Legio XVII: Battle of the Danube (31 page)

“The Celtiberians flanks crumbled under the weight of the Legionaries’ attack.  The Carthaginians in the center could see that their flanks were collapsing, but couldn’t rush to their aid for fear the Celtiberians would attack them while they were moving.  In the end, the flanks fled and the center followed.  The slaughter began, but a sudden and heavy downpour stopped the fighting.  The next day, Scipio caught up with the remnant of Hasdrubal’s force and the killing continued.  It was a decisive victory for Scipio and Rome.”

“Lastly, Proconsul, the Senate is closely watching Hannibal’s brother Mago, who was present with Hannibal during Carthage’s victories from 218 to 216.  He is a great cavalry commander and one not to be underestimated.  We believe he may attempt to reinforce Hannibal.  We are hearing rumors that he may sail to Genoa in the Cisalpine.  We have seven Legions earmarked to block him if he does make a landing.  Sir that concludes our briefing.”

Manius thanked the briefers and had them shown to their tent.  Manius sat by himself for a while going over the battlefield tactic that the briefers just described.  It was very interesting.

*******

Augsburg

At 3:00 A.M. on the 7th, 10,000 Suevi warriors began walking up the valley leading to the Teuton garrison at Augsburg.  They were led by Nasua, the Suevi Army Commander and the two Suevi Legates.  A team of scouts were about 15 minutes ahead of the Legions to ensure nothing had changed.  The two Legions had eaten breakfast and loaded up on water under the watchful eye of their Roman Centurions.  They left their shields and pila in their fighting position.  The Legates of Legiones XVII and V Etrusci wished the two Suevi Legates well as they marched off.

They continued silently over the hill and across the open field.  By 4:30 A.M, they were a mile from the Teuton garrison and stopped.  Even though the sun rise was still about 15 minutes away, it was already light enough to see the garrison in the hazy distance.  Each Legion formed into a modified triplex acies.  To appear as threatening as possible, each Suevi Commander arrayed his legions with 30 Maniples forming the front line.

The Teuton would see 6,000 men in squares of 100, each separated by 20 feet (6m).  The gaps would be covered by the remaining 4,000 men in Maniple formation standing about 20 feet behind the first line.  From a distance, the two Suevi Legions looked like 10,000 men in a long straight line.  By 5:00 A.M., the Suevi were ready and the sun was about to show itself.

The sound of a dozen Roman signal horns rent the stillness of the morning and was followed by the taunting yells of 10,000 men.

The Teutons jumped from their beds and grabbed their weapons.  Fear gripped them all.  The suddenness of this unknown noise filled each man with adrenaline.  They had one thought; get outside the hut to see what was happening and be prepared to run.  The source of the noise was immediately evidently as soon as they stepped outside and looked.  Standing in the distance was a huge Army of men who appeared to be attacking.

The Teuton Commander of the garrison, Thiuderiks, realized he still had time to mount a defense and started shouting to his Commanders to organize their men and face the attackers.  This was not an easy task.  The men had grown lax and had not conducted any training in almost a year.  Over a span of 15 minutes, the Commanders of 100, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 formed a line.  Men from different units were intermingled, but all stood in a defensive formation.

Thiuderiks gathered his two leaders of 10,000 men and said, “Look at them out there; they are still a distance away from us; we are not in immediate danger and they don’t seem to be advancing.”  He turned to one of the men and asked, “How many do you count?”

The man studied the distant line and said, “Maybe 10,000.”

“I agree; we have twice that number.  We should be the ones attacking.  Who do you think they are?”

“Suevi,” replied the Commander.  “Look, they’re advancing!”

Thiuderiks looked hard and said, “Yes, I can see it.  If they want to attack, we’ll meet them on the field.  Here’s what I want you both to do.  Take 5,000 men and put them on each flank.  Advance them about 100 yards (91m) forward of our main line. Keep the remaining 10,000 in the center.  Envision the horns of a bull.  When we get close enough, the horns will close in on their flanks while the center holds them.  Go, do it quickly and let’s start attacking.”

He then turned to his aide and said, “Send a rider to the garrison at Munich.  Have him tell Donar that about 10,000 Suevi are challenging us to fight them.  They are armed only with swords.  We are leaving the garrison to engage them.  I will keep you informed.  This is not an emergency.”

Within a few minutes, a rider departed the Augsburg garrison.  He had to go about 40 miles (64km).  Since this was not an emergency, he walked the horse and occasionally trotted.  Calvus’ cavalry along the river spotted him, but did not give chase for fear of exposing the impending attack.  The rider arrived at Munich the next day, 8 June, and delivered his message.

*******

It was difficult for Calvus to see the Teuton garrison from the hill, two miles away.  He could barely make out the Teuton battle line, which appeared to be moving.  He was concerned that the Suevi had gotten too close.  They were standing about a half a mile distant from the Teutons.  “Come on back,” he began saying to himself.  “Don’t let them close on you or get within bow range.”  Then he saw the Suevi were slowly backing as the Teutons advanced.  “Keep coming,” he muttered to himself.

Nasua felt and acted like a man of iron.  He stood out in front of the two Legions and personally taunted the Teutons.  He waved his sword and cursed their commanders.  He ran back and forth across the front of his Legions.  Part of this was for the benefit of his men who valued personal bravery, the other part was sheer anger.  He hated the Teutons for invading Suevi land.  He barely paused when he saw the Teutons begin to advance. He signaled his two Legates to begin the slow movement to the rear.  The men did not turn around, but began walking backwards.

After advancing for about 20 minutes, Thiuderiks said to his two Commanders of 10,000, “They’re retreating.  Look, they’ve moved back about a mile.  I think they are trying to get to that hill.  If that’s where they want to fight, we can do that.  Keep your men moving; pick up the pace.”

When the Suevi had backed up a mile and a half to the hill, Calvus said to Nasua, “Your men are doing well.  Hold them on the hill until the Teutons are almost with bow range and then cross them over and go down the valley.”

The Suevi first line stood on the side of the hill facing the Teutons.  The second line was spread out on the top of the hill.  On Nasua command, they reorganized themselves into a true triplex acies with three distinct battle lines.  They faced the advancing Teutons and appeared ready to offer battle.

The Teutons watched the Suevi transform their battle array and slowed their advance, but continued moving.  Nasua had his eyes fixed on their arches who occupied the Teuton right flank.  He planned to hold his position until he saw the archers preparing to fire.  He did not have long to wait.  When the lines were about 400 yards (457m) apart, the archers stopped and drew an arrow out of their quivers.  “Move,” shouted Nasua, “Cross over the hill, run!”

One thousand arrows thudded into dirt.  The Suevi had disappeared over the hill.  The Teutons ran to the hill and looked over; they could see the Suevi mass as they backed down the valley.  Nasua was the last man and he continued hurling curses and insults at the Teutons.

Thiuderiks saw the Suevi backing down the valley; he also saw the two parallel valleys on either side. He said to his Commanders, “Send the two groups of 5,000 men that formed the horns down those two valleys.  Have them run to get behind the Suevi.  We’ll continue to follow them with the rest.  I think we can catch them and bring them to battle.”

Thiuderiks was so fixated on catching the Suevi that he was not thinking like a Commander. His men had not eaten breakfast nor had they drunk anything since the previous evening.  They had just walked two miles (3.2km) high on adrenaline and were facing the very real possibility of fighting a wily enemy.  He also felt he owned these woods due to his superior manpower and had no fear of an ambush.  He watched as the 10,000 men went off down the two parallel valleys at a run.  He led the remaining 10,000 over the hill and down the valley.  He could still see the retreating Suevi.

*******

The Teuton rider from Augsburg rode into the Munich garrison the day after he departed.  He spotted sentries and said, “I have a message for Donar from Thiuderiks at Augsburg.”  The men led him to Donar and he delivered the message.  Donar summoned his two commanders of 10,000 and told them what the rider said.  After talking about it for a while, they concluded that disgruntled Suevi farmers had banned together to show their displeasure at being booted from their land, but posed no real risk to the Teuton garrison.  Donar summoned the rider.  “Tomorrow, ride back to Augsburg and tell Thiuderiks that we are available if this harassment starts to get out of hand.  We can arrive within four days.  Tell him to keep me informed.”

*******

Thiuderiks led his 10,000 men down the center valley.  He could see the Suevi off in the distance.  Up until this point, he had been running on adrenaline.  As it wore off, he began thinking of food and water.  He stopped to drink from the small stream that ran down the middle of the 200 yard (182.8m) wide valley. It was already muddy from the feet of many men, but it felt cool and refreshing.  The men were already stopping to drink.

As he walked, he noticed the silence.  His men were quite and the woods were quiet.  “Why am I pursuing these farmers,” he asked himself.  He had to justify his actions to himself.  He asked himself another question, “If I had to explain to Donar why I’m chasing after these Suevi, what would I say?  I would tell him that I need to run these farmers off or they may come back to harass us again or even ambush some of my men.  I need to make a point, if you interfere with us, we will hunt you down.  A strong response on my part is necessary to put an end to this. It’s also good training for the men. I wouldn’t tell Donar this, but the men haven’t done any military exercises in almost a year.”  Satisfied that he could justify his pursuit, he focused again on the Suevi.

The two groups of 5,000 warriors each entered the side valleys on the run.  After 50 yards (45.7m), they slowed to a walk.  Then they drank from the stream and began complaining that they hadn’t eaten.  They filled each valley from side to side and extended back about 50 yards.  They walked confidently and listened for any sounds coming from the center.  The two Commanders were thinking the same thing.  Both were unsure of their mission or how to accomplish it.  They were told to hurry and try to get behind the retreating Suevi.  Neither Commander knew quite how to do that.  They were unfamiliar with the terrain.  Should they cut through the woods?  Would that put them in the rear of the Suevi?  Or should they just keep walking and for how long?

Not knowing the answers to these questions, both groups kept on walking and hoping that they would eventually hear some sounds coming from the center valley.

After walking for about 15 minutes, one of the Commanders sent a few men through the woods in the direction of the center.  The forest separating the two valleys was about half a mile wide.  When the two men arrived in the clearing of the center valley, they could see their own men as they continued to pursue the Suevi.  They returned through the woods to their column and reported what they had seen.  The Commander thought to himself, “We are falling behind the center column; I need to increase the pace.”  He started to jog and the men followed suit.  That lasted for about 20 yards (18m) and he resumed walking.

After following the Suevi for about 20 minutes, Thiuderiks could see that the Suevi had stopped and were facing him.  The few that he could see appeared to be standing on a low mound of freshly dug dirt.  As he continued walking, the narrow valley began to open and he saw more Suevi to the left and right in a long battle line.  He stopped his men at the opening of a large clearing.  He saw several huts and a few barns.  He looked to the left and right and saw nothing but woods and the Suevi about half a mile away to his front.  The Suevi were going to fight; they stood on a low mound of dirt; they numbered about 10,000; they had only swords.  It was time for action; it was time to teach these Suevi not to underestimate the Teutons.

He quickly spread the men out in two thick groups of 5,000 men each.  He told both Commanders to send men into the woods to the left and right to contact the other groups in the side valleys and tell them to get behind the Suevi line and attack from the rear.  He watched the men as they ran for the woods half a mile away.  He figured he would wait a few minutes before attacking to allow the men to get through the woods and tell the Commanders in the side valleys.  He used the time to walk back and forth across his front to encourage the men.  They looked and acted tired.  He had to motivate them.  It was now about 10:00 A.M.