the english army took up a position on a hill between the villages of Crecy and Wadikur with an army of about 12 000 men the king divided the army into three battles with the right flank occupied by the Prince of Wales son of the king at the time he was only 16 years old and was effectively commanded by the Earl of Warwick under his command were about three thousand archers and two thousand nights with spearmen the left flank was commanded by the Earl of Nordhampton and Earl of Arundel and this battle was slightly smaller numbering
about 3 000 archers and 2 thousand knights with spearmen behind him stood the reserve commanded by king Edward himself with about 900 men it is likely that three bombs were placed in the center the english army waiting for the french had wasted no time and the soldiers had dug horse bits on the slope of the hill and plunged several rolls of stakes in front of it the method of building archers is still controversial the modern describes their deployment as a construction of a harrow most likely he meant the placement of the shooters in a chess
order to make them more comfortable to shoot Edward ordered the knights to dismount and send their horses to the camp which was a delicate tactical decision now the archers knew exactly that the knights would not abandon them and with them shoulder to shoulder the heir to the throne would fight Philip vi advanced party after a long journey in hot weather approached cressie around 4 p.m in the distance there was a thunderstorm and rain clouds were coming ahead of them were genuine crossbowmen some sources report that their number was about six thousand this figure is most
likely greatly exaggerated these are all crossbowmen who were in the service of the French king many were sent to strengthen the garrisons of cities and fortresses together with the genoese went the battle of the Earl of Alanson the brother of the king and the battle of John of Bohemia only about 3 000 heavily armed horsemen the rest of the army marched behind stretching for tens of kilometers the day was coming to an end and Philip vi decided to postpone the battle to the next day to pull up the whole army and give the troops rest
after a tedious transition but the knights were hard to hold seeing in front of them the hated englishmen with whom the french had longed to fight for so long the army rushed into battle Jon of Bohemia and the king's brother the Count of Valois began to press Philip to send crossbowmen forward and then throw the knights at the enemy at about five o'clock the crossbowmen were ordered to launch an attack at this time of year the sun sets at about half past seven and the genoese crossbowmen being professional soldiers believed that no one would start
a battle two hours before sunset they left their shields and bolts at the baggage station and the commander tried to challenge the order but no one listened the crossbowers had no choice but to attack the superior enemy and it started to rain at that time often you could hear cunning archers hiding the bowstring under their helmets and the foolish crossbowmen didn't think to do it and their weapons went out of action but the genoese were highly professional and well-paid soldiers from whom one could hardly expect such foolishness the rain quickly ended and the crossbowmen continued
to move coming to a suitable distance they began to shoot the english responded with a barrage of arrows the speed of the bow was two or three times higher besides the archers were two and a half thousand bolts the crossbowman received 16 000 arrows in return unable to hide behind their shields the genoese began to retreat having seen the defeat of their mercenaries the french command became enraged the Earl of Allinson said the famous phrase go trample this scum it prevents us to attack and the battle of the brother of the king has moved on
the enemy directly through the retreating crossbowmen in this attack took part and king Philip vi many authors write about the strong mud in which horses were allegedly knitted but it was a short rain after the hot weather so the dry soil did not have time to soak enough the english archers threw a shower of arrows at the attacking knights in the 30 seconds it took the horsemen to cross the shutout space most of all the horses were injured many fell dead at the end of the way the rider had to overcome the obstacles from the
stakes all these factors did not allow heavily armed cavalry to strike with a dense monolithic mass knights in small groups rode into a cohesive formation of english infantry and died in hand to hand here the king's brother the Earl of Alanson was killed and the king was wounded as a result see no chance of success the remnants of the knights rushed back showered with a hail of arrows at this time the battle of John of Bohemia was being prepared for the attack Jon was blind and ordered to tie his horse to the horses of the
squires where's my son asked the czech king he fights in the battle of the king of France answered him since i am blind i ask you to lead me as far as possible in the very thick of battle so that i can cross my sword with anyone the detachment of John of Bohemia moved forward the czech and german knights spurring their horses shouted Prague and rushed into battle the unsuccessful first attack prepared the ground for the second wave pits became visible some of the stakes were broken under a hail of arrows the battle of John
fell upon the english ahead the hand-to-hand battle ensued the Czech knights scattered their personal guard reached the Prince of Wales he fell twice under the blows of the enemy and his banner bearer had to throw the standard on the ground and put his feet on it fighting off the attacker he cried out in the name of Edward and St George all to the son of the king at this difficult moment a detachment of english knights rushed to the prince aid so that the wounded heir to the throne got a respite and the banner rose again
above the detachment during this fight Edward was told that his son was in danger "and that he had died?" asked the king "no he fights" was the answer "let him fight do not interfere with the boy's earned spurs" the king quietly replied despite the bravery of the warriors John's battle failed and the blind King of Bohemia was killed along with his henchmen Edward forbade the taking of prisoners the english soldiers spared no one even the king of fabulously rich Bohemia from which up to 40% of the silver came to Europe unable to break through the
british front the czech and german knights were forced to retreat then they began to pull up to the battlefield in small groups of 200, 300 horsemen the rest of the french army they immediately bravely attacked superior enemy forces and most of them were killed in action a total of 16 attacks were made before sunset four horses were killed under the king and Philip himself was wounded twice, about eight o'clock in the evening it was pitch black the disorganized army was in disarray no one understood where the king the battles mingled and could not find their
commanders many of whom were killed and the misled french army began to scatter the king of france was eager to fight but his entourage realizing that this was not possible took Philip from the battlefield by force the english not knowing what the enemy was going to do and how large, Edward iii had ordered his army to stay in place he came to his son hugged him and praised him for his steadfastness all night the soldiers burned fires waiting for the dawn some sources say that the english had launched a counter-attack but this is very unlikely
because all the actions had to be organized in complete darkness the squires had to be sent to the camp to find and bring the horse find your knight build and organize a battle then attack across a field strewn with traps and corpses of men and horses the rising sun illuminated the surroundings and Edward was sure that the french had gone and ordered a tour of the battlefield the slope of the hill was strewed with dead horses and corpses of men the army of Philip vi lost about one and a half thousand horsemen and about 300
crossbowmen losses among the commanders were simply terrifying 13 dukes and counts were lost as well as the King of Bohemia the marshall and constable were killed 80 knights of the banner commanders of the detachment that is the army was almost beheaded the british lost 150 men at arms and an unknown number of ordinary soldiers the day after the battle unsuspecting strugglers of french infantry approached the battlefield and the english beat them as well the main reason for the defeat of the french army was weak command of the troops king Philip vi undoubtedly being a brave
knight did not have the necessary leadership qualities that was so important for managing an undisciplined medieval knight army his opponent Edward iii not only had tactical talents but also had a very high authority among his knights besides the backbone of the english the army passed the combat coordination in the war against the scots and many knights archers spearmen used to fight together and knew each other well as a result having won the battle Edward iii captured part of Normandy and managed to hold it
