Alleria was now with the Alliance army. According to reports sent back by the vanguard of the Quel'Danil Standing Army, the Alliance had already stormed Blackrock Spire, the orcs' headquarters in the Burning Plains, and was now advancing toward the Swamp of Sorrows.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk reckoned that, barring any surprises, the fighting in the Swamp of Sorrows would not last very long either. The orcs would most likely put up only token resistance there. Their real defensive lines would be near Stormwind City and in the Badlands, where the Portal stood.
The Swamp of Sorrows lay between the territory controlled by Stormwind City and the Badlands. Strategically speaking, if the Alliance took the swamp, its army would become a sharp dagger, cutting the orc forces between the Badlands and Stormwind City in two. It would be like severing a long, snake-like formation at its middle, leaving the orcs at a severe strategic disadvantage.
But why had both Yu Lin Bloodhawk and Alleria concluded in their correspondence that the orcs would abandon such a vast area as the Swamp of Sorrows after offering only slight resistance? First, the terrain was unsuitable for large-scale military operations. Second, it would prevent the orc warriors from making full use of their superior close-combat strength, while favoring the Elf Forces of the Alliance, who excelled at ranged attacks. Finally, and most importantly, the recently defeated orcs could not possibly organize an effective defensive line so quickly. The fall of their headquarters at Blackrock Spire had only compounded their troubles, making the rapid establishment of a new defensive line in the Swamp of Sorrows an impossible task.
In marshy terrain like the Swamp of Sorrows, the orcs did not fear human warriors and knights, but they did fear the ranged attacks of High Elf rangers