Legio XVII: Roman Legion at War (43 page)

The deadly
pila
thudded into shield, flesh and dirt all around them.  The
Suevi
following behind missed the
pila
attack, but stumbled over the sprawled bodies of the dead and dying.  The men coming from the rear continued to push those in the front.  As these oncoming warriors slowed to get around the carnage, they suddenly came face to face with the running
Hastati’s
huge shield.  Most never saw the short
gladius
poking out from the side of the shield.  This line of
Suevi
were knocked off their feet by the downhill charge and stabbed where they fell.

The
Hastati
was now in a stand-up fight with the
Suevi
.  Both sides were tripping over
Suevi
bodies.  Swords came crashing down on Roman shields while
gladius
’ darted out with quick, short thrusts.  After about 40 seconds of intense fighting, the Centurions blew their whistles and the first
Hastati
rotation took place.  Fresh men now butted, pushed, and stabbed.  From his vantage point up on the hill, Manius saw the Auxiliaries approaching the
Suevi
right flank.  He planned to allow the
Hastati
to continue to fight until some on the
Suevi
right flank turned to face this new threat.  Only a few of the
Suevi
saw the Auxiliaries coming, but by then it was too late.  Some turned to defend themselves while others backed away and pressed into the center.  The flank was crumbling.

When Rasce heard the command to throw the
pila
, he and his 280 horsemen bolted for the crest of the hill, skirted off to the right, and began to circle behind the
Suevi.
  Rasce made it to his previous night’s campsite about the time the Auxiliaries crashed into the
Suevi
flank.  Andreas’ two Maniples threw their
pila
and were now totally engaged.  The
Suevi
facing the
Hastati
began to back up as their flank turned to engage or flee the Auxiliaries.  That was Manius’ cue to pass the 1500
Principes
through the
Hastati
to break the spirit and cohesion of the
Suevi
.  They came over the hill on the run and threw their
pila
.  The
Hastati
gave a final push and jumped back.  The
Principes
hit the stunned
Suevi
with tremendous force.

As soon as the cavalry rode off, the
Triarii
, which had moved moments ago from behind the
Principes
over to the right flank, now charged over the hill while maintaining their formation of three lines of 500 each.  Their Tribune
led them in a short arc so they would face the left side of the
Suevi
.  They paused 50’ away and unloaded their two
pila
each before crashing into the
Suevi’s
left flank.

Rasce lined up his cavalry to face the hill and yelled, “Charge.”  Horses and riders lurched forward and raced the 400 yards to the hill.  The riders bent low; their spears extended.  Some
Suevi
turned; most never saw them coming.  The horses crashed into the infantrymen and everything went flying.  Spears jabbed; horses whirled about;
Suevi
ran in every direction.  Roman cavalry chased and rode them down.

Vocion could not believe what he was seeing.  The Roman spears were bad enough, but at least his men were still fighting.  It was when he saw the second line of Romans come over the hill and the huge cavalry force suddenly appear and ride off his flank that he knew it was over.  He held back; then stopped.  He then heard the Roman Auxiliaries join the fight on his right and saw the
Triarii
come over the hill on his left.  He was dumbfounded.  What had started out as a one sided fight in his favor was now a disaster that he may not survive.  He started running for the north woods, as did those around him.  The first arrow hit him in the hand as he ran, the second his shoulder, the third pierced his spleen.  He was dead in one minute.

After a few minutes of slaughter, Rasce began riding around yelling, “Prisoners, prisoners!”  Manius told him earlier to spare some
Suevi
so he could question them.  Andreas similarly spared some of the
Suevi
on his flank; the rest lie in heaps at the foot of the hill and were now completely surrounded by blood splattered Legionaries and Auxiliaries, who stood, breathing hard, and quietly surveying the bloody and chaotic scene before them.  It was over for now and they had won!

Manius knew to give them a moment to process what had just taken place; to let them think about it and to fill their eyes and minds with the scene.  This was battle and this was the life of a Legionary.  They had to harden to it and simply accept it.  But Manius had to move on and quickly!

By 1000 hours, the Tribunes had already ordered the
Principes
and
Hastati
to walk among the
Suevi
and put to death those too wounded to survive.  The 223 Roman dead were collected by the
Triarii
and set off to the side.  The Auxiliaries gathered their dead, about 241.  The number of Roman and Auxiliary wounded was five times more, about 2500, but few seriously.  Forty prisoners had been captured and now sat on the grass thinking they would be executed at any minute.  Manius told Elitovius to interrogate them to find out more about the
Suevi
army bearing down on him and once he had done that to then find out how Vocion had planned this ambush, if that is what it was.

Manius summoned Rasce and told him, to drop a solid curtain around this battlefield.  “I can’t allow any
Suevi
survivors to get back to Ariovistus.  Also stop any of Ariovistus’ men from trying to make contact with Vocion.”  Rasce deployed his entire 600-man cavalry force stretching from the river’s edge to the battlefield, and beyond to the mountains.  He established three successive belts of protection.  Nothing was going to get through.  It turned out that a few survivors did escape the battle in the south woods, but they went west, in the direction from which they had originally come, and not east towards Ariovistus.

Manius estimated that the larger
Suevi
force could arrive in the area between 1200 and 1400, which would give him 2 to 4 hours to set the battlefield and execute the plan that he and Joseph developed the night before.  He needed more time.  He thought about the first time that he met Ariovistus at the bridge.  Maybe he could get him talking and drag it out for as long as possible.  He had to buy a couple more hours or this was not going to end well.

Manius assembled his leaders on the top of the hill to bring them up to date and brief them on his plan to engage the army approaching from the east.  He quickly reviewed what had just taken place and liberally praised each Commander, particularly the Auxiliaries, and the role each unit played in the victory.  He then issued a stream of orders: “Calvus use the wagons to move the
Suevi
dead back to the wood line at Ranggen; I want them out of sight of any prying eyes as well as for the morale of our men.

Tomaeus, prepare a triangular shaped fort with ditches and palisades at the base of this hill as soon as the dead are removed. Construct it so that the longest side faces east and the point of the two shorter sides faces back to Ranggen; construct an observation tower in the center of the fort that is high enough to look over this hill that we are standing upon, about 20 feet; Andreas, move the Auxiliaries to the top of this hill and have them face east in the direction of the
Suevi
approach as a show of force; Snake, move your archers into the woods to the north and south of this hill to prevent the
Suevi
from getting around our flanks.  Go now and put all that into motion, then return immediately.”

About 30 minutes later, everyone but Tomaeus was once again assembled and Manius continued: “As you know, the
Suevi
are but hours away from our present location and moving to engage us.  They don’t know our location yet or the fact that we just defeated half of their army.  I’ve already sent Rasce’s cavalry with a number of mounted archers to ensure word of this battle doesn’t reach the ears of their Commander.  The cavalry is completely blocking any east-west communications across this entire valley and have order to delay the
Suevi
advance, as much as possible.”

“I estimate that Ariovistus has 10,000 men, which is about equal to our force in numbers.  The difference is that 4500 of our army is made up of Auxiliaries who have had little training and are poorly equipped in comparison to that of a Roman Legionary.  Now, as we have just seen, their bravery and willingness to engage the enemy is not in question.  Their ability to stand up to an experienced army, however, is in doubt.  My point is that even though our two opposing armies are numerically similar, we are the weaker force.

Because of this, I plan to take a defensive stance and employ a reverse-slope defense.  This means we will dig-in on the side of the hill that the enemy cannot see.  For it to succeed, it’s essential that Ariovistus not know our plans or see our defenses before he attacks.  Commanders, when I dismiss you, I want you to post guards around this encampment to ensure no one leaves the area.”

Manius pointed, “See the woods to the east, the same woods that we occupied before entering this field this morning?  I envision that Ariovistus and his men will also occupy those same woods after he discovers us.  If we appear too strong to him, he may retreat back across the river and we’ll have accomplished little.  If we appear too weak, he may attack immediately and may not even use his entire force.  To put him in the proper frame of mind, I plan to show him the Auxiliaries right here where we are standing.  Their lack of body armor,
pila
, and shields will mimic what he saw by the bridge the other day and not reveal our true capability.”

“I also want to display 300 archers and 200 horses or about 5000 men in total.  That should be sufficient to garner his full attention, but not spook him into attacking prematurely or retreating.  I want him to believe that he is not strong enough to attack us on his own and for him to feel he must wait to link up with Vocion.  I will also try to buy time by meeting with him and engaging him in a dialog.  Hopefully, both of us will see an advantage to delaying the battle.

We need the time to continue improving our fort and honing our tactics.  You all have jobs to do.  One last thing before you go, Elitovius found out that Vocion did not know our location before the battle we just fought.  He was only going after the cavalry.  We were not ambushed.  Dismissed!”

*******

Ariovistus’ army entered the woods at Aldrans and settled in for a lengthy break.  They had gotten up at 0400 and had been pushing hard ever since.  Most had eaten little all day.  It was now 0900.  They built fires and ate; some slept.  Ariovistus sent out scouts to try to make contact with Vocion and to try to find the Romans.