26 nov 736 anni - Battle of Asclepius River

Descrizione:

One of the Caliph claimer, whom was the strongest one in the Caliph claimers and controlled near area, gathered every soldier he could and marched out to meet the Emperor; consider to the power comparison, its reasonably that to beat Romans first, since the Persian offensive is unsustainable without Roman coordinate and only with themselves, while Romans could keep their offensive without the Persian.

Leo IV had turned inland toward Damascus after taking Sidon, and moved up the Asclepius River. By now he had reconquered a vast line of territory down the Eastern Mediterranean. The armies met at the Battle of Asclepius in November 736.

According to Leo IV's personal military diary, the Arabs had forty-thousand men, against the Emperor’s thirty thousand. And the Arabs launched the first assault, sending infantry to try to weaken the Roman lines. The Scutaroi however held firm, driving this assault back with heavy losses on the Arabs, with Roman archers not hesitating to shoot down the retreating Arabs while their backs were turned. As this first wave retreated the horse archers advanced, and soon the retreat became a rout.
The Arabs however launched a second force forward, and the horse archers retreated back behind the infantry. The Arab attack was thrown back again, and Leo ordered his infantry to begin advancing this time. And horse archers darting out when they could to pepper the Arab lines with arrows. When the armies were closer the horse archers were pulled back and sent around to the flanks, with the kataphractoi moving to join them, blocked from view by the dust kicked up by the infantry’s advance. The two lines of infantry met in a great clash, and the horse archers surged forward, putting away their bows and falling on the Arab archers with swords and spears. Seeing this, Arab light cavalry were ordered forward to attack the Romans, but as they did so the kataphractoi revealed themselves, countercharging the light cavalry. The Arabs were smashed aside by the kataphractoi charge and fled. The fully armored Roman horsemen now turned to face the rear of the Arab army. The horse archers moved to the flanks to hem the Arabs in, and the kataphractoi began to move forward. The Arab infantry tried to turn, but they couldn’t disengage their Roman counterparts. As the cavalry approached the target the kataphractoi lowered their long spears, and smashed into the Arab rear. The Arabs fall into Panic, and the kataphractoi drove through the Arab ranks, killing anyone they came across. The entire center of the army was surrounded and destroyed in this way. Seeing this both the right and left fled, but they were pursued by the Romans and many died. Those who escaped scattered back to their homes, throwing down weapons and shields as they ran.

In this battle, The Arabs lost over thirty thousand men, while the Romans had lost only about four thousand. And the Caliph claimer fled back to Damascus, and the Romans captured his camp along with a large amount of treasure and slaves.

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