GREAT CAVALRY CHARGES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2274, 7 October 1914, Page 6

GREAT CAVALRY CHARGES

IN NAPOLEONIC WARS

HOW THE MAMALUKES WERE BEATEN

(By E. George Marks.)

During the present tremendous conflict in Europe we have heard much of tho Uhlans (.the Prussian light Hussar). Charges of cavalry in war never fail to excite the imagination. Tho Napoleonic wars furnish some of the most famous cavalry onslaughts ever made, ending with the great, charge of the Cuirassiers (the dashing mailed horsemen of France) on tho plains of Waterloo. .

When , Napoleon invaded Egypt in 179U with his victorious army of Italy lie was confronted with the most magnificent array of horsemen who ever appeared on the field of battle. These were the far-famed Mamalukes, who had never moved, but in the path, of victory, till they met the legions of Napoleon. Mounted on tho swiftest Arabian chargers, in squadrons of jet black and pure white, they swept down upon their foes with fiend-like ferocity, their sabres flashing in the sunlight, and rending the air with the most wierd yells. Before Napoleon had invaded Egypt ho had read and studied much of the tactics of the Mainaluke horsemen, in battle. They laid claim to invincibility, and they were burning with eagerness to drive Napoleon's army into the sea. Fortress of Bayonets. On the morning of July 21, 1799, Napoleon halted his army' within sight of the Pyramids. The whole army gazed, awe-stricken, upon these monuments oi antiquity. "Soldiers of France," said Napoleon as he rode along the ranks, "from those summits forty centuries contemplate your actions!" Ho called his staff ■ together, including Murat;_ Berhtier, Kleber, Besseries, Dessaix, and Junot, and said: "These Mamalukes are tho best horsemen in tho world; they are -fed on fanaticism; they claim to have never been beaten. But we. must not only beat them, we must Annihilate them. To ineet a novel foe, we must resort to novel methods. . I will dispose of my ; troops in five squares.' The sides of each squai;e will be composed of six men deep. I will place- the artillery at the angles. AYithin the squares, I will place grenadier companies' in platoons to support the. points of attack. These squares must -.be 'moving masses, and when on the march must all face in one direction, two sides marching in flank. When the Mamalukes charge, the squares must immediately halt, and it will then.be fronted on every side—the outermost rank kneeling, that those behind may shoot.over their heads; the squares will thus present a living fortress of bristling bayonets." The entire stall thought tho proposed formation brilliant, and tho army was thuS drawn up. Tho wholo plain before them, at the base of the Pyramids, was an army of turbaned soldiers, led' by tei> thousand horsemen in the utmost splendour of barbaric chivalry, with plumes and arms of ■ burnished steel and Kold.

Mourad Bey, a soldier of great daring and resource, led tho Mnnialukcs in the attack. As this avalanche of horsemen thundered over league after leaguo of 'ground, NapoloSn with his cavalry lead«r, Murat, watched evory . movement from tho reserves to the rear of the tfrench fortress of bayonets. The inntnent the Mamalukes arrived within gunshot tho .artillery at the. angles ploughed their ranks, and platoons of musketry, volley after volley, swept into their faces a pitiless tempest of destruction. Horses and riders rolled over, each other by hundreds. They were trampled and. crushed by tho iron hoofs of tho thousands of frantic steeds, en-. ycloped in dust.and smoke, composing the fast and Isarbaric squadron?. But the bristling squares of Napoleon's army stood as firm as tho Pyramids at whoso base they fought. Tho Mamalukes fenzied with disappointment, wheeled their horses round, and reined them back upon the ranks, that thnv must kick their way into the French squares. Hundreds of the wounded Mamalukes crawled along the ■ ground, and with their scimitars cut off tho legs of the French soldiers. At last the. Mamalukos lost all order and formation, and Napoleon, now, in his turn, ordered the cavalry of Murat to charge. Hβ charged with unexampled impetuosity, and thousands of tho Mamalukes were driven into the Nile. The renowned, Mainaluke horsemen were beaten, but Napoleon was greatly impressed with their fanatical courage and dash. "Could I havo united the Mamaluke horse to the French infantry," he said many years after" the Battle of the Pyramids, "I should have reckoned , myself master of the world!"

. When Napoleon -roturned to Paris in 1800: he brought with him the famous snow whito Arab charger with which Mourad Bey led the charge of tho Mamn.lukes. This charger crossed the.Alps with 'Napoleono's army, and was ridden by him at the Battle of Marengo. The beautiful animal thereafter was known a.3 Marengo, and carried Napoleon to victory on many of the great battlefields: of Europe. ' , ■ At Waterloo. Tho British infantry really heat Napoleon at Waterloo; still the British cavalry fought superbly, defeating the far-famed Cuirassiers of Franco, lad on by the redoubtable Marshal Kellerman. These mailed horsemen of France had cut'their cue through the Austrians, Prussians, and Riissians in many a hard-fonght field, and they charger] the British cavalry with all tho impetuosity of gallant hr/rsemon. Tho charge was a little to tho left of tho Cbarleroi Road. Picture- to' yourself squadron after squadron of madly careering horsemen, in burnished coats of mail, rising above the brow and crowing tho'summit of the ridge. Now observe tho British, with thunderous chews, dashing to meet the mail-clad warriors-. Tho Scots Groys haVo engaged the doxtcrous Cuirassiers; tlio Lisht Dragoons are in support; and other British squadrons are weeping to. the combat with the swiftnoss of the tempest. The artillery duel momentarily ceases, and tho,British and French infantry pause- to snatch a glimpso at the death-dealing struggle of tho mounted gallants of two of tho world's proudest°natiom. Napoltono's ovo is ioilowing every movement of his beloved mailed horsemen, and Wellington's confidence soars to tho highest pilch as ho percieves the magnificent chargers of the Cuirassiers, in tens and twenties, reel and stagger to the earth. , But tho valour of the dismounted French horsemen will not allow them, to yield, and they fight on, only to be ridden over, by tho oncoming squadrons of tlifl British cavalry. In an instant tho Cuirassiers re-form; I ,charge; reform; and charge again. Then tho lino of glittering splendour bends, and finally breaks asunder into fragments. Tlie artillery duel of <tho_ main armies lias been renewed; the infantry gazo no longer on the fight of the horsemen on the ridge; tho Cuirassiers, as if by a miracle, are to bo no longer seen; •they have been swept from off. tho crest, and now in occupation are the prancing charges of the Scots Greys and Ponsonby's Dragoons. Only J moment before tho Cuirassiers, on crowing the ridgf, lustily shoutod , '"Vive I'Emporourl" Now, the welkin rings with British cheers. Tho far-famed Cuirassiers have at last, on tho plains ~* .Waterloo- iiet their inatoli,