Another significant slaughter at Beirut continued the trend of Mamluk casualties, as they attempted to contest with the stronger Milanese armies.
Alexandria was again the site of tremendous struggle, as Gen. Pico nabbed the Mamluk attackers before they could do much damage.
In Damascus, Testi’s army hit the Mamluks just as they were in process of assaulting the walls of the city…
That perfect timing resulted in much bloodletting among the Mamluk ranks, as they bled out their strength.
A smaller fight developed in Judea, near Jerusalem, even as another Imperial army began to starve the residents of Hawran out of their small fortress. The war was barely 4 months old, and already Milan had established supremacy across pretty much the whole front. Many years of warfare had reduced the actual ability of the Mamluks to exert control over even the lands they’d occupied for centuries.
In more minor news, from across the world, we discovered what had probably happened to that Mecklenburger regiment which had fled from Choco as we took it over…
Eek!
Pico’s victory at Alexandria was tempered by the arrival of Mamluk reinforcements, which had made his men suffer greatly, though they did finally turn the Mohammedans back. About 1,000 more of the enemy had been made to pay. However, Milan was far better prepared to absorb such losses.
As Milan won more victories across the theatres of combat, Gen. Testi was asked to mount an offensive to the north, deep into northern Syria. Meeting a force of nearly equal size, he devastated them with a serious European-style attack, using weapons and tactics the Mamluks couldn’t cope with.
Once the Mamluks, under Yusuf Beg, fell away, Testi assaulted the city, and brought it under Imperial control…
That city was only the first of several Mamluk cities to fall, though many others were already under siege, and were weakening by the day. The Mamluk armies had already been more or less spent, though they were never to be underestimated. Some, however, were surrendering, or dying in suicidal charges, never to be heard from again.
Pico even had the temerity to attack the tattered remnants of the battle at Alexandria where they had retreated – the outskirts of Cairo! The Nile River Delta was also secured for the Empire.
Gen. Testi was moving north, into Adana, where he met Yusuf’s tired troops again. Testi’s own, however, were also exhausted by this time, so there was some question how this latest attack would fare.
It was at this time, for whatever reason, that Ragusa chose to make their own ridiculous demands against Milan. Milan refused, and so they declared war, bringing the Knights and Muscovy with them. Perhaps they had counted on their Russian friends to be able to contend capably with Milan.
But they failed to recognize that Moscow would be hardly able to access Milanese territory, lacking any land route, and being only able to land troops by sea. It was a puzzling war. But the Emperor knew it offered opportunities.
As it was, Emperor Guido II took command, himself, of two contingents of two regiments each, which were landed successively in Ragusa, which the Ragusans had left undefended in order to attack Venice.
Across the Sea, more Mamluk territory fell to Milan. Things were already winding down, by August, on both fronts!
