ry religion which in every age, according to its
traditions, confuses the soldier, had he kept all his men at arms in
reserve and put Archers only in the front line, they would have sufficed
to win his battle.

There stands upon the Crecy end of the ridge a great mound to this day. It
is the foundation of an old stone windmill which stood there for
centuries, and which has been shamefully pulled down within living memory.
From that mill it was that Edward watched the whole action proceeding upon
the slope beneath him. He saw the head of the French charge get home but
its extended line wavering, checked, and broken up on the Val aux Clercs
as a continuous rain of arrows poured in. He saw all the front ranks of
horses broken: the animals lashing out or fallen stampeding rearward,
mounted or riderless: the heavily armoured knights fallen helpless and
trampled, the whole thing a vast confusion.

It was near six o'clock. The westering sun was within an hour of its
setting, and shone right up the vale, coming aslant upon the burnished
armour of the charge. Had this kind of warfare already established a
tradition, and had men learned by experience what unshaken infantry could
do against horse, it would already have been apparent that the action was
decided. But there was no such experience and no such knowledge. Over the
long slopes of open field which fronted the English ridge, line after line
of knights were coming forward in successive waves, as though mere weight
of horses and men could win home in spite of the increasing welter of
flying, dead, and maddened mounts, and of fallen men and iron that now
lined all the front with a belt of obstacle more formidable than earth or
wall. And of those, such few as could struggle through to within range
might hope to escape the deadly and now converging fire which struck horse
after horse as the foot of the ridge was reached. By gaps in the deadly
confusion of the stampede and the corpses, round to their right further
and further up the valley (upon their left the marshes of the Maye forbade
a turning movement), the French charges followed and spread. A dozen or
more were counted, and each as it came met the missile defence and was
broken, with no counter missile offensive to tame that fire.

The sun was setting, but one effort was made which should have been made
far earlier in the short crisis. It was an effort of the French right to
turn the English left by Wadicourt.

Due, we