Battle Report #1 : Greeks vs. Achaemenids

 

The Opposing Forces

The Greeks were outnumbered and trapped in the hills of Plataiai by a large Persian army. Brawn alone would not have sufficed when a mere 10,000 hoplites with 2,000 horse and 4,000 psiloi encountered over 6,000 heavy horse, 5,000 light horse, 20,000 foot and 4,000 lights including a strong force of Immortals. Or would they? 4,000 of the hoplites were full Spartiates and the terrain was all in their favour.

 

 

The Deployment

The Greeks, being outscouted, had been forced to deploy first and had ranged themselves across a line of foothills stretching along their deployment area, flanked on both sides by two convenient rocky rises, which were not easily negotiable for any cavalry.

The right wing was held by the Spartans, of course, their line thinner towards the centre and stronger towards the rocky hill. They were well supported from behind, uphill, by numerous slingers and archers shooting overhead, while more archers and javelinmen lay in ambush among the rocks.

The centre was well held by the lesser Greeks, all in double lines, plus a chiliarchia behind in support. They were also well supported by psiloi slingers and a few archers.

The extreme left wing had nothing but one ile of Athenian cavalry behind the rocky hill and more light foot also in hiding amongst the rocks. Their front, over the gentle hill, was only covered by skirmishers from the centre division.

And so they waited for the Persian human wave to arrive.

 

The Persians, always confident in their numbers, presented a reasonable formation with the best infantry in the centre, supported by cavalry from behind, the lighter peltast infantry on the left wing, also supported by cavalry and a few good spearmen (Egyptians) plus shock light and heavy cavalry on the flanks.

 

Persians

 

Greeks

 

The great plan was simple but faulty from its inception: the numerous bowmen would shower the Greeks while the cavalry would gradually filter behind the flanks especially on the Greeks’ left, where their weak cavalry lay waiting. No one had considered the possibility of ambushes among the rocky hills.

 

The Battle

The elite bowmen came on, as becomes Immortals, planted their pavises, and started showering the Greeks with arrows. Their first mistake was moving too close, instead of waiting for their flanking cavalry to arrive and menace the flanks of the Greeks. Their second mistake was to ignore the psiloi on the hill tops, behind the hoplites. The Greek slingers and archers could shoot at the Persian masses with impunity, protected by the hoplites in front, but the Persian arrows did little to the hoplites in return. After a few exchanges, the Immortals and Sparabara, well protected behind their pavises had not suffered, but the lesser archers had lost almost 300 men for little in return. Seeing this, the C-in-C decided to send in the light horse to clear the rocks, first on their left and then on their right.

The first ambush sprung on the Greek right destroyed the head of the Persian light horse column, but the Persians rallied and crashed into the psiloi, forcing them to retreat in disorder. As the victorious horsemen came on through the rocky outcrops, they were met by more archers, javelinmen and slingers from all sides and their attack petered out. Soon, the horsemen were on the defensive trying to extricate themselves and taking losses. One squadron did manage to crash into the flanks of the exposed Spartan mora on the Greek extreme right, but the Spartans being pros, detached a couple of enomotiai to keep the horsemen at bay, while the rest of the mora turned to meet the Persian infantry and cavalry attack to their front.

 

On the other side of the front, on the Greek left, the ambush killed the Persian light horse commander and his unit did not even stay for the party, but fled the field. This left the unfortunate Persian heavy and light cavalry, following behind, in a congested venturi, with their right flank exposed. They charged the Greek cavalry holding that flank anyway, but their superiority could not tell in the narrows and the Greek horsemen, although heavily outnumbered, held their own. Eventually, the Persian supports swerved left and did manage to take the gentle hill to the front of the Greek cavalry after blowing away the few psiloi that tried to stop them. That flank looked untenable.

 

In the centre, the Greeks had decided that they’d had enough of shooting and started moving downhill. Their charge was successful along the entire line, although it was not timed properly and the Spartans trying to cover their right flank found themselves locally outnumbered almost four to one. As more hoplites joined the fray, however, it was difficult for the Sparabara and Immortals to hold them for long and Persian casualties began to mount.

 

It was on the Greek left that the situation was becoming critical because in addition to the fatigue of the Greek cavalry and the demise of the psiloi, the only Greek hoplite unit providing a link with the embattled cavalry was losing and was being overwhelmed. The Greeks here were fighting Egyptian hoplites and their own left was subjected to enemy slingers while their right had become separated from the advancing Greek centre. If the battle had continued for a little longer the entire left and left-of-centre would have been overwhelmed. As it was, the rest of the hoplites had a field day (with the one exception mentioned above). They were up against bowmen and sparabara (even if Immortal), who did offer some resistance until pushed back. Then it was slaughter.

 

On the Greek right, the Spartans were losing all cohesion; the Persian light horse had been beaten off, but more horsemen were pouring in on the extreme flank and there were only 300 Spartans holding the flank! The rest, however, were having a great time. The slaughter of the Sparabara, Immortals and Kardakes continued only until the Persian royal command collapsed. More than 3,000 Persians died before their centre caved in and broke taking their Mirran with them. When the other Persians saw their leader run they did not stay for long. In two or threes their units started breaking off in rout.

 

The Greeks had won a clear victory, but still pondered on what would have happened if the enemy foot had waited further back. Although the Spartans suffered the only serious hoplite casualties (some 300 men), they had destroyed more shock enemy troops than all the other Greeks put together and had held their flank supported only by skirmishers.

Total losses on the Greek side did not exceed 500 men and a few horses. The Persians suffered some 5000 foot and 2000 horsemen killed including 600 Immortals. There was no pursuit by the exhausted Greek cavalry, allowing the Persians to regroup for a second try.