At the height of Muslim confidence, heavily armored knights astride even heavier steeds of war burst out of one of the gates, taking the jihadists by complete surprise. Before they could effectively retaliate, another Christian sortie burst out from another gate. Though unclear which, El Cid led one of these two forces which now crisscrossed each other in a medieval-style blitzkrieg, causing mass confusion and carnage among the densely packed Muslims. After a “multitude” of Almoravids “fell to the sword,” the panicked Africans “turned their backs in flight,” the Historia concludes, many of them falling and drowning in the Jucar river.
The battle of Cuarte was a shattering blow to the hitherto undefeated Almoravids: though outnumbered by twelve-to-one, the Spanish knights had defeated and driven off 50,000 jihadists. Christians all throughout Western Europe wildly celebrated.
Historian James Fitzhenry summarizes El Cid’s strategy:
The maneuver Rodrigo used that day has come to be known as “la tornada,” or, the tornado. Once the Christian knights had charged through the enemy lines in one direction, they turned and passed through again in a different direction. Whole units were disrupted, broken apart and irreversibly separated. The Africans were packed so tightly together, and their shouts and screams and the clash of steel so loud, that few commands could be heard over the din of battle. Besides, the attack was so swift that there was no tactic that could be successfully employed to neutralize it.