Battle of Thessalonica plains, December 1178
The Hungarians had been pursuing them into Venetian lands ever since one of the men Adalberth had brought along to the escape from Budapest was spotted while collecting wood in the sparsely covered mountains west of Sofia. Hans had hoped that the Magyars would have stopped at the border not wanting to offend the Venetians, but luck was not with him today, nor any of his men, for they would all have to fight to the last to see the dawn - possibly even in a Hungarian prison camp. There was no route for retreat. They had been surrounded by a host of over a thousand, maybe two thousand Barbarians and he, as the commander, would have to find a way to break through one of these lines. If he was lucky, they'd be able to escape into Byzantine lands. If not, god would have mercy on their souls.
With the sound of hooves and boots approaching, Hans raised his sword to inspire his men.
He even felt that a light hearted joke would raise the poor morale among his entourage that numbered only 25 men and himself.
He was glad that he knew Hungarian tactics from his battle at Budapest and knew it would be bloody. A fact he did not intend to keep from his men.
Hans placed his bodyguard behind a snowy hill, hoping to exhaust the Hungarians as they marched towards him. To his surprise, the enemy lines of crossbows numbering in the thousands ran in front of the main army with a single magyar cavalry regiment leading the charge towards his position. Feeling that this was the time, Hans called for his men to ride proudly into battle and charged the cavalry, hoping it would be a good shield against the enemy crossbows. He was right.
Many of the enemy horses fell as their brethren unleashed a host of bolts that darkened the horizon without regard for their presence. Only few managed to hit Hans' men.
Seeing that several regiments of nobles were approaching from both flanks attempting to encircle him, Hans forced his men backward, breaking from the melee and charging up against the similarly eager nobles. Again, the Hungarians were foolish enough to let their men be caught between him and their own missiles and took heavy losses. Maybe soon they would be able to find a breach in the enemy lines? Hans wondered, but right at this moment the enemy captain approached on his horse attempting to thrust a sword into the absentminded young man. With quick reflexes, Hans managed at the last moment to avert the blade and in turn stab his through the side of the captain, dismounting him. In horror, he noticed that the Hungarians did not break as their commander lay dead.
Without much hope of surviving in his current situation, Hans again forced his men to break from melee and allow him to reassess the situation. His bodyguard was down to some 10 men now and all of them were injured, including him. A few more fell as the Hungarians restlessly pelted them with bolts from afar. Morale was terrible, but Hans knew they would be able to break through the enemy lines soon. With the vigor of youth, he ordered several charges into the enemy infantry in an attempt to break them. His men took heavy losses but ran their lances through over a hundred magyar bodies.
Alas, with one of the spear units routing, Hans finally saw an opportunity to escape from the vast horde of Magyars, but he would have to be quick about it. He had several bolts sticking out of his armour and blood was seeping through, coloring the proud Imperial eagle red. Adalberth was heavily wounded and Hans had to bind him to his own horse while another soldier tried to cover their retreat. That man soon fell, hundreds of arrows and bolts piercing his body, but his death allows Hans and Adalberth to break through the last resistance of the routing spears and escape certain death
Re: Battle reports thread - King of the Romans PBM
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