DEFENCE OF ACRE (1799)
Jaffa stormed by Napoleon--Sir Sidney Smith hurries to Acre--Takes
a convoy--How the French procured cannon-balls--The Turks fear the
mines--A noisy sortie--Fourteen assaults--A Damascus blade--Seventy
shells explode--Napoleon nearly killed--The siege raised--A painful
retreat.
Napoleon Bonaparte had crushed all opposition in Central and Southern
Europe, but there was one Power which foiled him--Great Britain.
The French Government compelled Spain and Holland to join in a naval
war against England, but Jervis and Nelson broke and scattered the
combined fleets.
Bonaparte had conceived a bitter hatred against the only Power which
now defied the might of France, and was causing him “to miss his
destiny.”
“I will conquer Egypt and India; then, attacking Turkey, I will take
Europe in the rear.” So he wrote. In the spring of 1798 he set out for
Egypt, reducing Malta on the way, and just eluding Nelson’s fleet.
He had got as far as Cairo when he heard of Nelson’s victory in Aboukir
Bay, where his French fleet was destroyed.
But Bonaparte, undaunted, pressed on to attack Syria. He stormed Jaffa,
and put the garrison to the sword. Not content with this cruelty, he
marched the townsfolk, to the number of 3,700, into the middle of a
vast square, formed by the French troops. The poor wretches shed no
tears, uttered no cries. Some who were wounded and could not march so
fast as the rest were bayonetted on the way.
The others were halted near a pool of dirty, stagnant water, divided
into small bodies, marched in different directions, and there shot
down. When the French soldiers had exhausted their cartridges, the
sword and bayonet finished the business. Sir Sidney Smith, a Captain
commanding a few ships in the Levant, hearing of these atrocities,
hurried with his ships to St. Jean d’Acre, which lies north of Jaffa,
on the north end of the bay which is protected on the south by the
chalk headland of Carmel, jutting out like our Beachy Head far into the
sea.
Sir Sidney arrived in the _Tigre_ at Acre only two days before
Bonaparte appeared. On the 17th of March he sent the _Tigre’s_ boats
by night to the foot of Mount Carmel, and there they found the French
advanced guard encamped close to the water’s edge. The boats opened
with grape, and the French retired in a hurry up the side of the mount.
The main body of the army, hearing that the sea-road was exposed to
gun-fire from British ships, went round by Nazareth and invested Acre
to the east. A French corvette and nine sail of gun vessels coming
round Mount Carmel, found themselves close to the English fleet, and
seven of them were made prizes, manned from the ships, and employed to
harass the enemy’s posts.
The French trenches were opened on the 20th of March with thirty-two
cannon, but they were deficient in balls. The French General,
Montholon, tells us how they made the English provide them with
cannon-balls. It reminds us of our own plan at Jellalabad. He says that
Napoleon from time to time ordered a few waggons to be driven near the
sea, on sight of which Sir Sidney would send in shore one of his ships
and pour a rolling fire around the waggons. Presently the French troops
would run to the spot, collect all the balls they could find and bring
them in to the Director of Artillery, receiving five sous for each
ball. This they did, while laughter resounded on every side. The French
could afford to be merry. Under Bonaparte they had become the masters
of the greater part of Europe. Nothing seemed impossible to them under
that military genius. Here they were besieging a little trumpery Syrian
town, which they calculated they could take in three days; “for,” said
they, “it is not so strong as Jaffa. Its garrison only amounts to 2,000
or 3,000 men, whereas Jaffa had a garrison of 8,000 Turks.”
On the 25th of March the French had made a breach in the tower which
was considered practicable. A young officer with fifteen sappers and
twenty-five Grenadiers, was ordered to mount to the assault and clear
the tower fort; but a counter-scarp 15 feet high stopped them. Many
were wounded, and they hastily retired. On the 28th a mine was sprung,
and they assaulted again; but “the Turks exerted themselves so far on
this occasion,” writes Sir Sidney, “as to knock the assailants off
their ladders into the ditch, where about forty of their bodies now
lie.” Montholon writes: “The breach was found to be too high by several
feet, and Mailly, an officer of the staff, and others were killed. When
the Turks saw Adjutant Lusigier fixing the ladder, a panic seized them,
and many fled to the port. Even Djezzar, the Governor, had embarked. It
was very unfortunate. That was the day on which the town ought to have
been taken.”
Early in April a sortie took place, in which the British Marines were
to force their way into the French mine, while the Turks attacked
the trenches. The sally took place just before daylight, but the
noise and shouting of the Turks rendered the attempt to surprise the
enemy useless; but they succeeded in destroying part of the mine, at
considerable loss. The Turks brought in above sixty heads, many muskets
and entrenching tools. “We have taught the besiegers,” writes Sir
Sidney, “to respect the enemy they have to deal with, so as to keep at
a greater distance.” On the 1st of May the enemy, after many hours’
heavy cannonade from thirty pieces of artillery brought from Jaffa,
made a fourth attempt to mount the breach, now much widened, but were
repulsed with loss.
“The _Tigre_ moored on one side and the _Theseus_ on the other, flank
the town walls, and the gunboats, launches, etc., flank the enemy’s
trenches, to their great annoyance. Nothing but desperation can induce
them to make the sort of attempts they do to mount the breach under
such a fire as we pour in upon them; and it is impossible to see the
lives, even of our enemies, thus sacrificed, and so much bravery
misapplied, without regret. I must not omit to mention, to the credit
of the Turks, that they fetch gabions, fascines, and other material
which the garrison does not afford from the face of the enemy’s works.”
By the 9th of May the French had on nine several occasions attempted
to storm, but had been beaten back with immense slaughter. On the
fifty-first day of the siege the English had been reinforced by Hassan
Bey with corvettes and transports; but this only made Bonaparte attack
with more ferocity, having protected themselves with sand-bags and
the bodies of their dead built in with them. It was a touch and go
whether the French would not fight their way in. A group of Generals
was assembled on Cœur-de-Lion’s Mount, among whom Napoleon was
distinguishable, as he raised his glasses and gesticulated. At this
critical moment Sir Sidney landed his boats at the mole and took the
crews up to the breach armed with pikes. The enthusiastic gratitude of
the Turks--men, women, and children--at sight of such a reinforcement
is not to be described. The few Turks who were standing their ground
in the breach were flinging heavy stones down on the heads of the
advancing foe, but many of the French mounted to the heap of ruins in
the breach so close that the muzzles of their muskets touched and their
spear-heads locked.
Djezzar Pasha, on hearing that so large a force of the English were
fighting in the breach, left his seat, where, according to Turkish
custom, he was sitting to distribute rewards to such as should bring
him the heads of the enemy, and coming behind our men, the energetic
old man pulled back his English friends with violence, saying, “If any
harm happen to the English, all is lost.”
A sally made by the Turks in another quarter caused the French in the
trenches to uncover themselves above their parapet, so that the fire
from our boats brought down numbers of them. A little before sunset a
massive column came up to the breach with solemn step. By the Pasha’s
orders a good number of the French were let in, and they descended
from the rampart into the Pasha’s garden, where in a very few minutes
their bravest lay headless corpses, the sabre proving more than a match
for the bayonet. The rest, seeing what was done, fled precipitately.
The breach was now practicable for fifty men abreast. “We felt,” says
Sir Sidney, “that we must defend it at all costs, for by this breach
Bonaparte means to march to further conquest, and on the issue of this
conflict depends the conduct of the thousands of spectators who sit on
the surrounding hills, waiting to see which side they shall join.”
With regard to the cutting off of heads by the Turks, one day, when out
riding, Sir Sidney questioned the superior metal of the Damascus blade,
when Djezzar Pasha replied that such a blade would separate the head
from the body of any animal without turning the edge.
“Look!” said the Pasha; “this one I carry about with me never fails. It
has taken off some dozens of heads.”
“Very well, Pasha,” said Sir Sidney. “Could you not give me ocular
proof of the merit of your Damascus, and at the same time of your own
expertness, by slicing off, _en passant_, the head of one of the oxen
we are now approaching?”
“Ah, q’oui, monsieur, c’est déjà fait;” and springing off at a gallop,
he smote a poor ox as it was grazing close to the path, and the head
immediately rolled on the ground. A Damascus sabre regards neither
joints nor bones, but goes slicing through, and you cannot feel any
dint on the edge thereof.
On the 14th of May Sir Sidney writes to his brother: “Our labour is
excessive: many of us have died of fatigue. I am but half dead, and
nearly blinded by sun and sand. Bonaparte brings fresh troops to the
assault two or three times in the night, and so we are obliged to
be always under arms. He has lost the flower of his army in these
desperate attempts to storm, as appears by the certificates of former
services which we find in their pockets. We have been now near two
months constantly under fire and firing. We cannot guard the coast
lower down than Mount Carmel, for the Pasha tells me, if we go away,
the place will fall, so that the French get supplies from Jaffa to the
south. I sent Captain Miller in the _Theseus_ yesterday to chase three
French frigates off Cæsarea; but, alas! seventy shells burst at the
forepart of Captain Miller’s cabin, killing him and thirty-two men,
including some who jumped overboard and were drowned.” The ship got
on fire in five places, but was saved. By the 16th of May Bonaparte
had lost eight Generals and most of his artillerymen--in all upwards
of 4,000 men. The Turks were becoming quite brave and confident. They
boldly rushed in on the assaulting columns, sabre in hand, and cut
them to pieces before they could fire twice. But they were struck with
terror at the thought of the mines which they imagined might blow up
at any time, and could not be forced to remain on the walls or in the
tower. However, the knowledge which the garrison had of the massacre at
Jaffa rendered them desperate in their personal defence.
In the fourteenth assault General Kleber led his victorious troops
to the breach. It was a grand and terrific spectacle. The Grenadiers
rushed forward under a shower of balls. Kleber, with the gait of a
giant, with his thick head of hair and stentorian voice, had taken
his post, sword in hand, on the bank of the breach. The noise of the
cannon, the rage of the soldiers, the yells of the Turks, were all
bewildering and awful.
General Bonaparte, standing on the battery of the breach, looking
rather paler than usual, was following the progress of the assault
through his glass, when a ball passed above his head; but he would not
budge. In vain did Berthier ask him to quit this perilous post--he
received no answer--and two or three officers were killed close to him;
yet he made no sign of moving from the spot. All at once the column of
the besiegers came to a standstill. Bonaparte went further forward, and
then perceived that the ditch was vomiting out flames and smoke. It was
impossible to go on. Kleber, in a great rage, struck his thigh with
his sword and swore. But the General-in-Chief, judging the obstacle to
be insurmountable, gave a gesture and ordered a retreat. After this
failure the French Grenadiers absolutely refused to mount the breach
any more over the putrid bodies of their unburied companions. Bonaparte
for once seems to have lost his judgment, first by sacrificing so many
of his best men in trying to take a third-rate fort; and, secondly,
because, even if he had succeeded in taking the town, the fire of the
English ships must have driven him out again in a short time.
One last desperate throw was made for success by sending an Arab
dervish with a letter to the Pasha proposing a cessation of arms for
the purpose of burying the dead. During the conference of the English
and Turkish Generals on this subject a volley of shot and shells on a
sudden announced an assault; but the garrison was ready, and all they
did was to increase the numbers of the slain, to the disgrace of the
General who thus disloyally sacrificed them. The game was up after a
siege of sixty days: in the night following the 20th of May the French
army began to retreat. But as they could not carry their guns and
wounded with them, these were hurried to sea without seamen to navigate
the ships, in want of water and food. They steered straight for the
English ships, and claimed and received succour. Their expressions of
gratitude to Sir Sidney were mingled with execrations on their General
for his cruel treatment of them. English boats rowed along the shore
and harassed their march south. The whole track between Acre and Gaza
was strewn with the dead bodies of those who had sunk under fatigue
or from their wounds. At Gaza Bonaparte turned inland, but there he
was much molested by the Arabs. The remnant of a mighty host went on,
creeping towards Egypt in much confusion and disorder.
Sir Sidney Smith had thus defeated the great General of France, who
grudgingly said: “This man has made me miss my destiny.” In the hour
of victory Sir Sidney was generous and humane, for he had a good
heart, good humour, and much pity. Nor did he forget the Giver of all
victory, as the following extract from a letter testifies:
“_Nazareth, 1799._--I am just returned from the Cave of the
Annunciation, where, secretly and alone, I have been returning
thanks to the Almighty for our late wonderful success. Well may we
exclaim, ‘the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the
strong.’--W. S. S.”