themselves with daring sprints from their trenches to grab the nearest ball and then hurry back to safety before the Turks could respond with a fusillade of musket fire.A few did not make it, but the steady flow of recovered shot went some way towards supplementing the dwindling supplies in the army’s stores.
The replacement siege guns were landed at Haifa in the middle of April and hauled overland to the siege lines. New, better protected, batteries were constructed on the right flank, and sweating crews manoeuvred the heavy guns into position and brought up the powder and shot ready for the renewed attack on the bastion. They opened fire on the last day of April and Napoleon noted with satisfaction that they were immediately having an effect. Each heavy ball smashed into the city’s defences, dislodging a small fall of masonry. Within a day a practical breach had been opened and the French army prepared itself for another attack.
In those first few days of May the increasingly weary French battalions launched one assault after another, only to be repulsed by the Turkish troops, who fought with a tenacity that the French had not encountered before. There were severe losses on both sides. General Bon was shot dead in the breach as he urged his men forward, and the irrepressible General Lannes was wounded, once again, as he and two companies of grenadiers managed to break into the city, only to discover that Ahmad Pasha’s men had built an inner line of defences.
In the middle of the month Napoleon called his senior officers to a meeting in his tent late in the evening. He watched as they filed in through the flaps and quietly took their seats.The strain and exhaustion of the last sixty days was etched into their faces, and even before he asked them for their views Napoleon knew that the fight had gone out of them and he would have to perform a miracle to persuade them that Acre could be taken. The trouble was, he felt as bitter and tired as they did and he was momentarily tempted to break off the siege and return to Egypt without even asking for their assessment of the army’s chances. Then some inner reserve of determination stirred in him and he resolved to try to persuade them that the fight could yet be won.
‘Gentlemen . . .’ Napoleon smiled faintly. ‘Friends. Berthier tells me that the men are at the end of their endurance, that some of you are openly saying that we cannot take Acre, and that we must retreat. Does any man here wish to say anything?’
Junot stirred uncomfortably. ‘Sir, it’s been two months and we’re no nearer taking Acre than we’ve ever been.’
‘No nearer? I think you seriously underestimate what we have achieved so far. We’ve breached their walls and must have killed thousands of their men. One last—’
‘Sir,’ Lannes interrupted. He wore a bloodstained dressing around his head and looked pained and drawn as he spoke.‘They have built an inner wall. I’ve seen it. We’d have almost as much difficulty overwhelming that as we did the outer wall. And what does it matter how many of them we kill? Yesterday - we all saw it - a flotilla of ships dropped anchor out to sea and they’ve been ferrying in fresh supplies and troops all through the night and the following day. Sir, I’d follow you anywhere, you know I would. But this is a fight we cannot win.’
‘General Lannes is right, sir,’ added Berthier.‘While the enemy can keep being supplied by sea, we are running out of supplies here on land. We’re also running low on ammunition and powder. More worrying still is this morning’s report from Desgenettes. Nearly two and a half thousand of our men are now on the list of sick and wounded. Sir, the army is being bled white by this siege and the assaults we have attempted so far.’ He would have said more, but he caught the wild glint in his commander’s eye and the words died on his lips.
Napoleon stared round the table at his officers. ‘Is there no man here who considers it our duty to continue the fight? Well?’
No one spoke and Napoleon suddenly realised he had lost them. If these men . . . if General Lannes, of all people, had lost faith in victory, then the attempt to take Acre truly was finished. He lowered his head into his hands for a moment and then looked up slowly and nodded.
‘Very well . . . I accept your views. If
Chapter 45
‘
Junot finished reading the proclamation aloud and Napoleon nodded with satisfaction. ‘It strikes a suitably uplifting tone, I think.’
‘Of course, sir,’ Junot agreed in a measured voice. ‘But the fact is that Acre is still in Turkish hands. I wonder if the men will really share your view of our, er, success?’
Napoleon frowned at his subordinate. ‘I’m not a fool, Junot. I know we’ve failed. But I can hardly say that to the men, particularly as we face a hard march back to Egypt. But if they believe that I believe we have achieved something it will put some heart back into them. Got it?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Then have that copied and distributed to the army at once. On your way out, send Dr Desgenettes in.’
Junot saluted and strode through the tent flaps. Napoleon shifted uneasily on his chair.The next interview was going to be a difficult affair but there was no putting the matter off. As soon as the heavy guns had exhausted their ammunition they were to be spiked before the rearguard pulled back, following the rest of the army. Once the French army began to retreat the enemy would close up on them and harass the column all the way back to the fortified depot at Katia.The army would have to march as fast as it could, and that meant some sacrifices would have to be made, Napoleon reflected. He glanced up as a figure entered the tent.
‘You sent for me, sir.’ Dr Desgenettes stood hat in hand before Napoleon’s desk. He looked pale and exhausted and there was several days’ growth of stubble on his face.
‘Yes. Sit down, doctor.’ Napoleon clasped his hands together as he continued. ‘You know that the army is about to break camp?’
Desgenettes nodded. ‘Junot told me about the retreat, yes.’
Napoleon smiled faintly. ‘The correct term is withdrawal, doctor . . .We will be abandoning the heavy guns, and any other burdens that might slow us down, and that’s why I need to speak to you.’
Desgenettes looked confused for a moment before he realised what his commander was implying, and then his expression instantly changed to anger.‘The men in the hospital.You want to leave them behind? Have you any idea what the enemy will do to them, sir?’
‘They could be treated fairly.’
‘After what happened to the prisoners at Jaffa? If we left them to the Turks we’d be committing murder, sir.’
‘Then, if we cannot take them with us, let’s not leave them to the Turks.’
Desgenette’s eyes narrowed. ‘What are you suggesting, sir?’
Napoleon paused, frustrated that the man was forcing him to spell it out. ‘I’m suggesting that for those men who are too sick to move, or who would slow us down, an overdose of opium might be the most humane solution.’
‘You would kill our men?’
‘Not me. You. I want this task carried out by someone who knows what to do.’
‘Sir, I am a doctor - a healer, not a killer.’
‘Is it not the case that a doctor’s duty is to alleviate pain and suffering?’
‘Do not dissemble with me, sir.’ Desgenettes shook his head. ‘I refuse to do it.’
‘It is not a request. It is an order. If you disobey me you will be committing mutiny.’
Desgenettes slapped his chest. ‘Then shoot me! I will not kill our countrymen.’ He paused a moment and looked at Napoleon shrewdly.‘But then I’m forgetting.They’re not your countrymen, sir.’
Napoleon took a sharp intake of breath. ‘How dare you speak to me like that! Doctor, you forget yourself. I am your general and while you wear a uniform you are a soldier first and a doctor second.’
‘My medical oath takes precedence, sir. In any and all circumstances.And you will have to shoot me and my staff before you reach my patients. Then you’ll have to murder them yourselves. I hardly think the rest of the army will approve of such actions, however much they revere General Bonaparte.’
