Siege of El Arish
The Siege of El Arish ended on the 20th of February 1799, when French forces stormed an Ottoman fortress on the edge of the Sinai and captured it after nine days of siege. What began with a force of roughly two thousand soldiers facing a garrison seven times their size became one of the sharper engagements of Napoleon Bonaparte's push through the eastern Mediterranean. How did a numerically inferior French column fight its way through skirmishes, artillery duels, and a pitched battle in a palm forest to crack open a fortress that held more than a thousand defenders? And what happened to the soldiers who surrendered when it was all over?
Jean Reynier led a column of 2,160 soldiers toward the Ottoman fortress of El Arish at the start of 1799. Napoleon had recently put down a revolt against French rule in Egypt, freeing his army to push its offensive deeper into Ottoman territory. The fortress Reynier was marching toward was no small outpost. Mustafa Pasha commanded a garrison of 15,500 soldiers there, a force that outnumbered the approaching French column by a ratio of more than seven to one. Reynier's task was not to wait but to move fast and probe the defenses before the Ottomans could respond.
On the 8th of February 1799, Reynier's troops reached a place called Masoodiah, where French soldiers captured a Mamluk courier. The runner's information was direct: El Arish was firmly in Ottoman hands. Reynier immediately sent a message to Bonaparte asking for reinforcements, then positioned his men on a sand hill near the fortress. Ottoman forces responded by pulling back into a nearby palm forest, where they gathered supplies and dragged twelve cannons into position. After thirty minutes of artillery fire from the Ottoman side, Reynier ordered his troops forward to take the village of El Arish itself. The Ottoman defenders abandoned the village and retreated into the fort; their cavalry withdrew toward Gaza along a road screened by a natural defile. The French captured all twelve cannons. French losses in the skirmish stood at three killed; the Ottomans lost 450 killed and wounded, and 900 more were taken prisoner.
Jean Baptiste Kléber's division arrived at El Arish on the 12th of February 1799 and began the formal siege of the Ottoman fort. Reynier shifted his division into the palm forest near the defile, sealing the gap through which Ottoman cavalry had earlier escaped. Two days later, on the 14th of February, Reynier's forces attacked an Ottoman camp and seized it, suffering 23 casualties in the process. The Ottomans in that engagement lost around 500 killed, and another 900 were taken prisoner. Yet about 1,000 soldiers under Ottoman commander Ibrahim Nizam remained locked inside the fort itself. Reynier established a new camp and began directing siege operations against those walls, while the main French army under Napoleon arrived in El Arish to reinforce the effort.
French commander Louis Caffarelli began engineering work on the 17th of February 1799, directing the preparation of positions from which artillery could bear on the Ottoman fortifications. French guns then opened fire on the walls. On the 20th of February 1799, the assault went in and the French took El Arish. Once inside, they set about repairing the fortifications that had taken damage during the nine days of siege. The French counted 200 killed and 300 wounded across the entire operation. Ottoman losses on the other side of the ledger reached 900 dead and 800 captured.
Of the 800 Ottoman soldiers taken prisoner at El Arish, around 300 chose to switch sides and join the French army when offered the chance. The remaining prisoners were transported to cities in Egypt under French control. A smaller group, numbering about 40 soldiers, managed to escape the French entirely. Those men eventually settled in Great Britain, where sympathetic British military personnel helped them find a new home far from the Sinai.
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Common questions
When did the Siege of El Arish take place?
The Siege of El Arish took place in February 1799, during the French Invasion of Egypt. The siege began around the 12th of February and the fortress fell to French forces on the 20th of February 1799.
Who commanded the French forces at the Siege of El Arish?
The French forces were commanded by Jean Baptiste Kléber and Jean Reynier, operating under the overall authority of Napoleon Bonaparte. Louis Caffarelli led the engineering work that preceded the final assault.
Who commanded the Ottoman forces defending El Arish?
Mustafa Pasha commanded the Ottoman garrison at El Arish, which numbered 15,500 soldiers. Ottoman commander Ibrahim Nizam led approximately 1,000 soldiers who held out inside the fort during the siege.
How large were the forces on each side at the Siege of El Arish?
The French force that initially marched on El Arish numbered 2,160 soldiers under Jean Reynier, later reinforced by Kléber's division and Napoleon's main army. The Ottoman garrison totaled 15,500 soldiers under Mustafa Pasha.
What were the casualties at the Siege of El Arish?
The French lost 200 killed and 300 wounded over the course of the siege. The Ottomans suffered 900 killed and 800 captured, with around 300 of those prisoners choosing to join the French army afterward.
What happened to Ottoman prisoners captured at El Arish?
Around 300 of the 800 Ottoman prisoners switched sides and joined the French army. The remaining prisoners were moved to cities in Egypt under French control. About 40 soldiers who escaped settled in Great Britain with assistance from sympathetic British military personnel.