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03/17/12(Sat)19:14 No. 652395 >>652059 >Henry had also brought with him 'a great multitude of siege engines and artillery' and these were trained upon the city walls and gates so that the bombardment could begin. His entire army was now gathered around Rouen as he concentrated all his military effort on the single objective of bringing the mighty city to it's knees. >Henry's plan, however was not to take Rouen by assault but to starve it into submission. By the beginning of October, food was beginning to run out and the increasingly desperate citizens were driven to dogs, cats and rats, paying huge sums for the privelidge of doing so. Even water was in short supply after the English dammed the river Renelle above the city. As the death toll rose, the decision was taken to expel those unable to fight: the poor, the old, women, children and the sick. If they had hoped for mercy from Henry V they were mistaken. He would not allow them to pass and, trapped in the ditches between the city walls and the English army, they slowly starved to death, in full view of both besieger and besieged. John Page, and English eyewitness, described their plight: 'some unable to open their eyes and no longer breathing, others cowering on their knees as thin as twigs... a woman... clutching her dead child to her breast to warm it, and a child... sucking the breast of its dead mother'. Henry remained inexorable. When asked to take pity on them, he simply replied 'they were not put there at my command'. 