In March 1798, Bonaparte proposed an expedition to seize Egypt, then a province of the Ottoman Empire, seeking to protect French trade interests and undermine Britain's access to India. The Directory, although troubled by the scope and cost of the enterprise, readily agreed to the plan in order to remove the popular general from the center of power. Bonaparte's expedition seized Malta from the Knights of Saint John on June 9 and then landed successfully at Alexandria on July 1, eluding pursuit by the Royal Navy. After landing on the coast of Egypt, the first battle to take place was against the Mamelukes, an old power in the Middle East, approximately 4 miles from the pyramids. This battle would wipe out their power altogether. Napoleon's forces were greatly outnumbered by the advanced cavalry, about 25,000 to 100,000, and the battle was quick. Napoleon came out on top, mainly due to his strategy; men formed hollow squares, each side facing out. This made it possible to keep cannons and supplies safely on the inside, while the soldiers could fire in every direction on the outside. This made a very strong defense, but left it possible for many soldiers to escape to fight again. In all only 300 French were killed, while approximately 6,000 native Egyptians were killed. While the battle on land was a resounding victory for the French, the British navy managed to compensate at sea. The ships that had dropped off Napoleon and his army had sailed back to France, but a fleet of battleships that had come with them stayed and supported the army along the coast. On August 1, The British fleet found these battleships anchored in a strong defensive position in the bay of Abukir. The French believed that they were open to attack only on one side, the other side being protected by the shore. However, the arriving British fleet under Horatio Nelson managed to slip half of their ships in between the land and the French line, thus attacking from both sides. All but two of the French vessels were captured or destroyed. Only the Guillaume Tell with rear admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve and the Généreux escaped. The Guillaume Tell was caught not much later in the course of the British conquest of Malta. Many blame the French loss in this Battle of the Nile on the French admiral Francois-Paul Brueys, who came up with the failed defensive strategy. However, the French ships were also undermanned and the troops were “young and insubordinate”. In all, about 250 British and 1,700 French were killed. Bonaparte became land-bound. In early 1799 he led the army into the Ottoman province of Syria, now modern Israel, and defeated numerically superior Ottoman forces in several battles, but his army was weakened by disease and poor supplies. He was unable to reduce the fortress of Acre, and was forced to retreat to Egypt in May. On 25 July, he defeated an Ottoman amphibious invasion at Abukir. Eventually Bonaparte was forced to withdraw from Egypt in 1799, leaving his troops behind, under constant British and Ottoman attacks. The remaining troops eventually surrendered to British forces but not before one out of every three men had died.