The greatest crusades rarely included more than ten thousand combatants. The impression of "innumerable crowd" left by the first two crusades is due to the high proportion of non-combatants who encumber them, delay their advance or compromise them by their excesses. After the second crusade, the authorities endeavored to prevent the departure of these non-combatants and, in the 13th century, the crusades were made up mostly of soldiers by vocation or profession. The popular element is no longer integrated into the crusade except through mercenary action. The only "popular" crusades of the 13th and 14th centuries are "wild" and uncontrolled movements where the fervor but also the anarchy of the first popular crusades are found. The most famous was the Children's Crusade, which raised thousands of French and German children in 1212. Some merchants in Marseilles took advantage of this to embark young pilgrims and sell them as slaves in Egypt. Later in 1250, the Pastoureaux in turn set out, under the direction of the mysterious Master of Hungary, to free Saint Louis prisoner. But the movement turns to the jacquerie, and Blanche de Castille must put an end to it (1251). Other troops of "pastoureaux" appear, for the last time, in 1320.
Even in the middle of a bloody war, the miracle of Christmas can take place. After the Normandy landings, Operation Overlord , the Allied offensive suffered a major setback when British airborne forces attempted to seize the Arnhem bridge. (Netherlands) one month later. Hitler decided to launch an