The Military History Thread

[Ennath]

September 26, 1142
Siege of Oxford

King Stephen faced a daunting task when he was set free after his supporters’ victory at the Rout of Winchester (see posting). In the north, the Scots had taken advantage of his troubles to occupy DurhamCastle. Earl Alan of Richmond was acting independently in Yorkshire, engaged in a private war with Earl William of York. Stephen was forced to buy back the loyalty of Geoffrey, Earl of Essex, by confirming all the concessions made by the empress and granting permission for another castle. The king had lost the important castles at Devizes and Oxford and the rebels now had a firm hold on area from Wales to the middle Thames. Only isolated garrisons remained to him.

In the new year of 1142, he set to work. Fortunately he still had a working administration and exchequer. Sometime before April, he was in East Anglia with Geoffrey and Earl Gilbert of Pembroke, in a campaign to reduce the Isle of Ely, where Bishop Nigel had stirred up rebellion (again). The king also reached an agreement with Earls Ranulf of Chester and William of Lincoln. Just after Easter, Stephen was at York, trying to end the feud between Alan of Richmond and William of York. At the end of April, he returned south to muster levies for a major campaign, but during a halt at Northampton fell seriously ill and the contingents that had been called out were dismissed.

The supporters of the empress had not let the debacle at Winchester deter them. Their leading men had gathered at Oxford and Earl Robert of Gloucester, the empress’s main commander, had protected his lines of communication with the SevernValley with castles or forts at Woodstock, Radcot, Bampton and Cirencester. The empress arrived during Lent for a strategy conference. It was decided to try and outbid the king for the support of Earl Geoffrey, hoping to confront the king with enemies on two sides. Geoffrey demanded and received confirmation of possession of the castle Stephen had granted him and permission to build another, as well as the right to occupy or destroy the Bishop of London’s castle at Stortford. Robert was also to seek the active participation of the Count of Anjou, the empress’s 2nd husband. Shortly after June 24, Robert sailed for Normandy.

By this time, Stephen was ready to embark on probably his most brilliant campaign. Shortly after Robert’s departure, the king appeared before Wareham; finding it lightly held, he burned the town and seized the castle, cutting direct communication between the Angevin faction and its supporters on the continent. Stephen then marched north and cut the enemy’s lines of communication between Oxford and the west. He took Cirencester by surprise and destroyed the castle, proceeding next to reduce the remaining outworks of Oxford, completely isolating the empress, still present in the town. Bampton was carried by storm and Radcot surrendered at discretion.

On September 26, King Stephen appeared on the Thames opposite Oxford. The rebel garrison obligingly deployed on the west bank, prepared to dispute the passage. However, an unguarded ford was discovered and the king’s army crossed to fall upon the astonished enemy before he could change front. The rout was complete and Stephen’s men, in hot pursuit, were able to enter the town with the fugitives. The city of Oxford thus fell, while the empress took refuge in the castle. Stephen immediately began a siege that was relentlessly maintained until the end of the year.

In the meantime, Earl Robert had been unable to win the active support of Anjou. He did manage, however, to secure additional men and returned to England in December with 300-400 knights in 52 ships. Since Wareham was held by royal garrison, he first decided to land at Southampton, then changed his mind and returned to besiege Wareham, capturing it after 3 weeks. A short time later, he captured the castle of Lulworth and the fortified Isle of Portland. But these reverses were not sufficient to lure the king from his business at Oxford and by Christmas the plight of the garrison was desperate. Robert’s forces were not strong enough to raise the siege and Stephen, doubtless remembering his experience under similar circumstances at Lincoln the year before (see posting), would not come out and fight.

At this juncture, the empress succeeded in escaping from the castle. One night she was let down from a tower, dressed in white, and passed through the siege lines undetected as the ground was covered in snow. She made her way on foot to Abingdon, 6 miles away, and from there rode to join her partisans at Wallingford. Left to its own devices and food nearly gone, the garrison of Oxford soon surrendered, and the king installed a garrison.

Stephen now marched south to attempt the recapture of Wareham, but the defenses had been strengthened by Robert. This failure was a minor setback compared with the success at Oxford. The loss of the castle and its garrison had ruined the elaborate plan the rebels had devised earlier in the year. Earl Geoffrey had not dared to move while the empress was immobilized at Oxford and, with her flight to Wallingford, came to terms with the king again. The king’s supporters had gained other successes during the year, taking NottinghamCastle. The end of 1142 saw the king in a much stronger position than the beginning. However, the empress had escaped and so the war would continue.

[Ennath]

1309
Siege of Gibraltar

In December 1308, Castile and Aragon agreed to wage war on the Emirate of Granada. A combined fleet was formed to blockade coastal Granadan towns. It was also stipulated that Castile would attack the towns of Algeciras and Gibraltar, while the Aragonese would attempt to conquer the city of Almeria. Ferdinand IV of Castile promised to cede 1/6 of the conquered Granadan territory to the Aragonese and that if the lands taken did not amount to 1/6 of Granadan territory, that the Archbishop of Toledo would step in to resolve any differences related to the matter. These concessions to Aragon led a few of Ferdinand IV’s vassals to protest the treaty, amongst them were John of Castile and Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena. Ferdinand insisted on the Aragonese alliance to cement an alliance between Aragon and the King of Morocco so that they would not intervene in the coming war with Granada.

Castile and Aragon both sent emissaries to Avignon to gain the support of Pope Clement V and to obtain the backing of an official Crusade. They also asked for the papal blessing of a marriage between the Infanta Eleanor of Castile, the firstborn daughter of Ferdinand IV and Jaime de Aragon y Anjou, son and heir of James II of Aragon. The Pope agreed to both ventures and on April 24, 1309, Clement V authorized a crusade against Granada together with mandates to conquer Corsica and Sardinia. At the Courts of Madrid, the first courts to ever occur in that city, Ferdinand publicly announced his desire to wage war against Granada and demanded subsidies to begin campaigning. Several vassals made contributions of men and money. The majority of the army consisted of the militia councils of Seville and the noblemen of that city.

From Toledo, Ferdinand and his army marched to Cordoba where the emissaries of James II announced that the Aragonese king was prepared to besiege Almeria. Final preparations were carried out in Seville, where Ferdinand arrived in July. The supply line for the invasion army passed through Seville and crossed the Guadalquivir River and traveled by sea to the territories of the Kingdom of Granada.

After the start of the siege of Algeciras, Ferdinand sent part of his army from the military councils of Seville to complete their remaining objective of capturing Gibraltar, whilst keeping the larger portion of his forces encamped around Algeciras. The force sent to besiege and capture Gibraltar was put under the command of Juan Nuñez II de Lara, Alonso Perez de Guzman, Fernando Gutiérrez Tello, the Archbishop of Seville and the council of nobles associated with that city. The group was further bolstered by Garci Lopez de Padilla, Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava and a contingent of his knights.

The Aragonese had already begun their own campaign and were besieging Almeria by August 15. That ill fated venture lasted until January 26, 1310 when the Aragonese were obliged to withdraw.

The chronicles of Ferdinand IV mention that Castilian forces invested Gibraltar and employed 2 siege machines of an unspecified type that began to fire into the city from towers built by the besiegers. The same chronicle states that the troops of Nuñez de Lara and Alonso Perez de Guzman had enveloped the town so effectively that the Muslim defenders were forced to surrender the city rather after an extended and gallant defense. Guzman and Lara allowed for some 1125 Muslim inhabitants to leave unharmed. On September 12, 1309, Ferdinand IV’s army officially occupied Gibraltar. The Castilian victory at Gibraltar ended almost 600 years of Muslim rule over the city.

Ferdinand IV ordered the repair of the city defenses which had been damaged during the assault. He also ordered the construction of a new tower. He further ordered the building of a shipyard that would serve to shelter passing ships. He then returned with his army to Algeciras, where the Castilian forces, being unable to take the great fortress town, were obliged to retreat . This ended their campaign against Granada, at great cost to Castile that was only mitigated by its success at Gibraltar and the cession of the border towns of Quesada, Quadros, Belmar and a payment of 5000 gold pistoles.

In the immediate aftermath of the peace treaty, the Emir of Granada, Muhammed III found himself almost immediately under attack from vassals who were angry at his concessions to Ferdinand. Upon the discovery of a plot against him, Muhammed traveled back to Granada where the populace was up in arms and his brother, Nasr Abul Geoix had installed himself on the throne. Muhammed was made to watch his minister be slaughtered and his palace plundered. He abdicated in favor of his brother shortly afterwards.

[Ennath]

September 27, 1331
Battle of Plowce

Until the death of Duke Mestwin II in 1294, the Duchy of Pomerelia on the Baltic coast, stretching from the border with the Imperial Duchy of Pomerania in the west to the Prussian territory of the Teutonic Order at the Vistula river in the east, had been held by the Samborides dynasty, vassals of the Polish Piast rulers. Przemysl II, King of Poland since 1295, incorporated Pomerelia into the Lands of the Polish Crown - against the protest of the Imperial Margraviate of Brandenburg. The next year, the margrave instigated the kidnapping and killing of King Przemysl, probably backed by King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia, who aimed for the Polish crown.

King Wenceslaus prevailed against his Piast rival Wladyslaw I the Elbow-high and was crowned King of Poland in 1300. He ruled in Pomerelia with the assistance of the local Swenzones noble family. Upon the assassination of his son Wenceslaus III in 1306, the Premyslid dynasty became extinct and Duke Wladyslaw was able to occupy the Pomerelian lands. The Swenzones, fearing for their possessions, called for Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg, whose troops occupied the territory up to the city of Danzig. Wladyslaw reacted by calling in the Teutonic Order, who under the command of Heinrich von Plötzke in 1308 conquered Danzig and most of Pomerelia (see posting).

However, after the Teutonic takeover they refused to turn it over to Wladyslaw, as the duke refused to pay the requested expense allowance. Instead they concluded the 1309 Treaty of Soldin with Margrave Waldemar, who was now willing to sell off his claims to Pomerelia.

Wladyslaw, chafing from this setback, unsuccessfully sued the Teutonic Order at the Roman Curia. However, he was crowned Polish king in 1320 and forged new alliances with the Kingdom of Hungary and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, when he married his daughter Elisabeth to King Charles I of Hungary in 1320 and his son Casimir to Aldona of Lithuania, daughter of Grand Duke Gediminas. On the other hand, the Kingdom of Bohemia entered the dispute and King John the Blind himself claimed the Polish crown as a heritage from the Premyslids. The Teutonic Knights supported King John, who joined them in crusades against the pagan Lithuanians, and furthermore were allied with Wladyslaw's enemy in Masovia, Duke Wenceslaus of Płock.

In 1326, the forces of King Wladyslaw, with Lithuanian support, devastated the Neumark region and the next year turned on the Teutonic Order, while in the south John the Blind marched against Krakow. Taking advantage of the weakness of Poland due to internal fragmentation, the Teutonic Knights pillaged and conquered the Polish Kuyavian region and the Dobrzyn area. Wladyslaw and his allies in turn pillaged the Kulmerland of Teutonic Prussia.

The Knights counterattacked, taking many towns in Kuyavia and Dobrzyn. A Polish and Lithuanian counterattack in 1330 resulted in a temporary peace, with the Order returning part of its gains to Poland, but over the next year, the fighting resumed. For Wladyslaw, the situation was becoming intolerable. The Knights were simply making too much progress. He turned to his allies and they agreed on a joint campaign for the summer of 1331. Gediminas would cross the wilderness at Wizna to meet Wladyslaw’s army near Kulm. The Hungarians were to keep King John occupied and send a force of knights to reinforce the Poles.

Before the linkup could occur, however, the Knights moved to besiege a castle that had harassed their shipping on the Vistula. This fell quickly, followed by 2 more fortresses. Finally, Prince Casimir arrived with the Hungarian reinforcements and the Order advance paused.

Wladyslaw now felt ready to attack. With a large army at his disposal, he decided not to waste it in sieges of well-defended castles, but to invade Kulm, link up with Gediminas and force the outnumbered Knights to battle. The campaign began well. In September he invaded West Prussia, then crossed to the east bank of the Vistula. However, he arrived too late; Gediminas had already arrived and, finding the Poles not present, had gone home. Wladyslaw was thus in East Prussia with a superiority in troops, but not great enough to besiege cities. Moreover, with the Knights closeby, he could not send out foragers. He did not want to make a humiliating retreat, but could not remain indefinitely. Meanwhile, the Hungarians were ravaging valuable Order territory, so both sides were ready for a truce.

A short time later, the Order’s grand Master was assassinated by a knight who had been reprimanded for violent behavior. Luther von Braunschweig succeeded to the position. Luther was determined to press the war until the Polish threat was neutralized. He depended on King John to keep Waldyslaw pinned in Silesia; both princes claimed lordship of that province and neither would easily abandon it. Meanwhile, Luther strengthened his army with mercenaries from as far as England; the mercenaries were commanded by Otto von Bergau, a close friend of King John. The Order’s army then plundered its way across Wladyslaw’s territories in Poland.

Wladyslaw left Casimir in charge of a small force while he attended to John. Casimir defended well; no castles were lost and the plundering of commoners was not of much concern. John, frustrated in his attempt to achieve a decisive victory, proposed that he meet up with the Grand Master at Kalish in September and force a decisive battle. Luther agreed, sending Marshal Dietrich von Altenburg to lead the Prussian army to the rendezvous. He arrived at Kalish to find no Bohemians. John, just back from an expedition to Italy, had not been able to start his march in time. Dietrich, seeing Polish forces beginning to come together from all directions and not knowing that John was only a few days march away, began a slow retreat, plundering along the way. He was thus moving away from John, who himself turned around when he heard of Dietrich’s retreat. As Dietrich retreated, Wladyslaw and Casimir followed with a larger army. Numbers are not certain, but the Poles probably had about 7000 men, the Knights 5000. However, many of the royal levy was less well armed and trained, so the king was reluctant to risk battle. However, when Dietrich divided his force into 3 groups to speed movement, Wladyslaw pounced on the weakest division, at Plowce.

Dietrich was unaware that he was so heavily outnumbered. His scouts had misinformed him and he believed that he was facing a small force and now a thick fog hindered reconnaissance. Dietrich aligned his men under 5 banners and stood for battle. The king also formed his army in 5 units. The battle was fiercely contested. The decisive moment came when the marshal’s horse was killed by a spear, creating disorder in the Teutonic ranks. Soon the fight was over. The Poles held 56 Brothers as prisoner; the ordinary knights were killed and the officers held for ransom. In the afternoon, the other Teutonic divisions arrived and drove the exhausted Poles from the field, taking 600 prisoners. Finding Marshal Dietrich chained to a wagon and seeing the executed prisoners, they killed all their own prisoners. Pressing the pursuit, another 100 prisoners were taken; at the request of the native Prussians, these were held to exchange for their own captives. Wladyslaw and Casimir escaped, but 2000 Poles had become casualties, along with 1700 Knights and mercenaries.

It was Easter 1332 before Luther was ready to seek revenge and this time his preparations were massive. In a 2-week siege, he captured Brzesc and eventually all of northern Kujavia. Wladyslaw counterattacked it August, but without success. He then sued for a truce to last into 1333, by which time he was dead. Casimir III was crowned king and began peace talks.

In 1343, the territorial claims were settled in the Peace of Kalish, formally ending the war. Casimir regained Kuyavia and Dobrzyn, but finally lost Pomerelia. Nevertheless, he retained the title “Lord and Heir of Pomerania”. The Pomerelian lands and Polish access to the Baltic remained a matter of conflict.

[Ennath]

September 28, 1917
Battle of Ramadi

In March 1917, the Ottoman Turks were driven out of Fallujah by the British and fell back to positions on the Madhij Defile 18 miles to the west. In their retreat they managed to breach the Sakhlawiya Dam on the Euphrates, increasing the risk of flooding downriver. Although this had some tactical advantages for the British in that floodwaters would make the area west of Baghdad impassable, it also carried with it the risk that the Samarra and Musaiyib railways would be threatened and Fallujah cut off. The British therefore sought to rebuild the dam. This required the occupation of Dhibban, a town about 20 miles south of Ramadi, in order to guard the working parties. Gen. Frederick Maude decided that an operation should be mounted to occupy Dhibban and strike against the Turkish garrison at Ramadi, about 1000 men. Maude did not aim to occupy Ramadi but to drive out its garrison and take as many prisoners and as much materiel as possible.

Unexpectedly, however, the temperatures began to soar. By July 8 the temperature had reached over 123°F in the shade in Baghdad, higher in tents and dug-outs. The temperature in the direct sun was measured at 160°F. Baghdadis called it “the hottest season in the memory of man”. Maude considered postponing the operation, but was advised by Gen. Alexander Cobbe to go ahead on the grounds that the weather was unlikely to get cooler in the immediate future. A column was assembled at Fallujah consisting of the 7th (Ferozepore) Brigade, 2 cavalry squadrons, 14 guns, 4 armored cars and half a sapper and miner company. Three aircraft were also designated to support the force.

The biggest challenge was how to get the force to Ramadi, as the heat made it impossible to march there from Dhibban, even at night. It was decided to transport them in motor vehicles, ferrying them up to their attack positions and hopefully delivering them in a fresh enough state to mount an attack. 127 Ford trucks were employed to transport the men, 600 at a time, by night and with tents to shelter during the daytime. Ice would also be carried to ensure that any cases of heatstroke could be treated immediately.

Dhibban was occupied without a fight on the night of July 7-8 and the rest of the force arrived from Fallujah on the 10th. A small detachment remained behind to guard Dhibban while the rest pressed on to the Madhij Defile, 7 miles to the west. They reached it in the late evening and occupied it without opposition. At 0100 on July 11, the advance resumed to Mushaid Point, about 2 miles east of Ramadi. The column did not reach it until 0445 due to heavy sand. As the force moved through gardens and farms on the outskirts of Ramadi, the Turks opened fire with 6 guns and 2 machine guns. By this time two of the British aircraft had developed mechanical problems due to the heat evaporating the water from their radiators. The armored cars and infantry could make no progress; reinforcements were sent up at 0645 but did no better. To make matters worse a dust storm began at 0800 and continued for most of the rest of the day. British communications broke down and the storm prevented effective counterbattery fire. This in turn made it impossible for the British infantry to attack or to organize a withdrawal during the daytime, so the troops dug in and endured the conditions with water being supplied from the Euphrates. At 0315 the following day, the British withdrew under cover of darkness. Although the Turks did not attack the withdrawing British, around 1500 pro-Turkish Arabs did, but were beaten off and mauled as soon as it got light. They continued sniping as the British made their way back to Dhibban. The British suffered 566 casualties, over half caused by the heat.

The second British effort to take Ramadi was mounted in September. By this time the Turks had assembled a joint Turco-German force called the Yilderim (Thunderbolt) Group, under Erich von Falkenhayn. Its aim was to attack into Iraq, marching down the Euphrates via Hīt and on to Baghdad. The threat never materialized, however, as the Germans were unable to complete the rail lines needed to support the troops in the field and Yilderim Group was redirected to the Palestine front. However, the threat of Yilderim Group spurred the British to another attempt on Ramadi. Control of the town was also sought in order to deny the Turks access to fresh produce from the area, which was illicitly smuggled out of British-controlled areas, and cut the desert road to Karbala.

In mid-September, Maude ordered Gen. Harry Brooking, commander of 15th Indian Division, to undertake the operation. The division joined A. W. Andrew’s 50th Indian Brigade at Fallujah and set up forward positions at Madhij, east of Ramadi, by September 20. The Turks were dug in along a line of dunes known as the Muskaid Ridge, about 4 miles west of Madhij. Their main positions were about a mile further west, just south of Ramadi itself.

Brooking decided to mount a frontal attack from the south while using the 6th Indian Cavalry Brigade to cut off the enemy line of retreat from the west. This would pin the Turks against the river, as there was no bridge at Ramadi. The Turks assumed that the British would repeat the tactics they used in July and organized their defenses accordingly to cover an arc running from the east to the south of the town. They expected to be able to use the road to the west to retreat if necessary. The garrison had been substantially reinforced and now numbered 3500 infantry and 100 cavalry, with 10 guns.
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Brooking carried out an elaborate series of deceptions to bolster the belief that the British would once again seek to advance along the Euphrates. A pontoon bridge was built at Madhij, troops were encamped along the river, and friendly Arabs were recruited to move supplies to the riverbank opposite Ramadi. Brooking’s order to commence the attack was also deliberately vague, so as to conceal the true plan of attack from any Turkish spies in Madhij.

At 2145 on the night of September 27, the infantry advance began with a march to the Mushaid Ridge, which they occupied with little opposition. Instead of continuing along the riverbank, however, 12th and 42nd Indian Brigades swung left to the Euphrates Canal between the Euphrates and Lake Habbaniyah. They secured the dam across the canal by 1500 on September 28. Their advance in the intense heat was made possible by a water supply chain that Brooking had established using 350 Ford vans. Meanwhile, 6th Cavalry Brigade had ridden across the desert to the south and west of Ramadi and reached the road 5 miles west of the town by 1600, where they dug in to block any Turkish retreat.

With artillery support, British forces advanced up two ridges south of Ramadi in the face of Turkish fire. Both were taken by the early afternoon of September 28. The garrison’s last escape route was now the Aziziya Bridge just west of Ramadi and, as the battle continued into the night under bright moonlight, a column of Turkish infantry sought to fight its way out of the trap at 0300 on the 29th. Heavy British fire repelled them and drove the survivors back to Ramadi after an hour and half of fighting. The 39th Garhwal Rifles attacked the bridge, charging Turkish guns firing over open sights, and took it by 0730 despite heavy casualties; only 100 men from the 3 assaulting companies made it through.

The Garhwali advance convinced the defenders that the battle was lost. At 0915, large numbers of Turks began surrendering at the bridge; by 0930, as the rest of the British force advanced towards the mud walls of Ramadi, surrenders were occurring all along the line. By 1100 the Turkish commander, Ahmed Bey, and the rest of the garrison had given up. The Turkish surrender came just in time, as a powerful sandstorm began shortly afterwards which reduced visibility to a few yards; had it struck earlier, the garrison could easily have slipped away.

120 Turkish troops were killed in the battle and another 190 were wounded. 3450 prisoners were taken. A handful of Turks escaped by swimming the Euphrates. British casualties numbered 995, though many of these had been only slightly wounded due to the Turkish shrapnel bursting too high to be of much effect. A great deal of materiel was seized, including 13 guns and large quantities of ammunition. The capture of Ramadi also led to the local Arab tribes switching sides and supporting the British.

The fall of the town was so sudden that on the day after the battle a German pilot attempted to land at Ramadi before he realized who now occupied it and made a hasty escape. The town was deemed sufficiently secure that on the following day, the British decided to continue their advance to assault Hīt, the next major Turkish-held town on the Euphrates. This attack by an armored car unit failed on account of predictably poor road surfaces; it was called off before it reached the town. Nevertheless, having comfortably succeeded in capturing Ramadi, Maude next turned his attention to capturing Tikrit in November.

[Ennath]

422 BC
Battle of Amphipolis

The city of Amphipolis was located in northeast Greece. It was built where the River Strymon emerged from Lake Cercinitis, about 3 miles from the sea. The area was contested with the Thracians, and two earlier attempts to create a city at the site had failed - the first in 497 BC and the first Athenian attempt in 465 BC. This second colony had been destroyed by the Thracians and the inhabitants massacred, but despite this setback the Athenians persevered, and the successful colony was founded in 437 BC.

The city had not been founded for long when the Great Peloponnesian War broke out. At first the fighting didn't directly affect the city, but this changed after the Spartan commander Brasidas led an army overland to Thrace. In the winter of the eighth year of the war (424-423 BC), Brasidas besieged the city. It was defended by the Athenian general Eucles, who sent for help from Thucydides (later the famous historian), who was stationed at Thasos with 7 Athenian ships. In order to capture the city before Thucydides arrived, Brasidas offered to let everyone who wished to stay keep their property, and offered safe passage to those who wanted to leave. Amphipolis surrendered, despite protests from Eucles. Thucydides arrived at the nearby port of Eion on the same day the city surrendered, and defended it with help from those who had left Amphipolis.

Meanwhile, Brasidas began to ally with more Thracian towns, as well as with Perdiccas II of Macedon, and he attacked other towns in the area, such as Torone. The Athenians were afraid that their other allies would quickly capitulate, as the Amphipolitans had, if Brasidas offered them favorable terms of peace. Thucydides was recalled to Athens where he was tried and exiled for failing to save Amphipolis.

In the following spring the Athenians and Spartans agreed a one year truce, expiring in the summer of 422 BC. Athens hoped they could fortify more towns in preparation for future attacks and the Spartans hoped Athens would finally return the prisoners taken at the Battle of Sphacteria in 425 BC (see posting). Brasidas remained in Thrace during this period, campaigning in areas not covered by the truce. He captured Scione and refused to give it back when news of the treaty arrived. The Athenian leader Cleon sent a force to take it back.

When the armistice ended in 422, Cleon arrived in Thrace with a force of 30 ships, 1200 hoplites, and 300 cavalry, along with other troops from Athens’ allies. After an early success at Torone, Cleon then sailed along the coast towards Amphipolis. He reached the port of Eion, 3 miles from the city, and then waited for reinforcements to arrive. Brasidas also moved to the area, and took up a position on Cerdylium, on high ground close to Amphipolis and with a good view of the Athenian position. Brasidas expected Cleon to advance towards Amphipolis without waiting for reinforcements, and hoped to have a chance to attack the Athenians while they were still comparatively weak. Brasidas had 2000 hoplites, 300 Greek cavalry, 1000 local peltasts, the army of Edon and 1500 Thracian mercenaries, and so outnumbered Cleon although the quality of his troops wasn't as high.

Cleon wasn't a popular commander, and he didn’t have the full support of his troops. He was unable to convince them of the wisdom of waiting for reinforcements, and was forced to make some sort of move. He decided to march up the river to Amphipolis to examine the city and its defenses. When Cleon made his move, Brasidas abandoned his watching position and moved into the city, but kept his troops hidden. Brasidas was aware of the inferior quality of his troops, and decided to try an unusual tactic. The Athenians were somewhat disorganized. Brasidas decided to lead 150 his best men in a surprise attack on the Athenian center. Once this advance guard was fully engaged, his second in command Clearidas was to attack with the rest of the army. Brasidas hoped that the Athenians would be distracted by his own attack and demoralized when a second army appeared.

Outside the city the Athenians were increasingly aware of movement behind the gates. Cleon decided to order his army to withdraw back to the coast to wait for reinforcements before risking a battle. The left wing of the Athenian army moved first. The right wing, with Cleon in personal command, then began to wheel around towards the center to join the retreat. During this movement their shields, which were held on the left, were thus facing away from the gates of Amphipolis.

Brasidas realized that this was the moment to attack. He led his 150 men out of city by a minor gate, and attacked the Athenian center, which quickly collapsed. Brasidas then turned on the Athenian right, while Clearidas brought the rest of the army out of the city and joined the battle. Seeing the disaster befalling the rest of the army the Athenian left, already some way down the river, fled, leaving the right to fight alone.

The fighting on the Athenian right cost both commanders their lives. Brasidas was mortally wounded during his attack on the right wing. He was taken from the field and survived for long enough to learn of his victory. He was buried in Amphipolis, where he was later commemorated as the founder of the city. Thucydides, who was always rather hostile to Cleon, records his death in less flattering terms. Seeing that the battle was lost, he fled from the battlefield and was killed by a Thracian peltast.

The Athenian right attempted to make a stand on a nearby hill. They were able to fight off 3 attacks by Clearidas and his hoplites. They were less successful when Clearidas surrounded them with light troops, cavalry and peltasts, who pelted them with missile weapons. Under this bombardment the Athenian right also broke and fled. The survivors of the disaster reached safety at Eion, but 600 Athenians had died during the battle. According to Thucydides the Spartans and their allies only lost 7 men.

The most significant result of the battle of Amphipolis was the death of both Brasidas and Cleon, two of the more warlike leaders. With both men removed from the scene the peace negotiations that had been going on since Sphacteria were finally successful, and in the following year the Peace of Nicias temporarily ended the fighting.

[Ennath]

September 29, 1626
Battle of Gniew

After the seizure of Livonia in July 1626, the Swedes landed 13,000 men and 80 guns at Pilawa in the territory of Georg Wilhelm, Duke of Prussia, a vassal of the Polish king, but also brother-in-law of the king of Sweden. Pilawa offered no resistance which, together with the subsequent activity of Prussian troops, lead to Polish charges of treason against Georg Wilhelm. The Swedes marched quickly southwest along the Vistula, taking several small towns along the way, as well as the second largest city of Royal Prussia, Elbląg (Elbing). Follow-up troops took Puck, as well as several other towns and the crossing of the Vistula — Tczew, Gniew and Głowa Gdanska. The remaining and most serious obstacle was Danzig. This was a big urban center which at that time had more than 64,000 inhabitants (over 6 times more than Stockholm). Initially the Swedes tried to negotiate terms with the city but talks were soon broken off due to the unyielding attitude of the inhabitants. The city begged the Polish king for help. King Sigismund III managed to raise an army in a little more than 2 months and rushed to help the city. Along the way, he needed to recapture Gniew and besieged the city. Receiving the news of the siege of Gniew, Swedish King Gustavus moved to rescue the town which was defended by 200 men, and on his way took Walichnowy, on September 11. Sigismund moved his forces north,

The battle occurred on the west bank of the Vistula. Sigismund had an army 15,000 strong, but he only had 20 guns and 300 hussars. Worse, most of his hussars were inexperienced, as 1500 of the more experienced troops were absent in Ukraine. Sigismund was able to choose his ground, occupying an escarpment west of the river. Gustavus had 12,200 men, and 74 guns. He was able to use flood defenses along the Vistula to strengthen his position, which gave the Poles very little chance to use their cavalry to its best advantage.

In initial clashes on September 22, Gustavus Adolf sent out his skirmishers, in the hope that Sigismund would respond by coming out of his field fortifications. Sigismund did just that, sending his hussars to attack the Swedish left. The hussars were able to drive away the Swedish horse, but were driven off by a salvo of infantry fire after their charge was slowed by soft sandy ground. A mixed Polish force then took some embankments, but a Swedish counterattack retook the positions and the retreating Polish cavalry rode over their own infantry. A cease fire took place the next day while both sides buried their dead, although during the skirmish both sides suffered only light casualties.

The main battle came on September 29. The Poles tried to provoke the Swedes into leaving their field works, but without success. After initial engagements Polish infantry attacked the Swedish positions but were held. After two hours of fighting the Poles received further infantry reinforcements and the Swedes began to retreat, which encouraged the Poles to send in a cavalry charge, composed of two squadrons of hussars and 400 reiters. The Swedes counterattacked with fresh cavalry, but were beaten back. However, Swedish infantry and artillery fire, aided by difficult terrain, resulted in the collapse of the Polish attack. The Polish artillery attempted to intervene, but was generally ineffective.

Battle resumed on October 1. The Swedes had built a fortified position near the dam to cover their infantry and keep the Polish horse from the plains. During the previous night, a garrison soldier from Gniew had made it out and informed Gustavus of the desperate situation in the town. The king decided to try and break through to the defenders. The main attack would go in along the Vistula.

No sooner did the Swedish infantry emerge from their works then they were attacked by Polish reiters and forced back into their positions. In the afternoon, Gustavus executed a second assault on the Polish positions on the hills. The Polish infantry on the high ground believed the Swedes to be a Polish unit retreating from the battle, and so held their fire. A salvo from the Swedish infantry then drove the Poles off the hilltop and the Swedes began digging in. Sigismund was able to persuade his cavalry to make one more charge, in an attempt to drive the Swedes back off the escarpment. Tomasz Zamoyski’s hussars swept the first line of Swedish infantry off the hill while they were reloading but were then repelled by the second line. The Polish cavalry retreated in disorder and the Swedes re-entered and continued entrenching. A Polish infantry attack was stopped cold. With the high ground lost, the Polish camp was vulnerable to Swedish artillery, and Sigismund was forced to abandon the siege of Gniew. Their was no pursuit as Gustavus moved to secure the town.

Swedish losses were 30 men killed. The Polish casualties were higher, with about 500 dead and three standards lost. Together with a second defeat at Dirschau (August 1627), the battle of Gniew convinced the Polish-Lithuanians that it would be best to avoid open battle. Instead, the infantry defended its camps while the cavalry attacked Swedish supplies.

[Ennath]

September 30, 1342
Battle of Morlaix

In 1341 John III, Duke of Brittany died without leaving an heir. The question of the succession ignited a civil war in Brittany which lasted about 25 years initially between John’s half brother, John de Montfort and his niece Joan, Duchess of Brittany, wife of Charles of Blois. Charles and Joan had the support of the Breton nobility and clergy while John was an outsider whose main concentration of power was in the Ile de France. However, Charles was the nephew of Philip VI of France who backed Joan’s claim, so England of course supported John de Montfort’s claim.

Initially, Edward III of England could do little to help the de Montforts as he had his own problems at home, but eventually he felt able to send a small force under Sir Walter Mauny. As a result of Mauny’s initial successes Edward decided to send a larger force of knights and archers under William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton. For a long time its departure was delayed and by the time they arrived in Brittany John de Montfort was a prisoner of the French and the struggle was being carried on by his wife Joan. When Northampton landed on August 18, 1342, the Countess, her men and the remnants of Mauny’s force were besieged at Brest by a French army under Charles of Blois and a force of Genoese ships. On Northampton’s arrival, the French appear to have withdrawn without engaging the smaller English force and the siege of Brest was relieved.

From Brest, Northampton moved inland and eventually he reached Morlaix, one of Charles of Blois’ strongholds. His initial attack on the town was unsuccessful, so he settled into a siege. Meanwhile, Charles’ forces had been growing in numbers, possibly reaching as many as 15,000. Informed that Northampton’s force was considerably smaller than his own, Charles began to move on Morlaix intending to raise the siege. On receiving intelligence of Blois’ advance, Northampton, not wishing to be trapped between Blois’ force and sorties from the garrison of Morlaix, made a night march to intercept him.

None of the chroniclers give much detail of the battle. It is known that the French were deployed into 3 lines. At least one of the French divisions was solely of mounted knights led by Geoffroi de Charny. The French had about 3000 cavalry and 1500 “Janissaries”, which may refer to Genoese and a mixed force of Breton infantry. The bulk of the Bretons were probably just local levies. English numbers are also unclear. Northampton had less than 1500 on his arrival at Brest. He had been reinforced by Robert of Artois with another 800 and an unknown number of Bretons of unknown quality. He would have had to leave some behind to contain the Morlaix garrison so almost certainly his numbers would have been less than the French.

An initial French attack was repulsed. Its composition is unclear. One source has it consisting of infantry, defeated without even making contact. Another source has the attack conducted by cavalry, which reached the English positions, but was thrown back in disarray. After a consultation between the commanders the second column of cavalry attacked and many were brought down by falling into pits that had been dug by the English. The English line may have been briefly penetrated, but the attack finally failed. The last French line now hesitated to attack, but because the English archers were now short of arrows, Northampton withdrew into the woods at his back and formed a hedgehog. Here he was safe from a cavalry charge and though the last French column did attack everywhere it was driven back.

Whatever the details of the fighting, the final result was that 50 French knights were killed and 150 captured, along with a number of populari, which seems to indicate that at least some of the infantry were involved. What was left of Blois’ force then evidently relieved Morlaix and the English, now trapped in the wood, themselves became the object of a siege for several days.

[Ennath]

353 BC
Battle of Crocus Field

The 3rd Sacred War broke out in 356 BC, and would present Philip II of Macedon with his first real opportunity to expand his influence into the affairs of central and southern Greece. The war was caused by the refusal of the Phocian Confederation to pay a fine imposed on them in 357 BC by the Amphictyonic League, a pan-Greek religious organization which governed the most sacred site in Ancient Greece, the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Behind the religious element, there was probably a display of realpolitik in bringing charges against the Phocians, instigated by the Thebans. At this time, Thebes controlled a majority of the votes in the council, and at the autumn meeting in 357 BC, the Thebans were able to have both the Phocians (for the cultivation of sacred land) and the Spartans (for occupying Thebes some 25 years previously) denounced and fined. Since the fines for both parties were “unjustifiably harsh”, the Thebans probably expected neither party to pay, and thus to be able to declare a “sacred war” on either.

In response, the Phocians, under the leadership of Philomelos, seized Delphi (which was within the boundaries of Phocis), and asserted the ancient claim of Phocis to the presidency of the Amphictyonic League, intending to annul the judgment against themselves. There seems to have been some sympathy in Greece for the Phocians, since other states could see that the Thebans were pursuing private feuds. The Phocians were supported by Athens (perennial enemy of Thebes) and, naturally, Sparta, who hoped to see their own fine wiped out when the Phocians seized Delphi. However, Philomelos plundered the treasury of Apollo to pay for mercenaries, thus raising a powerful army, but drastically altering the opinion of the other Greek states. In winter 356-55 BC, a “sacred war” was declared against the Phocians by the Amphictyonic council, with the Thebans being the major protagonists. The war started relatively well for the Phocians, but a severe defeat at Neon by the Thebans led to the death of Philomelos. Undeterred, Onomarchos took over the Phocian effort, and raised new mercenaries to carry on the fight.

The Sacred War appears to have caused conflict within Thessaly. The Thessalian Confederation was in general staunch a supporter of the Amphictyonic League, and had an ancient hatred of the Phocians. Conversely, the city-state of Pherae had allied with Phocis. The nobility of the Thessalian city of Larissa appealed to Philip of Macedon to help them defeat the Pheraeans. Philip brought an army into Thessaly, probably with the intention of attacking Pherae. Lycophron of Pherae requested aid from the Phocians, and Onormarchos dispatched his brother, Phallyos with 7000 men; however, Philip repulsed this force before it could join up with the Pheraeans. Onomarchos then abandoned the siege he was currently prosecuting, and brought his whole force into Thessaly. The exact details of the campaign that followed are unclear, but Onomarchos seems to have inflicted two defeats on Philip, with heavy loss. Philip retreated to Macedon for the winter.

Philip returned to Thessaly the next summer, having gathered a new army in Macedon. He formally requested that the Thessalians join him in the war against the Phocians. Philip now mustered all the Thessalian opponents of Pherae that he could, and according to Diodorus, his final army numbered 20,000 infantry and 3000 cavalry.

Philip besieged the strategic port of Pagasae (effectively the harbor of Pherae). By taking Pagasae, it is probable that Philip intended to prevent Pherae being reinforced by sea. Meanwhile, Onomarchus returned to Thessaly to try to preserve the Phocian ascendancy there, with approximately the same force as during the previous year. Furthermore, the Athenians dispatched Chares with a substantial fleet to help their Phocian allies, seeing the opportunity to strike a decisive blow against Philip. The Phocians and Athenians probably intended to rendezvous at Pagasae, since it was the only harbor the Athenian fleet could use, and since Philip was there anyway.

Subsequent events are unclear, but a battle was fought between the Macedonians and the Phocians, probably as Philip tried to prevent the Phocians joining forces with the Pheraeans, and crucially, before the Athenians had arrived. According to Diodorus, the armies met on a large plain near the sea, probably in the vicinity of Pagasae. The Crocus Field in Thessaly matches this description; however, this plain is so large that firmly identifying the battle-site has proved impossible.

Philip sent his men into battle wearing crowns of laurel, the symbol of Apollo, taking on the mantle of avenger of sacrilege. Some of the Phocian mercenaries supposedly threw down their arms, troubled by guilty consciences. In the ensuing battle, among the bloodiest recorded in ancient Greek history, Philip won a decisive victory. The battle seems to have been won by superior numbers and by the skill of Philip’s cavalry. The Phocians fled to the sea, where Chares’ fleet had arrived during the battle, but many were killed during the pursuit, or drowned as they tried to reach the ships. In total, 6000 Phocian troops were killed including Onomarchos, and another 3000 taken prisoner. Onomarchos was either hanged or crucified and the other prisoners drowned, as ritual demanded for temple-robbers. These punishments were designed to deny the defeated an honorable burial; Philip thus continued to present himself as the pious avenger of the sacrilege committed by the Phocians.

It was probably in the aftermath of his victory that the Thessalians appointed Philip Archon of Thessaly. This was an appointment for life, and gave Philip control over all the revenues of the Thessalian Confederation, and furthermore made Philip leader of the united Thessalian army. The tyrants of Pherae, rather than suffer the fate of Onomarchos, struck a bargain with Philip and were allowed, along with 2000 of their mercenaries, to go to Phocis, in return for surrendering their city. Philip spent some time reorganizing Thessaly and then marched south to the pass of Thermopylae, the gateway to central Greece. He probably intended to follow up his victory over the Phocians by invading Phocis itself, a prospect which greatly alarmed the Athenians, since once he was passed Thermopylae, he could also march on Athens. The Athenians therefore dispatched a force to Thermopylae and occupied the pass; there is some debate as to whether other contingents may have joined the Athenians at Thermopylae. Although it might have proved possible to force the pass, Philip did not attempt to do so, preferring not to risk a defeat after his great successes in Thessaly.

Meanwhile, the Phocians regrouped under Onomarchos’ brother, Phallyos. After the Phocian defeats at Neon and Crocus Field, Phallyos had to resort to doubling the pay for mercenaries, in order to attract enough to replenish his army. Despite their defeats however, the majority of the Phocians were still in favor of continuing the war. Over the winter, Phallyos engaged in diplomatic efforts to gather more support from Phocis’ allies, and succeeding in widening the theater of conflict in the next campaigning season. The Phocians were able to absorb heavy losses in manpower, thanks to their pillaging of Temple of Apollo, which was to contribute to the war dragging on indecisively until 346 BC. Nevertheless, Macedon, formerly dismissed as a semi-barbarous backwater, was now a major player in Greek affairs.

[Ennath]

October 1, 1756
Battle of Lobositz

As it became clear that war was imminent King Frederick resolved not to wait to be attacked by the alliance of Austria, France, Saxony, the Imperial German States, Russia and Sweden, gathering around Prussia’s borders. During the early summer of 1756 the Prussian army mobilized and supplies were assembled. On August 29, the Prussians, against the advice of their British allies, crossed the border into Saxony. Neither the Saxon nor Austrian army was ready for war. The Saxon Army retreated into the fortified camp at Pirna on the Elbe south of Dresden. Frederick marched south, leaving a force to cover the Pirna camp, and on September 13, his army crossed the southern border of Saxony into Bohemia over the mountainous Mittel-Gebirge to establish a winter base in the rich Bohemian plain.

An Austrian army under Field Marshal Maximilian von Browne had prepared a fortified base at Budin to block any Prussian moves out of the Mittel-Gebirge. Browne had been in secret communication with the Saxons and planned a rescue mission up the right bank of the Elbe to Königstein, near Pirna, to help the Saxon army escape across the river and join its allies. The date of the rendezvous of the two forces was to be the night of September 11-12. Meanwhile, Frederick and his 28,000 men were making their way through the Mittel-Gebirge toward the Bohemian plain. Browne's intelligence told him that the Prussians would exit from the mountains at Lobositz (modern Lvosice, Czech Republic) a few miles northwest of his base at Budin. He recalled his small relief force and raced with 33,000 men to the riverside town of Lobositz to lay an ambush for Frederick as he debouched from the narrow passes.

On September 30, in the early morning mists, the leading troops of Frederick’s army emerged into the valley of the Elbe. An officer from the advance guard warned the king that the Austrian army appeared to be formed in positions around Lobositz. Frederick hurried forward and after surveying the scene ordered his army to attack. It would seem that Frederick believed he was facing only a rearguard and that he did not realize that he was in the presence of the whole Austrian army which was ready to receive him.

As the Prussian infantry marched down the valley into the Elbe plain they passed a lump like hill called the Lobosch on their left. On their right was the smaller feature, the Homolka, on which the Prussians placed heavy guns. To their front the valley plain stretched away to the Elbe River beyond the Lobosch. The Morellen-Bach stream flowed in from the far right, around the village of Sullowitz and away into the distance parallel to the main river. Several roads ran along the valley in both directions from Lobositz.

The main body of Browne’s army lay behind the Morellen-Bach. Significant bodies of cavalry and infantry filled the gap between the stream and the Elbe, across which ran a sunken road where infantry lay concealed. Sullowitz contained Austrian infantry and guns. General Lacy with a strong force of infantry, many of them Croat and Hungarian irregulars, was moving up the far side of the Lobosch from their positions on the eastern road out of Lobositz, intending to assail the flank of the advancing Prussian army in the valley beneath the hill.

As the Prussian infantry columns emerged into the valley they came under heavy bombardment from Austrian batteries outside Lobositz. This was their first experience of the reformed Austrian artillery. The fire was returned by the Prussian guns on the Homolka and further batteries on the lower slopes of the Lobosch and in the valley mouth.

At around 7 AM, Frederick ordered the Duke of Bevern to take the Lobosch and begin an outflanking move against the Austrian right. A hard fought battle developed on the summit of the Lobosch between Bevern and Lacy.

Frederick, soon after he had launched Bevern onto the Lobosch, dispatched a force of cuirassiers under Lt. Gen. Kyau to find out where the Austrians were positioned in the central part of the valley. As Kyau came up level with the village of Sullowitz the Prussians were attacked in the flank by a force of Austrian dragoons. A heavy skirmish ensued in which the Prussians cuirassiers were supported by the Bayreuth Dragoons. Regiments of Austrian cuirassiers joined the melee. The Austrian dragoons disengaged and withdrew leaving the Prussian cavalry exposed to artillery fire at close range from the Austrians positions around Sullowitz. The Prussian cavalry streamed back across the valley in disorder to the positions held by their infantry.

The remainder of the Prussian cavalry came through from the rear of the army and formed up with the remnants of Kyau’s squadrons forming a force of 10,000 mounted men. These came under the fire of the Austrian guns. Eventually the Prussian cavalry, acting without orders but galled beyond endurance by the artillery fire, charged the Austrian lines. The charge had no real focus and came to grief along the Morellen-Bach and against the sunken road that led from Lobositz at the hands of the Croat irregulars who lined the road. Austrian cuirassiers attacked the disordered remnants of the Prussian cavalry. Frederick sent more of his infantry from the valley onto the Lobosch to support the Duke of Bevern’s assault against the Croats and regular Austrian troops commanded by Lacy.

From the Austrian main army positioned behind the Morellen-Bach, which until now had taken little part in the battle, Browne drew up a force around the village of Sullowitz to counterattack the Prussians on the far side of the valley. Before the counterattack could be launched, the force was dispersed and Sullowitz set on fire by Prussian howitzer fire from the Homolka. Following this final effort the Prussian batteries on the Homolka began to run low on ammunition and their fire slackened off causing considerable concern in the Prussian command.

Finally, when Frederick was despairing of success and was planning to leave the army with instructions to his generals on the conduct of a withdrawal, the Duke of Bevern pushed the Austrian forces off the Lobosch. The Prussian infantry in the valley moved forward in support and attacked the town of Lobositz which quickly became a blazing inferno. Browne moved his main body from behind the Morellen-Bach into positions to the South of the town and began a withdrawal, leaving the Prussians in command of the field.

It wasn't until late that night that the rattled Frederick was convinced by Bevern and Brunswick that he hadn't lost this, his first battle of the war. And when, the next morning, he saw that Browne had pulled out during the night, he was greatly relieved. There was a saying going around the army, comparing this enemy to those they had so easily beaten during the previous war, “These are not the same old Austrians.”

Lobositz was far from the classic Frederickian victory. Frederick committed the mistake he was to repeat in later battles of the Seven Years War of attacking with insufficient information. Both sides lost about 2900 men.

Following the battle, Browne took an Austrian corps north up the east side of the Elbe to relieve the Saxons besieged in the camp at Pirna. Frederick returned to Pirna leaving Field Marshal Keith to bring his army out of Bohemia. Browne was too late to save the Saxon Army, which surrendered on October 17 and was incorporated into the Prussian Army. Saxony itself was taken under Prussian administration for the rest of the war.

[Ennath]

October 2, 1944
Battle of Aachen, Part 1

By September 1944, the Western Allies had reached the German border, which was protected by the extensive Siegfried Line. German casualties in France had been high - Field Marshal Walter Mödel estimated that his 74 divisions had the actual strength of just 25 - but the Allies’ logistical problems gave the Germans a respite, which they used to begin rebuilding. In September, reinforcement of the Siegfried Line brought troop strength up to an estimated 230,000 men. At the start of the month, the Germans had had about 100 tanks in the West; by the end, they had roughly 500. They were able to establish an average defensive depth of 3 miles.

Allied Supreme Headquarters (SHAEF), under Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, set their sights on the occupation of the Ruhr, Germany's industrial heartland. Gen. Courtney Hodges’ US 1st Army was ordered to break through near Aachen. Hodges had initially hoped to bypass the city itself, believing it to be held only by a small garrison, which would presumably surrender once isolated. The ancient, picturesque city had little military value in itself, as it was not a major center of war production. It was, however, an important symbol to both the Nazi regime and the German people; not only was it the first German city threatened by an enemy during the war, it was also the historic capital of Charlemagne, founder of the 1st Reich. The mindset of the defenders was further altered by the different attitude the local population had toward them as they fought on home soil for the first time; one German officer commented, “Suddenly we were no longer the Nazis, we were German soldiers.”

Aachen and its sector were protected by the Siegfried Line, several belts of inter-connected pillboxes, forts, and bunkers protected by extensive minefields, dragon’s teeth anti-tank obstacles, and wire entanglements. In several areas, the defenses were over 10 miles deep. Learning from their experiences on the Eastern Front, the Germans ran their main line of resistance down the center of towns located in the defensive wall, taking advantage of narrow streets to limit the mobility of enemy armored vehicles. Despite the low quality of many of the troops, the fortifications protecting Aachen and the Ruhr were a formidable obstacle to the American forces, who saw a breakthrough in this sector as crucial, as the terrain behind was generally flat, and therefore highly favorable to the motorized Allied armies.

Fighting around Aachen began as early as the second week of September. At this time, the city was defended by the 116th Panzer Division. The proximity of Allied forces had caused the majority of the city’s officials to flee before the evacuation of its citizens was complete. (For this, Hitler had all Nazi officials who had fled stripped of rank and sent to the Eastern front as privates.) US VII Corps continued to probe German defenses, despite the resistance of the defenders, ultimately creating a half-moon arc around the city. This slow advance came to a halt in late September, due to the supply problem, and the diversion of existing stocks of fuel and ammunition for Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands.

In October, responsibility for the Aachen sector's defense was given to Friedrich Köchling’s 81st Corps, which included the 183rd and 246th Volksgrenadier Divisions, as well as the 12th and 49th Infantry Divisions. These forces, along with the attached 506th Tank Battalion and 108th Tank Brigade, numbered roughly 20,000 men and 11 tanks. Köchling was also promised a reformed 116th Panzer Division and the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division, numbering a total of some 24,000. On October 7, elements of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler were released to reinforce the defense. Many units were understrength. The Volksgrenadier divisions had only about 1/4 veterans. Half were fresh conscripts and convalescents, while the remainder were transferees from the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. These divisions often received the newest small-arms, but were deficient in artillery and motorization. Recently formed, they had received little infantry training. All of these deficiencies of personnel were offset somewhat by the inherent strength of the well-planned, well-constructed fortifications surrounding Aachen.

The task of taking Aachen fell to 30th Infantry Division, of XIX Corps, and 1st Infantry Division, of VII Corps. 30th Division would be assisted by 2nd Armored Division, which would exploit the 30th Division’s penetration of the Siegfried Line, while their flanks were protected by the 29th Division. In the south, 1st Division was supported by 9th Division and 3rd Armored Division. These divisions had used the brief respite in the fighting during the last two weeks of September to rest and refit, taking in a large number of replacements. By October 1, over 70% of the men of 1st Division were replacements. These rarely had sufficient tactical training. Many junior officers were short on tactical and leadership abilities. Some tankers were shipped to Europe without having so much as driven a car before; some tank commanders were forced to teach their men how to load and fire their tank guns in the field prior to missions. The American replacement system, which focused on quantity over quality, ensured that the majority of fresh troops reaching the front lines were not properly trained for combat. It was not unusual for half of a unit's replacements to become casualties within the first few days of action. These tremendous frontline losses required ever more troops to be fed into the fighting.

These forces were supported by US 9th Air Force, which had pin-pointed 75% of the pillboxes along the frontlines and planned an opening bombardment including 360 bombers and 72 fighters; fresh aircraft would be used for a second wave, which included the use of napalm. With the Germans having few AA batteries and severely limited support from the Luftwaffe, Allied dominance of the sky over Aachen was near total.

For 6 days prior to the beginning of the offensive, Allied heavy artillery targeted German defenses. Although the heavy bombardment forced the Germans to halt all daylight movements, it had little effect on the pillboxes and strongpoints. The opening aerial bombardment on October 2 also caused little damage to German defenses. Their targets had been largely obscured by thick smoke from the artillery barrage.

30th Division began its advance on October 2. Resistance was fierce. It took, on average, 30 minutes to capture a single pillbox. The Americans found that if they failed to immediately press on to the next one, the Germans were sure to counterattack. By afternoon, elements had breached German defenses and reached the town of Palenberg. Here, GIs advanced house-to-house. Fighting in the town of Rimburg was equally terrible; American armor had not been able to get across the Wurm River, and therefore could not provide fire support to infantry attempting to storm a medieval castle being used as a fort by the Germans. 30th Division subdued roughly 50 German pillboxes on the first day, often having to envelop the structure and attack from the rear. The division was aided by 29th Division’s diversionary attacks on their flank, leading the Germans to believe that that was the Americans’ main attack. That night, the German 902nd Assault Gun Battalion counterattacked, but Allied artillery delayed the start of the raid, and the attempt failed.

Although American armor became available to support the advance on October 3, the attacking forces were brought to an abrupt halt after a number of German counterattacks. Rimburg was taken, but progress remained slow. Fighting had also begun to develop for the town of Übach, where American tanks were pinned by German artillery. Fierce counterattacks followed, with American artillery fire narrowly preventing the Germans from retaking it.

German forces continued their counterattacks on Übach, suffering heavy casualties to American artillery and infantry fire. Although the inability to retake Übach persuaded German commanders that they had insufficient forces to properly defend the approaches to Aachen, the counterattacks did tie down US troops which could have otherwise continued the advance. Little progress was made on the 4th, but on the 5th, the 119th Regiment of 30th Division captured Merkstein-Herbach. The following day the Germans launched another unsuccessful counterattack against Übach. German armor was unable to cope with the overwhelming numerical superiority of the American tanks, and as a last-ditch effort to halt the advance, the Germans began concentrated attacks on US positions with what artillery and aircraft they could muster.

A counterattack developed on October 8, supported by some 40 tanks and assault guns scavenged from available units. Although hindered by American artillery, the left wing of the attack managed to cut off an American platoon, while the right wing reached a road junction north of Alsdorf. A platoon of Shermans suddenly found themselves being attacked from the rear, and were able to repel the Germans only after heavy fighting; the Germans were finally forced back to their starting point. With casualties mounting and the Americans drawing closer, the German high command transferred 3rd Panzergrenadier Division to Aachen, followed by the I SS Panzer Corps, including 116th Panzer Division and SS Heavy Panzer Battalion 101.