"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [ظ‎‎٧‎٤] (٧٣٨/١٥٣)

142
MILITARY HISTORY
They had always reserves, which, however, seem generally
to have been rather quickly drawn into the fight. If one of
their wings was successful in its enveloping movement it was
apt to pursue its immediate opponents off the field, instead
of closing on the centre. When the army was large, judged
by the standards of the period and country, and therefore was
composed of the troops of several independent emirs, the
several parts tended to act independently of one another.
This partly explains the action of the wings just noted.
Battles were commenced with a discharge of arrows, at some
distance from the enemy. When the arrows were exhausted
or a sufficient effect had been produced, the bows were laid
aside and a charge was made with drawn swords. It is
sometimes alleged by modern writers that a feature of the
attack was the successive advance and retirement of distinct
squadrons which drew off to return to the charge when their
turn came again. Such an account implies a more regular
movement than was actually in use. Divisions necessarily
charged separately, and it might be successively, especially
when several bodies of reserve troops were sent into the
fight. But, apart from this, one may only say that the lightly
armed Turkish and Arab horsemen in conflict with the western
knights showed superior mobility and advanced and retired
more freely. Egyptian armies were not so exclusively com
posed of cavalry as Turkish armies. They employed large
numbers of Ethiopian infantry armed with bows and also
with maces and other weapons suited for close fighting. But
such infantry could bring the charge of the Latin knights to
a stand only when the numbers of the latter were small.
In the greater battles of the period the offensive was
generally taken by the Moslems. The Latins stood on the
defensive until the enemy had closed in and were so massed
together that a well-directed charge produced its maximum
effect. The Latin victories were generally won by this charge
an hour or less from the commencement of the fight. A battle
of some hours’ duration was exceptional. The form in which
the Latins awaited attack was one of three divisions arranged