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It was now
about midday. While the Muslim flanking corps were fighting their
battle, Khalid was watching these actions from his position in the
centre. So far he had done nothing to help these corps, and had
refused to be drawn into battle with his central reserve before
it was absolutely necessary. But as the corps returned to battle
from the camps to which they had retreated, Khalid decided to launch
his cavalry reserve to assist them and quicken the re-establishment
of the Muslim positions.
He first turned to the right wing and with
his Mobile Guard and one cavalry regiment struck at the flank of
the army of Qanateer at the same time as Amr counter-attacked again
from the front. Very soon the Romans, attacked from two sides, turned
and beat a hasty retreat to their original position. Amr regained
all the ground that he had lost and reorganized his corps for the
next round.
As soon as this position was restored, Khalid
turned to the left wing. By now Yazeed had begun a major counter
attack from the front to push the Romans back. Khalid detached one
regiment under Dhiraar and ordered him to attack the front of the
army of Deirjan in order to create a diversion and threaten the
withdrawal of the Roman right wing from its advanced position. With
the rest of the army reserve he attacked the flank of Gregory. (See
Map 21 below) Here again the Romans withdrew under the counter-attacks
from front and flank, but more slowly because with their chains
the men could not move fast.
While the Roman right was falling back,
Dhiraar broke through the army of Deirjan and got to its commander
who stood well forward with his body-guard. Here Dhiraar killed
Deirjan. But soon after, the pressure against him became so heavy
that he was forced to retire to the Muslim line.
Before sunset the two flanking armies of
the Romans had been pushed back. At sunset the central armies also
broke contact and withdrew to their original positions and both
fronts were restored along the lines occupied in the morning. The
Muslims had faced a critical situation but had regained their lost
ground. The right wing of the Muslims suffered more severely than
the other corps, as the most vicious fighting had taken place in
the sector of Amr. However, the day's fighting ended with the Muslims
winning this bout on points.
The night that followed was again a quiet
one. The Muslim women got busy dressing wounds, preparing food,
carrying water and so on. On the whole, Muslim spirits were high
as they had been attacked by the bulk of the Roman army and had
thrown the attackers back from their positions. The Muslims had
remained on the defensive, the counter attacks being no more than
part of the general defensive posture.
In the Roman camp, however, the mood hardened.
Thousands of Romans had been slain on this day, and the Muslims
had not only repulsed the flanking armies which had penetrated their
positions but had actually attacked the Roman centre (Dhiraar's
charge) and broken through, killing the army commander. This was
a great loss, for Deirjan was a distinguished and highly esteemed
general. Mahan appointed another general, one by the name of Qureen,
to command Deirjan's army, and transferred the command of the Armenians
to Qanateer, the commander of the Roman left. This was necessary,
for in the next day's battle the major Roman effort would be made
against the Muslim right and right centre.
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