Battle of Shubra Khit

Battle of Shubra Khit
Part of the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria of the French Revolutionary Wars
Carle Vernet - Retraite de Mameluck
Date 13 July 1798 Location Shubra Khit, Egypt, Ottoman Empire 31°1′39″N 30°42′46″E / 31.02750°N 30.71278°E / 31.02750; 30.71278 Result French victory
Belligerents
France	Ottoman Empire Eyalet of Egypt
Commanders and leaders
Napoleon Bonaparte Jean-Baptiste Perrée (flotilla)	Murad Bey Nicola (Nile flotilla)
Strength
23,000[1] 3 gunboats 1 xebec 1 galley 25 total armed vessels	16,000 including 6,000 Mamelukes 9 guns Mamluk cavalry Drafted Fellahins Flotilla: 7 gunboats Battery of 9 pounder cannons
Casualties and losses
Napoleon: "400–500 killed or wounded, 3/4 of which sailors" Flotilla (figure provided by Bourienne): 20 killed, several wounded[2] 3 ships lost	Land Forces: 300 killed or wounded 9 guns captured flotilla: 400–500 infantry and crew members 1 gunboat destroyed Numerous ships abandoned and burned next day

The Battle of Shubra Khit, also known as the Battle of Chobrakit, and known among the French as Combat de Chébreïss was among the first major engagement of Napoleon's campaign in Egypt that took place on 13 July 1798. On their march to Cairo, the French army encountered an Ottoman army consisting of Mamluk cavalry and drafted Fellahins under Murad Bey. Napoleon lined his forces up into infantry squares, a tactic which helped repel the Mamluk cavalry, largely due to their inability to penetrate them without suffering severe casualties. A naval battle also occurred, with an Ottoman flotilla being repelled by a French flotilla.^[3]