The Battle of Ethesiphon (140BC)
The army halted on the far bank of the river Tigris and we set up our camp.
General Antigonos set up his headquarters in a recently abandoned villa
and we assembled in the fields around it, digging a ditch and small
palisade around the edge. For several months our supply lines were
unsure and the majority of our food came from what was "scavenged" from
the local farms, villages, and towns. Supplies and messages did come
down the river, but until the garrisons at Seleukeia and the other cities
behind us were removed, we would not be secure.
A messenger camp to our camp one day, about two months after we had
crossed the river. He reported to Antigonos, but soon the camp was filled
with the news that Antigonos' cousin had won a victory. I believe this was
the same cousin that the Hellenes did not trust. Up the same river we
camped along, he had defeated two armies of Persia and moved to
besiege the last of the Persians in that area who had hidden themselvs in
a city to our north.
[Battle of Gaugamela Bridge (140
BC), Arche forces commanded by Euktimenos Demetrios Idomeneus : ]
This news raised spirits within the camp. The defeat of the Persians in the
north meant that there was one less garrison to our rear. It also confrimed
that the reinforcements were still moving forward and would join with us
soon. Being this far into land controlled by an enemy unnerved the whole
army, not just myself. We were in constant fear that the enemy would
circle around our position or one of the garrisons would emerge from the
cities behind us. Every time we heard good new from behind us, our
courage rebuilt itself.
A week or so after the message of the victory in the north arrived in camp,
our scouts spotted a Persian army approaching us. Several days later the
two armies were on the field of battle, facing eachother.
Once again, our general chose the battlefield. It was a flat open field with
a small group of trees on the far side ahead of us, the river and our camp
some ways behind us. Antigonos ordered us into three lines, and we
waited for the Persians to start the battle. Once again, they began by
charging their horses forward first. Their armored horsemen charged into
our right and their standard horsemen charged in at our center.
General Antigonos immediately moved his heavy cavalry to the right flank
and drew the armored horsemen from our line and into a fight with his
companions. In that battle, just off to our right flank, Antigonos defeated the
armored horses and chased off the Persian general.
While the Hellenes in the infantry line fought with the Persian infantry,
Antigonos moved behind them and wiped out their supporting troops. This
seemed to be the last thing necessary to fighten the Persian infantry. They
fled the field.
While the heavy companion cavalry gave chase on the right flank and the
lighter companions gave chase on the left. For those on foot in the army,
we reformed and marched forward.
We would have no further fighting that day. The Persians fled south but did
not go far. They eventually crossed the river and moved around our rear.
Many in the army wanted to give chase and wipe out those Persians who
had survived, but Antigonos ordered us to remain where we were. Had we
crossed the river and attacked the survivors, the army hiding behind the walls
of Seleukeia may have come out and assisted. The Hellenic officers told us
that leaving the men in Seleukeia behind the walls was much easier than
drawing them out to fight them. This was true, for within a month an army
from the north under the command of one of Antigonos' brothers had
surrounded the city and besieged it.
Before that army could reach Seleukeia or any of the reinforcing armies come
to our aid, we were attacked once more. We thought this was just another
battle like the last, and indeed the enemy brought less men to the field, but
this would be a much more difficult battle. We lined up on the same field
once again and awaited the Persian's approach. As the battle started,
Antigonos hurrily changed his plans. I didn't know it at the time, but would
later clearly see that the army across the river had once again crossed it and
was going to reinforce from the south. We had not finished them or given
chase and they were back to challenge us once more.
The larger army, from the east, was the first to arrive. This time they held
back their cavalry and moved in slowly. They seemed to be buying time for
their reinforcements to arrive. To force them to make a move, Antigonos
moved his horses to either flank and ordered us archers to open fire, over the
first two lines of Hellenes.
Under a rain of arrow and spear, the Persian army did as Antigonos wanted
and charged the forward and into our line. Both on foot and atop horses, the
Persians pushed forward as hard as they could.
To everyone's surprise the Persians pushed right through the first line and
force the second line to quickly fill the gaps. I can remember the fear has
had at that moment. Just ahead of me was one of those Persian soldiers
atop a horse completely encased in metal. This time the metal horsemen
cut through the Hellenes just ahead of me. The sound and the appearance
of those metal horses in that moment is just one of dozen of memories from
that war that will stay with me always. Even their eyes were forged of iron.
Behind the enemy line, the lighter Hellenic cavalry had engaged Persian
reserves, but without much success. At the same moment the Persians
pushed through our line, I saw them fleeing the Persians. They pulled away
to the north but managed to gather their senses and would rejoin the battle
before it was over.
A runner ran up to our officer and then left. I knew the day that I had feared
since I joined the army had finally come. The Hellenic officer in charge of the
archers gave the order to draw our knives, swords, or clubs and then gave the
signal to charge. All of us in the archery units, both those who had been
recruited from the villages along the great river and those from the land called
Syria, charged forward to fill the holes that had been made by the Persians in
the combined infantry lines.
I ran forward and then halted with a group of Persians just before me. They
bore large shields and spears, both looked poorly made. I swung wildly at a
Persian soldier and my club hit him in the upper right arm before he could move
his shield. He fell to the ground, but before I could even determine his fate, a
group of Hellenes came between me and the Persians. I spent the rest of the
battle behind this group of Hellenes, helping them push forward. I do not know
the fate of the man I knocked down. If he was not killed by a Hellene, he most
likely would have died from the damage to the bones in his arm.
The battle continued for some time, but I could see nothing from where I was.
Eventually, the Persians broke and fled. The generals of both Persian armies,
relatives of the Persian king, had fallen on the battlefield. Both Persian armies
had been wiped out, but it had cost us greatly. By that point in the campaign,
from all the battles we had fought, we had lost over a third of our initial number.
Thousands in the Hellenic army were now dead. Most likely, the Persians had
lost ten times as many. Although I don't know the numbers. After viewing the
previous battlefield, I had stopped thinking about it.
Back in camp, I talked with a Hellene, who was a friend of mine. Around the
same time I had charged forward, Antigonos had pulled his unit from the battle
and arranged them to fight the reinforcements coming in from the south. This
was part of the reason the archers were ordered forward. Antigonos had to fight
two battles with but one army.
The Persians had charged this line, but only the Persian cavalry held their
ground. My friend said that he was their just before the Persian general when
he was offered his life by the Hellenes. Surrounded by Hellenes and with
spears at his throught, he refused to surrender and fought on. My friend claimed
he had been one of the men to stab his spear through the Persian's side and
ended his life.
Once their general was dead, the Persians paniced and fled. While Antigonos
moved his companions to come the aid of the battle I was still fighting in, my
friend and the remaining infantry in the southern battle charged after what was
left of the Persians.
After the battle we looted the battlefield and returned to camp. The Persians who
had fought were mostly peasants so I found nothing of great value on the field.
It seems that it was their general who had encouraged them to fight so well.
The reinforcing armies of the Hellenic kingdom soon arrived and we in the army
of Antigonos were allowed to have a break from the war. By this time it was the
high point in the dry season and we spent most of it in our camp. Antigonos
crossed back across the river and met with his brothers [brothers-in-law]. Two
armies would besiege the last two garrisons on the rivers and Antigonos would
take his army deeper into Persian territory. Antigonos' cousin who nobody trusted
would continue his siege against the last garrison in the north. The fourth army,
which was commanded by Antigonos' uncle, would cross the two rivers and be
prepared to come to our aid if we needed it. This was all explained to us by our
officers who wanted us to have confidence in our general.
Once our general returned, we marched eastwards again. It was still very hot
and dry in those lands but we would soon be leaving them. We marched away
from the river until we came within sight of great mountains. I had seen
mountains before and had already crossed a back when we were heading
towards the sea to fight the king of Meroe. These mountains were larger than
any I had seen. On this side of the mountains was land belonging to the
Hellenes, but on the far side was the lands of the Persians. Someone said that
the Hellenes had once ruled those lands too, but another said that it had never
been conquered. This was all tied to their hero of legend, Alexandros, who had
conquered the world.
Our rate of progress slowed greatly when we came to the base of the mountains,
but Antigonos demanded only that we make a camp high in the mountains. We
would not need to cross over them or even reach the highest point... yet. We
set up camp in the largest pass over those mountains. That was the very pass
that all the Persian armies had used to invade Hellenic lands and then to march
down and attack us. From here, we were able to block any reinforcements that
would try to rescue the besieged garrison in the lands below.
Many things were about to change for the army, myself, and general Antigonos.
In a way, the march up that pass was the end of another chapter in my life. No
battle of armies would be fought on that pass, but I would be challenged and
triumph.
The dry season was coming to an end and soon I would see snow for the first
time. At the same point in time just one year prior, we had been planning to set
out from our camp back in the Hellenic kingdom. We had crossed great distances,
done many deeds, and defeated the armies of Persia in a short time.
Down From Africa (An AAR Sidestory)
7x
3x
Originally Posted by Centurio Nixalsverdrus
. (why not give them Baktria late bodyguards
)
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