Battle of Damascus - 1178
It was a quiet morning. Iosef Ek Artas had risen early as usual, doing his morning exercises. He had made a habit of showing himself regularly to his troops, always looking busy, sharing their distresses. They had been besieging Damascus for what seemed forever now. Although he had done his best, the prolongued absence of the Basileus, coupled to the news of civil strife throughout the empire, had seriosly battered the morale of the army. Looking at the walls of the city, Iosef perceived no unusual activity. Just another quiet morning of a quiet siege in a not so quiet part of the world.
"Mylord, a rider..."
Iosef swung his head towards the direction one of his bodyguards was watching.
A rider indeed. And by the way he's hammering his horse, in a huge haste.
Man and horse kept on galloping, it almost seemed as if he were to ride through Iosef, but at the last minute he reined his horse, staggering and creatign a huge dust cloud.
Unpertubed, Iosef studied the man, who looked very weary and as if he tried to take a huge part of the desert with him.
"My Lord" said the unknown rider trying to catch his breath. Iosef nodded.
"My Lord, a relieve army is marching here at the double from the east. They must have heard the Basileus has splitted from the army, or.." he blottered, only being interrupted by Iosef.
"Calm down. How much, and how long?" Iosef demand, already overlooking his camp.
"A force almost as big as our own, i reckon. At their speed, they'll be here in 2 hours."
Iosef left the mand standing, merely turning around barking orders left and right.
He lifted the siege in such a hurry, recollecting a few places of the country side he had seen while riding around in the days the Basileus himself ran the army. he knew a few spots where he could withstand superiour numbers. For although this releave army was only his own size, he bore no illusions the commander from the garrisson in Damascus would idly abide while a battle occured in front of his gates.
It was nigh 1 hour later that Iosef found himself on a sandy hill, about 5 to 10 miles from Damascus.
He had disposed his men as good as he could given the terrain. Spears in the center, infantry on the sides and archers in the back.
From afar the dust clouds of the enemy were visible, although it took them another hour to close on Iosef's army. Without pauze, they charged into the Byzantine center
It wasn't before long that the enemy tried to envelop Iosefs right flank. The Byzantine commander never faded and shielded the flank.
The enemy general clearly wasn't anyone creative, as the tried the same on the left flank.
For about 2 hours the battled raged back and forth, then the Damascus garrison entered the frey
As the left flank took the brunk of the reinforcements charge, it was also the first to break.
Although the enemy was repelled 3 or 4 charges, they were never broken enough to retreat the field entirely. The Byzantine army held its own for a very long time, even stood on the brink of winning on several occasions, yet the enemy commander succeeded on rallyign his troops time after time.
In the end, they wore the Byzantine men down by sheer numbers. Iosef Ek Artas had to admit defeat, although he remained as the last man on the battlefield, his troops routing along with his bodyguards, but he stood tall, spat a few arabs in the face before he managed to escape.
Re: Battle Reports
Originally Posted by Sasaki Kojiro
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