The Battle of Sousa
After leaving the city of Seleukeia, we did not see any signs of
Mitrozaban or his agents. It may have been that he had invested
so much in his plans in the city that he could not immediately
follow us. More likely was that he remained hidden and continued
to follow us in secret. Once General Antigonos had decided on
moving north, to the city called Sousa, the army marched at a
rapid pace. While on the move, we were marching too quick for
any enemy agents to execute any plans against us.
Even though there were currently no signs of Persian agents, the
general grew ever cautious of his security. Antigonos took much
more interest in our work and would personally question Alys
Iolkios rather than having Captain Damatrios relay the information
to him. General Antigonos grew
Obsessed by Security and was
very
Suspicious of anything out of the normal. He even became
a
Light Sleeper and would often wake in the night prepared to
defend himself. He was not paranoid or imagining things, for there
were truely people seeking to take his life. Now, unlike the previous
years, Antigonos took a personal interest in his own security.
Once we arrived at the Persian city, the matters of security once
again became more critical. When the general was not moving, he
became an easier target for assassins. The general's interest in
his own protection made things easier, for he was more cautious of
his situation at all times. The fact that we had no signs of
Mitrozaban worried me.
The army set up a simple camp and tried to encircle the Persian
city as much as possible. General Antigonos was convinced that
the Persians would come to us and he was right. The garrison
from within the city assembled and marched out of the city to face
us. They had not even waited for many reinforcements to arrive
before doing so.
The small Persian reinforcement army drew our attention while the
garrison prepared for battle. The small force pressed forward.
https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/46/maa4518.png
The Persians attacked the Hellenes and Babylones in the center
of the first infantry line. Once the bulk of the Persian force was
attacking, Antigonos gave the order for the men to break formation
and push the Persians back.
https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/5183/maa4519.png
The Persians in this first army did not hold long after that. They
turned and ran. They had bought enough time for the city garrison
to assemble and they then moved forward and that was their goal.
https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9708/maa4520.png
The garrison forces split themselves into two groups. As the first
group moved towards our army, the second group strangely lined
up in the forest just down the slope from the battlefield.
https://img8.imageshack.us/img8/2448/maa4527.png
At first, the Hellenes in the first line held, but after several cavalry
charges, the Persians began to break a hole in the line. Antigonos
ordered his cavalry to the flanks and the second line to reinforce
the first at the center.
https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/4977/maa4522.png
To the east, the lighter companion horsemen moved up a hill and
managed to outflank the Persian line. At the same time, the heavier
companion cavalry attacked the Persians on the western flank.
https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/6/maa4523.png
The first group of garrison troops were defeated and began to run
from the field. Antigonos ordered the army back into formation and
marched slowly into the forest down the slope. He intended to line
up the troops in the forest and then charge the second group from
the city garrison that had assembled there.
I recall the chaos when the Persians sprung their trap. I was up
the hill with the generals and the royal guards when the fighting
below us grew greatly. The Persians had moved more troops into
the forest than we had expected and managed to ambush the
army while they were still marching.
The army was attacked while marching and out of formation, but
they fought back. The Persian plan was a good one and well done,
but they just didn't seem to have enough men. The units of
Hellenes soon regained their concentration and were able to push
them back.
https://img18.imageshack.us/img18/696/maa4526.png
The Persian did their best and fought to hold the ground. They were
overconfident of their power and fought proudly because they had
elites resting behind their line ready to charge in once the Hellenes
had tired. These elites were taken out of the battle rather quickly
when general Antigonos once again let his presence on the
battlefield be known. He came from behind the Persians and lead
the entire cavalry force in a powerful charge.
https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/771/maa4528.png
Once the elites had fallen, the rest of the Persians soon followed.
The Persian general escaped this battle and returned to the city.
The city did not surrender.
The army collected the dead and tended to the wounded. The
ambush in the forest had cost over a thousand Hellenes their lives,
accounting for about half our losses for this battle. The Persians
had lost almost ten times as many, counting those who were
captured or deserted.
The army went back to the task of the city's siege. General
Antigonos ordered the construction of ditches and pallicades, but
he was truely an
Inferior Engineer and nothing much was
accomplished by the time the Persians had come once again.
Coming up the river valley from the south, another Persian army
approached us. This time it was the personal army of the Persian
king. In the army was not only the king of the Persians but one of
his younger sons. This time, there were not many other Persians
nearby and the king's army would be the only force that would
have to be fought.
The Persians entered the battlefield down a slight slope. Moving up
the old roadway, they came towards the army of Antigonos. When
they drew near, the general gave the order for our archers to fire and
the infantry to prepare for battle.
https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8825/maa4544.png
Once again there was fighting in the forests. The Persian heavy
cavarly, those beasts who were covered entirely in metal, tried to
move up the western side of the battlefield. With the Persian
infantry already fighting with our first line, Antigonos orders some
of the men in the second line to move into the woods. In the
woods, they managed to halt their heavly armored foes.
https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9181/maa4546.png
While the first line held down the bulk of the Persians, Antigonos
lead his own cavlary to the west. Once lined up, they charged into
the forest and joined the battle against the Persian heavy horsemen.
https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2820/maa4547.png
Both cavalry were at a disadvantage in those trees, but the
companions managed to slowy cut through those metaled monsters.
There was battle on the main line, a failed attempt to flank the
Persians on the east, and the massive battle of horsemen in the
forest to the west.
After some time, the Persian cavalry broke from the battle and tried
to get away. I later heard one of the companions saying that this
was due to the king's son being injured. The king's son had been
leading the cavalry but had gotten too close to the fighting and been
stuck by a Hellene's sword. The king tried to take his injured son
from the battlefield but it was too late for him.
The Persian king tried to escape but was caught by the lightly
armored companions. They quickly surrounded the Persian king
and cut through his men.
https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/4202/maa4550.png
Soon the lighter companions were joined by the heavier cavalry who
had fallen behind but had managed to catch up to the fight. The
Persian king was completely surrounded. With nowhere left to flee,
the Persian king was killed. This was a great victory for the
companions and for all peoples living within the Kingdom of the
Hellenes.
https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/3682/maa4552.png
Antigonos had ordered his men to kill the king if they could and they
did. I do not know why they did not capture him. It would have been
easy. I imagine that it due to the fact he was a hated man to the
Hellenes and many wished him dead. His death ended up being a
great victory in this war and a symbol of the Hellenes' success.
The fighting on the line ended soon after the fall of the Persian king.
This battle had been less costly for the army than the last battle. For
the Persians, it had cost them not just an army but a king.
It was only a week or two before a third Persian force attacked us.
This force was large but untrained and poorly equiped. We all
assumed that the battle would be quick and easy, but we were over
confident.
The Persians came at us in a wide line that could easily wrap around
the flanks. Because of this, Antigonos ordered the second line of
Hellenes to guard the flanks. This left the center weak.
https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8141/maa4559.png
While many Persians attacked the center, other Persians predictably
tried to flank the line. The cavalry was ready for this and broke the
flanking group.
https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7098/maa4560.png
As the flankers fled, the cavalry gave chase. It was the same part of
the forest where the Persians had ambushed the army two battles
ago, a few months earlier. They did it once more. Men equiped with
only knives or spears and no armor attacked the heavy companion
cavalry from out of the forest. The companions were overconfident
and held their ground.
The companions fought bravely but many fell. They said it was as if
the Persians would never stop pouring out from those woods. Many
of these men were simple hunters or farmers like I had been when I
first joined the army of Antigonos. Now they were cutting through the
most elite of the Hellene armies with small knives. In the end, the
companions were the better men and the Persian host fled back into
the forest. The fight was extremely costly and the bulk of the
companions lay dead amoungst the trees.
I personally witnessed similar with the infantry battle in the clearing at
the top of the hill. The first wave of Persians had broken and fallen
back, then came a second wave. After some time, it too started to
flee. We were all overconfident and sure of victory. The Hellenes
were permitted to give chase, but a third wave of Persian troops were
ready to fight and had even managed to encourage many of those who
were fleeing to turn and fight once more.
The Hellenes and Babylones had given chase to the Persians in all
directions. They were scattered and unorganized when the third wave
of Persians attacked. The Persians were poorly equiped and trained
but they attacked from all sides with great strength. I watched from
atop the hill as thousands of Hellenes died to lesser men.
General Antigonos personally moved down from the hill and managed
to regroup a section of the line. This section broke the Persians they
were fighting and charged in at the largest of the isolated fights so as
to save their brothers.
https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/6269/maa4563.png
The Hellenes in our army once again regained the advantage. Once
they were reorganized, the Persians were pushed back and defeated.
That untrained Persian army was more successful that the previous
two combined. Even the army of their king had not been as successful.
It may be that they sought revenge for the death of their king and fought
hard. It may just be that we had already begun celebrating and
expected nothing of these men. To me, it seemed that the way the
Persians spread out and surrounded us gave them an advantage over
our solid block of heavily armed men.
When this third army fell, the city of Sousa surrendered and we entered
her gates. The people of the city greeted us warmly. I was surprised to
see so many Hellenes in the city and learn that this city too had once
been part of the Kingdom of the Hellenes. Because of the small
population and friendly greeting, Antigonos ordered the army to hold
their looting to the very minimum.
A month after taking the city, Antigonos moved the army out from the city
to attack a nearby Persian army, but they fled and gave no fight. They
could have given fight for they were about in equal strength to us, but they
had little fight left in them.
Antigonos moved into the old city palace. There, when we first
arrived, he visited the place where one of his ancestors, one of the
kings of the Hellenes, had died. I spent another winter guarding
Antigonos and hunting assassins. There were several locals who
were found to be plotting and they were executed, but we saw no
sign of any professional agents of Persia.
Antigonos received several messages that winter. During the late
summer and early winter, war had broken out in the north, in a
place called Armenia. Two armies of Armenians fought against
the Persians and managed to conquer great streches of this land.
I recall Antigonos breaking his normal stern expression and yelling
something similar to, "They took too long!" The Armenians had
been part of General Antigonos' plan. They were to have begun
their fighting when we first invaded Persian occupied territory. It
had taken them a year longer than expected to get moving and
another year before they had any victories. Antigonos was relieved
to hear they were finally having successes.
Another messenger came up from the south reporting that the
enemy kingdom in Arabia had once again invaded the friendly
kingdom in Arabia. Still Antigonos did nothing.
Many messages were exchanged with Antigonos' generals and
the other armies. The main goal of the war had been achieved
and now Antigonos would have to plan his next move. He called
for reinforcements and ordered another entire army move to the
city of Sousa.
A messenger came form the east reporting that the army of
Aigyptoi and Arabians had pushed all the way to the "Persian
Gates" and set up a camp to defend an important pass. This
meant that we were secure from an attack from the east. The
bulk of the Persian armies had moved to the north by this point
and this defended pass mattered little.
Amoungst all the important messages were letters to his family.
Antigonos would speak and have a servant write most of his
official letters, but the letters to his father and the letters to his
wife he personally wrote. I know nothing of the content of those
letters.
One letter from Hellas was reported proudly to the city. The king
of the Hellenes had concluded that the war had finally shifted power
back into the favor of the Hellenes. I did not know that the Hellenes
were ever the weaker and found it hard to believe that the Hellenes
and the Persians were currently equal in strength.
https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2112/maa4576.jpg
From the time we took the city until spring, we did not see any
Persian armies. We thought it odd that there was no counter-
attack. Many of Antigonos' advisors had said that they expected
to be besieged by spring and we would need to be reinforced to
hold out. The army was constantly prepared for battle, but still
they did not come. It wouldn't be for a year that I learned why. It
seemed the Persians were near to the point of their own civil war.
The king's son, Aram, had expected to be the next king, but his
uncle had gained the title. Aram had moved his army back to their
capital in a show of force. This forced the bulk of the Persians to
also head toward their capital and away from the front.
Several months after the fall of Sousa to the armies of the Arche, Spring 137BC:
https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/496/phasethree.png