The Battle of Antioch, 1200 AD: The Second and Third Waves
The second army of Egyptians to attack was the smallest of the three and for some reason, it came on alone - not waiting for the other army to provide support.
After the pursuit of the defeated first Egyptian army, Henry and Ulrich re-established their hill top defence.
“Make sure the crossbowmen are in the second line.” Kurt said gently to Horst Mueller, the Teuton, careful that the Kaiser could not hear him.
Kurt watched in quiet satisfaction as once again, Egyptian cavalry broke from the centre to charge the German line. This time the Germans were ready for them and the Egyptians charged straight for a braced line of crusader sergeants.
But on the left, the Egyptian advance was more dangerous as their general charged his escort into Captain Conrad’s turcopoles.
“Damn it, I thought they were supposed to know how to skirmish!” cursed Henry. “Come on lads, let’s help them out!”
After the death of their general, the second wave of Egyptians was quickly despatched. This time, however, the German pursuit had to be called off prematurely as the third and final Egyptian army approached.
Henry looked at the Egyptian deployment - four regiments of Mameluk horse archers were on the right; the infantry and general were on the left. The Egyptians formed up, in a neat, well ordered deployment. And halted.
They know, thought Henry, they know they cannot win. They are not coming. I can’t let them get away - not after all this. This is to be my great victory - I cannot leave it half done.
“Onwards! Germans, onwards!” Henry cried out. “Spears and crossbowmen - make for the horse archers. The rest - forward!”
“Oh bugger” muttered Dirk. “I really did like that hill.”
Kurt shot him another withering look. The Egyptians remained stationary as the German infantry approached the bottom of the hill. Then two regiments of Mameluk archers approached.
“Halt!” shouted Henry and he waited for the crossbow fire to start up.
When the crossbowmen had despatched the two advanced regiments of Mameluk archers, the rest of the Egyptian line approached. On the German right, the main body of the third Egyptian army charged home, led by their cavalry.
As a bitter struggle erupted on the German right, the two remaining Mameluk horse archer regiments started to make Cantabrian circles on the German left.
Oh no, you don’t! thought Henry and he ordered his escort to charge the Mameluks.
The Mameluks battled bravely with the German knights and for a moment, Dirk was alarmed to see his Kaiser, alone surrounded by mace wielding Egyptian horsemen. Not now, not after all this, thought Henry’s bodyguard in alarm.
Then Dirk noticed the Mameluks rushing the Kaiser were not attacking him, but fleeing past him. Dirk raised a mailed fist at the fleeing horse archers, but then heard Kurt cry out:
“Behind you! Look behind you!”
Dirk slowly turned in the saddle: “You have got to be joking…”
At the same time, Henry saw the elite heavy cavalry of the last Egyptian army charging towards him. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. The battle was almost over and yet here he was, in the gravest peril of the whole day.
“Around and at ‘em lads! Meet them head on!” he shouted.
Kurt saw the Kaiser push forward, sword point downwards, pushing into the melee. He called out to some nearby Crusader sergeants to aide them, but the Egyptians fought like devils. The day lost, it was clear the enemy general was determined to go down fighting - and take the Kaiser with him if he could. To lose a battle but kill the enemy King? Now that was a fair trade, thought Kurt bitterly. He looked at the melee - incredibly, the Egyptians were gaining the upper hand. The Crusader sergeants lost hope and ran. No, thought Kurt, this can’t be happening - not today, not after all this.
Kurt charged into the melee and found a tall German knight, a fearsome, grizzled brute of a man who was tasked with carrying the Kaiser’s shield on ceremonial duties.
“You, there!” Kurt shouted at the shieldbearer: “The Kaiser is in danger - grab the reigns of his horse and get him out of here!”
The shieldbearer’s dull eyes alighted on Kurt’s and the man grunted. He pushed into the melee, unceremoniously seized the reigns on the Kaiser’s horse and smacked it with the blade of his sword, to startle it out into a run. As the pair rode off, Kurt signalled for the rest of the Kaiser’s escort to retreat. As they raced away from the victorious Egyptian cavalry, they approached the many regiments of German crossbows that had earlier been ordered to engage the Mameluk cavalry. Kurt turned back to see the Egyptian heavy cavalry in pursuit, so he called out to the surrounding crossbowmen.
“Stand fast! Any man moves an inch backwards and I swear, I will cut him down myself!”
Slowly the crossbowmen cranked up their bows and levelled them at the approaching Egyptians.
As the massed heavy crossbow bolts whistled through the air, the pursuing Egyptians first wavered, halted and fled - the enemy general being caught by the fast riding Turcopoles. The battle was over.
After the battle, the German cavalry pursued the routing Egyptians. A total of 1189 were captured. Henry offered to ransom them, but it was refused. Captain Conrad and his few surviving Turcopoles entered Antioch unopposed. Faced with a large hostile city, Henry knew he could not afford to be as magnanimous as he had been at Jerusalem. Although Antioch and Aleppo provinces were now free of significant Egyptian forces, there remained significant armies menacing Acre and Jerusalem. Unless the population of Antioch were cowed into submission, it was likely the entire Imperial army would need to be garrisoned there. Henry summoned Count Ulrich and embraced him.
“Ulrich, I am in your debt. Your leadership of the army at the time of crisis was invaluable. I have heard much of your exploits on the field of battle - they say your escort alone captured 347 of the enemy!”
Ulrich looked awkwardly at his feet during this praise.
“I understand Staufen needs upgrading to a citadel.” Henry continued. “Antioch is a rich city. You will find gold enough to pay for Swabia’s capitol. Go now, do what must be done, Prince of Antioch.”
At the sound of his new title, Ulrich bowed deeply and moved to undertake his grisly task. Henry looked sadly at the young man leave. He had planned to enter Antioch as a liberator, like he had done in Jerusalem. Now, he wondered if he could ever bring himself to enter the city at all. He later learnt that the sacking of Antioch had brought the Reich 16604 florins in plunder, but led to the massacring of 5314 innocents. Henry sat down, finding the moment of his great victory hollow.
From the shadow, Dusan Kolar watched Henry and whispered scornfully in a voice not unlike that of the late Heinrich: “Weak…”
Re: Battle reports thread - King of the Romans PBM
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