Kisah AKU n First Siege of Caffa

Semalam, teringat zaman kegemilangan aku sebagai seorang strategist dalam video game Medieval II Total War, first battle against Russia dimana aku outnumbered and outmached, Mujahid pernah cakap "Jangan harap lah.." dan dia berlalu pergi sambil ketawa sinis.

Tapi, taktik yang aku gunakan dalam battle itu, tak sangka dapat diapply dalam battle-battle seterusnya, bukan sahaja didalam Medieval, but Empire and Napoleon jugak. So, hari ni aku nak cerita pengalaman battle tu and macam yang roomate aku tau, aku ada buat memoir untuk pengalaman ni - in english. Kalau ada grammatical error, abaikan - sebab aku budak Band 3..hu3x

Caffa, a small town located at the tip of the Crimean Peninsula. The triumphant Kingdom of Venice, made Caffa a trading settlement and thus, attracted a numbers of traders mostly from the Black Sea. The city fall to the hand of the Turks on the aftermath of Russo-Turks War, and it did suffered a terrible effect to the trade activities at the Crimean Chersonese. The ambitious, William II of England managed to conquered the Western Europe, abolished many of the royal monarchs including the French, the Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Spain and now His Majesty is standing on the gate to Russia. He know what are the consequences of invading Russia, the possibility of being trap between the harsh Russian Great Winter and the ferocious Turks. He sent his general, Arthur, Duke of Northumbria to make a deception manouvre to drive the Turks from Trebizond while he will lead the cream of the English army towards Russia. The English army consisted of a numerous number of English knight, most of them saw and experienced a number of battle in William's campaign to conquer Europe.

"Your Majesty, Duke of Northumbria has captured Trebizond, Selim is on the run, he's retreating.." .The Turks has been weakened by a number of attack by the Russian and the empire's fate is hang in the balance and now the English unexpectedly crossed the Black Sea and defeat an army of Turks led by Selim. Victory at Trebizond made the road to Russia became too much easier as there will be no threat from the Turks. Caffa is loosely defended by the Russian, apart from that much of the population has flee to the East, seeking a protection from their leader. "What a nonsense - they surrendered Caffa without even offer us any resistance, stupid Russian, this valuable land is ours, boys"

One year later, William II made his way to London, thus gave the task to defend the region capital, Caffa to the Duke of Northumbria - "Sire, this is really not a good time for us..all of us" The Russian led by Grand Duke Mikhailovski with some 2500 Druzhina, Dvor and Boyar Sons laid a very first siege of Caffa. They want to reclaim the city, the Duke having inspected his army "I don't know what are the outcome of the battle, but they might capture the first gate.." The English army consisted of 335 knight, with some longbowmen and Ribault were in hopeless position, the Russian outnumbered them 7 to 1. "Sire, my noble mounted knights agreed to sneak out through the back gate and flank the Russian, it's a suicide mission but you might escape to the nearest dockyard - it's an honour for us" The commander of the English Knight, Sir William Howe offered to command some 125 noble cavalrymen in order to relieve the siege. "We have no choice - on your favour gentlemen"

The nearest allied region located far west from Caffa, Stettin occupied by the English on their earlier campaign of Russia, but to retreat there by land could be dangerous as the Russian Cossack might be able to harass them on their way to Stettin. The English might retire by sea as there were no naval threat by both Russian and Turks on the Black Sea but the only way to achieve it is by sacrifice the cavalry unit which will disrupt the portion of Russian while the others can escape harmless.

The English heavy missile unit, Ribault also might be the only hope to at least, inflict a large number of the Russians should they retake the city and the Duke use it well by position it on the high ground facing the castle entrance. The Duke in order to avoid pitched battle, placed the armoured swordsmen, dismounted English Knight and the longbowmen inside the city, and positioned them on the second layer of Caffa's fortification. The Duke's intention was to lure the Russian inside the heavily pack city and shower them with the deadly arrow should they manage to breach the first wall. Sir William Howe's cavalry unit had already stationed outside Caffa, covered by a mist, the Russians did not realized the manouvre.

Grand Duke Mikhailovski's cannons start to battered the English fortification at 7 PM, but there was no answering fire from the English - they did not have an artillery. The main entrance was pound to a rubble, the Russians infantry and cavalry made their way through the rubble and march to the castle - in a battle formation. The Russians believe that the English had abandoned the castle but..

"Archers, FIRE!!" The terrible hail of arrow delivered by the longbowmen and the English archers inflicted many casualties among the Russians, they're shocked and began to waiver. Scattered, the Russians try to hold their ground seeking cover on each other - the discipline and moral is broken. The unstoppable rain of blazing arrow was too much for the Russians but the English had not done yet. The Duke unleashed the Ribault. Firing from the high ground give them a superiority towards the badly demoralized Russian, Mikhailovski try to rally his troops and ordered them to advance towards the second layer of the castle. One third of the Russian were killed in an inferno triggered by the fire arrow but the spirit of the army cannot easily being broken because most of the army came from the noble family, means anything happen - surrender must to be avoid.

At the height of battle, the Duke led the charge of the English infantry. The noblemen of Russian began to rout and flee the battlefield including Mikhailovski but suddenly, Sir William Howe's knight began to appear behind the rubble and charge with a full speed towards the Russians. The Russians were trapped and the encirclement is complete. As the previous order from His Majesty, no quarter will be given for the enemies of England, the Russians was annihilated. The English suffered only a little of casualties from the battle.

After the battle, the Duke sent Philips, Earl of Nottingham to recruit as many of mercenaries on the region of Caffa, because the castle itself unable to recruit any fresh troops especially the precious knight. Started from the first siege, Caffa wil witness the battle for another 11 sieges, 9 by the Russians and 2 by Timurids - but none of these failed to claim this castle from the English. Why? Because none of them could tell the story of the person who responsible for the defence of Caffa.