‘They must be stopped before they can get close enough to affect matters, and if we lose every horse and every man in achieving that then that is a price that must be paid. We cannot have mounted men attacking our rear, even in small numbers, while we are fully engaged and in a struggle for survival to the front, for they will wreak havoc.’
To a knight of much experience that required no further explanation: it was not numbers that mattered but the effect such a sight would have on those struggling to hold the line against Kerbogha’s host. Men would be bound to turn away from their primary duty to fend off an attack by a man on horseback, especially archers, and that would give a chance for the Turks to break through any gap created in the front line.
‘These mounts are not fit for the kind of fight I must engage in, My Lord. One charge and they will be spent. And then there are the numbers — we are too few.’
‘I will detach some milities to go with you, Reinhard; let the foot soldiers take the bulk of the action and reserve your cavalry till the last. And know this, as much as I do myself, you hold the fate of all of our confreres in your hands. If you fail to stop those coming up from the south and they interfere when we face the whole might of Kerbogha, we cannot hold.’
‘It would not wound my pride if you were to give the command to another.’
Bohemund knew that was not fear: Reinhard was telling him he would happily serve under a knight more senior and of greater experience than himself. The widening of the smile was as reassuring as the words.
‘We are all captains today, Reinhard, or even generals. You will do as well as anyone, of that I am sure.’
‘Thank you, My Lord.’
That got him a slap on the shoulder. ‘Make the King of France proud so that, even if he is not present, he will hear of your valour and praise you.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
Reinhard moved with little haste, more interested in keeping his formation in order and free from fatigue than covering ground. The men he was about to face were not going to engage in an immediate assault, their aim was to get into a good position for a later attack; indeed, when they were sighted, even if they were in superior numbers, they ceased to come on. This being far enough off from the southern walls of Antioch served the purpose of the Crusader army well, albeit the Turks were in sight of the citadel and any instruction Kerbogha chose to relay from its towers.
The Crusader had two options: to go on the defensive himself or to attack. Bohemund, even if it was more by chance than knowledge, had chosen well, for in Reinhard of Toul he had appointed a leader able to take all of the pertaining factors into account, able to reason that his men, over a long period without supply and given their diminished state at the beginning of the battle, not to mention their inferior numbers, were not in a fit condition for a long drawn-out action; as time went by their inherent weaknesses against a well-fed enemy would tell.
Another reason to act quickly was that it would be unexpected: normal tactics dictated that Reinhard should stay on the defensive; as long as he stopped the Turks from getting to the battle area his job was done and in the ordinary course of events they would seek to overcome him to get into the fight at a time of their own choosing. The state of his men, and more importantly his mounts, would be no mystery to a Turkish commander who oversaw the interdiction of the St George’s Gate, by far the most porous of the five entrances and exits from the city.
Smugglers plied their trade at great risk and ameliorated that not only by bribery but also by being conduits of information to both sides; they would tell the Crusaders the numbers and spirit of the besieging Turks once inside and do the reverse on their egress, which had to include the lack of such things as food and fit horses. If there was a degree of supposition in Reinhard’s thinking that was what any commander was obliged to rely on; certainty was never available in battle.
Another positive trait was him seeing the need to explain to those who would carry out his orders why they were being asked to act in that way; better men risking their lives should know the reason than hesitate in wonder once engaged. In battle you seek to see into the mind of your opposite number, to anticipate his thinking, and by doing so lead him to conclusions which he will see as rational when they are in fact false.
Tactical outline over, Reinhard lined up his milities in several ranks, so that they formed a rough square, and set them to advance with his cavalry bringing up the rear, but so slowly and wearily that the gap between the two bodies grew perceptibly wider.
A good commander, once he has made and explained his dispositions, prays that they are correct and only seeks to alter them, not by the gnawing worry that they might be wrong, but only when aware of the certainty that they are flawed. This led to an extended period of anxious watchfulness in the hope that the enemy, once they did move, would do so as had been hoped. Reinhard breathed easier when he saw them begin to deploy for an obvious attack, for if they had not he would have been obliged, lacking the force to press home upon them, to retreat to his starting position.
Mounted archers — one of, if not the main Turkish assault weapon — were deadly in open country and this was where Reinhard and his men found themselves, for they had declined to use the one flank partially protected by the River Orontes. The Turks held back on an immediate attack, instead riding around in a flurry of circles as if threatening rather than with intent, this because the opening gap between the Crusaders’ horse and foot looked to be playing into their hands, the divergence beginning to increase enough to allow them to assault the milities with impunity from all sides.
The blowing of a distant horn, coming from a small group under a green banner, obviously the commander, set the mounted archers into a fast canter, their mounts controlled by knees alone, both hands occupied with their bows, in a display of horsemanship which would have been admirable if it had not also been deadly.
Against such an attack the milities had only their shields and their helmets and these were rendered near to useless by the proximity of their assailants as they loosed off their deadly darts. Men were dropping in increasing numbers and the temptation to take aim at their less well-protected backs brought the bulk of the mounted archers into the ground between the milities and Reinhard.
In their enthusiasm for killing and maiming, the Turks were firing off their arrows with no discrimination, seeking to do with quantity what would have been better served by careful aim, and in acting so they presented Reinhard with the opportunity for which he had prayed and calculated. As soon as he saw the first fellow turn back towards his own side for want of anything in his quill, he called upon his men to advance, kicking into a fast canter his supposedly weary horses.
His primary aim was to induce confusion in his enemy, a lack of certainty about how to act, and Reinhard achieved that for there was no immediate response from his opposite number, now, in any case, partially hidden by a cloud of dust kicked up by his own men. Lacking clear orders they were unsure as to how they should react to this sudden alteration to the state of the battle, these Latin horsemen, who had looked to be spent before they started, coming on at pace with lowered and deadly lances; this had not been anticipated.
The milities suddenly broke ranks and spread out to get between the bulk of the mounted archers and safety, albeit they left behind a ground covered in writhing bodies. At a rush the lead elements got to the riverbank and took up a kneeling position with extended pikes to bar passage, which obliged their enemies, if they wanted to get away, to ride across their front. At the back of that first line the rest had turned to face south so as to hold at bay any Turks seeking to assist their comrades.