History Forum / General / General Topics / January 2005

This is an extract from my yearly publication "Azadan" #3. This is
taken from the article "Fall of the Titan: Collapse of the house of
Sassan).

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"In October 634, a 10,000-strong Imperial army took to the field under
the command of Bahman Jadhu to deal with the invader. The van was
assigned to Galenus, a Christian general who had lost some prestige in
a previous engagement when he hastily retreated in the face of the
enemy. The Persians carried with them the standard of Imperial Persia,
the Derafshe Kavianeh, named after the legendary Pishdadian blacksmith
Kaveh. Bahman also had at his disposal, 30 elephants led by the
non-combatant white elephant acting as a rally point for the others.
The Persians' attire and professional appearance deeply impressed the
Mohammedans. Never before had the enemy seen the sort of men, armor or
battle standards as on that day. The Imperial army was making its first
appearance in the fight. At that time Khalid Ibn Walid commanded troops
in Syria. Abu Ubaid was appointed commander in chief in Iraq.

Up to this point, the Mohammedans always preferred to fight with their
backs at the desert where they could retreat in case of a defeat. They
alone knew of its paths and watering holes. The Mohammedans' also
preferred not to fight with their back at the river. Rivers and canals
dominated the landscape of lower Iraq. Most probably did not know how
to swim and in spite of the advantage of guarding against encirclements
and flanking maneuvers, a river was like an impassable obstacle that
impeded retreat to safer ground, as was the case during the tragic
defeat of Andarzagar's army.

At first, Abu Ubaid tried in vain to outrun the Persians, who
eventually caught up. Fighting was the only option left to him and his
men. Abu Ubaid paid little heed to the advice of his subordinates who
urged him to let the Persians cross the river. Instead, he positioned
his men to the opposite bank to meet the Persians in a narrow pass. Abu
Ubaid's troops were reluctant to charge and allowed the Persians the
first move. Persian squadrons charged furiously and hacked their way
through, until the Mohammedan cavalry retreated, bloodied and dazed. At
that point, Abu Ubaid dismounted from his horse and urged his foot
soldiers forward. Persian archers shot hails of arrows that wiped out
the enemy's infantry formations before they reached the Persian
lines.

The Persian elephants charged in turn, causing great slaughter among
the enemy; Abu Ubaid daringly charged one of the elephants
single-handedly and badly wounded it, but he in turn was struck down.
The Mohammedans fought back savagely, following their leader's
example, slashing at the elephants' stomachs and killing some of the
riders. Still, their losses were greater and they were driven back.
After Abu Ubaid's death, the men assigned to lead were killed in
succession of rank, one after another. Several commanders and banners
fell to the ground until finally, Al Mothanna (Mosni), commander of the
cavalry, ordered a retreat towards the bridge before the Persians could
encircle his remaining men.

The Mohammedans fought a desperate rear-guard action to allow their
surviving remnants to withdraw; as expected, many Arabs drowned in the
river while trying to swim across. The enemy retreated in all
directions, leaving 4,000 dead on the field, while 2,000 more scattered
into the desert. A mere 3,000 were left to guard against a Persian
counter-attack across the Sawad. Persian losses were much lighter,
around 600 men. Persia had finally recovered her lost prestige and the
time was ripe to wipe out the enemy once and for all."
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