Marnon Campaign
Part 5

Battle of Sunken Dale
29 January 1233

By Al Karasa

As soon as a confrontation appeared inevitable, and before the Tatars got too close, Montreil deGascon sent his foot archers well ahead of his column of a hundred knights with instructions to set a trap at the first clearing in the trail. The knights slowed their stride to ensure they would be seen and followed deeper into the forest. The ruse worked and the trap was sprung (see diagram).

Barak pursued deGascon right into the clearing where the archers, hiding in woods, released one flight of arrows after another with such devastating effect and such surprise, that the Tatar horsemen were stopped in their tracks (Author's note: Ambush rules used here were similar to those suggested by C.S. Grant in his "Scenarios For Wargames").

DeGascon then wheeled his chivalry to engage Barak in close melee. Although more numerous, the lights were no match for fully armored knights in close combat. The Tatars were stationary and disordered as well when the charge struck them. Barak fell at first impact and less than half his men escaped unharmed. The Gascon Free Company didn't lose a single man. To add to the Tatar's problems, their survivors were set upon by a mob of levy troops armed with axes, hoes, and pitchforks who seemed to have come out of nowhere! Falcon deBlac led this group.

He had vacated Bentwood Castle and escaped from Toghrul Khan with the entire garrison in exchange for the castle and information of Prince Henry's whereabouts, thereby betraying his trust. The Khan was overjoyed to let them go for it gave him another castle without a fight and a chance at Henry's throat. Barak's units were nearly wiped out, and it seemed ironic that he fell for such an old trick, long a Tatar favorite. It was a minor disaster and left NW Marnon open to reclamation by the Franks.

Toghrul Khan was very strong on his other front. Everything south of the Amnon River, including most of Marnon's roads, four castles and two useful harbors belonged to him. Absolute control of the inland sea could also be maintained, but only as long as it was frozen. To insure its continued control, Jesugai received the task to close it off and hold the narrowest strip of marshland between Fen Cay and the inland sea (see Map). He took 340 horse archers and set out across the ice again to set up a permanent camp at the base of Dragonhead, thereby securing yet another useful harbor at Fen Cay.

Jesugai's fate was already uncertain. The snow would melt; the Sea of Marnon would turn liquid once more, and the marshes surrounding his camp would be impassable by April. Although this was well known and anticipated, the Tatars did not prepare for the return of the Duke of Bentwood. Return he did with the largest Frankish army ever assembled on the mainland and brought by sea to Marnon.

On February 1st, the Duke landed his forces at Ancient Harbor and entered Fernham Castle to the welcoming cheers of his longtime supporters, deMarl and Radner, along with the Gascon Free Company and the clan of deBlac. All Marnish nobility gathered to greet him; only his nemesis was nowhere to be found. It was said that Toghrul Khan sent his tribal scouts into the mountains to hunt down Prince Hnery. Some say they found him in the remote mountain village of Haven as deBlac promised they would. Others claimed to see Henry escaping down the turbulent waters of the River Amnon in a makeshift raft.

One source even claimed the Tatars lashed Henry to the raft and sent him to his death with the melting snows downriver. Whatever the story, Sir Henry the Prince of Dunes was never seen again. His castle, his fief and demesne with all his vassals and villeins passed to Montreil deGascon after the Duke of Bentwood took power ...

DeGascon was ordered to prepare Marnon for the Duke's return and with deBlac's unwitting assistance, he not only managed to assemble everyone at Fernham but sidelined Bentwood's only opposition.

THE CHARGE AT DRAGONHEAD

A new contingent of Teutonic Knights under the leadership of the Grand Marshal of the Order, Heinrich von Grauen arrived with the Duke's army. He received the task to relieve the Templars now isolated at Hempen Rook. Jesugai's presence in the narrow fen complicated the task. By slowly winding their way through the frozen bog, the Teutonic Knights reached Dragonhead in mid-February to the utter disbelief of Jesugai's Tatars encamped on the rocky cliffs. The sea was behind them and their escape was cut off. Von Grauen's messenger took the news to Hempen Rook a day later.

Within hours, the Templars and Hospitallers rode out of their castle to join von Grauen, and Jesugai's fate was sealed. Against great numbers of well organized and fanatic elite knights, the light archers' backs were to the wall and they had little choice. The monastic orders were sure they would surrender. To their total astonishment, Jesugai ordered a charge!!!

Armed only with scimitars and unarmored, the Tatars came down the rocky slopes accompanied by a great noise of hoof and drumbeats that just failed to drown out their wild battle cries and shouts. The knights countercharged into the deafening clash. More than half the Tatar horsemen fell to the Frankish lances on impact. The rest were immobilized just long enough for the brethren to draw swords and close on them. Eighty knights were lost before the melee destroyed the Tatars.

Jesugai was surrounded only by his bodyguard with no hope of escape. He turned in desperation and rode full gallop off the edge of the cliffs into the seas below. There were no survivors. The horse archers fell to the last man. It was the worst defeat Toghrul Khan's troops ever suffered. Jesugai's location had been tactically ill-chosen with no "back door" for withdrawal.

The beginning of the end of Tatar occupation seemed at hand. The united Marnish army marched on Bentwood Castle equipped with catapult artillery, siege engines, sappers and fire. They prepared to engage the invaders on whatever grounds necessary. The Duke was ready to destroy his own castle, it seemed, to get Toghrul Khan out of the country. But the Tatar Khan knew that he did not have the resources to endure a siege, and a relieving force could not be raised.

The 2-week occupation of the castle wasn't long enough to build up stores and defenses to resist a lengthy siege. Bentwood Castle surrendered predictably before a siege could be mounted. The Khan's army began the long retreat across the frozen waters of the inland sea as no other route was available. The mountains to the West would take their toll in time and horseflesh. The marshes to the East and Ancient Forest Northward were cut off by Bentwood's army. There was no escape.

More Marnon Part 5

Marnon

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