Did Darius Actually Flee From Alexander at Gaugemela?

I recently watched Netflix’s series on Alexander the Great – Alexander: The Making Of A God. A well-made series, I ended up binge-watching it and came away with one big question. Before I tell you about my big question, here’s a brief summary of NetFlix’s Alexander: The Making Of A God:

• Alexander’s father Philip had sidelined Alexander’s mother and had taken a much younger wife. Alexander is estranged from his father. I read elsewhere that this happened because of a petty quarrel at his father’s wedding party.
• Alexander’s mother imbued in him a belief that he was the son of Zeus
• Alexander was bisexual – we see a young Alexander having sex with his friend Hephaisteon, who would go on to become one of his generals.
• Alexxander was a witness to the murder of his father (Philip) by one of the guards. Netflix even creates a whiff of suspicion that Alexander may have had a role in Philip’s murder.
• Darius becomes the Emperor of Persia roughly around the time Alexander becomes the King of Macedon. Thus both men are new to the throne. Darius is not really of royal lineage and acquires legitimacy because his chief queen Statira is of royal lineage.
• Darius and the Persians have only contempt for Alexander, a barbarian in their eyes, whilst Persia is everything nice and noble.
• At Issus, when the Persian army starts losing, Darius flees. He doesn’t want to run away, but his companions make him do so. Basis justifies the fleeing by saying that Darius’s survival is necessary for Persia’s survival. Darius is Persia.
• At Issus, Alexander captures Darius’s family, including his wife Stateira and daughter Barsine. Apparently, it is common for the Persian royal family to accompany the Emperor to the battlefield and when Darius fled, Alexander was able to capture the royal family.
• After defeating Darius (for the first time) at Issis, Alexander does not pursue him. Instead, he goes to Egypt, wins it without any fighting, is crowned Pharoah. Egypt is a source of much wealth – gold and food gains. Alexander also makes a symbolic trip to Siwa and is blessed by the Oracle there. He is acknowledged to be son of Ra. Taking on more divinity (and going even more native) comes to Alexander naturally.
• Stateira and her daughter Barsine go to Egypt with Alexander. Stateira and Alexander become close. Later Stateira becomes pregnant and dies in childbirth. Netflix suggests that Stateira willingly bore Alexander’s child.
• After Issus and before Gaugemela, Darius makes various peace overtures to Alexander and Alexander rejects all of them, even if Darius’s terms are generous, because Alexander is ambitious and will settle for nothing less than becoming the Emperor of the whole world.
• At their second encounter at Gaugemela, once again Alexander dashes towards Darius and Darius flees. Because Darius flees, his troops flee as well and many of the fleeing troops are killed. Darius’s companions insist on him fleeing using the same excuse as in the past – that Darius is Persia and they cannot afford to lose him.
• Finally, after a year or so on the run, Darius is killed by fellow Persians as he lived in the wild, hoping to fight Alexander through Guerilla warfare. 

My big question is, why did Darius flee at Gaugemela? Why did Darius’s companions make him flee when fleeing causes Darius to lose? The flight at Gaugemela leaves Darius high and dry and he never recovers from that defeat. Why go to the battlefield, if when your enemy charges at you, your only reaction is to flee? Darius is shown as a sturdy man in his prime who practices with his sword a lot after the defeat at Issus. Not too different from Alexander in that respect, though Alexander is much younger. One gets the impression from Netflix that Darius lost at Gaugamela primarily because he fled. Darius is shown to have fled not because his army was losing, as happened at Issus, but solely because Alexander charged at him. The flight at Issus can be understood and justified. The Persian army was losing and Darius needed to preserve himself to fight later. But the flight at Gaugemela doesn’t make sense. Alexander had been in Persian territories for two years and this was a do or die battle. The Persian army wasn’t losing. Netflix shows Darius fleeing solely because Alexander charges at him. Many others have asked the same question.

As they say, history is written by the victors and so the story of the fight between Alexander and Darius was originally written by Greek Chroniclers such as Alexander’scompanion Ptolemy and later repeated by Roman historians. The fact is, Alexander and Darius are real-life figures who battled it out and Alexander/Macedon/Greece did win and Darius/Persia did lose. Maybe Darius retreated only after his troops started to flee and defeat was on the cards and not because Alexander charged at him. I would really like to know what exactly happened at these two battles though finding the truth won’t make a whiff of difference to my life, other than being able to say that Netflix got it wrong and the original Greek chroniclers lied.