is that it was a dreadfully one sided affair where the a French lost less than 300 casualties, but inflicted more than 10,000 on the Mamelukes. To do such a game justice I would need a lot more figures and do I really need more than 11 units of Mameluke cavalry. Added to that, the purist in me says that all my French figures are in the colourful Kléber uniforms rather than the Revolutionary uniforms with their bicornes.

So I looked to do something a little different. There is an option to set the game a year after the Battle of the Pyramids, after the Syrian Expedition had returned to Egypt and after Napoleon had returned to France. The Ottoman Army followed the French retreat towards Cairo but the French still managed to beat them almost every time so there would still be a struggle to get a balanced game. Then I had an idea.

At the Siege of Acre, Sidney Smith had provided British support for the Ottomans in the form of the marines and sailors of the ships. This was in the period before Abercrombie landed in Abuqir Bay. What if Smith continued to provide that support and I could bolster the Ottoman force with a brigade sized force of marines and sailors?

So the scenario, played on Sunday, was that the Ottoman forces, together with Smith's small brigade, occupied a critical crossing point on the Nile, cutting the route front Cairo to Alexandria. A force of three infantry brigades (18 battalions) and brigade of cavalry was sent to retake the place.

Opposing them was a mixed force of fifteen units of Mamelukes, six European trained infantry units, one Albanian unit and six units of fellahin. In addition they had three heavy batteries in the fortified camp around the town and three field batteries.

My quick sketch of the battlefield

The Ottoman forces were allowed to deploy anywhere on the table to with in 300mm or one foot of the French table edge. The French were able to march on the table between the two points marked.

The Ottomans took an aggressive stance, placing the fellahin, supported by the three field batteries on the left around a village. The rest of the infantry stood concealed behind the hill near the ruins, and the cavalry all remained behind the hills.

The French  decided to swing to the right, but for some inexplicable reason they chose not to advance in brigade squares, although the terrain made the manoeuvring of such formations. 

Once the fighting started I didn't keep detailed notes of the action, but the general gist is that the French got themselves tied up in the terrain and failed to form their brigade squares. On the left they became obsessed with taking the village and threw attack after attack against it. In the end the fellahin held their position. In the French centre the infantry, failing to form brigade squares, was easily contained and eventually destroyed by the Ottomans. The third brigade was only lightly engaged. The French cavalry waited until quite late to enter the action, but were then outflanked and destroyed by the Mamelukes. Smith with his marines and sailors never moved from the fortified camp.

It was a tough day for the Republic and the remaining troops limped back to Cairo.

And the photos...in no particular order...thank to John (commander of the fellahin) for the bulk of the pictures.

In the Sands of Egypt

Today’s regular Sunday game was set in Egypt in 1801. Having locked the French up in Alexandria, the British forces under Hutchinson have commenced their movement on Cairo. The fortified town of Rahamaniyeh was taken and the army advanced along the fertile edge of the Nile while a flotilla of small boats ferried supplies up river. Near Shubrakhit, some fifty miles north of Cairo,  the Nile bends and a broad island restricts the channel. Here the French have built a redoubt in which they have positioned a battery to dominate the channel. If the advance is to be pressed further the position must be carried. It is known that a significant French force is deployed in support.

The table plan with the Nile off table to the left.  The blue line shows the limits of French deployment. Where the line is on or outside the table edge, it shows a possible point of entry. The red line shows the possible Anglo-Ottoman points of entry.

The French force is made up of three infantry brigades and two cavalry brigades.

Brigade

  • 22e Demi Brigade Légeré (3 Battalions)

  • 75e Demi Brigade (3 Battalions)

  • Light battery

Brigade

  • 4e Demi Brigade Légeré (3 Battalions)

  • 9e Demi Brigade (3 Battalions)

  • Light battery 

Brigade

  • 85e Demi Brigade (3 Battalions)

  • 88e Demi Brigade (3 Battalions)

  • Light battery

Cavalry Brigade

  • 3rd Dragoons

  • 14th Dragoons

  • 7th Hussars

  • One horse battery

Brigade

  • 22nd Chasseurs a Cheval
  • Dromedary Regiment
  • Horse Battery
Unattached Artillery
  • Light battery
  • 3 x field batteries

The British had four infantry brigades and are supported by an Ottoman force of five cavalry and six infantry units.

Moore’s Brigade

  • 23rd Foot
  • 28th Foot
  • 42nd Foot
  • 58th Foot
  • Corsican Rangers
  • One 12lb gun battery
Craddock's Brigade 
  • 8th Foot
  • 13th Foot
  • 18th Foot
  • 90th Foot
  • One 6lb gun battery

Stuart’s Emigré Brigade
  • De Watteville
  • De Rolls
  • Minorca Regiment
  • Dillon’s Regiment
  • One 6lb battery

Guards Brigade – Stuart
  • Coldstream Guards
  • 3rd Guards
  • One 6lb battery
Unattached
  • Hompesch’s Hussars

  • 16th Light Dragoons

  • 2 units Dismounted Light Dragoons
  • 2 12lb artillery batteries

Ottoman Forces

Five units Mamelukes

1 unit Jannisary infantry

1 unit Nazim-i Cedid infantry

1 unit of Albanian infantry

3 units of Ottoman infantry 

How the game ran.

The French chose to deploy one brigade with the reserve artillery in and around the redoubt and the two smaller positions. One infantry brigade, supported by the  chasseurs a cheval and dromedaries, was held off table to the immediate left of the redoubts. The third brigade and the cavalry brigade were held off the table opposite the village. 

The British chose to place Moore’s Brigade opposite the redoubts, with Craddock’s Brigade to their right. The Emigre and Guards Brigades were further to the right. Finally the Ottoman troops held the far right, way out in the desert.

The Ottomans swarmed across the long ridge and occupied the village, blocking the path of the French troops on the far left, preventing them from entering the fight.  Meanwhile opposite the redoubts Moore’s Brigade made slow progress on the fertile land, having to cross numerous irrigation ditches. The Guards moved sluggishly but soon got into a position where they could bring superior numbers against the French left. 

However the failure of the French extreme left to arrive sealed the fate of the rest of the French force as the British lapped around their flanks. 

The initial deployment, with the redoubt left centre. 

The Guards and Emigre brigades prepare to advance

The French right

Above and below, Moore’s Brigade advanced on the British left, with the Highlanders leading, against the redoubt 

The Ottoman cavalry swarm forward

The Hompesch Hussars press forward

Craddock’s Brigade advances

Above and below, the Ottomans swarm around the village

The Ottoman cavalry catch the dromedary troops out of square, and eventually break them

The Chasseurs a Cheval about to break the Ottoman cavalry 

Above and below, Ottoman infantry

The Guards and Emigre Brigades begin their swing against the French left

The British artillery preparing to pound the French in the redoubt

The Navy drags up the guns

The final position around the redoubt…the last two French battalions on the table