After more than an hour of fighting the warriors are already tired and thirsty.

King Harald waits until the two sides are locked together before making his move. First, he commands a blast to be sounded which tells his army to advance.

Next, when the armies are locked together, Harold takes his banner down to the river bank and leads a devastating charge. This will be the turning point in the battle.

King Harald's style was to swing his axe while others protected him with their spears and shields and exploit the breach in the shield wall, or so we hear in the Saga. 

King Harald was a giant and coming fresh to the fight, with his chosen band, he would have cut a way where the riverside-path crossed the Beck.

While some of Harald's Vikings pressed Earl Edwin's flank force back towards York, other Vikings now advanced along the defender's side of Germany Beck. 

Back to the opening moves

On to the roll up of the defenders