While Haesten was away raiding, Alfred forces under his son Edward and Aethelred of Mercia stormed the fortified camp at Benfleet. The Chronicle records they broke the defences, captured Haesten wife and two sons, burned or sailed away the ships, and brought all the plunder to London and Rochester. Alfred returned Haesten family as an act of magnanimity. The destruction of the Benfleet base was the decisive blow of the 893 campaign, denying the Danes their supply centre.
West Saxon and Mercian forces under Edward the Elder and Aethelred of Mercia
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