Battle Of Nezib
-June 23 1839-
Ever since news of Ottoman occupation of Nezib spread Muhammad Ali sent his eldest son, Ibrahim pasha to retake the territory.
Taking the Ottoman occupation as declaration of war.
Ibrahim pasha, after finally getting close to the enemy camp roughly 3-5 km away he sends out his scouts to gather information on the enemies defense, troops number, and army composition. And after a while, he recieved a report.
"Sir, the enemy seems to have around 55,000-68,000 troops, having somewhere around 160 artillary, 9 divisions of cavalry, and 17 divisions of infantry. With some trenches dug and fortifications constructed here and there. And the terrain that sorrounds them is relatively flat."
"Thank you for your efforts, tell the others there is no need to get too close anymore, just observe from a distance and notify me if there is any troop movement."
"Understood sir."
After the scout leaves Ibrahim contemplates on how to take them on. His own army has 160 artilllary, 8 cavalry divisions, and 14 infantry divisions. All of which had been trained by french officers in modern tactics and organization, And equipped with latest military weapons.
He is confident he can beat the enemy, but he also wants to minimize the losses as much as possible. Training these units and equipping them is a money consuming beast.
After coming up with a battle plan he calls in his officers to explain the battle plan he came up with.
"Alright gentlemen, Here is the situation.
The enemy has almost twice the number of troops then us. Although we are outnumbered it doesn't mean we are at a disadvantage. Our troops quality is far superior then the turks. And to minimize losses here is what we'll do.
We will split the army equally into 4 battalions making it seem like we intend to sorround the them. Forcing them to split their army into 4 as well. Each one will be named battalion 1, 2, 3, and 4.
All the artillary will be given to battalion 3 so that they could defeat thir part of the enemy as fast as possible. Now, here comes the important part. Once the enemy army splits into 4 and engages with our battalions, half the troops from battalion 2 and 4 will be redirected towards battalion 3.
After half the troops from these battalions leave, the rest of the troops will be focused on defense. Holding out until battalion 3 defeats its enemies with the troop numbers being equalised on both sides. After that, with each part of the enemy army defeated the troops freed up can now go support the others. Thus nullifying their numbers advantage and minimizing losses.
After they start retreating the cavalry will be tasked with pursuing them and inflicting as many casualtes as possible.
Any questions?"
The officers, having listened to the plan were impressed, seeing why Muhammad Ali trusted His eldest son to carry out this operation.
"I see no issues."
"Me too, it sounds good."
"Agreed."
"Well then, we will start just after the sun starts rising. While you guys organise the 3 battalions. I'll organize and battalion 3, dismissed"
With that Ibrahim Pasha and the rest of the officers started doing their tasks.
-June 24 1839-
Von Moltke has been in his tent sleeping when all of a sudden he is woken up by the cpmmotion outside. Getting he leaves his teny and sees soldiers getting in formation, Seperated into groups of 4.
Not knowing whats going on he immediatly goes over to Cerkes.
"Can you explain whats going! Why have you seperated the troops into groups of 4?"
"The enemy has decided to engage us in battle, intending to sorround us they seperated into 4 battalions. So I did the same. What difference does it make if we seperated, we'd still outnumber them."
"And why wasn't I informed of this!?"
"Did you forget Moltke? I'm the one in charge here, And I couldn't care less about your "Advice" got it?"
"Do you lack brains?! You are leaving our position to meet the enemy on EVEN grounds! We won't stand a single chance of victory!"
"Oh please, we have more then 2 times their troop number. They won't be able to beat us."
Von Moltke, Not having the energy to be angry responds coldly.
"Hmh. As you wish. Don't forget that the consequences from this battle shall be only your responsability to bear."
"Gladly."
---
With the sun rising and the troops in position ibrahim starts marching his troops to attck the enemy camp from the east.
Whle marching they spot the enemy, as they get closer and closer Ibrahim pasha orders his troops to fire.
"FIRE!"
Immediatly, the sounds of artillary firing and gunshots are heard. Ibrahim, knowing that time is not on their side fires a signal in the sky, immediatly after, 2 more signals are fired as well, indicating that they are on their way.
Ibrahim, being patient orders his troops to be on the defensive. While also concentrating the artillary on bombarding the enemy.
The commander leading the group against Ibrahim realises that something is wrong after some time passes. The situation of the bsttlefield is barely changing with little men dying on either side. And then, he recieved a report.
"SIR! I got urgent news, there are enemy troops coming from 2 directions, we are about to be sorrounded!"
"WHAT!?"
'HOW?! The other battalions got defeated? Damn it! Should we retreat? No, if I retreat now then The punishment from cerkes might be severe, we can still do this!'
"DO NOT RETREAT!"
Aftre shouting the command his troops continue fighting, and when the reinforcments arrived everything changed. With the superior Training and equipment The army led by Ibrahim managed to defeat his part of the enemy. Capturing the commander, inflicting heavy casualties and killing many.
"We can count the bodies later, right now we must go support the other battalions as planned!"
Now, with battalion 3 freed up Ibrahim goes to support Battalion 4 while he orders the reinforcments to support battalion 2.
And so, out numbering and out gunning the enemy they managed to defeat all the enemy battalions, all thats left is the troops led by Cerkes.
---
Cerkes, Noticing that the battle is stretching on gets alarmed suddenly feeling very un-easy. So he orders his troops to mass assault. They all rush towards the enemy, the cavalry trying to flank while the soldiers that got very close take out their bayonets and start killing.
But, before any progress could be made Cerkes gets a notified that... he has been sorrounded. The enemy is coming from all directions.
"No... NO NO NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! WE HAD THE ADVANTAGE! HOW DID THE OTHER BATTALIONS LOSE?!"
he immediatly lost his calm, thinking of fleeing he got on his horse the troops under him realised but it was too late, when he tried to flee his horse got shot and he got thrown off. Then a nearby soldier riding on a horse spotted and captured him, realising that he was the commander by the way he dressed, or someone important.
"Sir, we managed to capture the enemy commander."
"Good, show them to his troops, seeing that even their commander abandoned them they should surrender easily, or at the very least become demoralised."
After the news of their commander trying to defect and then being captured in the process spread, and seeing that they are sorrounded they all surrender. Ending the battle once and for all. Achieving a spectacular victory for Ibrahim Pasha and Egypt as a whole.
Battle Report:
Ibrahim Pashas Army Casualties: 5,688
Enemy casualties 69,772
Captured:24,121