Legio XVII: Battle of the Danube (5 page)

True to his reputation and wounded pride, the Semnones’ Chief did exactly what Timur expected.  He wanted to punish Timur and his people by attacking his columns and pillaging the wagons.  His undisciplined and unpredictable Army numbered only 20,000 troops and 1,000 archers, but they could, when concentrated against a weak point, inflict serious damage.

His scouts had been busy even before Timur’s visit.  The Semnones” Chief knew the intended routes and composition of each column.  He did not know the disposition of the Teuton/Cimbri Army, but assumed they would be equally distributed among the four columns.  He was going to teach that arrogant and disrespectful Timur a lesson he would never forget.  He directed that his main attack force of 15,000 men hit the tail end of the eastern column that was separated from the other columns, while his remaining 5,000 harassed the western most column. He figured that two attacks would spread confusion among the Teutons as they tried to figure out where to send their Army to do the most good.

Six days later, the Semnones’ struck.  It was poorly coordinated and ineffective.  The 5,000 attacked first and hit the lead 30 wagons of the western column.  The wagons were stretched out for miles, but quickly assembled and now offered three circles bristling with defenders.  Suddenly, it wasn’t such an easy target.  Nonetheless, the Semnones’ warriors fired countless arrows into the circles while their infantry approached the wagons.  The women and children huddled under the wagons for overhead protection during the arrow storm, but fled to the center when the infantry approached.  The animals were also drawn up close to the wagons initially, but moved with the people to the center when the fighting started.

As soon as the approaching Semnones were spotted while still some two miles (3.2km) away, riders raced to alert the rest of the column.  Teuton warriors and archers began running to the attack site and arrived as the arrows were still flying into the wagons.  They stopped to form up on the far side of a hill and were undetected by the Semnones.

As the Semnones infantry of 5,000 men began to close in on the wagons, the Teuton Army of 30,000 men walked to the top of the hill in plain sight about 400 yards from the wagon and on the flank of the Semnones’ Army.  They could see the Semnones’ archers on the right side of the infantry firing into the wagons and the infantry walking towards the wagons.

The Teutons filled the top of the hill and announced their presence with battle cries and horns.  The Semnones stopped their advance on the wagons; surprised faces turned to face the hill. Arrows rose up from the field below in a great cloud as the Semnones’ infantry reformed to face this large angry host threatening to sweep down the hill.

As the air filled with arrows, the Teutons infantry instinctively crouched down behind their shield for protection and tilted their helmeted head in the direction of the oncoming storm.  Each man held his breath and hoped he would not be struck.  Waiting was excruciating.  Fear of wounds was stronger than fear of death.  Wounds meant a lingering and painful death.  The arrows, fired from about 400 yards (365.7m) away, began landing.  Their impact was followed by shouts of pain; the sharpened points easily penetrated the Teutons’ wicker shields.  The Teuton archers fled to the back side of the hill as soon as they saw the arrows coming up from the field below.

Teuton leaders began shouting to the men to charge downhill and get away from the impact area.  Men scrambled to the feet and began running at the Semnones.  All semblance of order was lost.  The leader of the Teuton archers yelled for his men to get back to the top of the hill and return the fire.  They did so reluctantly as arrows were still striking the hill, but then the Semnones aim shifted to the onrushing Teuton infantry.  Two thousand Teuton archers stood atop the hill and fired at the Semnones’ archers.  Even at this extreme range, Teuton arrows found their targets.  Taking casualties, the Semnones archers fled the field.  Now, the full fury of Teuton arrows flew into the Semnones’ infantry and easily penetrated their wicker shields.  Men holding the shields started dropping.

The Teuton infantry charged, threw their spears, and smashed into the Semnones with a fury.  Even the defenders in the wagons stormed out and joined the slaughter.  The Semnones, who could, ran for the distant woods and safety, but were vigorously pursued by the horsemen and cut down.  The Semnones’ attack was an utter failure.  Only the archers and a handful of the infantry managed to escape; a few prisoners were taken for questioning to learn more about any further Semnones attacks.  These prisoners held nothing back and explained that the eastern column is the main target and that both attacks were supposed to occur simultaneously.

The Teuton/Cimbri infantry suffered about 50 killed and over 400 wounded.  Their shields proved marginally effective against arrows fired at 400 yards (365.7m).

As soon as the fighting stopped, anxious people from the wagons ran out to the field to see if their sons or fathers were among those killed or wounded.  Soldiers helped carry the wounded back to wagons for treatment.  It did not matter if they were relatives or not.  The people pitched in and provided care.  The Commander decided to bury the dead in the field. Family members would be notified later.  The Commander compiled a list of names and a single trench was dug.  The bodies were stripped of their weapons and helmets and lowered into the ground.  Death was an unwelcomed, but familiar companion of the Tribes.

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As soon as the Semnones were initially detected and before the fighting at the western column began, horsemen raced to tell Timur in the center column.  He in turn sent riders to alert the eastern most column and hoped they could reach them before they were attacked.  Timur looked at Donar’s second in command and said, “Send the strike force.  Kill the Chief and bring back our hostage.”  This force was already deployed in deep woods only five miles (8km) from the Chief’s settlement.  When the riders arrived with the attack order, they launched their attack.

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The Semnones’ main attack on the eastern most column was so poorly planned and executed that the attackers were still a day away.  When the weary horsemen arrived with the news, of the Semnones’ attack on the western column, the entire wagon train of 3,700 wagons formed 370 circles of 10 wagons each and the column shrunk to 5 miles.  The Teutons 50,000 infantry and 3,000 archers prepared for imminent battle. Since the prisoners said that the expected attacking force numbered only 20,000 warriors, Donar devised a strategy to totally destroy the Semnones’ Army, but first he had to find out where they were located and from which direction they would attack.

He dispatched men on foot to find them.  They went both east and west.  Finally, after a full day of walking, the scouts that went east found the Semnones’ camp.  They watched and waited until a single individual separated from the main group and wandered into the woods.  He was quickly captured and sent back to the column for questioning.  The rest of the scouts continued to watch the Semnones.

Early the next morning, the Semnones broke camp and began walking west to find the Teuton column.  The scouts continued to watch them from a distance.  When the Semnones were about five miles away from the wagons, the Semnones’ Commander stopped his advance and sent out scouts to find the Teuton wagons.  The Teutons watched intently to see if the attackers were going to separate into two groups or attack as one.  When they saw no further movement, the scouts returned to report what they had observed.

Based on the current Semnones’ location in the woods, Donar guessed that they would continue to advance in a straight line and strike the column anywhere along the entire 5 miles of circled wagons.  He issued orders for the 3,000 archers to disperse evenly among the circles, about eight archers per circle, in order to blunt the attack and allow the Teuton infantry to maneuver into position.  He placed 25,000 troops on the north side of the circles and another 25,000 on the south side.  His intent was to catch the attackers in between these two large infantry formations.

The Semnones’ scouts saw that the wagons were in defensive circles so they knew they had lost the element of surprise.  The only troops they could see were the archers.  These observations were reported back to the Semnones’ Commander.  He opined that even though the Teutons somehow knew they were about to be attacked and had formed a defensive perimeter, there were no relief troops coming that could reach them in time.   He decided to proceed with the attack.  Despite the fact that it was getting late in the day, he ordered his soldiers forward. The Semnones’ troops did not need a pep talk.  The thought of hundreds of wagons loaded with goods and women for the taking was sufficient motivation.

About 2 P.M., the warriors reached the wood line and spread out to the left and right for about half a mile.  The men were 20 deep all along the line and faced 46 circles of wagons.  An hour later, 20,000 Semnones broke out of the tree line some 200 yards from the nearest wagons.  They screamed their loudest in hopes of frightening away the lightly armed people.  Instead, their shouts were returned with hundreds of sharp barbed arrows that seemed to fly faster and hit harder than their own.  Immediately, soldiers started dropping as arrows easily penetrated the shields.  As each new stream of arrows raced through the clear sky, the men would stop and lay down until the arrows passed.  While this was happening, the two large Teuton infantry formations stationed at both ends of the column started running to where the Semnones were attacking the column.

The Semnones’ troops rushed the 200 yards and climbed over the barricade of wagons.  The people fled in terror.  Those too slow were cut down.  The Teuton women were run down, captured, and raped on the spot.  Some were then killed while others were carried back to the wagons and thrown to the waiting men.  The Semnones adopted a festive attitude as they began rummaging through the wagons.  Items deemed valuable were crammed into pouches; anything edible was eaten.  In their search, clothing, bags, bedding were strewn all over the ground.

The Teuton infantry saw the Semnones pillaging the wagons in the distance and continued running towards them.  The Semnones were too busy to notice that death was now about 150 yards away.  Suddenly, the cry went up among the Semnones and they scrambled to get out of the wagons and unto solid footing to face the enraged Teutons.  It was too late to try to organize themselves into a formation.  Semnones’ warriors were too spread out among the wagons.  It was everyman for himself.  Some opted to run for the woods; others stood to fight.

When the distance closed to 50 feet, the Teutons threw their sharp 4 foot spears.  A cloud of these lethal weapons covered the Semnones striking their shields, arms, legs, and torsos.  The wounded Semnones screamed and fell.  Then the Teutons smashed into the outnumbered Semnones on the run and into the melee of swinging swords, shouting, and desperate men.  Minutes later, the second infantry column of 25,000 Teuton warriors impacted the fighting mass on the other flank.  The Teutons had more than a 2 to 1 advantage in manpower and the Semnones began to flee the battlefield.  When the Teuton archers saw that their infantry had arrived, they rejoined the fight.  Some of the Semnones fought to the death; others fled or dropped their weapons and begged for mercy.  Very few escaped.  The pillaging of the 460 wagons had lasted for 20 minutes and did enormous damage.  The battle lasted for an hour.

The battle was over and the mourning began.  At least 250 civilians lay dead.  The Teuton Army suffered about 400 dead and many more wounded.  It had been a decisive Teuton victory, but there was no celebrating.  The Army had failed to protect the civilians.  No one was to blame and it could have been much worse.  The civilians slowly returned to their wagon to survey the damage and treat the wounded.  A trench was dug nearby and civilians and soldiers began to bury their dead.  Nothing could change what had happened.  The only option was to repack the wagons and search the dead Semnones for stolen valuables.

Donar sent a rider to tell Timur what had happened.  The Semnones’ Army was totally destroyed in the east and west.  No one was left to defend their territory.

*******

The Strike Force dismounted two miles (3.2km) from the Semnones’ settlement that hosted the Chief and his Council.  The 400 men slowly approached on foot and spread out to encircle most of the village.  The Commander gave the order to fire and the archers immediately began to knock down the few soldiers left to provide security.  The civilians ran for their huts and the woods.  They were not targeted.  As that was happening, the Assault Team of 20 men raced for the hut housing the Chief.

The Chief heard the commotion and jumped up to look outside the door of his hut.  He saw hundreds of Teutons running randomly through the village and a small group running straight for him.  He turned and ran for the back door with his two body guards right behind him.  Before he could pull it open, his pursuers burst into the hut.  He jerked open the door and ran outside.  He was aiming for the stables.

His body guards turned to face their attackers and drew their swords.  They stood half in and half out the door.  The Leader of the Assault Team saw the Chief disappear out the back door and sent all but five men around the two side of the hut to continue the pursuit.  The five men still inside the hut rushed the two body guards and began thrusting with their swords.  The top of the door frame prevented overhead blows.  The two men fought back and blocked the thrusts.