The Military History Thread

[Ennath]

June 23, 1280
Battle of Moclin

Between February and March 1280, Alfonso X of Castile and his council convened a meeting in the city of Badajoz to finalize preparations for a war against Muhammad II of the Emirate of Granada. Alfonso ordered his forces to be gathered in the city of Cordoba, from where they would commence operations into the Vega de Granada. Alfonso was struck with an eye ailment and was unable to accompany his army on the campaign and stayed in Cordoba.

In June 1280, the infante Sancho, eldest son of Alfonso X, directed the incursion, accompanied by, amongst others, Gonzalo Ruiz Giron, Grand Master of the Order of Santiago. Sancho ordered Gonzalo to proceed along with his retainers, Gil Gomez de Villalobos, abbot of Valladolid, and Fernan Enríquez to protect the troops stockpiling supplies for the army whilst he stayed at Alcala la Real and awaited reinforcements. Upon returning, the Castilian forces were attacked by Granadine forces under the command of Muhammad II who had been waiting in ambush around the city of Moclin.

Feigning flight, the Granadines drew the Castilians to the spot where they had set their ambush. The Christian troops pursued and were cut off. The ambush was then sprung, inflicting heavy casualties. The slaughter, referred to as the Disaster of Moclín, resulted in the deaths of over 2800 Castilian soldiers and the deaths of most of the knights in the service of the Order of Santiago. Grand Master Gonzalo Ruiz Giron was mortally wounded in the action. When Sancho heard news of the disaster, he ordered that the remaining troops under his command hold their ground, a move that prevented an overall rout.

Once the Castilians had reorganized after the disaster, Sancho passed through Moclín and proceeded into the Vega de Granada to cut the valley in two. After a campaign throughout that area, Sancho returned to Cordoba via Jaén.

To avoid the extinction of the Order of Santiago due to the deaths of so many of its knights, Alfonso X integrated the members of the Order of Santa Maria de España into that of Santiago and named Pedro Nuñez as Grand Master of the newly integrated order. The Order of Santa Maria de España, which Alfonso had founded himself, ceased to exist.

[Ennath]

June 24, 1898
Battle of Las Guasimas

On June 23, 1898, the Spanish garrisons of Sigua, Siboney and Daiquirí, retiring before American landings in their vicinity, clashed with a Cuban column of 250 men near Sevilla, east of Santiago de Cuba. Having lost 3 dead and 10 wounded and inflicted roughly the same casualties, the Spaniards retired to a lightly entrenched position at Las Guasimas de Sevilla, on the road to Santiago (4 miles northwest of Siboney beach).

Brig-Gen. Lawton, commander of 2nd Infantry Division of the US Volunteer V Corps, had been appointed chief of the landing operation by Maj-Gen. William Shafter, Commander-in-Chief of American forces in Cuba. American reports suggested the Spaniards were digging in with a field gun; however, Cuban scouts contradicted these, revealing the Spaniards were preparing to abandon their position.

On the 23rd, Maj-Gen. Joseph Wheeler, commanding the Cavalry Division, received orders from Shafter to throw pickets to Siboney, but found the enemy in retreat towards Sevilla. Wheeler decided to attack the new Spanish position the next day, which was established 3 miles from Siboney, with the aid of Cuban Gen. Castillo. With information supplied by Castillo, including a map of the Spanish positions, Wheeler and Gen. Samuel Young, one of his brigade commanders, planned an advance along 2 columns, Col. Leonard Wood on the left with 1st US volunteer Cavalry (“Rough Riders”) and the 1st and 10th (black Buffalo Soldiers) Cavalry on the right. There were 964 regulars, some 800 Cuban irregulars and 3 guns.

Brig-Gen. Antero Rubín commanded nearly 1500 men and 2 guns. These forces were deployed in 3 echelons: 4 companies covering the crossroads of the Siboney trails, with 2 other companies guarding the surrounding heights; 3 companies, the engineers, and the artillery holding the Asiento de Sevilla; and 6 companies at La Redonda under Col. Bory, covering the trails to Justicí and El Pozo.

The first sign the Americans had of the enemy's proximity was a Cuban soldier lying dead by the road. The engagement began with shots by US artillery. Spanish infantry returned fire, pinning down the advancing American units with rifle fire. The Spaniards were armed with superior 7mm Model 1893 Mauser repeating rifles with smokeless powder, making them exceedingly difficult to target in return.

Wheeler’s forces moved to encircle the Spaniards’ first echelon, assaulting its front and right flank. Young personally supervised the positioning of a battery of one pounder Hotchkiss field guns 900 yards from the Spanish main position on a dominant ridge pointing southwest. Wanting to be absolutely sure that the troops on the hill were Spanish, he fired several rounds at the hill. Immediately, two 75mm Spanish Krupp mountain guns returned fire. This satisfied him that he was up against the Spanish.

Young began to push his troops forward on both sides of the road; the jungle was so thick that visibility was only a few yards. Units became mixed in the confusion. Through the jungle ran wire fences here and there, and as the troops got to the ridge they encountered precipitous heights and the attack stalled. Under heavy fire, the Americans finally climbed the ridge and entered the village of Las Guasimas. The Spanish were gone.

On the left trail, at approximately 7:20 AM, a point patrol came across the dead Spanish soldier killed by a Cuban attack the previous day and which the Cubans had told Wheeler would indicate the proximity of Spanish lines running left and right across the road. When informed of this, Leonard Wood, about 500 yards back on the bridle path and commanding the Rough Riders ordered “Silence in the Ranks” and immediately deployed several troops to the left under Major Brodie and several troops to the right under Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt. It was while this deployment was occurring that the point man shot a Spaniard and triggered an immediate return fire. Rough Riders on both left and right sides of the trail moved forward and eventually forced the Spaniards back to their second line of trenches. Continuing to advance, the Rough Riders eventually forced the Spanish to withdraw completely from their final positions. A Troop on the far right linked up with their regular counterparts and helped them seize the Spanish positions on the long finger-like hill to the right of the right road, with both Rough Riders and Regulars meeting at the base of the finger-like hill. By this time it was approximately 9:30. Reinforcements from the regular 9th Cavalry arrived, but it was already 30 minutes after the fight.

Spanish forces suffered 7 dead and 7 wounded, as reported by general Rubin, although these figures are sometimes revised upward. (The discrepancy occurs because the Spaniards at Las Guasimas escorted a convoy carrying wounded troopers, as can be read in the order of retreat sent to Rubin by Lt-Gen. Arsenio Linares.) The Americans lost 27 dead and 52 wounded.

The Spanish resumed their ongoing withdrawal towards Santiago’s outer defenses, leading the Americans to assume that their attack had forced the enemy to retreat. Forgetting which war he was fighting, the ex-Confederate General Wheeler is said to have shouted “We’ve got the damn Yankees on the run!”

Both sides emerged satisfied with their perceived “little victory.” Rubín had conducted a successful rearguard operation while guaranteeing the safety of his forces, moving away from the menacing, large-caliber guns of the US Navy along the coast and connecting with the Spanish defenders of Santiago. After satisfactorily drawing “first blood” at Las Guasimas, Wheeler concentrated V Corps with Calixto García’s 5000 Cubans and invested Santiago's first lines of defense. American morale and confidence soared.

The position at Sevilla, briefly occupied by American forces, turned out to be of little value for the aimed advance towards Santiago. The Spanish retreat did unbar the way to the strong points that covered Santiago on the east side, mainly Fort Aguadores, San Juan Hill, Canosa, El Caney, and Fort El Viso, where a set of bloody battles would be waged on July 1 (see posting, El Cany & San Juan Hill). Many of the Spanish officers and soldiers that fought at Las Guasimas de Sevilla were to be in the fight again at the bloody encounter of San Juan Hill.

[Ennath]

June 25, 524
Battle of Vézeronce

In 523, Clotilde, daughter of Chilperic II of Burgundy who had been slain by King Sigismund’s father Gundobad in 493, took revenge for the murder of her father, when she incited her sons against Sigismund, and provoked the Burgundian War,

The Kingdom of the Burgundians was invaded by the four Frankish kings, Chlodomer, Childebert I, Clotaire I and Theuderic I, children of Frankish king Clovis I and Sigismund’s second cousins by Clotilde. Sigismund and his brother Godomar led the Burgundian defense but lost the battle. Godomar fled while Sigismund put on a monk's habit and hid in a cell near his abbey. He was captured by Chlodomer, King of Aurelianum (modern Orléans), beheaded and his body thrown in a well. Sigismund’s wife and remaining children were also put to death.

Sigismund was succeeded on the throne by his brother Godomar. Godomar then rallied the Burgundian army and called for aid from his ally, the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great. Godomar lead the allied army and inflicted a severe defeat on the Franks at Vézeronce, with Chlodomer killed during the fighting. However, the defeat of the Franks was only temporary. In 532 the Burgundians were decisively defeated by the Franks at Autun, after which Godomar was killed and the Burgundian lands were annexed by the Frankish Empire in 534.

[Ennath]

June 26, 1243
Battle of Köse Dag

In the 12th century, the Byzantine Empire reasserted control in western and northern Anatolia. After the sack of Constantinople in 1204 by Latin Crusaders, 2 Byzantine successor states were established: the Empire of Nicaea, and the Despotate of Epirus. A third, the Empire of Trebizond was created a few weeks before the sack of Constantinople. Of these successor states, Trebizond and Nicaea stood near the Mongol Empire. Control of Anatolia was then split between the Greek states and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, with the Byzantine holdings gradually being reduced.

The Mongol Empire conquered Persia in 1230; Chormaqan became military governor. There were then no hostilities with the Seljuk Turks. Ala al-Din Kayqubad I and his immediate successor Giyath al-Din Kaykhusraw II swore an oath of vassalage with the payment of at least token tribute to the Great Khan Ögedei. However, in 1238 the Mongols raided part of Greater Armenia, which was a vassal of the Sultan of Rum. Ögedei died in 1241, and Kaykhusraw took the opportunity to repudiate his vassalage, believing he was strong enough to resist the Mongols. Chormaqan’s successor Baiju summoned him to renew his submission, go to Mongolia in person, give hostages, and accept a Mongol darughachi (administrator). When the Sultan refused, Baiju declared war. The Seljuks invaded the Kingdom of Georgia, a vassal of the Mongol Empire.

Baiju’s army attacked Karin in 1241. Before attacking, Baiju demanded submission. The inhabitants insulted the Mongol envoy and the city was besieged. In 2 months, the Mongols took Karin and punished its residents. Aware of the Seljuk power in Anatolia, Baiju returned to the Mugan plain without advancing further.

Baiju advanced to Erzurum with a contingent of Georgian and Armenian vassal troops in 1243. They besieged the city of Erzurum when its governor Yakut refused to surrender it. With the aid of 12 catapults, Baiju stormed the city. When the reports of the attack reached him, Kaykhusraw summoned his forces at Konya. He accepted the challenge by sending a war message, reminding Baiju that the Mongol army took only one of his many cities.

The Seljuk Sultan made an alliance with all nations surrounding him. The King of Lesser Armenia (Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia) promised him to send a contingent; however, it is not certain they actually showed up. Kaykhusraw received the military support from the Empire of Trebizond and the Ayyubid Sultan at Aleppo, and Frankish mercenaries from Crusader Antioch participated in the campaign. Because of little reliable information, it is difficult to measure the opposing troops. But the Seljuk force was larger than the Mongols. A few Georgian nobles also joined him, but most Georgians were compelled to fight alongside their Mongol overlords.

Kaykhusraw advanced from Konya some 200 miles up to Köse Dag. The Mongol army entered the area in June 1243 and awaited the the Seljuks and their allies. The decisive battle was fought at Köse Dag on June 26. The primary sources do not record the size of the opposing armies but suggest that the Mongols faced a numerically superior force. Baiju brushed aside an apprehensive notice from his Georgian officers regarding the size of the Seljuk army by stating that they counted as nothing the numbers of their enemies: “the more they are, the more glorious it is to win, and the more plunder we shall secure”.

Kaykhusraw rejected the proposal of experienced commanders to wait for the Mongol attack. Instead, he sent a force of 20,000, led by inexperienced commanders, to attack. The Mongols, pretending a retreat, turned back, encircled the Seljuk army and defeated it. When the rest of the Seljuk army witnessed the defeat of the vanguard, many commanders and their soldiers, including Kaykhusraw, started to abandon the field. Eventually, the Seljuk army was left without leaders and most of its soldiers had deserted, without seeing any combat. After their victory, the Mongols took control of the cities of Erzinjan, Divrigi and Sivas. Kayseri resisted, but fell after only a brief resistance..

Kaykhusraw fled to Antalya but soon sent a delegation headed by his vizier to Baiju, realizing that further resistance would be fruitless. Baiju offered terms based on resubmission and the Sultan promised to pay a tribute every year in gold, silk, camels and sheep. However, the Mongols retained their conquests. Almost half of the Sultanate of Rum became an occupied country. The defeat resulted in a period of turmoil in Anatolia and led directly to the decline and disintegration of the Seljuk state.

The Empire of Trebizond became subject to the Mongols. Hethum I of Armenian Cilicia made his peace with the Mongols and sent his brother Sembat to the Mongol court of Karakorum in 1247 to negotiate an alliance.

In the Empire of Nicaea John III Doukas Vatatzes prepared for the Mongol threat. Vatatzes had sent envoys to the Khagans Güyük and Möngke but was playing for time. The Mongol Empire did not cause any harm to his plan to recapture Constantinople from the Latins who also sent an envoy to the Mongols. Vatatzes' successors, the Palaiologan emperors of the restored Byzantine Empire, made an alliance with the Mongols, giving their princesses in marriage to the Mongol khans.

[Ennath]

355 BC
Phrygian Revolt

Artaxerxes III had come to the throne of Persia on his father’s death in 358 BC. Mindful of his nation’s woes during the recent satrapal revolts (see posting, Satraps’ Revolt), he moved to head off more of the same by instructing that the last of the mercenary garrisons used to challenge royal authority be disbanded. Timing of this order isn’t certain, but it likely came no later than 356. However, rather than precluding a new uprising, the decree actually reenergized open conflict when 2 of the affected governors refused to obey. Thus, Artaxerxes unexpectedly found himself having to send troops out to once more deal with mutinies strong in paid Greek fighters.

Wishing to deal at once with both revolts, and no doubt expecting only weak resistance, the royalists split into 2 columns, one headed for Phyrgia and the other for Mysia. Artabazus led the revolt in Phyrgia as governor of that satrapy. He gathered cavalry from sympathetic Persian settlers, enrolled native Phrygian javelinmen and sought to obtain a force of heavy infantry. He did the latter by reaching out to Chares, the general prosecuting Athens’ ongoing Social War against its rebellious Asian allies. Chares duly delivered an army.

Chares was able to defeat the troops sent against Artabazus, a feat that he compared to Athens’ victory at Marathon in a boastful letter home. Unfortunately, we lack details, and Diodorus’ spare report seriously overstates the scale of the fight, though it was clearly quite a sizeable engagement. The rebels seem to have kept Persian cavalry from sweeping their flanks, either through use of terrain or by exploiting an advantage in light footmen. This let their hoplites break through the kardakes’ leading rows of spearmen. The lightly armed Persian reserves would then have rapidly lost an uneven fight and beat a swift retreat. Given their strong edge in mounted forces for cover, the imperials no doubt got away without further slaughter. As it turned out, this action would earn Athens considerable blowback. The Great King threatened to retaliate with a large naval force and compelled the Athenians to bring Chares home and concede the Social War.

Meanwhile, things initially took quite a different turn for the other insurgency. Here, the satrap Aroandus had awaited the king’s response on open ground near Sardis in Lydia. He had a force of 12-13,000 Greek heavy infantry that he backed with horse (and probably javelinmen as well) from his home province of Mysia. It seems that Aroandus suffered a defeat in his first encounter with the king’s men. Again, we have no details. However, given Aroandus’ strength in spearmen, this most likely was a case of poor flank security allowing Persian mounted forces to envelop a wing. All the same, the satrap seems to have escaped with a good portion of his army intact. Aroandus took up a strong position with his surviving troops inside a fortified camp on nearby Mount Timolos. Investing this site, the Persians couldn’t prevent their foe from making a nighttime sortie against their supply line along the road to Sardis. The renegade satrap then coordinated a sally out of the camp with a surprise strike from his horse against the enemy rear. Taken front and back, the besiegers fell apart as the Greeks killed many and captured others at little cost to themselves. Aroandus next ravaged Lydia and marched on Ephesus, where the fearsome reputation of his mercenaries gave him a bloodless triumph.

Artabazus cast about for a Greek partner to replace Athens and found the Thebans willing. Thebes sent Pammenes to Phrygia with a 5000-man mercenary force, probably consisting of 4000 hoplites and the rest light infantry. Their pact no doubt called for the rebel leader to pick up the tab for both the general (directly enriching Thebes) and his men. The agreement gave Artabazus not only an excellent tactician to lead his army, but also pumped that force up to something like 15,000 hoplites, 3-4000 skirmishers and a small yet effective contingent of cavalry. It’s likely that the imperial reaction was to double down on a single front. As a result, Persia marched in 354 on Artabazus with something like 32,000 kardakes and 3200 horsemen plus proportional light infantry support.

These armies clashed twice in what Diodorus called “great battles”, the rebels winning each time. That there were 2 engagements indicates that, regardless of how clearcut a tactical success the first might have been for Pammenes, its strategic impact was modest enough to require a rematch. Once again, we might suspect that the hoplites enjoyed enough flank protection to allow their penetration of the kardakes’ fore-ranks, yet screening by its much larger mounted contingent then let the Persian host retreat at less than ruinous cost.

Despite its triumphs on the field of battle, the Phrygian revolt ultimately came to naught when Artabazus put a relative in Pammenes’ place. This caused his army to eventually fall apart and sent him into exile at the court of Philip II. As for Aroandus, his uprising seems to have persisted for some time, as we hear of Athens concluding a commercial treaty with him in 349. However, Artaxerxes appears to have regained control over the rebel satrap’s territory by the mid-340s.

[Ennath]

June 27, 1788
Naval Battle of Ochakov

In 1788, Russian forces led by Prince Grigory Potemkin and Gen. Alexander Suvorov besieged the city of Ochakov on the Black Sea coast of Ukraine, at the mouth of the Liman River, and held by Ottoman troops commanded by Hasan Pasha. Despite Suvorov’s urging to storm the city immediately, Potemkin had the Russian forces encircle Ochakov, bombarding the city and cutting off the defenders’ supply of food and ammunition. By keeping his soldiers out of direct battle, Potemkin minimized Russian casualties, though he was accused by his generals of cowardice. The argument continued in the Russian headquarters during the entirety of the siege.

On April 21, the gunboat flotilla of Prince Charles of Nassau-Siegen, a French soldier-of-fortune in service to Russia, arrived at the mouth of the Liman. Three days later the sailing fleet arrived under John Paul Jones, who left to confer with Suvarov before returning on June 6. Both Nassau-Siegen and Paul Jones had been made Russian rear-admirals, and were themselves commanded by Prince Potemkin. The 2 admirals were not on good terms, particularly Nassau-Siegen. Paul Jones had 14 vessels, mostly of 24-48 guns. The number of gunboats varied at times.

Meanwhile, on May 31 the Turkish fleet had arrived, commanded Hassan el Ghazi, part of which came in close to support the fighting, and part of which stayed further out. It is hard to determine the makeup of this force accurately. Most of its ships were probably armed merchantmen, carrying around 40 guns, a few were probably larger. Different accounts give different numbers, but according to an April 8 list from Istanbul, the fleet consisted of 12 battleships, 13 frigates, 2 bombs, 2 galleys, 10 gunboats and 6 fireships.

The Russian flotilla waited too long before retreating, and one of its vessels, the double-sloop No. 2, was overtaken by small craft and its commander, Saken, blew himself up.

At 7:30 AM on June 18, 5 Turkish galleys and 36 small craft attacked the inshore end of the Russian line, which was perpendicular to the coast. At first the Russians had only 6 galleys, 4 barges and 4 double-sloops to oppose them. At about 10:00 el Ghazi arrived with 12 more vessels, but Nassau-Siegen and Jones had advanced the offshore ends to bring their whole forces into action and at 10.30 the Turks withdrew with the loss of 2 or 3 vessels burnt and blown up. At about 11:00. firing stopped and by noon the gunboat flotilla had rejoined the sailing ships.

At noon on June 27, the Turkish fleet steered for the left (windward) end of the Russian line but at 2:00 their flagship ran aground and the other ships anchored in disarray. Adverse winds prevented the Russians from attacking until about 2 AM on June 28 when it shifted to the NNE, but the Turkish ship had been refloated and the Turks tried to form a line. At about 4 AM all the Russians advanced and by 5.15 they were in action. The Turkish second flagship ran aground and Nassau-Siegen sent in the left wing of his flotilla to attack her. This left his right wing weak, and Malyi Alexander was sunk by Turkish bombs. However, the Turkish battleship was burnt, this fate also befalling her flagship later. At 9.30 PM, the Turks withdrew under Ochakov’s guns; el Ghazi decided to withdraw his sailing ships completely, but a new battery at Kinburn forced him so far to the north that 9 of his ships ran aground, and the next morning the Russian flotilla surrounded these and several small craft and destroyed them all except for one 54-gun battleship, which they refloated.

The Turks had lost 10 battleships, 4 frigates and 3 other vessels, with heavy losses, including 1663 men captured. The Russian gunboat flotilla lost 18 men killed and 67 wounded, with only slight losses in the sailing ships.

The Turkish fleet appeared near Pirezin Adası, west of Ochakov, on July 1, to try to rescue the small craft, but decided not to pass the batteries again and on July 9 it put to sea to meet the Russian Sevastopol fleet, which it fought in the Battle of Fidonisi to the south on July 14. Here the Turks lost a frigate before breaking off. The Russian and Turkish fleets maneuvered west of the Crimea; on July 18, the Turks had disappeared. They sailed back to Ochakov but made no attack.

On July 9, the Russians attacked the Turkish vessels at Ochakov. The Russians employed 7 double-sloops, 7 galleys, 7 floating batteries and 22 gunboats. The Turks had 2 frigates, 6 galleys and 4 other vessels. For a coast of 24 killed and 80 wounded, the Russians destroyed the entire Ottoman squadron. The victors followed up this victory on July 18 by capturing the strategically placed Prizren Island.

Meanwhile the siege was pressed. The Turks made several attempts to break the siege. On July 27, about 5,000 Janissaries attacked positions held by Cossacks and forced them to retreat. Suvorov personally led reinforcements and drove the Janissaries to the gates of Ochakov, but was injured. Hasan Pasha expected reinforcements, but after the naval setbacks, Turkish reinforcements were cut off.

The condition of both armies continued to decline; there was a threat of disease, and the weather was growing very cold as autumn progressed. Potemkin ultimately gave in to Suvorov’s arguments. On the night of December 17, the Russians attacked, and captured Hasan Pasha’s palace, forcing its guards to surrender. Over 9500 Turks were killed during the assault, more than 4000 were taken prisoner, including Hasan Pasha himself, but most of the city garrison was killed in the street fight, having lost about 20,000 men dead. The Russians lost 956 soldiers and had 1829 wounded by the end of the operation.

In April 1789 Paul Jones was arrested and accused of raping a 12-year-old girl named Katerina Goltzwart. But the Count de Segur, the French representative at the Russian court (and also Paul Jones’ last friend in the capital), conducted his own personal investigation and was able to convince Potemkin that the girl had not been raped and that Paul Jones had been accused by Prince Nassau-Siegen for his own purposes; Paul Jones, however, admitted to prosecutors that he had “often frolicked” with the girl “for a small cash payment”, only denying that he had deprived her of her virginity. On June 8, he was awarded the Order of St. Anne, but he left Russia the following month, an embittered man.

[Ennath]

June 28, 1495
Battle of Seminara

French king Charles VIII had invaded Italy in 1494 in an attempt to press his Angevin claim to the throne of Naples. The French quickly overran the disunited Italian peninsula and arrived in the Kingdom of Naples on February 21, 1495, King Ferdinand II having fled to Sicily at the approach of the French army. There, in temporary exile, Ferdinand joined his cousin, Ferdinand II of Aragon, King of Sicily and Spain, who offered assistance in recovering Naples.

In response to Charles’ invasion, the League of Venice was formed by many of the Italian powers opposed to the French presence. The League subsequently established a strong military force in the north, which threatened the line of communication between the French army and its base in France. On May 30, Charles split his army, taking half of the troops (approximately 9000 men) north to fight their way back to France, leaving the rest to hold the recently conquered Neapolitan territories. Eventually, after hard fighting, Charles’ army shouldered its way past a larger League force at the Battle of Fornovo (see posting) and returned to France.

Meanwhile, Ferdinand II of Naples was determined to rid his kingdom of the garrison left behind by the French king. Although scattered throughout the area, the garrison was composed of three basic elements: the main force in Naples, led by the brave but indolent and inexperienced Gilbert d'Montpensier, a force to the south in Calabria under the command of the able captain of the King’s Scottish Archers, Bernard Stewart, Lord of Aubigny, whom Charles had appointed “Grand Constable of Naples”, and the Swiss mercenaries (along with some other forces) stationed in Basilicata under the command of the French nobleman Précy.

To oppose these forces Ferdinand had his own army, and aid from his Spanish cousin. The Spanish general Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba was dispatched from Spain with a small army, largely as a vanguard (more troops were being raised in Spain and would follow on later), and to show support for Ferdinand of Naples. Fernandez de Cordoba had been selected by Queen Isabella to lead the Spanish contingent because he was a favorite of the court as well as a soldier of considerable renown. Fernandez de Cordoba arrived at Messina on May 24, only to find that Ferdinand of Naples had already crossed into Calabria with an army, and had reoccupied Reggio.

Fernandez de Cordoba himself crossed over to Calabria 2 days later. He had under his command 600 Spanish cavalry, many of these light jinetes, and 1500 infantry, many of them Rodeleros swordsmen, to which were added 3500 soldiers from the Spanish fleet. The size of the Neapolitan army is unclear, but soon was supplemented by 6000 volunteers from Calabria, who joined when Ferdinand II landed. The Spanish contingent was further depleted because of the the need to put Spanish garrisons in several fortified places which Ferdinand of Naples turned over to Spain in partial compensation for the military aid Spain was providing.

The allied army marched to Sant'Agata del Bianco, and from there to Seminara, a fortified place 28 miles from Reggio. Both towns opened their gates to Ferdinand. En route a detachment of French troops was encountered and destroyed. The League of Venice assisted the allies by sending a Venetian fleet under Antonio Grimani to raid along the eastern coast of French-occupied Naples. In one instance, at Monopoli, Grimani destroyed the French garrison stationed there.

Although he was seriously ill with malaria which he had recently contracted, the French commander in Calabria, the Scotsman d’Aubigny, lost no time in responding to the allied challenge, quickly consolidating his forces to confront the Neapolitan/Spanish invasion by calling in isolated garrisons throughout Calabria and requesting that Précy reinforce him with the Swiss. D’Aubigny soon succeeded in concentrating his forces, and immediately marched on Seminara.

Upon hearing the news that d’Aubigny was approaching, but unaware that Précy and the Swiss had joined him, Ferdinand decided to meet the French in battle immediately, a decision shared by the Spanish and Neapolitan nobility. Fernandez de Cordoba urged caution, or at least a full reconnaissance before risking battle, but was overruled.

Ferdinand led the allied army out of Seminara on June 28 and crossed over a line of hills 3 miles east of town. There, on the plains below, beyond a stream at the foot of these hills, was the French army, marching directly toward the Neapolitans. Ferdinand took a position behind the stream, deploying his infantry on the left and his cavalry on the right. D’Aubigny, ill but still mounted for command, deployed his cavalry - 400 heavily armored gendarme lancers and 800 lighter horse - facing the allied cavalry on the French left, the young nobleman Précy having given up command of the Swiss in order to assist the ailing d'Aubigny in command of the horse. To their right were the 800 Swiss pikemen, and behind them the lesser French foot. Unlike most battles in which the Swiss deployed very deep, at Seminara they arrayed themselves in only three ranks. The French force attacked without hesitation, plunging into the stream.

Initially the engagement went well for the allies, the jinetes harrying the wading gendarmes with javelins and breaking off, as was their method in Spain against the Moors. However, at this point the Calabrian militia panicked - possibly misconstruing the withdrawal of the jinetes as a rout, possibly fleeing the oncoming Swiss - and fell back, exposing the left flank of the allied army. Although Ferdinand attempted to rally them, the retreating Calabrians were set upon by gendarmes who had now crossed the stream, and ridden down.

The situation soon turned desperate for the allies, the Swiss rolling over the remaining Spanish Rodeleros and the French gendarmes besting the allied cavalry. Ferdinand, easily recognized in his splendid garb, came under heavy attack, was unhorsed and threatened by enemy troops, only to be given the horse of a nobleman, alternately named as Giovanni di Capua or Juan de Altavista, who then gave his life delaying the enemy so that Ferdinand might escape. Fernandez de Cordoba led the Spanish cavalry and the remains of the infantry in a desperate delaying action, which, together with the illness of the French leader, allowed the fleeing Neapolitans to escape. The Spanish themselves were then able to reach the safety of Seminara, the French troops apparently being content to remain in occupancy of the field, the traditional method of claiming victory.

Despite this great triumph, the overall situation of the isolated French garrisons in southern Italy had not substantially changed. Using a small amphibious force and the loyalty of the local populace, Ferdinand was soon thereafter able to retake Naples itself by ruse. Fernandez de Cordoba, carefully avoiding any direct encounter with the dreaded Swiss or massed gendarmes, slowly retook the rest of Calabria. Eventually, many of the mercenaries serving the French mutinied due to lack of pay and marched home, and the remaining French forces were eventually bottled up at Atella by the reunited allied army, and forced to surrender.

Fernandez de Cordoba’s disastrous encounter at Seminara led directly to his invention of the mixed pike and shot army. After this humiliating defeat, he himself won every battle he fought, earning the title El Gran Capitán (the Great Captain) and the assessment of several modern historians as the greatest captain of the Italian Wars.

[Ennath]

June 29, 1124
Fall of Tyre

Baldwin de Burg was a nephew of Baldwin I of Jerusalem and Count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118. In 1118 his uncle died and he became Baldwin II of Jerusalem. In the Battle of Ager Sanguinis on June 28, 1119, the Franks suffered a disastrous defeat. Later that year Baldwin regained some territory, but the Franks were seriously weakened. He asked for help from Pope Callixtus II. The pope forwarded the request to Venice. The terms of the crusade were agreed through negotiations between the envoys of Baldwin II and Domenico Michele, the doge of Venice. Once the Venetians decided to participate, Pope Callixtus sent them his papal banner to signify his approval.

In 1122 the doge launched the seaborne crusade. The Venetian fleet of more than 120 ships carrying over 15,000 men left the Venetian Lagoon on August 8, 1122. They invested Corfu, then a possession of the Byzantine Empire, with which Venice had a dispute over privileges. In 1123 Baldwin II was captured by Balak of Mardin, emir of Aleppo, and imprisoned in Kharput. Eustace Graverius became regent of Jerusalem. The Venetians abandoned the siege of Corfu when they heard this news, and reached Outremer in May 1123.

The Venetian fleet arrived at Acre at the end of May and was informed about a Fatimid fleet of around 100 ships sailing towards Ascalon in order to assist Emir Balak in his siege. Thus the Venetian fleet sailed south in order to meet it and Doge Michele ordered the division of the fleet into 2 parts with the weaker at the fore and the stronger one hiding behind it. The Egyptians fell into the trap; assuming an easy victory they were now caught between 2 Venetian squadrons and outnumbered. Some 4000 were killed including the Fatimid admiral and 9 vessels captured with the Venetians adding to their triumph the capture of 10 merchant vessels en route back to Acre.

On February 15, 1124, the Venetians and Franks began the siege of Tyre. The seaport was part of the territory of Toghtekin, Atabeg of Damascus. The Latin army was led by the Patriarch of Antioch, the doge of Venice, Pons, Count of Tripoli and William de Bury, the king’s constable.

The Venetians and Franks built siege towers and catapults. The defenders also built engines to counter the siege towers. As the siege dragged out the citizens began to run short of food and sent urgent calls for help. Balak died while besieging the city of Hierapolis. Toghtekin advanced towards Tyre, but withdrew without fighting when the forces of Count Pons and Constable William rode to confront him. Toghtekin sent envoys in June to negotiate peace. After lengthy and difficult discussions it was agreed that the terms of surrender would include letting those who wanted to leave the city take their families and property with them, while those who wanted to stay would keep their houses and possessions. This was unpopular with some of the crusaders, who wanted to loot the city. Tyre surrendered on June 29. Many of the people who left Tyre moved to Damascus.

Baldwin II was released later that year. He granted the Venetians extensive commercial privileges in Tyre, and thus ensured that they would maintain a naval presence in the Latin East. The privilege included guarantees of property rights for the heirs of Venetians who were shipwrecked or who died in Tyre.

[Ennath]

212 BC
Battle of Silarus River

Hannibal had lifted the siege of Capua after mauling 2 Roman consular armies. The Roman consuls had split their forces, with Flavius Flaccus moving towards Cumae, while Appius Claudius Pulcher marched towards Lucania. It is not sure why they had done so, because their forces still outnumbered Hannibal’s army, even after with the losses suffered in the battle. Hannibal decided to follow Claudius.

Claudius managed to evade the pursuit of Hannibal, but a centurion, Marcus Centenius Penula, had appealed to the Roman Senate for independent command, claiming that with his knowledge of Campania he could best the Carthaginians. His appeal was granted and 4000 citizen soldiers and 4000 allies were detached to serve under him, possibly from the army of Gracchus which was stationed in Lucania. To this force another 8000 volunteers from Campania, Lucania and Samnium was added.

While Appius Claudius marched west to join his fellow consul, Centenius set off to attack Hannibal in Lucania. Hannibal learned of the Romans’ approach and halted his pursuit of Claudius. He probably had a numerical edge over Centenius.

The opposing columns spotted their enemies at about the same time and immediately drew up into battle lines. Hannibal sent much of his cavalry to secure the roads around the battlefield to prevent any Roman retreat. The hastily assembled and equipped Romans held off Hannibal’s veterans for 2 hours until Centenius was killed in action. The Roman army collapsed into a rout and 15,000 Romans were killed in the battle and pursuit, with only 1000 escaping the Carthaginian cavalry blockade. These survivors were sent to join the disgraced legions of Cannae survivors after they had been rounded up.

Hannibal did not resume his pursuit of Claudius, Instead, he marched east into Apulia, where a Roman army under Praetor Gnaeus Flavius Flaccus was operating against towns allied to Carthage. The Roman consular armies, free of Hannibal, united and resumed their harassment of Capua. The city fell the following year.

[Ennath]

June 30, 1943
Battle of New Georgia

The New Georgia group is made up of several larger islands - Vella Lavella in the northwest, then Kolombangara, New Georgia itself (with Rendova off its southwest coast) and Vanguni in the southeast. These major islands were surrounded by a large number of smaller islands and tiny islets. None of them were well mapped, their populations were small and most of the land was covered by thick jungle.

New Georgia was an obvious target for the Americans. The Japanese had a major base at Munda, at the western tip of New Georgia island, where they had built an airfield. In early March Rear-Adm. Minoru Ota was sent to speed up work on the defenses. When he arrived the garrison was mainly provided by the Navy’s Special Naval Landing Forces, but in March and April they were joined by troops from 38th and 51st Divisions. Gen. Noboru Sasaki, commander of 38th Division, was placed in charge. By the end of June Sasaki had around 11,000 men under command, half army and half navy. The Japanese troops were concentrated in a small number of locations. Their main bases were at Munda, at the western end of New Georgia and at Vila, on the southern coast of Kolombangara.

Active American preparations began before the fighting ended on Guadalcanal. On the night of January 4-5 a force of cruisers and destroyers bombarded Munda. On February 21 the Russell Islands (between Guadalcanal and New Georgia) were occupied and 2 airfields were quickly constructed on those islands. Over the next three months Munda and Kolombangara were attacked every day, but work continued on the airfield. The Japanese suffered heavily in the accompanying air battles.

Halsey’s headquarters issued the general instructions for the invasion on June 3. Although Munda was the main target, it would be left alone during the first wave. The Western Landing Force would land on Rendova, south of Munda. A smaller Eastern Landing Force would occupy Viru Harbor, where the Japanese had a barge base, Segu Plantation, and Wickham anchorage, at the southern end of the island group, seen as a suitable site for a naval base. Once these targets had been secured the Americans would then cross from Rendova to New Georgia and advance on Munda. A Northern Landing Group, under Colonel Harry Liversedge, was to land at Rice Anchorage and capture the Japanese positions at Enogai and Bairoko, where the Japanese had a coastal gun battery and a barge base linking Munda to Kolombangara. The invasion force was built around 43rd Infantry Division, supported by 2 battalions of Marine Raiders, the 1st Commando Fiji Guerrillas, a field artillery battalion and the Marine 9th Defense Battalion. The land forces were lead by Maj-Gen. John Hestor, commander of 43rd Infantry. Vice Adm A.W. Fitch commanded the land based air support and Rear Adm R.K. Turner was in overall command.

D-Day, June 30, began with a setback. The first landings on Rendova were to be made by scouting groups from 172nd Infantry, but they were landed in the wrong place and were unable to secure the main beaches. Things went better on Rendova. The Japanese only had 250 men on the island, and the main landing force was able to establish a secure beachhead. The Japanese at Munda were unable to interfere as their coast defense guns were sited to protect against a landing on New Georgia itself. The survivors of the Japanese garrison on Rendova were either hunted down by Fiji Commandos or escaped by canoe to Munda.

In order to capture Wickham Anchorage the Americans landed a mixed army and marine force at Oloana Bay, on the south coast of Vangunu. After 4 days of jungle fighting the area was secured on July 3. It never developed into a major base, but did become a refuge for small craft.

Northern Landing Group landed at Rice Anchorage, on the northwest coast of New Georgia, on July 5. On the following day the naval escort fought the Battle of Kula Gulf. Both sides lost ships but the Japanese were still able to land fresh troops on Kolombangara. The NLG had several tasks - capture of the Japanese gun batteries at Enogai, to cut the road from the barge base at Bairoko to Munda and to capture Bairoko. Enogai was secured by July 11, but the attack on Bairoko on the 20th ended in failure.

The battle for Munda was much more costly than the Americans had expected. In order to avoid the Japanese defenses at Laiana beach, 2 miles from Munda, they decided to land at Zanana, a further 3 miles to the east. The first few troops landed at Zanana on the night of July 2-3, and large scale landings started on the 3rd. The initial plan was to reach the Barike River in time to begin a general attack on July 8, but slow movement and unexpected Japanese resistance meant that the attack had to be delayed until the 9th.

The first attack was preceded by a naval bombardment, then an artillery bombardment and finally by air attack, but the Americans didn’t really know where the Japanese were, and little damage was done. Results were disappointing, and by July 11 Gen. Hester decided to change plans. He ordered one of his regiments to turn south to capture Laiana Beach, in order to shorten his supply lines. Once again the Japanese resisted fiercely, but the Americans reached the coast near Laiana on July 13. The Japanese were forced to pull out and next day the Americans began to land reinforcements at Laiana.

The Japanese were still managing to get reinforcements into New Georgia. On the night of July 12-13 the Americans attempted to intercept a Japanese force carrying fresh troops, but the resulting naval Battle of Kolombangara was a clear Japanese victory, with all 3 of the Allied cruisers involved badly damaged and the reinforcements safely landed.

American reinforcements were soon thrown in, but progress was still slow. Things got worse on the night of July17-18 when the Japanese launched their only major counterattack. The newly arrived 13th Regiment attacked from the north, got behind American lines and reached their supply beaches. 43rd Division HQ came under attack, but the Japanese were driven off by concentrated artillery fire from nearby islands.

The Americans responded by rushing reinforcements to New Georgia. By July 25 they had elements of 5 infantry regiments in the line, forming 14th Corps (Gen. Oscar Griswold). The final American attack at Munda began that day, with another heavy bombardment. This time progress was slow but steady, and on August 1 the first American troops reached the edge of Munda airfield. Although the Japanese attempted to defend the western side of the airfield, their last stand didn't last long. The last serious fighting came on August 4 and by 1410 on August 5 Munda Airfield was declared secure.

On the following day the Japanese made one last attempt to get reinforcements to the New Georgia Islands, but the resulting naval Battle of Vella Gulf was a major American victory

It took another 2 months of fighting to fully secure New Georgia and the nearby small islands. The first task was to clear away the Japanese troops nearest to Munda and try and prevent them escaping to Kolombangara. The Americans sent troops in two directions - north towards the Japanese barge base at Bairoko and northwest along the coastline. Maj-Gen. J. Lawton Collins was given the task of clearing southwestern New Georgia. By August 18 his men had joined with Northern Landing Group and isolated Bairoko. The Japanese destroyed all of their equipment and evacuated 19 barge loads of troops to Kolombangara. Late on August 24 American troops finally made an unopposed entry into Bairoko.

27th Infantry Regiment had the task of clearing the coastline northwest of Munda. They captured the village of Zieta on August 15 after unexpectedly fierce Japanese resistance. On the following day advancing US troops found an embarkation dock and some abandoned ships in a nearby river, and on August 23 they reached Hathorn Sound, between New Georgia and Arundel Island. These two operations ended the fighting on the mainland of New Georgia, but there was also some heavy fighting on islands to the northwest of Munda.

The Japanese were still present on some of the smaller islands close to New Georgia. On August 11 they were discovered on tiny Baanga Island, just to the northwest of Munda. A first attempt to land on August 12 was repulsed, and a larger landing with 2 battalions took place on August 14. Another 2 battalions joined in on the 16th, and after a week of hard fighting the Japanese evacuated the remaining troops to Arundel Island. Baanga Island was secured by August 22.

The first American troops landed on Arundel Island on 27 August. The resulting battle lasted until September 20, when the last Japanese troops were evacuated from the northern coast of the island. By now Kolombangara had been effectively bypassed by the American invasion of Vella Lavella, and at the end of September the Japanese began to evacuate Kolombangara. The central Solomons were now secure and the focus of the fighting was about to move west to Bougainville.