Defending Minas Tirith a strategic error?

[Saurreg]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

The one that stands out to me the most would have to be 300 Spartan warriors fighting against an onslaught of forces at the battle of Trilopoli (Trilopoli is awfully close if that isn't the correct name fo the battle lol).

Thermopylae. You were referring to the battle of Thermopylae. Tripoli is in North africa, Thermopylae is located at the peninsular southwest of Macedonia, northeast of Attica and Athens.

There were 7000 Peloponnesian troops under the command of Leonidas of Sparta. When the Persians outflanked the Greeks, Leonidas dismissed the allied contigents.

[Saurreg]

One question I have always asked myself was how the armies of ME feed, clothed and replendished themselves during expeditions since Tolkien spoke not of it. Did they travel with long baggage trains and pack mules or did they live off the land they crossed? The former technique leaves a messy logistics trail that can easily be interdicted whereas the latter is subjected to the qualilty of the land crossed as well as the weather/seasons.

Another question I have is the tactic in which the opposing forces adopt. Do they simply blunder into one another and escalate skirmishes into general battles? Or do they penetrate lines of weaknesses and adopt the encircle-and-destroy doctrine?

[Boromir88]

Here is a quote from "The Land of Shadow."

"I don't like the look of things at all," said Sam. "Pretty hopeless, I call it - saving that where there's such a lot of folk there must be wells or water, not to mention food. And these are Men not Orcs, or my eyes are all wrong."

Neither he nor Frodo knew anything of the great slave-worked fields away south in htis wide realm, beyond the fumes of the Mountain by the dark sad waters of Lake Nurnen; nor of the great roads that ran away east and south to tributary lands, from which the soldiers of the Tower brought long waggon-trains of goods and booty and fresh slaves...

We do also, know how the fellowship drank Miruvor up the mountain of Caradhras, and of course Frodo and Sam with the Lembas. We also, know there was probably food in Ithilien, or atleast food at Faramir's disposal. Since, he gave Frodo some dried fruits, and other various food.

We know probably the Men of Minas Tirith were well fed, they did have the buttery for them as we see Pippin go there from time to time. Those are their food sources, now Tolkien never really wrote how they "delivered" the food to the soldiers, but they were there at there disposal. I would guess for Orcs and Sauron's mens they just gathered food from areas they crossed. If all else fails time for ORC MEAT!

[Boromir88]

P.S. thanks for the correction, battle of Thermopylae.

[Tuor of Gondolin]

"If all else fails time for ORC MEAT!"
--------------------------------------------
Yep. "Looks like meat's back on the table, boys!"
(One of the few PJ added/altered lines in the movies that worked).

And if Minas Tirith was under siege they could probably get some supplies in and people out using back paths into and out of the city, rather like the besieged Union Army did at Chattanooga in 1864, before Grant took over. Confederates occupied Missionary Ridge, etc. and blocked river and most, but not all, land passages.