Hello again all,
many apologies about the non-continuation of this thread, but this was due to my ISPs cutting me off for reasons best known unto themselves. Happily its all sorted out now, so we proceed to the assault on Osgiliath.
Quote:
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This very year, in the days of June, sudden war came upon us out of Mordor and we were swept away.
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Well then, on the 20th of June 3018, Sauron's forces launched an assault on the ruined city of Osgiliath. The one-time capitol city of Gondor had been fought over and devastated many times but in the youth of Denethor it had been re-occupied and a strength of arms kept there. The real prize in Osgiliath was the last bridge over the Anduin. This was not, however, a straightforward military action, as Sauron had an ulterior motive. The objective was to capture the bridge only briefly to allow the passage of the Nazgul. They were being sent to search for the ring, the finding of which had been revealed by Gollum. Rather oddly (I've always thought), the Nazgul were afraid of water, so required possession of the bridge.
Putting together information from Boromir, Beregond and UT, the battle seems to have gone something like this. It seems that the Gondorian forces were engaged on the Eastern side of Osgiliath by an army of orcs, Easterlings and Haradrim. They were heavily outnumbered, but only broke and ran when the Lord of the Nazgul revealed himself in all his terror. Horse and man gave way before him and the bridge was captured for a brief time. On taking the bridge, the Nazgul dismounted, disrobed and made their way through Osgiliath unseen, but terrifying the inhabitants.
Facing only 'conventional' forces, Boromir and Faramir rallied their troops and re-captured the bridge, but realised that it would have to be destroyed to protect Gondor. With one company they bravely held the Eastern end of the bridge while it was demolished behind them, then swam back across the Anduin. Of their company, only two others survived.
The forces involved aren't detailed, I'd imagine perhaps 1000 Gondorian infantry, with chainmail, armed with spears or bows, against some thousands of orcs with smaller contingents of Haradrim and Easterlings. Gondorian horsemen are noted, perhaps a squadron of cavalry was present, or maybe this refers to the officers' horses. Perhaps some of the Rangers of Ithilien were caught up in the battle as well. Six or seven of the Nazgul led the Sauronic forces.
As I said above, the Nazgul's fear of water is a strange reason for this battle, surely Sauron could have sent them directly to Dol Guldur over Dagorlad? Also they had to cross many other rivers before they reached the Shire.
Sauron's secondary motivation was to test the strength of Gondor. Perhaps he had hoped to secure the bridge intact to facilitate the passage of his great army the next year.
More on Nazgul and Water
[ November 16, 2003: Message edited by: Rumil ]