The two sides prepared their troops, drew up their formations, and marched, which took a whole day. At night, both sides set up camp again and were heavily guarded, but neither of them had any plans to attack at night. Just like that, March 5, 1015 AD. In the desolate Great Gobi Desert outside Jerusalem. This great battle that affected the entire Near East region began, and a battle to determine the Overlord of the Near East began.
The Norman army followed their own style and manner. The troops were arranged into neat teams of a thousand men. Even the most unruly French prodigal must obey the officers' orders at this moment, and there are extremely strict standards for moving forward and retreating. Trumpets sounded in the army. Marshal Ers issued orders continuously. Finally, he adjusted his army to its optimal condition.
The Norman army spread out his formation. Marshal Erth placed his main infantry formation on the front of the battlefield and used strong bows and crossbows to suppress the formation. He used the super long spear phalanx of the Norman New Army to stabilize the formation. It was also equipped with twelve twenty-four-pounder infantry cannon and twenty four-inch caliber mortars. Yuan Shuai regarded his most trusted main force as his strongest shield and sword.
The array of these professional troops is relatively far forward. They will withstand the enemy's first and most violent attack. At the same time, we must also become the strongest spearhead in the attack.
On both wings of the 30,000 Norman professional troops were 30,000 soldiers from Flanders, South Flanders, Lombardy and Naples. These soldiers occupied two dunes on either side of the battlefield. Although the soft sandy soil is not very suitable as a defensive position. But they still managed to bury some wooden piles.
In order to make these wooden piles more stable. They also nailed a horizontal plank under the wooden pile. Let the entire wooden pile become an inverted T shape. In this way, even in soft sand, it can block the opponent's cavalry very well.
Cooperating with these soldiers were Italian shield spearmen who were also levies, and hook and ax soldiers from Flanders and South Flanders. Halberdiers and swordsmen. The equipment and training level of these troops are inferior to those of the Norman professional troops. But compared with the level of the same period in the Middle Ages, it is still a first-class elite force.
"And behind the nearly 100,000 troops on the front is the second array of the Normans. and reserve teams. A total of 80,000 levies were arranged in two rows of forty thousand-man phalanxes each. Always waiting to join the battlefield as reinforcements.
The elite hussars and Norman knights that the Normans were proud of, a total of 3,000 elite cavalry, as well as more than 5,000 Italian heavy cavalry and French heavy cavalry from Italy, were deployed by the marshal alone on both wings of the battlefield.
Opposite the Normans, there were nearly 300,000 Ilhan troops with claws and teeth. Surrounded in the center is Ilhan Hulagu, the Khan's Guards Cavalry built after the Mongolian heavy cavalry, the Qixue Army and the Proton Army. These soldiers are elite veterans who have fought all the way here from the Mongolian grasslands. Hulagu spared no expense to arm them into the most deadly killing machines.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?????????????????????????????????????????? as????????????? as? Mongolian war horses covered in heavy scale armor are equipped with two layers of composite armor - this kind of armor is different from traditional scale armor. It is a composite armor that was improved by Middle Eastern craftsmen based on the plate armor technology of the Norman Empire.
In order to obtain armor technology that can compete with Norman plate armor. Under the threat of the Mongolian butcher knife, these Arab craftsmen worked tirelessly to improve their armor. Finally this armor was made.
They increased the specifications of the armor pieces and inlaid large rectangular armor pieces on the heavy chain armor to make it thicker. And it has better defense, Arabian style plate and chain composite armor. The arm armor and greaves simply use plate armor technology.
Only the helmet is still in Arab style, with a pointed helmet with chain mail hanging down around it. However, what is worth noting is the nose guard of the helmet. It is a Mongolian style anchor shape. This kind of armor is quite similar to the four-mirror armor of later generations. It can be said that it is the best armor that Hulagu can get.
Equipped with such armor, the Khan's guards have almost no trace of the oriental style, but a completely Arabic style. Their weapon is also the Damascus scimitar that the Arabs admire. Spears and maces used by Arab cavalry. It seems that Mongolia, this ancient and backward nomadic nation, will soon learn from the locals after entering a higher-level civilized society. This is true in the Central Plains, and it is also true in the Arab world.
These Khan's guards are Hulagu's strongest troops. Compared with this extremely fierce-looking super-heavy cavalry. The troops around him seemed a bit insignificant.
There were huge numbers of them, wearing arabic robes, veils and headscarves. Arab troops armed with shields and spears. They come from Syria, Palestine, Arabia and all over. It is a mixture of conquered Levantines, Bedouin, Kurds and a few Egyptians and Persians. These desert peoples haveThe wealthier ones also wore chain mail, scale armor or leather armor under their robes.
These soldiers constitute the main body of the Ilkhanate's huge army. In addition to the spearmen there are an unknown number of archers, swordsmen and harpooneers. Their tactics were greatly influenced by Rome. There are even some relatively elite troops who can form some seemingly scattered Roman phalanxes with shields, spears, swordsmen and harpooneers. Of course, the actual combat effectiveness of these soldiers and the formations they used is open to debate.
In front of the Arab army, whose formations are scattered and their combat effectiveness is uneven. It is the second-level heavy cavalry of the Ilkhanate.
These noble armed forces, mercenary cavalry, and the remaining forces of the Arab Empire from Armenia, Egypt, and Persia were utilized by Hulagu to the maximum extent. A total of 5,000 to 7,000 heavy cavalry wearing various types of heavy armor - heavy chain armor, heavy scale armor, heavy ring plate armor, heavy plate and chain composite armor, heavy piercing armor formed the first wave of the Khanate. attack array.
Hulagu¡¯s attitude was very clear. He wanted to use these soldiers as cannon fodder. The charge of these heavy cavalry destroyed the number, morale and physical strength of the Norman army.
Of course, in front of these heavy cavalry, there is a group of more cannon fodder troops. They were Arab civilians who were forcibly recruited. These people had almost no decent equipment, farm tools, wooden sticks, kitchen knives, and daggers. There are even those with empty hands.
"If Hulagu wanted to use foreign elites to reduce the number, morale and physical strength of the Normans. Then there are only the last two purposes for him to deploy these soldiers - even the second one is difficult to achieve. He could only hope that these scum would waste more of the Normans' energy.
The elite light cavalry originated from the Mongols, as well as a large number of Arab cavalry, were deployed by Hulagu on both wings of the army. These soldiers, who were equipped with light chain armor, pierced armor, and mounted Arabian horses and Mongol war horses, were ordered by Hulagu to attack the two wings of the Normans with harassment tactics. Be sure to hold back the elite hussars and knights on both sides of the opponent's flanks. The powerful cavalry, which the Normans were so proud of, could not function.
Both sides have their own way of fighting. General Urs chose the defensive counterattack tactics that the Normans were best at. Use long-range firepower to blast the advancing enemies to the ground. Then use violent attacks to completely defeat the enemy. The Ilkhanate's army chose an offensive posture very cooperatively, hoping to consume the Normans with continuous attacks. In the end, he made great achievements with the main force and elites.
¡°These two commanders are not ordinary people. After taking a look at the arrangement on the other side, I knew what the other person was thinking. Each of them thought to himself: "It's just what I want."
So the war officially began. Under the coercion of the Mongols, those Arabs, Christians, Orthodox Christians, Jews and other Near Eastern residents who had no choice but to participate in the war moved reluctantly towards the Norman array. Behind them was a group of Mongolian supervising troops.
Mongolia Nayan, who was in charge of this task, frowned and seemed to think that the speed of these slave soldiers was too slow. So with a wave of his hand, the Mongolian soldiers beside him opened their bows and arrows, and fired a hail of arrows at the backs of the slave soldiers.
The slaves, who had no armor to defend themselves, were naturally helpless when faced with attacks from behind. Many of them screamed and were shot through by the Mongols' powerful compound bows. fell to the ground.
"Run, run! You bastards! Charge quickly! Charge over!!" The Mongolian Nayan shouted loudly, shouting at the slave soldiers who turned their heads to look at him in disbelief. shouted. Then he pointed at the twitching corpses and said, "If you don't run away! This is your fate!!"
Under the intimidation of the brutal Mongols, these slave soldiers had to run with all their strength. Rushed towards the Norman camp. After seeing this scene, Marshal Ers frowned - it was not that he was disgusted with the massacre of civilians or similar things. But I think this method is too dishonorable.
"These Mongols are really they are such a big country after all. But they have to fight in such a despicable way. It's really a shame."
Marshal Erth commented like this, waved his hand, and issued an order: "The artillery and pulley crossbows are not used for the time being. The longbow fires three rounds of rapid fire. The crossbowmen on both wings fire freely."
This marshal didn¡¯t take the opponent¡¯s troops seriously at all. And wanted to preserve his most elite long-range power. Just use the longbow troops to suppress.
However, for troops with large numbers and low defense, longbows with extremely fast firing speed and high lethality are indeed a good choice. Marshal Erth has two thousand professional long archers under his command, and three volleys are equivalent to six thousand feather arrows, which is enough to shoot all the slave soldiers at the front into pieces.??Hedgehog! (To be continued)! ~!
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