Legio XVII: Battle of the Danube (3 page)

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5 April 215 BC

Suddenly, everything changed!  The future was clear; the two tribes had a greater purpose and a passion grew to get going.  People were joyful; there was singing and dancing throughout the settlements.  Wagons were moved into position and the lead element, starting with the northern most Clans, began moving south.  A journey of epic proportions had begun!

As the long and growing single column of wagons proceeded south, more wagons would join the convoy as it passed each settlement.  The sight and smell of burning homes was everywhere.  Smoke and flames dominated the landscape as far as the eye could see.  The adults were more determined than ever to continue south, but the children were utterly traumatized to see the devastation that surrounded them and assaulted their senses.  Everything they had ever known was in flames and they were frightened and bewildered.  Parents and grandparents were kept busy comforting the younger children.

The initial destination of the convoy was to travel as one long column all the way to Hamburg, some 230 miles (370km) due south.  The lead element of the convoy was scheduled to arrive at the Elbe River at the end of April and the last wagon by late-May.  Thankfully, the rains held off for most of the trip, otherwise the single dirt road would have quickly turned into a quagmire by the thousands of turning wheels.  The thick choking dust was a much better alternative, but it did not last.  As the lead wagons approached Hamburg, a gentle rain began to fall and would continue to do so, on and off, until they were all across the river and well south of the area.  This was their introduction to mud, leaky wagons, and wet clothing.

Already, numerous challenges had arisen. Primarily, wagons broke down under their own weight.  Axels cracked and wheels fell off.  Disabled wagons were simply pushed off to the side of the road and army troops assisted the owner to make repairs and get it back on the road as quickly as possible.  In a sense, this short trip to Hamburg and the Elbe River served to identify common problems and established procedures to fix them.  Detachments of soldiers were positioned at strategic locations to help push and pull the wagons up the hills to relieve the strain on the oxen.  Similarly, troops were stationed at steep downhill slopes to help slow the wagons.  Throughout the trek, people were gathering fodder from the countryside to feed the animals and preserve the fodder stored in the wagons and hand carts for the coming winter.

The ox was a good choice as a draft animal.  Even though they could only walk 1 to 2 mph, they did not tire as easily as horses and would eat inferior fodder.  They did need to rest periodically and had to be fed and watered at regular intervals.  With minimal care, they were faithful servants who could cover 10-12 miles (16 to 19km) a day and live for 15-20 years.

At sundown, the column simply stopped on the road and remained in their march position.  Animals were cared for and the people cooked and ate their dinner alongside their wagons under the rolled down leather tarps.  As a precaution and to set a pattern for the rest of the migration, the Army patrolled the surrounding country side to protect the sleeping people.  At sun up, the wagons began to roll and people ate breakfast on the move.  Lunch was a similar affair; the march never stopped.  Eat when you were hungry, but keep going was the order of the day.  Moving south was the driving imperative and the convoy only stopped when the sun set.

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Years before the first wagon began heading south, Timur wisely began to court the favor of the two Tribes immediately across the Elbe: the smaller Caridi and the powerful Langobardi.  He visited them, brought lavish gifts, established friendship pacts, and even married one of Boiorix’s daughters to the Chief’s son.  His intention was to obtain permission for his people to cross the Elbe and secure safe passage to traverse their land.  The latter was obtained only after huge bribes of cattle, copper and bronze ingots, weapons, and what little gold they had.  Timur felt it was worth it to have a positive start to their migration in order to encourage the people.

One of the conditions that Timur had to agree to was to keep the wagons rolling day and night once they entered the Tribes’ territory.  They would not be permitted to stop.  The local Tribes wanted them out of their territory as soon as possible.  They did not want a 40 mile (64km) trail of fecal matter lining the four roads, pillaging, or worse, inflicted upon the local inhabitants.  The Caridi and Langobardi also demanded that any damage to bridges and roads from so many wagons be repaired.

The length of the Caridi and Langobardi tribal area was about 40 miles (64km).  By alternating the team of four oxen pulling each wagon every six hours, Timur estimated they could enter the tribal lands and completely pass through in six days.  But everyone knew that if the oxen refuse to move, which they do when tired, the columns will have to make short stops to allow them to rest.

Three months before the migration began, in January, the coldest month of the year, Timur dispatched a large element of his Army to four separate crossing sites east of Hamburg where the Elbe River was at its narrowest.  He had personally selected these sites back in November.  The Army had three months to build four pontoon bridges spanning the river.  Their mission was to build numerous wooden rafts, lash them securely together, extend them across the river, and then build a corduroy (wooden) roadway over the rafts to support the heavy wagons.  Timur instructed them to build barriers upstream to protect the four bridges from floating debris and to build a supply of extra rafts in the event one or more became damaged during storms or a quickening river flow.

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As the soldiers soon discovered, there were numerous sub-tasks inherent in their mission.  First, they had to build sturdy shelters with large fireplaces for protection from the bitter cold.  Temperatures in January and February were usually in the low to mid 30s.  Once that was done, they had to prepare the four crossing sites, which meant constructing roads into each site.  To make these “roads” passable, the troops built wooden roads using timber from the local area.  The men next built strong anchor points to prevent the bridges from shifting in the river’s current.  When these important preliminary steps were completed, work began on the rafts.  The river ran high February-March and began slowing in April, so the finished rafts only entered the water in mid April when the river was lower and slower.  Floods were not expected again until July.  The migrating columns had to cross the river during May and June or wait until next year.

Timur’s plan was to separate the one long column into four smaller columns on the north side of the Elbe River just before the crossing.  Each column would then take a different route south, but maintain daily contact with the other columns by means of mounted Army couriers.  The Army had about 500 horses to use as couriers and scouts.  The riders were not trained to fight as mounted cavalry, but were armed.  Timur planned to place his wife Jennike, their two children, and their elderly parents in the lead wagon of column number 3, which is where he and his Army leaders would also be positioned.  The columns were numbered 1 through 4 with 1 in the east and 4 in the west.

When the lead wagons arrived at the first of the four crossing sites, the people dismounted except for one driver per wagon and two men leading the oxen.  The people and extra oxen waited on the shore while the wagons rolled onto the bridge.  This was the first test to determine if heavy wagons could actually make the crossing.  Everyone held their breath when the first raft sunk deeper into the water under the weight of the wagon, but then cheered when the wagon continued bouncing its way across.  It was a success!  A great shout of joy erupted from the soldiers and civilians.  The people then walked across and remounted their wagons.  They went to a large prearranged staging area some distance away from the bridge until all the wagons in their particular column were across the river before continuing the journey south.

As the wagons arrived at the river, they were directed to their designated crossing site and soon all four bridges were in use simultaneously.  Timur thanked Odin that nothing serious happened during the crossing.  There were no heavy rains, the upstream barriers successfully captured floating river debris, and no wagons fell off the bridges.  As soon as the last wagons crossed, the Army began dismantling the bridges to avoid blocking river traffic.  Timur, Jennike, and the Cimbri Chief Boiorix rode to the four encampments to encourage the people and wish them well on their journey.

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1 July 215 BC

The next phase of the trip was going to be difficult.  They would be traveling on four relatively parallel roads that were unfamiliar to them and doing half of it at night.  In many places, the forest came right up to the road and offered no room to bypass a broken down wagon.  If one stopped, the entire column stopped.  Soldiers would walk alongside the wagons and others would scout ahead of each column.  The soldiers were prepared to use torches to light the way when necessary, fill in holes in the road, help pull wagons up the hills and slow them when going down.  They would build wooden roads when it became too muddy to continue and pull wagons out of the mud when they got stuck.  The Army also built temporary bridges over streams and swampy areas.  Eventually, the Army became quite skilled at constructing roads and bridges.

Because of the heavy rain they encountered, instead of the expected six days to pass through the Tribes’ area, it took 12.  After the first two days of traveling non-stop as required, the “no-stop” practice was abandoned as impractical in view of the muddy conditions.  The Caridi and Langobardi leaders offered no objections.

When the columns were about three days away from completing this phase of the journey, Timur dispatched a small squad of volunteers to ride south into the Semnones’ territory to find their Chief and explain who they were and to arrange a meeting with Timur.  In six days, all but one man returned.  He was being held hostage.  The men told Timur that the Semnones’ Chief boasted of a 100,000 man Army that could stop them at the border if he ordered it, but that he was willing to listen to Timur’s proposal.  The men said that they doubted the truth of a 100,000-man Army, but advised caution.  The men also described the Semnones’ armament and brought back a Semnones’ shield.  Upon examination, they discovered that it was made of standard wicker, but thin and badly woven.  Timur braced it against a tree and threw a spear at it.  The shield offered no protection.  He then thrust his sword straight into it with the same results.

After an exhausting 12 days travelling through muddy roads and rocky creeks, the four columns exited the Langobardi’s area.  At least, the columns were not attacked or harassed by hostile enemy forces.  The Chiefs had kept their word.

The men not driving the wagons adopted the practice of walking in the woods parallel to the convoy hunting for game.  If they had to walk alongside the wagon, they could just as easily walk in the woods and hope to scare up a rabbit or edible fowl.  Some even got lucky and killed a deer or boar.  Fresh food was a delicacy after days of dried fish and meat.

The 40 miles they had just traveled were a nightmare, but they learned many invaluable lessons.  Oxen are hard working animals but they need constant attention under these extreme conditions.  Rest for everyone is essential.  Wagons need to be better waterproofed and checked daily for mechanical problems, particularly the wheels and axels.  Everyone agreed that the Army provided invaluable assistance and was critical to the future success of the migration, but soldiers were in short supply.

Now that they were at the border of the next tribe, the Semnones, Timur directed the Clan Chiefs to establish four large fortified encampments for each column to allow the people and animals to rest, dry out, make improvements, and build up their strength before continuing.  The fortifications consisted simply of a barrier of felled trees and huge piles of brush and limbs.  The Army’s mounted riders surrounded each of the four encampments to provide early warning and the Infantry was equally divided among the settlements to repel any attack.  The people remained in their encampments for two weeks and were quite happy to rest, care for the animals, and repair the wagons.

Timur planned to meet with the Semnones’ Chief to negotiate a passage through their land, but first he needed to devise a strategy for the passage.  Over the next few days, Timur met with Donar his Military Commander, Tribal and Clan Chiefs, and Elders under a large tent set up within the third column’s encampment.

Timur knew very little about the Semnones, but with what he did know from the intelligence gather by his scouts and the additional information provided by the Langobardi Tribe, he was not encouraged.  In fact, he feared the worst ~ outright warfare.  The Semnones had a reputation for violence, dishonesty, and deception.  It was also reported that the Chief only exercised nominal control over his people.  In other words, even though the Semnones Chief may agree to something, the unruly clans within the Tribe would not necessarily honor his word.  The wellbeing of the single hostage also weighed heavily on his mind.