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This article refers to the battle in TA 3019. For other namesakes, see Battle of Osgiliath (disambiguation).
! The title of this article is conjectural.
While the content of this article is based on official information, the actual name of the subject is conjectural, and is yet to or cannot be officially named.
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War of the Ring

Prelude: Attack on the Woodland RealmSauron's assault on OsgiliathSkirmish at WeathertopSkirmish at Amon HenWar commences:First Battle of the Fords of IsenAmbush of the RohirrimSecond Battle of the Fords of IsenBattle of the Hornburglast march of the EntsBattle of IthilienBattle of OsgiliathSiege of GondorBattle of the Pelennor FieldsBattle of DaleBattles of Lórien and invasion of eastern Rohanbattle under the treesQuarrelAmbush in IthilienBattle of the Black Gatedestruction of Dol GuldurBattle of Bywater


"Horsemen of the enemy swept up. The lines of fire became flowing torrents, file upon file of Orcs bearing flames, and wild Southron men with red banners, shouting with harsh tongues, surging up, overtaking the retreat."
The Return of the King, "The Siege of Gondor"

The Battle of Osgiliath in the War of the Ring occurred at the ruined city of Osgiliath on March 12 TA 3019, shortly before the Siege of Gondor.

History

Prelude

Osgiliath, defended by Boromir and Faramir, had been attacked some nine months earlier, which resulted in Sauron's forces taking control of the city's eastern half. Boromir left Gondor to seek counsel at Rivendell (and would not return).[1]

In the ensuing time, Faramir led several assaults with his Rangers deep within Mordor occupied Ithilien, ambushing enemy armies moving to the Black Gate; Frodo and Sam stumbled into one such attack.[2]

While there were men defending the west side of Osgiliath, the Steward Denethor ordered Faramir to lead a force to reinforce them. Faramir and Prince Imrahil regarded the order ill advised, pointing out that they could not afford the casualties; nevertheless, Faramir complied.[3]

The battle

Mordor, however, was prepared. Months beforehand, the Orcs in East Osgiliath had been secretly constructing massive numbers of boats and rafts, and swelled with reinforcements from Harad they swarmed across the River Anduin to Gondor's positions on the other bank. After heavy fighting, the garrison under Faramir and his troops were forced to flee, first to the Rammas Echor, which held out for a day and then to Minas Tirith itself.

One third of Faramir's troops were lost, and he was badly wounded in the retreat, when a poisoned Southron arrow pierced him; more severe damage was done by the Black breath of the Nazgûl. When the retreat was sure to be a disaster, the Knights of Dol Amroth, led by Imrahil, initiated a sortie from Minas Tirith; the pursuing hordes were driven back and the surviving garrison reached the city safely.[3]

Aftermath

In the meantime, the Orcs made makeshift repairs to several destroyed bridges. The main combined army of Mordor then arrived, formed from those that Frodo had seen leaving Minas Morgul; but this was "but one and not the greatest of the hosts that Mordor now sent forth": for on their way from Morgul Vale, the Morgul-host led by the Witch-king of Angmar had been joined by Haradrim from the south, and a far greater host that had massed at the Black Gate attacked Cair Andros. The two forces would then unite to attack Minas Tirith.[3]

With Osgiliath now completely in the hands of Mordor and the Causeway Forts breached, the vast army of Sauron marched from the city and surrounded Minas Tirith, beginning the Siege of Gondor and leading directly into the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

Portrayal in adaptations

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the battle is condensed and Gondor is shown to be weaker and with fewer numbers than in the book, ostensibly to add drama to the film.

The Orcs crossed the river at night in boats, and immediately joined battle with Faramir's men, fighting throughout the night. By morning, the Men of Gondor lost almost 350 of their men and then abandon the city and retreat with only a few hundred survivors. The Nazgûl riding on top of their Fellbeasts kill many more soldiers, but Gandalf rescues them. At Minas Tirith, Denethor orders Faramir to retake Osgiliath. Faramir leads the surviving Osgiliath defenders and tries to retake Osgiliath, but runs into a shower of arrows from the Orcs. The whole company is killed except Faramir, who is dragged back to Minas Tirith by his horse, unconscious with two arrows in him.

Translations

Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Slag van Osgiliath
Albanian Beteja e Osgiliath
Arabic معركة أوسجيلياث
Armenian Օսգիլիաթի ճակատամարտը
Azerbaijani Osgiliath Döyüşü
Basque Osgiliathko Batailaren
Belarusian Cyrillic бітва Осгилиате
Breton Emgann Osgiliath
Bulgarian Cyrillic битка на осгилиат
Catalan Batalla de Osgiliath
Cebuano Gubat sa Osgiliath
Chinese (Hong Kong) 奧斯力亞吉斯之戰
Cornish Batel a Osgiliath
Corsican Battaglia di Osgiliath
Croatian Bitka za Osgiliath
Czech Bitva o Osgiliathu
Danish Slaget ved Osgiliath
Dutch Slag om Osgiliath
Esperanto Batalo de Osgiliado
Estonian Osgiliathi Lahing
Faroese Bardagan við Osgiliath
Filipino Labanan ng Osgiliath
Finnish Taistelun Osgiliath
French Bataille de Osgiliath
Frisian Slach om Osgiliath (Western)
Galician Batalla de Osgiliath
Georgian ოსგილიათის ბრძოლა
German Schlacht von Osgiliath
Greek Μάχη της Οσγκίλιαθ
Gujarati ઓસ્ગિલિઆથનું યુદ્ધ
Haiti Creole Batay la Osgiliath
Hebrew קרב אוסגיליאת
Hindi ओस्गिलियाथ की लड़ाई
Hungarian Csata Osgiliathot
Icelandic Orrustan um Osgiliath
Indonesian Pertempuran Osgiliath
Irish Gaelic Cath na Osgiliath
Italian Battaglia di Osgiliath
Japanese オスギリアスの戦い
Javanese Perang Osgiliath
Kannada ಓಸ್ಗಿಲಿಯಾತ್ ಕದನ
Kurdish شەڕی ئۆسیلیات (Sorani) Şerê Osgiliath (Kurmanji)
Korean 오스길리아스 전투
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Осгилиатч согушу
Latin Pugna Osgiliath
Latvian Kauja par Osgiliath
Lithuanian Mūšis dėl Osgiliath
Luxembourgish Schluecht vun Osgiliath
Macedonian Cyrillic Битка за Осгилиат
Malayalam ഓസ്ഗിലിയത്ത് യുദ്ധം
Malaysian Pertempuran Osgiliath
Maltese Battalja ta' Osgiliath
Marathi ऑस्गिलियाथची लढाई
Mongolian Cyrillic Осгилиатын тулаан
Nepalese ॐस्गिलिअथको युद्ध
Norwegian Slaget om Osgiliath
Occitan Batalha de Osgiliath
Pashto د اوسګیلیات جګړه
Polish Bitwa pod Osgiliath
Portuguese Batalha de Osgiliath
Punjabi ਓਸਗਿਲਿਅਥ ਦੀ ਲੜਾਈ
Romanian Bătălia de la Osgiliath
Russian Битва при Осгилиате
Sanskrit ओस्गिलियाथस्य युद्धम्
Scottish Gaelic Blàr Osgiliath
Serbian Битка за Осгилиат (Cyrillic) Bitka za Osgiliat (Latin)
Sicilian Battagghia di Osgiliath
Sinhalese ඔස්ගිලියත් සටන
Slovak Bitka o Osgiliath
Slovenian Bitka z Osgiliath
Somali Dagaalkii Osgiliath
Spanish Batalla de Osgiliath
Swahili Vita ya Osgiliath
Swedish Slaget om Osgiliath
Tajik Cyrillic Ҷанги Осгилиат
Tamil ஒஸ்கிலியாத் போர்
Tatar Осгилиат сугышы
Telugu ఓస్గిలియాత్ యుద్ధం
Thai สงครามออสกิเลียต
Turkish Osgiliath Savaşı
Turkmen Osgiliath Söweş
Urdu اوسگیلیتھ کی جنگ
Uzbek Осгилиатҳ жанги (Cyrillic) Osgiliath jangi (Latin)
Vietnamese Trận chiến của Osgiliath
Welsh Brwydr Osgiliath
Yiddish שלאַכט פֿון אָסגיליאַט

References

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