The Third Crusade of 1189-1192 and more specifically, that of the battle of Arsuf in 1191, exemplified the strategic use of medieval logistics that resulted in battlefield victories for the crusaders.
Heeding the call by Pope Gregory VIII (p.1187) to retake Jerusalem from the throes of Islamic armies, the Christian forces of Western Europe under the leadership of Richard I ‘the Lionheart’ (r.1189-1199) of England, Philip II Augustus (c.1165-1223) of France and Frederick I Barbarossa (c.1122-1190), emperor of the Holy Roman Empire set out to do just that.
After seeing the early death of Frederick I, who drowned while crossing a river, the eventual taking of the strategically important city of Acre in 1191 from the Muslims and the departure of both the French king and the duke of Austria, Leopold (r.1177-1194) due to a quarrel with the English monarch, Richard assumed overall command of the crusader forces now present in the Holy Land.
He studied and learned from the harsh lessons of the disaster at Hattin in 1187 that no crusader force could succeed in the relatively sterile environment of the desert and its accompanying surroundings without a proper supply line and adequate logistics. Recognizing this, Richard set about moving his forces along the coastline, where he ‘placed the supply columns next to the shore where they could be resupplied by the Italian fleet, with …twelve groups of cavalry riding inland, protected by heavy and light infantry on the outside, forming a continuous column.’
