Battle of the Camp

History

Background

The Wainriders were beginning to recover from their defeat at Dagorlad and were apparently not completely driven out by the rebellion in Rhovanion, and now in TA 1944 they made an alliance with Khand and Harad to attack Gondor from both north and south. The new Lord of the Éothéod, Forthwini discovered that a new attack was being planned and warned King Ondoher of it. Meanwhile, Eärnil, commanding the southern army based at Pelargir received news of the impending invasion on the ninth day of Cermië and prepared a force that crossed the river Anduin, leaving the Fords of the Poros purposely undefended.

Prelude

The northern assault of the Wainriders was met by the King of Gondor himself, Ondoher, with his two sons Artamir and Faramir, the latter in secret and against the law. The Easterlings swept through Gondor's defence, cutting down the King and his heirs and routing his army. Thanks to a last stand by the rear-guard commanded by Minohtar, the left wing led by Adrahil was able to escape southwards. While the Wainriders attacked Ithilien from the north, the armies of the Haradrim crossed the Poros and invaded Southern Ithilien. Gondor's Captain Eärnil had led the smaller Southern Army to victory over the Haradrim. After his victory, Eärnil turned north.

The Battle

Believing their victory complete, and Gondor defenceless before them and apparently unaware of the defeat of their allies in the south, the Wainriders paused in North Ithilien to celebrate their conquest. The feasting Wainriders suddenly found their success reversed, as Eärnil appeared with his Southern Army, reinforced by fleeing soldiers of Ondoher's defeated northern army. Eärnil's army descended on the unprepared Wainriders, driving many of them into the swamplands of the Dead Marshes. That eastern people, for so long a dreaded enemy of Gondor, were utterly destroyed. The battle was named after where it had taken place: the Battle of the Camp.

Aftermath

Because there was no heir apparent to the throne, Ondoher and his sons having been killed in the battle, Eärnil was made King a year later. He was a distant relative of Ondoher, and was a member of a junior branch of the House of Anárion.

Eärnil's victory is counted as one of the biggest military successes in the history of Gondor. With a numerically inferior army than the one that went north, Eärnil was able to totally rout the entire allied armies of Harad and Khand, a feat that would not be duplicated until the end of the Third Age at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

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