Legio XVII: Battle of the Danube (2 page)

He continued, “We will need 15,000 wagons to move our people and their belongings.  Each wagon will measure 52 feet (15.8m) from front to rear when including the 4 oxen pulling the wagon, the spare oxen tied to the back of the wagon, and the families’ handcarts. If each wagon is separated by 10 feet (3m), this single column would stretch out for 147 miles (236km).  It would take approximately 10 days for a man to walk from the front to the rear of the column.  A single column that long will be vulnerable to attack and be impossible to control.”

“Therefore,” he continued, “Once we cross the Elbe River near Hamburg, instead of a single column, I propose we separate into four columns traveling on near parallel routes.  That would mean 75,000 people and 3,700 wagons for each of the four columns.  Each column would extend 44 miles (70.8km) in length.  Our Army would be equally divided among the columns to provide protection and assist at river crossings, and so forth.  When we approach a Tribal area, I will negotiate with their Chief for safe passage of the four columns.”

After receiving that bit of shocking information, the leaders returned to their Clans to tell them the news, solicit suggestions, and supervise the hard work that lie ahead.  The migration was a bigger ordeal then anyone had previously envisioned and the serious work had just started!

Admiration for Timur grew each day.  He was respected for his detailed planning skills and ability to see problems before they happen.

He and Jennike mingled freely with the people and were beloved by all.  Timur always wore the symbol of his authority, a metal band around his forehead with Odin’s two ravens etched on the raised front.  He wanted Odin to be fully aware of what he was doing and to know when he needed help.

In wintertime, Timur wore a one piece undyed linen undergarment, while his outer clothing consisted of a one piece dyed knee length woolen tunic with sleeves that extended past his wrists.  Under the lower part of the outer tunic, he wore woolen trousers without pockets or a fly.  Around his waist, he wore a leather belt to hold up his trousers as well as to suspend his pouch and dagger.  He carried his sword on a separate strap slung over his shoulder.  A large brightly colored cloak was worn over everything.  His hair was shaved on the sides and the long hair in the center was pulled straight back.  He eschewed the long beards common to most men, but was not clean shaven.  His face reflected gravitas, authority, and compassion.

Jennike’s clothing was similar to Timur’s except the hem on her ankle length outer garment was braided and brightly dyed.  Two shoulder straps secured the back of her outer garment to the front by two decorative brooches made of iron, bronze, wood, or antlers.  Like all Cimbri women, she suspended glass beads in graceful loops between the two shoulder brooches.  She also used a cloth belt to carry her pouch and dagger.  On her forehead, she wore a leather band with a depiction of Freya, Odin’s wife and goddess of beauty and love, to denote her high status.  She wore her blond hair in a series of complicated braids or let it fall straight over her shoulders.

Figure 1: Traditional Scandinavian Dress

Women were eager to talk to Jennike and receive her wise counsel and encouragement.  Her reputation as a dispenser of wisdom soon became legendary and assumed mystical proportions.  Some began to believe that Freya granted her a special ability to understand human problems.  Her deep insight and ability to offer helpful options was uncanny.

Jennike was the daughter of a respected and well to do family.  They lived humbly, but enjoyed many comforts not found among common people.  From a young age, Jennike enjoyed hunting the abundant deer and fierce boar with her father in the surrounding woods.  In time, she grew skilled with the spear and bow and brought down her share of game.

On one particular boar hunting trip with her father when she was 15 years old, a large boar suddenly emerged from the scrub a mere 10 feet (3m) from her father.  It instantly charged him.  He threw his spear, but missed.  The boar hit his right leg and lifted him off the ground.  He landed hard on his back.  Before Jennike could notch her arrow, the boar hit her father again with his 2 and a half inch (6.3c) tusks ripping open his calf and flipping him about like a child’s doll.  Jennike fired her first arrow and hit a rib with no effect on the boar, which continued to gore her father’s leg and buttocks.  Her second arrow hit the boar behind his front leg and penetrated the heart.  The boar rose up, his tusks gleaming in the sun, and then fell dead on her father.

She rushed to him and knew her first priority was to stanch the flow of blood.  Her father was bleeding to death and groaning in pain.  The game drivers were just arriving and ran to help.  Strips of cloth were tied around the wounds and he was carried the three miles (4.8km) back to his hut.  Her father was alive, but weak.  His wife cleaned the wound, but infection was inevitable.  It was now a waiting game and in the hands of Odin.

That same day, Jennike asked one of the drivers to go back to the boar and remove the two tusks.  She also said to give the meat away.  Her father’s leg began to redden and swell.  The wound had, indeed, become infected.  Along with the swelling, he developed a fever, which rose and fell during the day. The nights were the hardest.  He moaned, sweated, and tossed and turned on his bed.  His wife gave him as much water as he could drink and Jennike cooled his fevered body with wet cloths.

After two weeks of constant care, everyone was worn out, but Jennike’s father was beginning to show signs of improvement.  The swelling had gone down and his fever only spiked at night.  He started to eat and talked of better days to come.  By the end of the third week, he was much better and the crisis had passed.

On the first day that he actually stood by himself, Jennike presented him with a necklace to wear around his neck.  Hanging from the leather strip was a huge boar tusk that matched the one she wore.  It was from the boar that almost took his life.  Her father put his hands to his face and wept.  He hugged Jennike tightly and whispered, “Thank you for saving my life.”

*******

For the last three years, the three scouting teams had crisscrossed the terrain, gathered information, mingled with the tribes along the way, kept detailed drawings of the land and rivers, and eventually arrived at the Danube River.  They crossed the river and wandered throughout the area as far south as Innsbruck on the Inn River.  They knew they would be immediately recognized as foreigners and kept well out of sight.  Unfortunately, on a desperate foray to steal food from a Suevi farmer, two of the scouts were captured by alert guards.

The Scouting teams had been given a most difficult assignment and they suffered extreme hardships along the way.  The 15 scouts lost five members during the trip: one through sickness, two others were murdered by local bandits, and the last two were taken captive.  They were anxious to return home and departed immediately after scouting Innsbruck. The 10 weary men, actually mere teens, made it safely back to Jutland in the summer of 216 BC and were immediately proclaimed heroes.  Unfortunately, they did not know the fate of the two men captured at Innsbruck.

The Teuton and Cimbri leaders waited patiently for the men to recover from their exhausting trip and then scheduled a meeting with them.  The men reported that the migration could be successfully accomplished, but would take at least two years.  They discussed the pros and cons of various routes, which tribes would probably be hostile, and the width and depth of rivers and streams, and many other items of interest.  The leaders listened intently.  The difficulties they would face during the migration were made painfully clear.  The trek would, indeed, be fraught with hardship and take a lot longer than originally envisioned.

For months prior to the actual start of the migration, Chief Timur and a small group of Military, Tribal, and Clan Leaders had studied the scout’s drawings and labored over selecting the best routes.  They decided on the composition of each column, the order of march, positioning of critical equipment, and placement of their warriors throughout the columns.  When everything had been fairly well sorted out, Timur called a General Council to explain the plan.

Timur gathered together his Military Commanders, Tribal Chiefs, Sub-Chiefs, Clan Leaders, and Elders to explain where they were going and the difficulties they could expect to face.  He needed their understanding and cooperation.  Timur stood up and faced the hundred or so men gathered in the meeting room.  “We have selected Regensburg [Germany] as our initial end point to serve as a staging area to eventually cross the Danube River and occupy our new homeland on the south side of the river.  If we marched in a straight line, the distance from here to Regensburg is about 500 miles (804km).  Since oxen pulling a wagon travel at 1-2 mph, we could make about 10 to 12 miles (16 to 19km) each day.  At that rate, we would reach Regensburg in 50 days.”

Timur paused before continuing to let that information sink in and for the comments to quiet down.  He continued, “Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that our trip will take two years to complete.”  The room erupted in angry disbelief.  Some threatened to walked out while others demanded quiet to allow the Chief to finish.  “Our scouts report that the best routes will require us to cross two major rivers and 14 smaller rivers and streams.  We will pass through 21 tribal areas.  Some of them are bigger and stronger than us while others are smaller.  We will have to negotiate for permission to enter their area.  If they refuse, we will have to fight or detour around them, thus adding many more miles to our trip.”

Figure 2: Jutland to Regensburg (Mapquest)

“For those tribes that are smaller or weaker than us, I anticipate simply crossing their land with or without permission.  All these extra miles and time spent negotiating will force us to winter over several times throughout our trip.  Our supply of grain and dried meats will run out after six months and we will then have to barter for food.  We may go hungry at times; some of our people may grow weary of the march and decide to settle along the route.  People will die and babies will be born.  We will be nomads without a homeland living out of our wagons.  We can expect to be attacked by tribes hostile to our movement or simply intent on stealing our belongings.  It will be difficult and the people must know that before we start.”

“The scouts said that the land on the south side of the Danube is sparsely settled by the Suevi tribe who are mainly concentrated in the Innsbruck area and along the Inn River Valley.  My plan is to forcefully clear the Suevi out of the area north of Innsbruck to make room for our people and allow the Suevi to live peaceably in Innsbruck.  I expect the Suevi to put up a fight, but they are no match for our strength in numbers and the valor of our warriors.”

The assembly cheered at that and everyone felt a bit more optimistic.  Timur knew it was time to set the date.  “We will leave our homes here at the beginning of April 215.  That’s 10 months from now.  Get the people ready to leave.  And tell them that when we depart, we will burn all our houses and barns to signal our intention to never return.  To get something better, sometimes you have to give up what you thought was good.”

*******

In anticipation of the migration, extra food stocks had been grown, preserved, and stored.  There were bags and jugs of grain, corn, peas, nuts, pickled and dried vegetables, yogurt, cultured butternut milk, cheese, waxed eggs, dried fruit, roots, and pemmican for their nutritional fat and protein.

Additional wagons had been built, barter items collected, and more draft animals bred and trained.  Organizing 300,000 people to understand the magnitude of this undertaking and to adequately prepare for it was a major leadership challenge.  Nonetheless, it was successfully accomplished while facing the normal challenges of daily living in a harsh environment.

The leaders were barraged with questions, suggestions, and complaints.  Before the first wagon moved, the leaders were worn out and the people on edge, quarrelsome, and worried.  Some even decided to remain in Jutland and not accompany the rest of the tribe.  The order of march, (how the various clans and families would be positioned during the trek) was endlessly debated.  Who would guard and prevent theft from the food storage wagons was another hot topic.  Timur and the other leaders were at wits end and ready to call the whole thing off, when the day to move finally arrived.