Battle Of Poitiers 1356 AD Part 2 of 2

 Seeking to capitalize on the momentum gained from the 1355 raid, King Edward III orders an immediate continuation of offensive operations right after Christmas.

 During the following months, swathes of territory are brought under Anglo-Gascon control - some 36 walled towns and castles in total.

 Meanwhile in the north, King John II is facing internal revolt.

 At a banquet in Rouen, John personally arrests his own son-in-law Charles II of Navarre for plotting to overthrow him.

 Known as �The Bad�, Charles is one of the most powerful nobles in France.

 He rules over the Kingdom of Navarre, holds vast estates in Normandy, has an alliance with England and many powerful French barons.

 After Charles� imprisonment, his younger brother Philip organizes the resistance in Normandy and calls upon their allies.

 King Edward answers the call and diverts Duke Henry of Lancaster to Normandy with his newly formed raiding army, originally intended for operations in Brittany - a region under heavy English influence.

 By late June, Lancaster sets about conducting a fast-moving operation in Normandy.

 His 2400-strong mounted force raids a number of enemy towns and castles, and sieze 2000 horses.

 They also resupply and relieve important friendly strongholds.

 King John moves to intercept Lancaster, but the fast-moving raiders manage to evade battle.

 Few days later, John begins a grueling month-long siege of Br�teuil, after successfully taking Evreux and Tili�res.

 Assuming that the Black Prince will raid Languedoc again, John sends a detachment for operations in the south, under the command of his son and heir, the Dauphin - Count of Poitiers.

 Meanwhile, The Black Prince receives reinforcements and leaves Bordeaux to join up with his army, 8000-strong, assembling at La R�ole.

 He surprises the French King and starts marching north-east.

 To further bolster the defense of Gascony he stations a 2000-strong detachment in Bergerac and sets out north with the remaining 6000 troops.

 Advance is swift during the initial days of the campaign.

 Not wanting to risk losing men, the Black Prince avoids well defended towns and castles.

 But once in Limousin, the itinerary becomes a catalog of destruction, led by experienced commanders John Chandos and James Audley who are placed in charge of the scouts.

 Around this time the Prince receives much welcomed news that Lancaster has set out on a new raid through Brittany with the aim of joining him further south.

 To the east, the Dauphin decides to retreat to Decize, fearing the larger Anglo-Gascon army.

 To bolster defenses, John sends reinforcements to fortresses in key areas along the river Loire.

 Alarmed by the Anglo-Gascon advance, the French King is forced to pay off the Navarrese garrison to surrender and retreat from Br�teuil back to Normandy.

 Immediately after the siege he begins assembling a large, ENTIRELY mounted army at Chartes so he can move fast and catch the Black Prince.

 Meanwhile, the Prince keeps pushing north-east.

 Two detachments split off from the main army.

 A raiding party commanded by Chandos and Audley rides towards Bourges - a city comparable to Toulouse in size.

 Though the English cannot assault the walled city, they proceed to loot and burn the suburbs before setting out to rejoin the main army.

 Captal de Buch leads the second detatchment; a mounted Gascon reconnaissance force, burning and pillaging towns and the countryside along the way.

 Tasked with locating the enemy, the Gascons run into a French scouting party and a brief battle ensues.

 After interrogating the prisoners, taken during the skirmish, the Anglo-Gascons learn that King John is in Chartres with a large army, determined to meet the Black Prince in battle.

 Captal de Buch rides on and reaches the large town of Vierzon later in the day.

 The inhabitants flee and the Gascons loot any supplies they can find before continuing westward.

 Simultaneously, the Black Prince reaches Issoudun with the main army.

 The city consists of two parts.

 Ch�teau in the west, belonging to the French King, is described in the Eulogium as the seat of government.

 A Benedictine abbey of Notre-Dame is on the north end of the ch�teau.

 A large twelfth century keep, La Tour Blanche, dominates the skyline, with numerous towers and long ramparts around the perimeter.

 In sum, the ch�teau is a formidable fortress.

 Four times the size of the ch�teau, to the east is the larger town, serving residental and commercial purposes.

 It�s protected by ramparts, ditches and seven gates, but only a few towers.

 Suburbs extend south of the wall, including the Saint Paterne suburb with its� Benedictine priory.

 Over the next two days, the Anglo-Gascons attempt to attack the city.

 On the first day, the Black Prince orders an assault on the ch�teau.

 Supported by the English longbow, dismounted men-at-arms storm the heavily defended gate.

 Despite many waves of arrows, the French garrison holds firm and prevents the Anglo-Gascons from breaching the gate.

 After some heavy fighting the attack is eventually repulsed, with the invaders suffering significant losses as the Ch�teau�s defenses proved to be too strong.

 But the town area cannot resist the Black Prince�s division, as its� defenses are not as formidable.

 On the second day, the invaders force an entry by setting fire to houses outside the walls.

 The fire quickly spreads and eventually burns down the gate.

 Soon after, the flames engulf the entire town and the suburbs.

 The churches of Saint Cyr and Saint Jean perished in the flames along with most of the town, large parts of which remained uninhabited for years, while the suburb of Saint Paterne was so completely destroyed that it did not merit repair.

 Having wrought such extensive destruction, the Black Prince hopes to sow dissent among the locals by demonstrating the impotence of the French King to defend his people.

 Finally, the Anglo-Gascons depart north, heading towards Vierzon.

 Meanwhile in the west, Lancaster tries to force a crossing at Les Pont-de-C�, but is baulked by a large fortress.

 With the Loire flooded and no other bridges between Nantes and Saumur, there is little that Lancaster can do to cross the river.

 Back east, the situation looks worrisome for the Anglo-Gascons.

 Due to a series of poor decisions by the Black Prince, they spent 5 days besieging Romorantin; another 4 days in Montlouis, waiting for Lancaster to arrive after receiving incorrect news that the Duke is nearby; and their assault on Tours is soundly defeated.

 As a result, provisions are nearly depleted and precious time is wasted.

 With the noose now tightening, the Black Prince is outnumbered by almost 2 to 1.

 Fearing he will be encircled by French forces coming from Tours and Amboise, he begins retreating south.

 The French King sets out along the Royal road towards Poitiers and plans to cut off the Anglo-Gascon retreat.

 The Black Prince sends scouts in the hope of finding Lancaster�s army, which he still believes is in the area.

 To the east, the Dauphin�s contingent joins up with the main French army.

 The Black Prince encamps in Ch�tellerault and waits for another three days.

 When the scouts finally return, it becomes clear that the Anglo-Gascons will have to face the numerically superior French army without Lancaster�s support.

 Their march resumes, while further west, French troops from Saumur reach Poitiers.

 To even the odds, the Black Prince wants to meet the French on the banks of the river Vienne, but he is unaware that John has overtaken him.

 Only after reaching the road to Poitiers does he realize that the French already passed in front of the Anglo-Gascon line of march and are heading west.

 Meanwhile, King John too, is also unaware of the enemy�s whereabouts.

 The invaders continue south through the forest.

 Gascon mounted troops split off from the main army and attack parts of the French rearguard.

 They manage to capture the counts of Auxerre, Joigny and Jean de Ch�tillon.

 The Anglo-Gascons then regroups further south, while the French encamp nearby.

 Encounter between the two armies is imminent.

 Given that he�s outnumbered by almost 2 to 1, the Black Prince takes up a defensive position where the ground is broken by vines, agriculture, thick hawthorn hedges, woods and marshes.

 He orders most of his men-at-arms to dismount and line-up along the hedges, with archers on either flank, a Gascon mounted reserve on his right flank, and a small mounted reserve in the center.

 Trenches are dug up on the right flank along with barricades made up of wooden carts from the baggage train.

 As the Anglo-Gascons are unlikely to attack first, John pauses to consider his options.

 Small number of his advisers, including Marshal Clermont, argue that the Anglo-Gascons should be starved into submission, given their difficult situation with provisions.

 King John likes this idea.

 However, most in his entourage accuse Clermont of cowardice for wishing to negotiate, namely the bishop of Ch�lons, Marshal d�Audrehem, Geoffroi de Charny and Earl Douglas.

 They urge John to use his superior army to crush the invaders as revenge for their raids on French soil.

 The King gives in to the pressure of his nobles and arrays his army for battle.

 He too, orders most of his men-at-arms to dismount, as a cavalry charge through the vines and hedges would be nearly impossible, but he stations his elite heavily armoured cavalry on the flanks, supported by archers.

 John�s plan is to break the Anglo-Gascon cohesion with two cavalry charges on the flanks, closely followed by waves of infantry attacks along the entire line, using his numerical superiority to overwhelm the enemy.

 As the French prepare to execute the plan, Warwick�s division and the baggage train start withdrawing towards the river.

 It�s unclear if this was an organized retreat or a feint.

 Whatever the case, seeing the Anglo-Gascons retreating, Audrehem prematurely charges towards the enemy before the King�s actual plan of attack could be launched, not even coordinating his cavalry charge with the supporting crossbowmen who cannot keep up the pace with the horses.

 Upon seeing the French charge, Warwick�s men turn to face the threat.

 Audrehem sends a message to Clermont that the enemy is retreating, urging him to attack at once.

 Clermont feels bound to follow suit and attacks on the other flank, despite disagreeing with Audrehem�s decision to charge as he remains unconvinced that the enemy is in fact retreating.

 On the French right, the cavalry charges uphill towards the Anglo-Gascon line, as waves of English arrows bounce off their heavy armour.

 Oxford hurries his archers into the marsh, to avoid being overrun.

 After repositioning, English archers begin shooting arrows at the passing cavalry, aiming at the exposed horses.

 Chaos errupts on Audrehem�s right, as the wounded animals either throw their riders, refuse to advance or simply gallop from the field.

 Moments later, Audrehem�s division smashes into Warwick�s position.

 French crossbowmen are too far behind and cannot join the fighting, and Audrehem finds himself pressed on two sides.

 They suffer heavy losses and are soon routed, with Audrehem captured by Warwick�s troops.

 Meanwhile, Clermont�s attack is better coordinated as his men advance up the slope and, despite repeated volleys of arrows, they press the enemy hard but are blocked in the hedge gaps by English and Gascon men-at-arms.

 French archers respond with volleys of their own, aimed at the English longbow-men over the mound.

 To help the troubled right flank, Suffolk leads reinforcements to support Salisbury and the French charge begins to crumble as the Anglo-Gascons manage to stabilize the line.

 After suffering heavy losses, the French cavalry on the left retreats when Clermont is killed in the fighting.

 Meanwhile, the Dauphin charges the enemy, still unaware of the fate of the two cavalry charges.

 His slow-moving men-at-arms are struck down by arrows in large numbers despite wearing heavy armour.

 His troops stretch to fill the gaps on the French left.

 Heavy fighting ensues in the crammed spaces among the hedges.

 During the fierce hand-to-hand combat, Duke of Bourbon is killed and the Dauphin�s own standard-bearer is captured.

 Seeing they are making no progress, the Dauphin�s advisers sound the retreat.

 This creates confusion and, just as the Duke of Orl�ans closes-in on the enemy, he also starts retreating, thinking that a general withdrawal is ordered.

 �Forward!

 For I will recover the day, or be taken, or slain!�, shouts the French King as he orders his division of elite fighters to attack.

 Many in the exhausted Anglo-Gascon line are dismayed upon seeing the French approaching.

 John directs the attack towards the Black Prince�s banner.

 At that moment, the Prince plays his ace card and sends the mounted Gascon reserve on a wide flanking maneuver.

 Fierce melee fighting ensues as the fresh French troops inflict heavy losses on the Anglo-Gascons.

 John�s crossbowmen rejoin the fight, while many English archers are by now running out of arrows.

 Gascon reserve rounds a small hill undetected, before appearing behind John�s left flank, as Captal de Buch signals Audley to charge with the remaining English cavalry on the opposite flank.

 The Black Prince has his standard-bearer signal a general advance by the infantry.

 As the last arrows are shot, unarmoured English archers throw down their bows and join the melee.

 Vastly outnumbered, John�s division is now pushed towards an open area.

 The French King stubbornly fights on, alongside his bravest men but, showered by Oxford�s archers, their formation eventually breaks.

 The invaders capture the sacred Oriflamme banner, and the French resistance collapses.

 Standing with a dwindling group of survivors, King John II is surrounded and captured.