Ránki György (szerk.): Hungarian history, world history - Indiana University studies on Hungary 1. (Budapest, 1984)
Joseph Held: The Defense of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) in 1456: A Discussion of Controversial Issues
One way out of this dilemma, as the Sultan must clearly have seen, was to send the army in smaller groups along different routes. Thus, it has been estimated that he himself moved with about 60,000 men along the northern slopes of the Balkan Mountains, while another large part of the army, perhaps 20,000 soldiers, took the southern route. But the army must have moved in smaller groups than those reported; even so, they must have moved at intervals of a few days in order not to overtax the water supplies. Besides making provisioning the troops easier, this order of march also secured the eastern flank of the Ottoman army against surprise attack from the direction of Wallachia or Transylvania, and helped to keep its opponent in suspense about its main thrust. We must also consider the fact that armies, (and the Muslims were no exception to this rule), drew to themselves all sorts of camp followers. There is, of course, no way of learning the exact size of such groups, but a purely speculative estimate of about 20 percent may seem plausible. An army of this size needed all sorts of auxiliaries, including wagon and pack-animal drivers, feldshers and barbers, musicians and soothsayers, personal servants for the leaders and bodyguards, water carriers and repairmen, whores and their procurers, adding perhaps another 10 percent to its numbers. If Mehemed II had 70,000 men, then we may count less than 50,000 fighters in the ranks. This was still a formidable force, probably the largest single army that could be assembled in contemporary Europe, even if its size fell short of the estimates of frightened Westerners. A letter by Bernhard van Kraiburg, Chancellor to the Archbishop of Salzburg, (dated Vienna, 25 August, 1456) shows our estimate to be close to the probable size of the Ottoman army. Kraiburg reported the account of a "reliable eyewitness" (probably one of the participating soldiers of the Viennese contingent) 5 according to which about 100,000 Turks came to Belgrade. They had 21 ships carrying provisions for the army on the Danube. The dead came to about 4-5,000 men on both sides. Hunyadi's troops, including the mercenaries recruited for the defense, amounted to about 16,000 men, half of whom took part 15