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It was almost
dark when the last of the Romans ceased to move. The day of 'the
raging conflagration' had ended. Khalid's greatest battle was over.
1
Early next morning, while the rest of the
army gathered the spoils of war and buried the martyrs, Khalid set
off with the Muslim cavalry on the road to Damascus in the hope
of catching up with Mahan. The Roman Commander-in-Chief, heartbroken
at the annihilation of his army and not for a moment suspecting
that a pursuit would be launched by the Muslims, was moving without
haste. Some time in the afternoon Khalid overtook the Romans a few
miles short of Damascus, and at once attacked the rear-guard. Mahan
rushed to the rear-guard to supervise its action, and here the King
of Armenia, the Commander-in-Chief of the imperial army, was killed
by a Muslim horseman. Soon after his death, the Roman cavalry broke
up into groups, and riding away to north and west, escaped the clutches
of Khalid.
The people of Damascus now came out to greet
Khalid. They reminded him of the pact which he had made with them
on the surrender of the city two years before, and Khalid assured
them that they were still under its protection.
The next day Khalid rejoined the Muslim
army on the Plain of Yarmuk.
The Battle of Yarmuk was the most disastrous
defeat ever suffered by the Eastern Roman Empire, and it spelled
the end of Roman rule in Syria. The following month Heraclius would
depart from Antioch and travel by the land route to Constantinople.
On arrival at the border between Syria and what was known to the
Muslims as 'Rome', he would look back towards Syria and, with a
sorrowing heart, lament: "Salutations to thee, O Syria!
And farewell from one who departs. Never again shall the Roman return
to thee except in fear. Oh, what a fine land I leave to the enemy!"
2
As an example of a military operation, the
Battle of Yarmuk combined many tactical forms: the frontal clash,
the frontal penetration, counter-attack and repulse, the flank-attack,
the rear-attack and the outflanking manoeuvre. Khalid's plan of
remaining on the defensive until he had worn down the Romans had
worked admirably. During the defensive phase, lasting four days,
every offensive blow by Khalid had been a limited tactical manoeuvre
to restore his defensive balance. Only when it was certain that
the Romans were badly hurt and no longer capable of fighting offensively,
did he launch his counter-offensive, on the last day of battle.
On this day he had rolled up the Roman position from a flank, but
only after he had separated the cavalry from the infantry and rendered
the latter helpless. Then he had driven the Roman infantry into
the corner formed by the Wadi-ur-Raqqad and the Yarmuk River, having
already positioned Dhiraar at the crossing of the ravine so that
none might escape, and launched his last, all-destroying assault.
Against the anvil of the Wadi-ur-Raqqad the Muslim hammer had crushed
the Roman army to powder.
1. There is a disagreement about the two basic
points in this battle: the strength of the opposing forces and the
exact location of the battlefield. For an explanation see Notes 12
and 13 in Appendix B.
2. Tabari: Vol. 3, p. 100; Balazuri: p. 142.
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