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The Islamic Crescent
Danish faces were grim in Copenhagen.
From the west, the King of the Danes was facing a surging Almohad wave, which had crushed Iberia, France and Italy. From the east, the Turks had been reliable allies for 100 years, but they had swept away the buffer states of Byzantium, Novgorod, Poland, Hungary and Italy, and now abutted the rich Danish homeland.
What was to become of Denmark? The Almohads declared war with its attack on the Danish trading fleet, sinking several squadrons. The time had come for hard war to be waged by the Danish king.
Rather than wait for the Almohads to bring war to the rich, Danish homeland, the decision was made to invade Almohad held Ile de France.
The Danish field army was arrayed for battle against the Almohad foe as cold spring rains buffeted the army of the Danish king. The sight of North African camels unnerved the Danish horse, both light and heavy. Defeat would mean that the road to Flanders and Saxony – key linchpins in the Danish network of defenses – would be threatened.
The Almohad field army, consisting of some 4,000 effectives, relied on its excellent urban militia, muwahid spears, and murabitin javelinmen as its core infantry, while Berber camels, Saharan horsemen, and ghulam cavalry were the mounted arm of the Almohad military. It had a small number of archers.
The Danish army was 1,300 and was comprised of a well-balanced force of armoured infantry, polearms, Swiss pikes, arbalests and light and heavy cavalry. The Danish army was much smaller but of higher quality than that of the infidel opponent.
After prayers to God and exhortations to unit commanders to bring glory or death, the battle opened.
The enemy deployed his infantry in a wooded area, unsuitable for the Danish cavalry to run them down, and offering shelter from the Danish superiority in missile troops. Nonetheless, the entire Almohad cavalry wing was arrayed in a grassy field opposite the Danish army’s left wing. The Almohad cavalry was taunting the Danish cavalry, daring it to a reckless advance so the infantry concealed in the trees could threaten the Danish rear.
The opening skirmish saw the Danes advance to a position from where they could safely pelt the enemy cavalry with arbalest bolts. The Danish polearms and pikes were immediately behind the arbalesters, bolstering their confidence against an Almohad cavalry attack. The Danish right wing infantry deployed as a screen against the Almohad infantry n the trees. The heavy cavalry was positioned on the Danish left, to have better access to the grassy field. The Danish light cavalry was positioned behind the infantry screen on the Danish right flank.
As the Danish missiles took their bloody toll, the Almohad cavalry began advancing at a trot, preparing to charge into the Danish arbalesters. Nonetheless, the Almohad charge faltered before contact with the Danish line, even as they were brutally peppered by the doughty Danish arbalesters. Twenty yards shy of Danish lines, the Almohad advance halted. They did not know it at the time, but that exact position was the high tide of the Almohad advance into Danish Europe. They would proceed no further.
The Danish halberdiers and pikemen advanced to meet the confused enemy cavalry. Their polished armor gleaming in the sun, the wicked halberds were proof of their readiness to deal death to yet another adversary. The infantry slammed into the depleted ranks of the Almohad cavalry. The iron breastplates of the Swiss pikemen, dented by years of blows to experienced warriors, nonetheless advanced slowly, inexorably, like some wall which moved forward, grinding underfoot dead and injured enemy. The Almohad general was carved up by the polearms and entire units of cavalry were butchered until the survivors fled the field.
Simultaneously, the Almohad infantry began moving in the trees. The Danish arbalesters wheeled to the right and the lead unit of spearmen were subjected to the concentrated fire of 4 squads of arbalesters.
The chivalrous swordsmen and spearmen of the Danish infantry prepared to receive the Almohad infantry charge. The halberdiers and pikemen were recalled from the useless pursuit of the fleeing cavalry and prepared to act as the hammer on the infantry anvil. This was a reversal of the typical roles, but in battle, position and deployment is destiny. The slow-moving haberdiers would have to act as the shock force attacking the Almohad flank.
The Danish heavy cavalry advanced into the field emptied by the Almohad cavalry, both to be further forward for the expected Almohad flight. Similarly, the light cavalry was ordered to advance on the Danish right wing, to be in position to slay any routing enemy.
The Almohad charge surged into the Danish infantrymen, who held fast. The Almohad assault foundered on the iron-chested Danish sergeants. Their advance was noble but fruitless, and they were slain by the assault of the Danes. Then they broke and ran.
The Danish general saw the unfolding destruction of the enemy he had once feared and displayed the overconfidence that is so ruinous of man. The cavalry was ordered to charge the enemy infantry, and to spare no prisoners save nobles.
Through the woods, the heavy knights and lightly armed stepped cavalry charged and destroyed fleeing enemy units. Even the arbalesters, ordered to mass their fire on a single unit of enemy spears, trotted through the forest, still chasing that fleeing unit of enemy spears.
Then, disaster. Almohad reinforcements began streaming from the woods into the area where the arbalesters were advancing, far from heavy infantry or cavalry support. The arbalesters were ordered to withdraw back to the position of the Danish general, who was surrounded by his halberds and pikes.
The Danish general signaled the light cavalry, recruits from the wind-swept steppes of Central Asia, to attack. The heavy cavalry was out of position and the infantry too far away.
In camp, the light and heavy cavalry keep to themselves; they are both brothers and competitors. The lights know that their role is to strike down fleeing enemy, whereas the heavy knights bear the burden of bringing hard war to the enemy in glorious cavalry charges. This day, the light cavalry would earn the respect of the entire Danish army, for they saved the arbalesters from certain slaughter.
The steppe lights charged and so shielded the retreating arbalesters from the third Almohad assault. While the full-speed charge was magnificent, it was not war. The steppe cavalry charged directly into Almohad muwahid spear units. The light cavalry was sacrificed in a slaughter to protect the slower, lighter units. They fled towards the Danish rear after their purpose was served, and suffered very heavy casualties.
The arbalesters reached the safety of Danish lines, behind the Danish polearms and Swiss pikes, just as the Almohad wave was cresting. The Almohad assault shattered the Danish halberdiers, who fled. The heavy knights and infantry, recalled but not yet back into position, were unavailable to deal with this new crisis.
The Swiss pikemen alone held off five enemy infantry squadrons. Slowly, the Swiss were reduced, as the arbalesters maneuvered themselves to the Almohad flanks so that they could safely offer a missile barrage without striking the Danish/Swiss pikemen.
This combination exacted a terrible toll in infidel blood, but the Swiss pikemen were beginning to waver. How to bolster the Danish lines, as Almohad superiority in numbers wrapped itself around the flanks of the Swiss?
Once again, the Danish general turned to the light cavalry. The steppe cavalry, having recovered its nerve after its last charge, sat exhausted and bloodied, having lost over half of their effective strength. Nonetheless, the light cavalry rallied strength for a charge. The charge of the light steppes was not thunderous, nor glorious. But it was effective, and offered the Danish general what he needed then. The charge took pressure of the left flank of the Swiss pikemen and caused a number of Almohad infantry to flee.
Finally, the massed heavy knights arrived to attack the Almohad rear. Like some iron wall bristling with pointed steel tips, the knights put to flight the remainder of the Almohad army.
Even so, the Danish general, now chastened by his near failure, declined to pursue, as his units had held through several heavy assaults. Plus, all Danish cavalry was exhausted or decimated.
The Danes formed up behind the arbalesters and began replacing some units with fresh ones – a much more cautious, prudential and safe approach rather than chasing through the woods to slay a few more enemy infantry. This play for time permitted fresh halberds and steppe cavalry to be deployed from the reserve squadron.
The arbalesters proved their mastery of Almohad ranged units. Several units of archers tried to entice the Danish infantry to attack, but instead they were pincushions for Danish bolts. As the Danish defense held fast, Almohad infantry began massing for a fourth assault.
When this final assault came, the Swiss pikemen, heroes of earlier engagements, fled, almost at first contact. They had simply lost too many men. Nonetheless, the Almohad assault was stymied by the stout Danish defense. The fleeing Almohads were cut down in their hundreds by the fresh steppe cavalry.
And the Danish general had learned a valuable lesson about caution.
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Great story Mbrasher behind the Byz and, HRE the Danes are my favorite faction.
Welcome to the forums http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...cons/smile.gif
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Great story, mbrasher1,
keep slaughtering the infidel Almohads http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...s/bigthumb.gif If you write something that you think high of, you just might send it over here You certainly have talent
Oh, and welcome to the Org http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...icons/wave.gif
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*bows*
Truely enjoyable reading thanks to you mbrasher1 http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...cons/smile.gif. Keep us updated on the war with the Almos.
*bows*
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Very impressive writeup Kept my interest and thats quite an achievment more
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Very well done. Reminds me of reading Jordan and his big battles with aiel. Excellent work.
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May the Great Axe of the Danish Huscarles cleave the infidels shields all the way to their homes. Gooo Vikings http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...icons/cool.gif
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