In the cold, early morning of a day in late May 1274 bc, the Egyptian troops of the Re corps were abruptly awoken with shouts, kicks, or nudges. Anxiety and panic rapidly spread among the half-asleep soldiers who were still fatigued from the long march the day before. As one of the four corps of the Egyptian army, the Re corps had traveled northward toward the city of Kadesh and were miles behind the vanguard led by Pharaoh Ramses II. The commotion was caused by an urgent message that the pharaoh's vizier had just delivered to the camp informing Ramses that a vast army of his formidable enemy, the Hittites, was stationed less than two miles away from his advance camp.
For this reason, the pharaoh desperately needed the Re corps to reach him as soon as possible to reinforce the Amun corps he led. If that did not occur, the numerically superior Hittite troops could easily overwhelm his much smaller force. In compliance with Ramses' orders, the men of Re quickly mustered to continue their northward march, but it was too late. Many Hittite chariots had already traveled farther south and were hidden behind the nearby tree line to the east. They were primed and ready to assault the unsuspecting Egyptian soldiers as they tried to reunite with their pharaoh.
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