The Battle of Shubra Khit (also known as the Battle of Chobrakit) was a battle that took place during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt on July 13, 1798. On their march to Cairo, the French encountered Mameluke cavalry under Murad Bey

Murad Bey

Murad Bey was an Egyptian Mamluk chieftain , cavalry commander and joint ruler of Egypt with Ibrahim Bey. He was of Georgian origin having been born in Tbilisi....

. Napoleon formed his infantry up into squares

Infantry square

An infantry square is a combat formation an infantry unit forms in close order when threatened with cavalry attack.-Very early history:The formation was described by Plutarch and used by the Romans, and was developed from an earlier circular formation...

, which helped defeat the Mameluke cavalry.

Land

To repulse the Mameluke cavalry, which heavily outnumbered the French cavalry, the French formed their divisions up in rectangles. Formed up out of infantry six to ten ranks deep, the rectangles had a small group of cavalry and baggage in the center, with artillery at each corner. For about the first three hours, the Mamelukes circled the rectangles, looking for a place to attack. Then, as the French and Egyptian flotillas off shore met, the Mamelukes attacked. They were immediately stopped by fire from the French artillery and infantry. The Mamelukes regrouped and attacked a different square, but were again stopped by the French artillery and infantry fire. After about an hour of defense, Napoleon ordered his troops to attack to relieve the naval flotilla, pushing the Mamelukes back to the village of Embabeh, where they engaged Napoleon at the Battle of the Pyramids

Battle of the Pyramids

The Battle of the Pyramids, also known as the Battle of Embabeh, was fought on July 21, 1798 between the French army in Egypt under Napoleon Bonaparte, and local Mamluk forces. It occurred during France's Egyptian Campaign and was the battle where Napoleon put into use one of his significant...

. There, Napoleon based his plans on the rectangular formations used at Shubra Khit.

Naval

The flotilla under Captain Perree was attacked by the Mameluke flotilla at about the same time as the land battle began. The Mamelukes, with seven gunboats manned by Greek sailors, attacked the French. Within a short while, two gunboats and the galley had to be abandoned by the French, leaving only the chebek and the third gunboat, both of which were laden with civilians and troops that had abandoned the other ships. These came under attack from the Mameluke flotilla, along with small arms fire and cannons from the shore. However, the Le Cerf managed to score a hit on the Mameluke flagship magazine, which caught fire and blew up the vessel. At about this time the ground forces were about to charge again, but the explosion sent both the flotilla and ground forces in full retreat.