Sawra's lieutenants advised a slow infantry advance fronted by a spear-wall—the standard Umayyad anti-cavalry tactic[33]—but Sawra, knowing his troops to be weary and desperate, decided instead to launch a cavalry charge against the Türgesh in the hopes of breaking through with at least part of his force and reaching Junayd. Sawra's troops, "maddened by heat and thirst" in the description of H.A.R. Gibb, charged the Türgesh and broke their front, but the battle soon became a confused affair with both sides hindered by the smoke, dust, and flames. In the end, the Umayyad army lost its cohesion, scattered, and was destroyed piecemeal by the Türgesh cavalry.