Page 109 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo I

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the engineers. As the workers progressed into deeper water, they became more and more
harassed by the ships of the Tyrian navy, with mounting casualties from the deadly arrows
of the archers manning them. In spite of the fierce resistance, the mole crept into the sea,
slower and slower as the workers had to wear armour and become more and more cautious
of the intense attacks.
Two months into the siege, the mole reached around 200 meters from the walls of the
city. Archer fire from the walls added to the construction problems. Finally, when the mole
was around a 100 meters from the walls, the work had to be stopped due to the combina-
tion of the harassing fire and the water depth, which was by now more than 6 meters, and
not as easily filled in. Alexander ordered the construction of two huge siege towers, each
over 50 meters high, mounted on four huge wheels. He had them covered with wet hides
to prevent them from being set alight by flaming arrows. Like most of Alexander’s siege
towers, these were moving artillery platforms, with arrow firing catapults on the top to
clear defenders off the walls, and ballistae below to hurl rocks at the wall and attacking
ships. These towers where then pushed to the end of the causeway, with the artillery pieces
mounted on them and battering rams at their foundations. Some sources claim these tow-
ers were the largest ever made. Wooden walls and other defensive measures were erected
along the sides of the mole to shield the workers from the intensifying naval missile fire.
The Tyrians were not to be outdone. They proved themselves the true forefathers of
Hizbollah and Al Qaeda tactics. Secretly, a ship was modified to serve as a suicide infer-
nal machine. The stern was weighted so that the bow was high out of the water, and then
the ship was filled with combustible materials. Extra masts were added to the ship, from
which jars of pitch, sulfur, oil and brimstone hung. Upon a favorable wind, the fire ship,
manned by a skeleton crew of volunteers, headed straight for the tip of the mole, where
the siege towers were situated. The fire ship rammed the mole, became embedded in it,
and erupted into flames, engulfing the entire combination of land-bridge, war machines
and towers in one huge mass of infernal, all consuming flames. This attack was quickly
followed by a resolute Tyrian naval assault on the mole, driving off the Macedonians who
tried to combat the flames and destroying any equipment which survived the fire. The cal-
culated attack was superbly executed, and the efforts of months went up in smoke.
The disaster hardened, rather than weakened, Alexander’s resolve. Where mere mor-
tals would be completely discouraged from the seemingly impossible challenge, Alexan-
der proved to be made of sterner stuff.
The construction of a second mole commenced, with some of the ancient sources disa-
greeing whether it was a mere diversion or a serious effort. However, Alexander realized
he could not take Tyre without a navy. He also decided to improve the siege engines in
his disposal. Alexander used every trick in the book to convince, cajole, threaten, bribe
and lure every available navy in the vicinity into his service. Indeed, the various city states
and islands in the region had realized Alexander was serious about conquering Tyre. Old
rivalries and jealousies were cleverly exploited by Alexander. Phoenician, Rhodian, Cyp-
riot, Lycian and Cilician naval squadrons joined the Macedonian cause. With 223 vessels
under his command, Alexander started ingeniously employing his ships in the double role
of achieving naval supremacy and as floating siege platforms, mounting both battering