Tony Barton作品：阿特金斯在埃及，1801年 / Thomas Atkins in Egypt

xjjiaoshou · 发表于 2017-12-3 17:18

本帖最后由 xjjiaoshou 于 2017-12-3 17:22 编辑

Thomas Atkins in Egypt,1801.

58th Regiment in Egypt.

Bonaparte’s adventure in The Orient in 1799, invading Egypt , beating the ruling Mamelukes, then getting bogged down trying to maintain his grip on the country, was glamourised at the time by the European press, and by later French painters. The British saw it as a real threat to their Indian possessions , and mobilised an Expeditionary Force from Britain and India to counter it.
By the time they arrived, Boney had left , leaving his sickly army to rot, something that became a bit of a habit...
The French army were not finished yet, and staged a very tough resistance to the landing at Aboukir Bay, and thereafter in three more battles, before admitting defeat and capitulating on terms .They were repatriated by the Royal Navy, who under Nelson had earlier destroyed their own fleet.

The 58th ( Rutland) Regiment had an active role during the Battle of Alexandria, which took place in the pre-dawn amongst the ruins of Heliopolis, on a narrow spit of land with the sea on one side and a lake on the other. The 58th were the right flank unit, on the seashore next to the 28th ( who famously won their back badge when attacked in front by infantry and behind by cavalry ) , and were heavily engaged in repulsing the French attacks, which came on in deep columns which were defeated by the massed firepower of the British two-deep Line .

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