Introduction
Bhishma Vadha tells what happened in the first ten days of the Kuru Kshetra war before Bhishma is killed.
https://crackpot.substack.com/t/bhishma
Sequences: The Kauravas form the Garuda vyuha. The Pandavas counter with a crescent moon vyuha with Arjuna and Bhima at the horns. (0) Arjuna, Abhimanyu and Satyaki fight with Shakuni and his Gandharas army. (1) Bhishma and Drona attack the heart of Yudhishthira’s army. Shikhandi attacks Bhishma. Nakula and Sahadeva fight with Drona. (2) Bhima attacks Duryodhana.
Satyaki abandoned his chariot and ascended onto Abhimanyu’s chariot. Stationed on that same chariot, they countered Soubala’s (Shakuni) army. Drona and Bhishma made endeavors to fight with Dharmaraja’s (Yudhishthira) army. Bhimasena and Ghatotkacha performed great deeds. Then Duryodhana arrived and repulsed them. Bhimasena was enraged. He pierced Duryodhana in the chest with an arrow. King Duryodhana lost his senses from the blow. He sank down on his chariot and fainted. On seeing that he had lost his senses, the charioteer swiftly carried him away from the field of battle and his soldiers fled. While the soldiers ran in all directions, Bhima pursued them and killed them with sharp arrows.
— Bibek Debroy. Mhb. Chapter 914 (54)
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust— Queen
Sequences: Bhishma slaughters masses of Yudhishthira’s regulars. (0) Arjuna moves to check Bhishma’s assault.
(1) Krishna becomes frustrated that Arjuna will not kill Bhishma, grabs his sudarshana chakra (discuss) and decides to kill Bhishma himself. Arjuna tackles Krishna, begging him to stop and promises to take off the kid gloves. Krishna has sworn to participate as a non-combatant, serving as Arjuna’s charioteer - allowing Krishna to attack Bhishma would make Krishna’s vow false.
(2) The Kurus swarm Arjuna to support Bhishma. Satyaki moves in to support Arjuna. Virata and Drupada attack the flank to support Arjuna. After Arjuna beats up on the Kurus, they decide to retreat and call it a day.
When they heard the sound of Gandiva, King Virata and King Drupada, went to the spot with uplifted hearts. But whereever the sound of Gandiva was heard, all your soldiers were immersed in despair… With a flood of sharp arrows, Kiriti (Arjuna) made a an extremely terrible river flow on the field of battle. The blood was the bodies of wounded men. The foam was human fat. Its expanse was broad and it flowed swiftly. The banks were formed by the dead bodies of elephants and horses. The mud was the entrails, marrow and flesh of men. The moss was formed by heads, with the hair attached. Thousands of bodies were born in the flow and the waves were formed by many shattered fragments of armor. The bones of men, horses and elephants were the stones. Crows, jackals, vultures and herons and predatory beasts like hyenas were seen to line up along its banks.
…
In that battle, Arjuna has killed thousands of charioteers and elephants. Masses of Souviras, Kshudrakas and Malavas have been brought down. No one else is capable of accomplishing this. King Shrutayu*, Durmarashana, Chitrasena, Drona, Kripa, Saindhava, Bahlika, Bhurishrava, Shalya and Shala, together with Bhishma, have been vanquished by Kiriti (Arjuna). All the warriors and leaders among the Kurus settled down for the night, terrified of Kiriti.— Bibek Debroy. Mhb. Chapter 915
(*) The king of the Kalingas that Bhima killed in chapter had the same name. This is a different Shrutayu - king of Ambashtha.
Garuda is Krishna’s standard.
Bhishma’s standard is a palm tree.