On the Cutting Edge…

And building…building…building a fan base, building a social network, building a base from which to operate. As every professional military officer can tell you: every offensive depends on logistical support – without logistics – your attack may start out great but will soon peter out unless properly supported. You must maintain the velocity of the drive. So far that’s been about 99.999 % of what we’re doing here. The fanbase continues to increase across the globe, we’re seeing a huge uptick in interest & Likes on the FB page coming – in particular – from the Philippines. We would never have predicted this, but since THE MARSCHER LORDS:Brotherhood or Death cast member Edwin H Bravo is a native-born (Sampaloc, Manila) Filipino, it’s a nice benefit. His work continues of course on Harbinger Down with the legendary Lance  Henriksen. Eagerly looking forward to the result. The director – Alec Gillis – has more than a little experience with this genre and nobody does this genre better than Lance Henriksen!

It’s tough, really to compare THE MARSCHER LORDS:Brotherhood or Death with any other big studio production. There’s no “flash & trash” herein. It really is something you don’t see much of in current productions: a compelling, uplifting & inspiring story. What could be more compelling than two brothers reuniting after a long space of time apart, under the most dire of circumstances (an immense, unstoppable, & ever-advancing) Mongolian Horde, and have a fundamental clash over those things more important: life or property. As precious time ticks by & the Mongolians get ever closer, the two brothers find themselves at loggerheads over the most basic of human questions.

On the Cutting Edge…

Honor. Duty. Selflessness. Dedication to those defenceless: these words echo the Teutonic Knights motto, which is “Helfen*Wehren*Heilen” (Help*Defend*Heal). There was a lot of trouble in Europe at this time (about 1240). Along with the advancing Mongolians – who entered Europe by way of Ukraine, completely wrecking Kiev in the process – there was discord & conflict in what would become Prussia: the Prussian pagans were creating problems  so the Teutonic Order had to wage war on several fronts (an early indication of German pre-disposition to two front war?) and in reality lacked the complete resources to do this. By combining with other chivalric Orders – Hospitaller, Templar, & Livonian – & under the command of Henry II The Pious – a Polish Duke – they mustered enough forces to send against the Mongolians at Liegnitz (or Legnica) in Poland. This combined force of Germans, Czechs, & Poles was augmented by the chivalric Orders & supported by the Pope. This came about because the Mongolians were of the intent to invade Hungary. However King Bela IV rejected Batu Khan‘s (overall Mongol commander) demand for surrender & to hand over the Cumans (“a nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation”) who had fled into Hungary from the Mongolians. It was planned that Batu & Subutai (Batu Khan’s deputy commander) would each lead an army into Hungary with a third army moving up into Poland under Baidar, Orda, & Kadan Khan to act as a diversion and siphon off any Northern European forces that might move south to assist King Bela IV. These forces devastated Poland and destroyed Polish forces at Tursko, Chmielnik, then captured and razed the city of Krakow to the ground. Moving on toward Wroclaw (formerly Breslau) in the midst of deciding whether of not to assault the city, they received word that Good King Wenceslaus I was just days away with an army of 50,000 (under the command of Henry II The Pious). The Mongols immediately turned and made a move to intercept, catching up with Henry II’s forces at Legnickie Pole (Polish for “Field of Legnica”), also known in German as Wahlstatt.

Matters did not go well for the European forces: by this time the Mongolians were the finest light cavalry in the world, and employed a diversionary force to foment a series of feigned attacks and phony withdrawals that drew out Henry II’s forces away from the main body. The Mongols hammered away with flank & ambush attacks, using the speed & accuracy of the Mongol archers that was unparalleled as was their battlefield communication:

..superb battlefield communication, which used a system of flags. The Mongol commander found the highest ground at the battle site, seized it and used it to communicate to his noyans and lesser commanders their orders for troop movement. The Mongol system was a stark contrast to the European systems, in which knights advanced with basically no communication with supporting forces.

The result: “The army of Henry II was essentially destroyed—Henry and Boleslav of Moravia were killed and estimates of casualties range from 2,000 to 40,000, essentially the entire army. The Templar Grand Master Ponce d’Aubon reported to King Louis IX of France that the military order lost 500 of their number,^[7] among them nine brothers, three knights and two sergeants.^[5] Mongol casualties are unknown; a perfect execution of their standard tactics would have minimised losses, but the Mongols endured sufficient casualties to dissuade them from attacking the Bohemian army.^[1]“

It was said that the “Mongols cut the right ear off of each fallen European in order to count the dead; supposedly they filled nine sackfuls.’ No way to confirm that of course, but this much is true: “Henry was struck down and beheaded while attempting to flee the battlefield with three bodyguards, and the Mongols paraded his head on a spear before the town of Legnica.”  Rather than continue on their way to the English Channel – which was wide open – the Mongols – not interested in conquering territory, only killing, raping, & taking – moved back into the vast expanse of the East as word arrived that the great Khan Ogedie had died and – as was tradition – the Mongol Army returned to elect a new Khan.

Teutonic Knights engage the Mongols at Liegnitz (Legnica) in 1241.

But we digress. Described above are the conditions which set the stage for THE MARSCHER LORDS:Brotherhood or Death. They are a perfect canvas over which we paint the story. A true story of duty, service & dedication to others, and love of one’s fellow man. A story meant to educate & entertain, but also to inspire & uplift.

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