Ride across the river, deep and wide

[Erpingham]

David Bachrach has produced another of his short pieces on Early Medieval warfare, this time focussed on Ottonians and their approach to forcing a river crossing.

Contested river crossings were a common tactical challenge throughout our period and there were some well tried solutions, which clearly the Ottonians were well aware of. Get it wrong, though, and you could be in dire straits.

[Imperial Dave]

Great article, thanks Anthony. Very handy for me!

[Nick Harbud]

If one has the time, one can always wait for the river to freeze over...

[Keraunos]

That could be a hell of a wait

[Imperial Dave]

Indeed...

[Erpingham]

Nick's comment does illustrate an interesting element on the tactics of forcing a river - urgency. It was rare that an army had the luxury to wait for months for a river to freeze.  That said, it made a difference whether the move needed to be immediate, with armies engaged, or whether more time to manouevre was available and the "front" could be broader.

An example of the former would be Boroughbridge, where the rebels had to force a crossing before the pursuing royal army caught them. While they had access to a bridge and a ford to do the two crossing strategy, both were known to the defence and close enough for them to be able to cover both.

A less well known example of the latter is the Battle of Commines in 1382. A Flemish force was holding Commines on the River Lys. They had dismantled the bridge and there was no near by ford. The French commanders decided to use a bridge of boats but the Flemings had blocked the river so no larger river boats could be brought. All looked lost but a group of knights took the initiative and got a small boat, with a plan of ferrying men-at-arms over a few at a time and hiding out.  When enough men had been brought across, they would take the Flemings by surprise and secure the bridge.  Unfortunately, the Flemings spotted them before the plan was due to be sprung but they attacked anyway. The main army launched a bridge assault in support and, after a tough fight, the Flemings were defeated.  The whole tale in Froissart is a fascinating insight into operational level problem solving in a medieval army.

The tale can be found in Steve Mulhberger's Tales from Froissart, starting here

I might put this text into the battles file when time permits.