Of course the entrance to the city would have to be an easier approach than over the walls because the residents of the city would have to enter and leave. The entrance was always the potential weak point of the defense of a walled city. This entrance is logically a relatively narrow opening in the walls, and thus an attacking army who would storm that location is forced into a smaller front where the troops that can be brought to bear on that point are few in number, even if they may be easily replaced. The defenders would use the slings to begin the defense as the army approached, and then the swords would take up the close combat. The defenders are also concentrated at the front, but those at the rear actually may have some rest. In hand to hand combat fatigue was frequently a decisive factor in the battle, and the defenders would have fresh men. The attackers, on the other hand would be harried from above as well as from the front at the entrance, so there were fewer of their troops who could have a reprieve. They would be involved in attempting to defend themselves even before they were in a position to use their own weapons. The result of this rush on the entrance was “an immense slaughter.”