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BATTLE OF YARMUK
(Ans to all Probable Question)
SC-15. SC-16. SC-18. Describe the battle with lessons learnt. Describe the salient features of the battle and draw the lessons learnt there from. Discuss the battle of Yarmuk covering the fol : a. b. c. SC-20. SC-21. SC-22 SC-23. SC-24. SC-25. NIL NIL Prep by both the forces and causes of Muslim's victory. Khalid's concept of ops, Plan for the battle and disposn of the Muslim forces to cbt an army four times larger. Describe the salient features of the battle and lessons learnt there from. a. b. c. Khalids concept of op and plan for the battle. Causes of Romans defeat. Do you think that the lessons learnt from the battle are still valid in view of massive changes in war fighting tech and mil hardware? Justify your ans. SC-26. Discus the plan and disposn of Muslim forces. What all in you openion, contributed towards the victory of the Muslim? Most Probable Questions (SC-27). 1. 2. Describe salient features of the battle and draw the lessons learnt there from. Describe the battle of Yarmuk covering the fol : a. b. Khalid's concept of op and planning. Romans plan with the causes of their defeat. Planning of the Muslime and Romans Generalship of khalid bin Walid Lessons learnt.

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c. Gen. 1.

Generalship of Khalid bin Walid.

The Battle of Yarmuk was fought between the Muslims and the Romans in Aug

636. The battle took place in the plain of the River Yarmuk, which is loc in the southern part of present Syria. It was one of the most decisive battles fought by the Muslims for the raise of Islam after the demise of Prophet Mohammad (SM). The lightning outflanking manoeuver and offensive spirit of the battle is note worthy. The plan, ldrship qualities, the battle, the principles of war fol and lessons learnt from the battle is still the subj to study in the modern warfare Backgrd and Causes of Battle 2. After the demise of Prophet (SM) en of Islam thought that the newly formed Islamic state under Caliph Abubakar (RA) would soon collapse. As a result some of the Arab Christians and Jewish tribes refused to pay Jiziya (Tax for non-Muslims) any more. When it became an open rebellion, the Caliph started sending his force to restore law and order sit .At this time the Roman emperior Hereaclius became the unchallenged ruler of Constantinople, Greece, North African and Persia. Some of the dissident Arab Christians sought military support from the Roman Emperior against the Muslims. But most of his expeditions failed to defeat Muslims. Romans were badly defeated by Khalid-Bin-Walid in the battle of Ajanadayn (Jordan), by Shurabeel in the battle of Beisan and Abu Ubaida and Khalid spoiled their attempt to retake Damascus. Muslims continued their victory and took almost whole Palestine and Syria. After evaluating overall sit, Heraclius decided to org a massive force to gain an overwhelming superiority. In the mean time Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) died. Thinking this to be the correct time, Heraclius decided to mob a large well-trained force to destroy the Muslims once for all. However the maj causes are as fol : a. b. c. d. e. Deny paying tax (Jizia) by Non Muslim. Anti Muslim collaboration. Defeat in the Battle of Aznadyn (Jordan) and Beisan. Death of first Caliph Abu Bakr (RA). Destroying the Islamic ideology.

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f. g. h. j. k. l. m.

Imperialism of the Romans. Border conflict. Strat imp of Siryia. Rebellion of the Christians and Jews. Killing of Muslim envoys. Hostile activities of Jews. Spreading of Islam.

Plan and Prep of Both the Focus 3. Conc of Roman Forces. By May 636 AD, an army of about 75,000 men were conc by Hereaclius in the area of Antioch and in parts of Northern Syria. This forces was org into five armies. The comds of these armies were: a. b. c. d. 4. Mahan, King of Armenia comd a purely Armenian army and he was appt as Qanateer, A Russian prince comd all the Russian and slaves. Dierjan and Gregory comd all the European forces. Jabla comd the Christian Arabs.

the comd-in-chief of the entire army.

Initial Muslim Disposn. Muslim forces at that time were spread out in different places as fol : a. b. c. d. e. Amr-Bin-Al-Aas was in Palestine. Shiurahbeel was in Jordan. Yazeed was at Ceasarea. Khalid bin Walid was at Sheizar. Abu Ubeida was at Emessa.

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Figure 5.
Romans Plan. Since the Muslim forces were loc at four different places without mutual sp and res, the Roman planned to destroy them in piecemeal by launching simultaneous attk. Accordingly the plan was as under: a. Qanateer was tasked to app DAMASCAS from the west through costal route via BEIRUT and isolate Abu Ubeida. b. Jabla was ordered to mov from the north and attacks the Muslims around EMESSA frontally and contain them. c. Deirjan was assigned to mov from northwest and strike against Muslims left flank.

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d. Gregory was directed to app EMESSA from northeast and go for the Muslims right flank. e. The army of Mahan would adv behind the army of Jabla to act as res. f. Another task force of 40000 men under Prince CONSTANTINE was detailed to hold and destroy Yazeed around CEASARIA. 6. Khalids concept of the Battle a. To wear down the enemy while in def and then destroy him with a deadly counter offensive. b. Take max advantage of the topo. c. Receive and contain the Roman attk until it had lost its impetus and the en was worn out. d. Then the Muslims would go on to the offensive and drive the Romans towards the Wadi-ur-Raqqad. The terrible ravine would be the anvile on which the Muslims hamer would crush the Roman Army. e. To separate en cav from inf. So that the inf could be defeated by flanking attk with Muslim cav. 7. Tac Redepl of Muslim Forces. The Romans plan was leaked out by a PW (Sheizer) to the Muslims. Hazrat Khalid-Bin-Walid (RA) suggested having conc effort to fight the Romans. He showed logically the Plain of Yarmuk would be ideal place to confront the en for fol: a. The disposn facing west would secure north flank by Samein hill, south by Yarmuk River and the rear by Azra hills. b. c. d. e. The plain would facilitate the cav for swift outflanking maneuver. The route for rft and log from Medina would be open and secured. Fighting a battle in a friendly desert . En would be foced to fight a battle at the end of a tenacious L of C.

His logic was accepted by the war council and TRD was carr out before the Romans could get on them. Composn and Final Disposn of Forces 8. Composn a. The relative str was as under : Roman 1. Cav 48,000 2. Inf 27,000 Total 75,000

Muslim 10,000 30,000 40,000

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9.

Disposn a. The Muslim. Total str of Muslim forces were 40,000 incl rft of 6,000 tps. Out of which 30,000 were inf and 10,000 cav. Inf were org into 36 bn with 800-900 men in each bn. They were gp in 04 corps each having 09 bns. They were depl along a frontage of 11 miles facing west and had a depth of 3 ranks. Sumein hill was on the north and Yarmukh river on the south. Left flank was given to Yazeed and right flank to Amr. Abu Ubeida and Shurahbeel remained in the centre. 10,000 cav was divided into mob cav res with 4000 horses and 03 cav regt having 2000 horses each. Amr and Yazeed was given one cav regt each. Remaining cav rest comd by Zarar and cavalry res comd by Khalid-bin-Walid was aval at the rear as res of both the centre corps and whole army.

Figure 6
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b. The Romans. Mahan Divided his vast forces into four corps. They were depl along 12 mile frontage from north to south facing Muslim across Allan nullah. River Yarmukh was on their south while they kept Wadi-Ur-Raqqad at ther rear. Each corps had a depth of 30 files. Gregory was given the right flank while. Qanateer was on the left. Dierjan comd centre corps with Armenians under his comd. Mohan kept himself at the rear as res. Cav were equally distr among the fighting fmn as res in the rear. Two gps each consisting of 2000 hy cav were under the direct comd of Mahan as army res. Ahead of the front line, across the entire 12 miles Christian Arab army of Jabla were depl as screen. The army of Gregory on the right flank were tied with chains to prevent desertion from the battle fd. 10. Conduct of the Battle. Before the battle started , the Romans underestimated the Muslims and tried to negotiate with an unconditional wdr of Muslims. Peace talks between Gregory, Jabla and Khalid went in vain . Romans carr out some probing attk by Jabla but failed to draw Muslims . The actual ope lasted for only 7 days from 1420 Aug 636 AD. a. 1st Day. The battle started with traditional duel fight where mostly the Muslims won . The Roman offensive launched by 10 fwd ranks was repulsed by Muslim by archery where the attacker suffered more cas . b. 2nd Day. The Roman directed their main effort towards the flank launching secondary attack to the centre. The Muslims both the flank was pen but the mob gd under Hazrat Khalid (RA) restored the sit .Zarrar with cav pen the Roman and killed Dierjan . c. 3rd Day. The Roman Comd Qanateer attk the Muslims at the junction of Amr and Shurahbeel . He was contained frontally and attacked on the flank. Bewildered by double envelopment, he had to wdr. d. 4th Day. The Romans again launched severe offensive against the right half of the Muslims where Shurahbeel and Amr halted the thrust giving some land to them on the right flank of the Roman Army. Abu Obaida and Yazeed launched offensive and could pen . The Roman archery compelled them to wdr. They started Vigorous pursuit and Muslims started falling back. Ikrama with 400 cav estb the sit gallantly. e. 5th Day. The day started with the proposal of truce from the Roman side but the Muslims refused . Mohan changed his tac from offensive posture a purely def battle while the Muslims took the initiative. With a view to isolate Roman inf

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from the cav and to commit Mohans res prematurely, Khalid (RA) maneouvered his cav in both the flank. Meanwhile Khalid (RA) carr out a turning mov with 4000 horses and stroke the Romans from the rear. Ultimately the Muslims succeeded. f. 6th Day. On ni 18/19 Aug Khalid sent Zarrar with 500 horses to estb a blocking posn at the ford on the far bank of Wadi-ur-Raqqad taking a wide detour of the Roman left flank. Due to Muslims three dimensional massive attk the Romans started wdr towards south west and fell into Muslims trap at wadi-urRaqqad . Apprehending to be totally encircled Mohan wdr with his cav. Thus the Romans were totally annihilated.

Figure

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g. 7th Day. Hazrat Khalid set off for a fresh pursuit . He caught the Romans rear gd and killed Mohan , ( The offensive of the Muslims are shown in figure 2 ) Soon after the death of Mohan, the Roman army broke into gps and fled away to north with their lives. Thus the battle of Yarmuk ended and the flag of Islam flaunted in the area . Generalship of Khalid-bin-Walid 11. Born as a Warrior. Born and brought up in the richest and haughtiest pagan family of Mecca, Khalid was primarily a superb Fighting Machine. He was a visionary ldr with unparalleled skill and generalship. 12. Tenacity in Fighting. The simple truth is that the victory of Yarmuk was primarily due to the mil genius of Khalid. After winning the initial strategic advantage, he formed a brilliant tac plan and exec every essential part of that plan with consummate skill and unwavering determination. 13. Strategist. Khalid was one of the very few great Captains of wars, who were equally supreme in the domains of grand strat, strat and tac. His grasp of grand strat is shown by his decision about the conc of Muslim forces at Yarmukh plain from the scatteredly occupied posns at Syria. 14. Foresightness. Khalid was a foresighted comd. When facing adverse circumstances, Khalid did not hesitate to saerifice hard wn terr to recover the strat bal, the evacuation out of Syria to fight at Yarmukh was a decision which only a seasoned and forsighted general with a big heart could take. 15. Tactician. In the domain of tac, he had already distringuished himself at Uhud and Mutah. AT Yarmukh, Khalid similarly defeated the en, by cleverly immob its right flank and centre and rolling up its left flank. 16. Generalship. Imagination, flexibility, robustness and understanding of human nature constitute the main traits in Khalids make up. He combined reckless personal bravery with extreme circumspection as comd. In campaign after campaign, it was the generalship of Khalid which proved to be the deciding factor. Caliph Abu Bakr (RA) said, Mothers are now helpless to produce a son like Khalid. Amr-bin-al-Aas remarked, Khalid is the supreme master of the art of war. He manoeuvres like a cat and charges like a lion. The Holly Prophet Himself crowned Khalid as SAIFULLAH the sword of Allah.

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Causes of Muslim Victory 17. The maj causes of Muslims victory may be discussed as under : a. Spiritual 1. 2. 3. b. Tac 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. c. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 18. Sound and flexible plan . Appr selection of grd . Sound Int netwk. Conc of force at deciding moment . Timely commitment of res. Aggressive def. Initiative . Offensive action . Classic combination of frontal , flanking attk and turning mov . Successful isolation of Roman inf from the cav. Eff log sp . Exploitation of present success. Motivation Foresightness and imagination . Dynamic indl skill and courage . Exemplary Personality . Gp of Force (clan basis ) Superior strat anc tac. Absolute faith in Allah. Righteous of cause . High morale.

Superior Generalship

Causes of Romans Defeat The main causes which are attributable to Romans defeat are : a. Incoherent Plan. Mahan failed to make a cohereent plan. If he could launch a full scale attk or exploit the initial gain then he would have swept away the Muslims.

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b. Faulty Tac. By applying faulty tactics, Mahan allowed his en to successively conc max part of their force against the small portion of the Roman cavalry. c. Surrendering Initiative. Mahan surrendered the initiative to his opponent by transforming from offensive posture to def battle. d. Committing Res Indecisively. Khalid attk with car on flank to force Mahan to commit his res and Mahan complied Khalid forced Mahan to commit his rest of the res by attk on his Muslim cav. Thus Mahan got his res exhausted and failed decisively during the attk by Muslim res from the rear. the Roman right with that. Again, left flank with the to commit them

e. Underestination of En. Mahan Understinated the Muslim war potential. He mostly relied on numerical no for which the Romans had to pay badly at the cost of their total defeat in whole Syria. f. Lock of Good Cause of the Battle g. h. Lack of cohesion and confidence on each other. Lack of Good Int.

Lessons Learnt 19. Selection and Maint of Aim. The Muslims aim was to crush the Romans. Despite repeated proposal for negotiation from the Romans, Khalid did not pay any heed and maintained his aim . 20. Maint of Morale. Muslim forces were highly motivated and enlightend by religious cause, thus their morale was always high on the other hand the Romans had very low morale. 21. Aggressiveness. Aggressiveness in any form of op is a must to win a battle. Muslims fought both the def and offensive battle aggressively but the Romans did not. 22. Conc of Force. Though the Romans had 4 times larger forces but by prudent judgement and conc of force at the deciding moment could win over such a vast army. 23. Good Int Network. Is a prerequisite for any success in the battle . The Muslims were depl spreading into vast area. Due to strong and eff int netwk they could gather the exact intention of the Romans and could redepl in the Yarmuk plain ie the grd of their own choice .

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24.

Offensive Action.

Though the Muslim forces initially were in def, but with the

dev of sit they conducted all types of maneuver like attk, c attk, envelopment, passage in line and even pursuit to destroy the en and exploit the opportunities. 25. Eff use of Mob Res.Khalid could successfully use the central mob res at deciding

moment whereas the Romans committed their res prematurely in most of the cases. 26. Underestimating the En Capability is a wrong Battle Aprc. Which the Roman

did and paid back at the cost of their total defeat in whole Syria. 27. Good Ldrship. The Muslim ldrs demo superior ldrship qualities by fol : a. b. c. d. e. 28. Foresightness and imagination. Motivation . Dynamic Indl skill and courage . Selection of Friendly terr as battle fd . Gp of Force ( Clan basis ).

Maint of Cont L of C. Maint of cont L of C is a need to win any battle. The

Muslims forced the Romans to fight the battle at the end of a precarious L of C . On the other hand the Muslims got cont log sp and rft from Medina . 29. Classic Combination of Manoeuver. Classic combination of turning mov and

flanking attks paid rich dividends in this battle. Concl 30. The battle of Yarmuk gave a superb victory to the Muslim. The flag of Islam was raised in Syria and the Roman lost the battle with superior training and greater relative str. The battle is considered to be a classic example of military movements and maneuver in the history.

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