Inside the headquarters tent Berthier led him to the map table where a large, but sparsely detailed, chart was spread out. Berthier pointed the village out to his general. ‘As you can see, El Arish lies astride the route into Syria. We dare not advance and leave such a strong force to threaten our communications. We have to take the fort, sir. There’s no alternative.’
‘But Reynier’s had five days to do the job already.’ Napoleon fumed. ‘What’s holding him up?’
‘He hasn’t been able to get his guns forward, sir.’
‘Why not?’
‘It’s the sand, sir. It’s too soft.The artillery train is struggling to make more than five or six miles a day. And that’s just the field artillery. The siege guns are still here.’
Napoleon thumped his fist on the table. ‘I will not permit this delay! We have to strike at Acre as quickly as possible, before the enemy can react. Before they can land forces near Alexandria.’
‘The guns are being moved up as fast as possible,’ Berthier protested.
‘Well it’s not fast enough!’ Napoleon took a deep breath and calmed his anger before he continued in a more reasonable tone. ‘All right then, Berthier. It’s not Reynier’s fault, it’s the sand. In which case you must make arrangements for the siege guns to be moved up to Syria by sea. Find some ships and we’ll send for them the moment we reach Acre. Meanwhile, we must get the army moving. I’m riding forward to Reynier at once. I want you to give orders to break camp, and bring the rest of the army across the Sinai. Clear?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Then get to work. I’ll see you at El Arish.’
He hurried from the tent, barking an order to the commander of his escort to get the mounted guides back into their saddles. Without waiting for them, he swung himself back on to his horse and spurred it into a gallop. As he raced through the camp Napoleon barely had time to acknowledge the cheers and greetings of the men he passed, but he was glad to see them in high spirits again after the frustration and boredom of the previous months. With the prospect of a campaign before them, and more of the rich pickings from their fallen enemies, the men had recovered their fighting spirit and Napoleon hoped that he could get the offensive moving forward once again while there was time to make the most of their élan.
When the escort caught up with him they rode on through the night, across a moonlit landscape of silky dunes interspersed with rocky massifs. At dawn they caught up with the artillery train, labouring along the route towards El Arish. The wheels of the gun carriages rotated for short distances before sinking into the sand so that the carriages had to be dragged forward. Berthier had been right, Napoleon reflected: this was no terrain for heavy wheeled traffic. He gave orders for the largest-calibre guns to be left behind and all available camels and horses to be harnessed to the mortar batteries and the lightest field pieces, and then drove them forward to join Reynier’s division outside the fort at El Arish.
They arrived late in the afternoon and as they crested the last rise before the village Napoleon saw the fort, a large square constructed from solid-looking masonry. To the left the sea sparkled serenely in the sunlight. Leaving the artillerymen and his escort to haul the mortars into the camp, Napoleon rode ahead to find General Reynier.The division commander was in a small redoubt on a low escarpment beyond the fort.
‘What the hell are you doing up here?’ Napoleon demanded. ‘Your men are facing the wrong way.’
‘No, sir. We were attacked by a relief force yesterday. The advance battalion only just managed to hold them off until I could bring up support. Then the enemy broke and retreated up the coast.’
‘Have you sent any scouts forward to see how far they’ve gone?’
Reynier paused, nervously. ‘No, sir. Not yet.’
‘Why not? If they’ve gone then your men have been sitting on their arses here for two days when they could have been down there assaulting the fort.’
‘We’ve already tried frontal attacks. My men didn’t even get over the wall before they were repulsed. With heavy losses, sir.’
‘I see.’ Napoleon frowned. ‘Right, then, leave a battalion up here, just in case the enemy does come back. Get the rest down to cover the fort and make ready for another assault. Meanwhile, as soon as the mortars are in place, we’ll give those Turks a shelling they won’t forget in a hurry.’
The artillery teams dragged the mortars up to the fortified pits that Reynier’s men had prepared for them. Napoleon joined the crews as they wrestled the awkward timber carriages into place and unloaded the shells and propellent charges. It was hot, exhausting work and the battery was not ready to open fire until late in the evening. There was still plenty of light cast by the moon, and the range had already been calculated by Reynier’s artillery commander, so Napoleon gave the order to start the bombardment. The first mortar fired with a booming thud and the flash from the muzzle briefly illuminated the crew and the surrounding pit in a lurid orange glow, then all eyes snapped forward towards the fort. There was a short delay before the rampart was lit up by a brilliant flash inside the fort and a moment later the crash of the detonation carried across the intervening ground, slightly deadened by the sand.
‘The range is good!’ Napoleon called out. ‘All mortars - open fire!’
The bombardment continued through the night and into the following day in a steady rumble of explosions that soon shrouded the fort in a thick cloud of dust, illuminated from within by the blooms of exploding shells. Hour after hour the bombardment continued and still the garrison showed no sign of surrendering. Napoleon sat on a rock and watched the shelling continue for another night. In between fitful snatches of sleep, he stood up and walked swiftly to and fro behind the battery, fretting about the delay this siege was causing to his advance on Acre.
As the sun rose out of the desert on the following morning, one of the gunners shouted out to Napoleon and pointed towards the fort. The gate had opened and two men made their way outside. The gate was hurriedly closed behind them, just as the last shell to be fired went off a short distance beyond the wall. The two figures threw themselves flat.
‘Cease fire!’ Napoleon bellowed. ‘Cease fire!’
In the silence the two men warily rose to their feet; then there was a glint as one of them raised a trumpet to his lips and blasted out three notes.The other unfurled a small white flag and held it up in clear view as they advanced across the open ground in front of the fort.
Reynier came trotting up to Napoleon with an excited expression. ‘Looks like they have had enough, sir.’
‘Not before time. Those bastards have delayed us enough already. Right, offer them terms. If they surrender the fort they can leave with their weapons, under parole. Tell them they are forbidden from taking up arms against French forces for a year. If they refuse those terms then we will continue the shelling and there will be no prisoners taken when we assault and take the fort. If they agree, get them out of here as quickly as you can, then break camp and continue the advance. Got that?’
‘Yes, sir.’ Reynier saluted and summoned an infantry section to go forward with him to meet the Turkish emissaries. Napoleon turned away and strode swiftly back to the mounted guides who were holding his horse ready. He swung himself into the saddle and turned back down the track towards the rest of the army, still seething at the delay to his plans.
With the removal of the threat to his lines of communication Napoleon led his army north, and into Syria. At once Reynier’s advance guard came up against Turkish cavalry, but as soon as he formed his men into squares the enemy attacked only half-heartedly before withdrawing.The weather was cold and sudden squalls of rain turned the tracks into slippery mud, and it was not until the beginning of March that the first troops moved into position around the port of Jaffa. The town was protected by a decrepit wall, erected long before the days of artillery, and Napoleon was content to use his field guns to breach the walls rather than send for his siege artillery. As the engineers constructed their batteries Napoleon sent an emissary forward to negotiate terms for the surrender.