The Battle for Agincourt.

[Ron Bleac]

It is the Hundred Years (1337 - 1453) War. The morning of the 25th of October 1415 was no ordinary morning. Beset by the woods of Tramecourt and Agincourt an English army of 6,000 men stand on a muddy field, standing eye to eye with a vicious French assault force of 36,000 men. These two groups most foul have arrived to trade blows and when it comes down to the sword, the French army has the bigger stick by around 30,000 men. The English army, consisting of primarily poorly trained cobbled together militia is already at danger of routing. The simultaneous arrival of French forces has shaken them. But for such an extraordinary morning the English force was commanded by an extremely ordinary man. Henry the 5th, a relatively fresh military monarch newly versed in the arts of war.

His opponent is Charles d'Albret, notable ass-kicker and awesome-to-the-max knight in shining armor who slays dragons, makes love to women and doesn't give a crap about what anyone else has to say about it. Charles d'Albrets force of 36,000 men consists of 10,000 knights and men at arms of which 1,200 are mounted cavalry, with thousands of other infantry in reserve including crossbowmen and archers. He has brought everything has to the field for one purpose: To crush the English invader and push him back into the channel, no matter the cost in blood and bone.

In contrast, Henry the 5ths force consists of 5,000 archers and 900 men at arms, with little to no cavalry. He is at an extreme strategic disadvantage from the start, with most of his men suffering from malnutrition and disciplinary issues, even refusing to fight. They are quite understandably exhausted.

In weeks prior to the battle both forces had committed themselves to intense combat maneuvers, including arduous forced marches in pouring rain. Henry's goal was to avoid confrontation with the French due to his ill equipped force and await reinforcements from England, but after several weeks of postponing the coming battle his chances of salvation were starting to look rather hopeless. On top of that the campaign season was coming to an end and his army was starting to succumb to sickness, such as dysentery. Prolonging the battle meant two things: More French forces would arrive and he would certainly be doomed to either a life as a prisoner, or a glorious death on the battlefield.

Henry chooses to pick a fight and die with his boots on.

On the morning of the 23rd of October the English army reconsolidated around the town of Agincourt, to the surprise of the French. The English army forms a double line between the forests of Tramecourt and Agincourt, staring down their French opponents. An army of barely 6,000 men tailed by an army of 36,000 had chosen to make a stand. Charles d'Albret sees his chance and solidifies his own force, deploying it across the field of battle in a large assault column.

The irregular shapes on the.. very irregular, improvised battle map provided above are as follows. The blue squares are the French. The red squares and irregular objects are the English. The irregular objects covered by the green boxes are Longbowmen in foliage. The regular boxes with the "mohawk" are the English men-at-arms, coming in at less than 900 strong. Henry the 5th's command post is in the center English square, he has chosen to carry himself to battle with his men. Every weapon counts.

To protect himself from the French cavalry Henry deploys sharpened stakes, illustrated above as the "fence." It will force the French cavalry to veer off and as the English longbowmen are protected by thick forests, they will not be able to charge them. But no matter how much he can fortify, Henry's situation is looking increasingly grim as the French cavalry maneuvers into attack positions. The French cavalry isn't just any regular cavalry: They are heavily armed, well trained knights, each wearing upwards to forty pounds of plated and chained armor. They are the battle tanks of the middle-ages, prepared to crush any foe they face. The mass of these men and their horses alone will likely be able to drive the English line of battle away from the field, if and only if the French cavalry manages to make contact. But Henry has a plan.

The field between the two armies is soggy and wet, it will surely slow down any organized cavalry or infantry advance. With this in mind, Henry orders his longbowmen to open fire at longer range than generally acceptable. The more withering fire the French experience while on the march towards the English line, the better. The longbow is a formidable weapon, at even the longest of ranges it can penetrate knightly armor with specifically produced arrow heads. Henry's plan is to exhaust the French before they make contact with his infantry, but if they do, he will pull the only ace up his sleeve.

Midday of October 23rd the French leaders hold a pre-battle meeting, meticulously grinding down the finest movements of their plan. Charles d'Albrets plan is simple: Send in the cavalry to mow down the English line and then dispatch the infantry to mop up whatever stragglers remain. However, Charles knows that the muddy field will significantly hamper his cavalry advance. He has two choices, face the English here and now or send in a flanking force that will take days to maneuver around to the English rear, possibly giving the English the chance to secure reinforcements.

Charles cannot hesitate any longer and Henry simply can't wait. But daylight is fading, forcing the two armies to build camp and wait through the night. During the night Henry sends out whatever reserves he has to dig out a ditch in front of his main battle line, deep enough for one man to stand in without exposing himself. The ditch is 750 feet long, stretching from one side of the English army to the other.

Then came the morning of the 25th, as illustrated above.

The English army is up early and as Charles d'Albret gets up, he realizes that they have in fact moved closer. The English line has moved towards the French army, but not by far. Charles interprets this as provocation and sounds the assembly. Hornblowers from across the French military camp swing into action, blasting horn calls for general assembly and raising banners for different battlegroups. But deploying the French army is taking longer than expected, so d'Albret sends out negotiators in hopes of stalling the sudden English advance. There is another reason for this delay tactic. He has also received word of reinforcements, having been promised an additional 6,000 men and swords by the duke of Brittany.

Alas, the French do not have long to think. But Henry cannot move. The French duke of Brabant has arrived on the battlefield with a further 2,000 men and is now blocking Henrys' retreat, effectively meaning that Henry and his army will fight to the death. To him, the only way is forward. And Henry knows this.

He rallies his officers and men for one final time. It is at this point that he delivers his famous speech that Shakespeare re-wrote because it was actually too politically incorrect to play in English theater. Henry repeats to his leadership troops and upper echelon veterans that retreat is not an option. Those of high birth, if taken prisoner, will likely be ransomed. But the majority of his army consists of low-birthed commoners who will be mutilated, or slaughtered on the spot. The stakes for this particular battle are high and he drills the understanding that defeat is not an option into each man. The English orders stand as such: Kill until there is nothing left to kill.

After an hour of intense pep-talk, the leaders retire to their troops to make final preparations.

Meanwhile, Charles has made his choice. He orders his French knightly cavalry to charge across the field and engage the English longbowmen with their pants, hopefully, down. 1,200 knights participate in the first charge. The muddy earth is churned up by the armored hooves of French nobility as they advance yard by yard. Charles himself, clad in his knightly armor is riding at the front, sword drawn. After the first 100 yards across the field of battle, Charles breaks away and allows his vice commandant to take over the charge. The English, unfortunately for the French, are entirely alert. Within the next two minutes the French cavalry is being fired upon by Longbowmen, cutting them down like hay to the scythe. The French armor stands no chance against the armor piercing ammunition of the English, but they are stubborn and valiantly push on.

The English line of battle seems to falter and pull back and Charles senses victory. He gives the signal to send in some reserve cavalry and French troops from the right flank of the army break off to assist the ongoing assault. On their way there they encounter their severely wounded friends, mangled horses and men ground up into grimy mulch. The English arrow fire is deadly.

The French cavalry has nearly made it. As they approach within one hundred yards, Henry gives the order for his men-at-arms to fall back twenty paces. The ditch that had been dug the night before now comes into play. The English me-lee troops pull across the ditch and the French cavalry, unable to see from behind their thick visors and helmets fall right into the trap. Hundreds of horses from the first ranks plunge into the deep pit and break their legs, forcing the French cavalrymen to dismount and advance on foot. This proves to be a fatal mistake: The cavalry following up from behind the first French charge plows straight into the backs of their comrades and while they are still down in the pit, the English order a counter-advance. 700 English men-at-arms descend upon their French victims, still struggling up the slippery slope. In less than thirty minutes of fighting the first French attack has been nearly completely whiped out and the mud has turned greasy from blood and human fat. The first ditch runs red with blood, to the point that French and English infantry are drowning in it during combat.

Charles is appalled. French heavy cavalry has never failed him personally. In his disappointment he sends out the order for the infantry to advance and the main French battle line begins to march. In perfect rank and file upwards to four thousand Frenchmen march through the muddy field, only to be encountered by their retreating cavalry. It delivers a morale shock of immense proportions: heavily armed and armored French cavalry has been practically torn to shreds. On top of that a fog has descended upon the battlefield, leaving the French confused and scared as they advance into the unknown. The retreating cavalry breaks up the infantry advance and forces several units to regroup in the middle of harrowing fire. While the French infantry advances the English longbowmen are pouring as many arrows as possible onto the French like a torrential, sharp rain. The French men at arms, wearing heavy plating must bend their heads downwards to avoid being shot in the face. This restricts their breathing in the already exhausting mudbowl full of guts and gore. Regardless, they push on, determined to break the English. And this time, Charles is with them and means business. He is leading the attack from the front, screaming and wailing encouragement. He wants to kill every single Englishborn man on the field and take their heads for himself.

Shortly after, the French infantry dropped into the kill-pit. But this time it was going to be different. They clambered upwards with what little spirit they had left, then charged right ahead into the English line in one, solid mass of anger, with Charles still at the front.

Henry the 5th is at the battle line as this happens and moves his personal band of warriors to engage the French threat. The King himself charges into the fray, wielding a lethal warpick.

This is a warpick. It hurts like a motherFfffer.

As this massive me-lee is erupting at the front of the English line, more French forces are pouring into the narrow passageway between the two forests. The French forces are now standing eighteen men deep, 700 abreast. This leaves little to no room to move and Charles realizes this. He pulls his bastard sword out of whatever Englishman he was impaling, turns around and screams for his troops to back up. However, his troops, battle weary and blood hungry interpret this as a retreat order. The French line surges backwards and loses ground. After some more screaming that was likely lost in translation, a majority of the French troops that surged charge back into the fight, crossing the pit of death yet again, further exhausting them. But regardless of whatever physical pain they might be feeling, they re-engage the English in mortal, hand to hand combat.

Henry has his own problems, his brother Humphrey, the Duke of Gloucester has been wounded in the groin at the front of the battle. Upon hearing this, Henry grabs a battle banner and rallies his band of compatriots, personally charging into the fray to retrieve his fallen brother. A French Monk of Sait Denis witnesses the event and the following is based on his writings. Henry, after charging into the me-lee gives cold steel to the French men at arms and pushes through them to retrieve Humphrey who's personal entourage is succumbing to battle fatigue and what I can only assume to be a dozen stab wounds. Henry assaults Humphrey's assailants and drives them back, his personal troops forming a corridor through which Humphrey can be evacuated. Henry looks up and sees an axe come down. Right on his head. The axe blade strikes him and fractures not his skull but the steel crown on his battle armor. The Frenchman who hit him with the axe isn't so lucky, as Henry thrusts back with his warpick and splits his skull open before he can do more damage. Now covered in brains and screaming bloody murder, Henry advances into the French knights with his entourage of slicy-dicy goodness. Humphrey is in bad shape and needs urgent medical attention, but recovers enough to watch the battle.

Charles looks down and realizes he's bleeding profusely, an English sword has got him on the shoulder and has severed a blood vessel. Dripping with his own blood, exhausted and enraged, Charles pushes the French infantry into a final assault. More than 11,000 French infantry now cram into the increasingly bloody quagmire and force the English line to bend. Henry panics. The English line is bending and his back lines are being over-run by an ever increasing amount of wounded with very little volunteers to care for them.

Rest coming in a bit.

[Vesper Akiri]

Good read so far!

[Phares Sarjeant]

Enjoyed that Professor Bleac.

~Breathtaking and stunning that so much can be wagered and lost to those who fully understand their situation and are able to control it.

Edited March 24, 2012 by Phares Sarjeant

[BlackSergal]

Spoiler Alert!