Legio XVII: Roman Legion at War (19 page)

It seemed that every mule, horse, and oxen had already been recruited by the army and driven south.  To solve this shortfall, Manius directed his Tribune in charge of Logistics to prepare a plan to travel from Rome on the
Via Tiburtina
to
Aternum
[modern Pescara].  Once there, he was to sail the 125 miles to the other side of the Adriatic Sea
to
Spalatum
[modern Split, Croatia] on the
Illyrian
coast and negotiate with the local tribes for draft animals and horses.

This unorthodox technique required the Tribune to identify funds from an already constrained budget to get boats capable of carrying the animals, to create a strong escort to protect the herd once they arrived back in Italy, and to arrange for sufficient fodder to keep the animals alive for the long walk back to Rome.

The greatest challenge was to devise a scheme to protect the herd from the many lawless bands that infested the countryside between the port and Rome.  They would be an easy target unless adequately protected.  Against all odds, Manius was able to muster in an Auxiliary Legion of 4,500 men of mixed nationalities to march to the port, await the arrival of the herd, and escort them back to Rome.  In time, this Auxiliary Legion would be permanently stationed in
Aternum
and serve Manius and Rome for years to come.

In a remarkable display of Roman ingenuity, three months later, on December 2, the field serving as Manius’ staging area resounded with the sounds of hundreds of animals moving into the encampment.  The Tribune had been successful!  Each animal meant that much less that each Legionaire would have to carry and were, therefore, loudly cheered as they moved into waiting stalls.  The Legion had their precious draft animals, about 600, and the cavalry had 300 more horses.

Manius faced the same struggle in obtaining food stocks, equipment for the troops, fodder for the animals, and attention from those in authority to help him overcome these issues.  He quickly realized that he was pretty much on his own.  Everyone was focused on Hannibal, Spain, Sicily, or Sardinia and not the “side show” on which he was embarking.  The only items not in short supply were maps of the Cisalpine and interpreters.  The benefit of this lack of scrutiny was that Manius could pretty much do as he pleased without official approval ~ and he took full advantage of it.  One of his first actions was to request the new rectangular curved shield for his Legion rather than the oval that was being phased out.

To make up for his lack of soldiers, he obtained a list of Legionaries who were back home recuperating from wounds or illness, and sent representatives to offer them the opportunity to transfer to
Legio
XVII
.  Not surprisingly, many did.  Duty with the
XVII
looked more promising than going back down south and facing Hannibal.

Manius also risked his career by sending boats to Sicily in early October to recruit from among the banished
Cannae
Legionaries.  He had low level Army approval to do this, but risked the ire of local commanders.  Many enthusiastically volunteered.  They hoped to recapture their honor and self respect, and to once again rejoin Roman society.  This intense recruitment took about two months and barely left him time to actually train these troops into a coherent and capable Legion.

As these new troops joined the original 3000 Legionaries provided by the Senate, they were artfully blended into the training program already well underway.  Joseph made sure that his two friends, Accius and Tertius, were part of the 3000.  Manius knew how to train soldiers!  He basically developed and implemented an abbreviated individual, unit, and advanced Legionaire training program.  Following the individual training phase, he began training at the unit level with the Maniples.

Once the individual Maniple learned to function as a single entity, he then combined them into the
Hastati
,
Principes
, and
Triarii
lines.  Finally, he and the staff began operating and maneuvering at the Legion level.  During all levels of training, Manius emphasized the continued incorporation of individual fitness training.  In effect, Manius duplicated the Legionaries complete panoply of training skills albeit in a shortened version.

As a Legion, they practiced the standard maneuvers they would employ in battle such as quick reaction formations in response to a surprise attack and forming a wedge to break out of encirclement.  The most important maneuver for the Legion was to be able to rotate the first line of troops facing the enemy, the
Hastati
, back through the second line, the
Principes
, quickly and with minimal disorder.  This was practiced over and over and over.  This maneuver was used to allow the
Hastati
to rest while the
Principes
took up the fight.  Once the
Hastati
was rested, about five to ten minutes, they would pass back through the
Principes
and resume fighting.  Manius initially allowed the soldiers to perform these maneuvers without their body armor or other accoutrement.  The initial objective was learning the movements while not being burdened with heavy equipment.  That would come later.

Manius devised another training technique which involved taking the
Triarii
line, traditionally the wealthiest, oldest, and most experienced Legionaries, who fought with a long 6.5’ stabbing spear along the lines of a Greek phalanx, and used them as an opposing force.  Armed only with training shields, heavy wooden swords, and body armor, Manius had the
Triarii
attack the
Hastati
to enable these young inexperienced Legionaries to get the feel of actual combat complete with noise and fatigue.  On cue, the
Hastati
would rotate behind the
Principes
who would take up the fight until they were tired and then the
Hastati
would rotate again to the front.

This exercise provided the entire
Hastati
and
Principes
not only with much needed experience, but also enabled the Centurions to practice rotating individuals within these two fighting lines.  Without exception, individual Legionaries credited these mock battles, above all other training, with preparing them for the sights, sounds, and rigors of actual battle. As the months slipped by, Manius’ confidence in his troops and staff grew.  By early December, Manius felt they were ready.

With the help of Levi’s money and influence, Manius requested and received 1000 mercenary
Illyrian
archers, 600 cavalry, and 12 mobile
ballistae.
  He used members of the disgraced
Cannae
cavalry from Sicily to train his cavalry and to apply the lessons they learned from their defeat.  Manius was particularly enamored with the skill of the archers and pressed his staff to conceive of ways to employ them more effectively.  In time, they developed two different types of arrows: one, light and fast, to fire line-of-sight directly at a target and one to use as indirect plunging fire with a weighted shaft that would drop from the sky to penetrate light armor or even a shield.

But it was the
Illyrian
commander of Archers who proposed the most innovative use of bowmen in battle.  Abeis (translated as Snake) Scirto, a short swarthy man not given to much talking, one day asked Manius and his staff to observe his archers in training.  They followed the man and expected to see rows of archers facing rows of target.  Instead, they saw a line of horses with two riders each, racing by a single target when suddenly the second rider, the archer, would rise up, draw his bow and fire at the target.  Snake then directed their attention to another demonstration.  A horse with two riders charged a stationary target.  Just out of
pilum
range, the horse whirled and reversed direction while the archer fired off a rapid string of arrows during the turn.

That concluded the demonstration.

Snake now explained it.  “Archers talk to other archers.  We are a brotherhood of skilled fighters.  The idea for the demonstration you have just seen comes from the east and has been used successfully in battle.  Mounted archers can be used to slow an advancing enemy column, conduct an ambush to the vulnerable flanks or rear of an army, or deliver a lethal force any place on the battlefield.  The employment of this force requires the diversion of vital cavalry assets and, therefore, would be used sparingly.  If you approve of this concept, I proposed to train all the archers in this form of mounted attacked.  My biggest problem is keeping the archers from falling off the bouncing horses.”  His last comment drew a robust round of laughter.  Snake added, “It’s true; they keep falling off!”

Manius turned to his staff and said, “I like this!  Snake, you are to be commended.”  Then looking at the staff he said, “This is the kind of thinking we need.  Well done.  Now, obviously, if we are facing a cavalry threat, we counter it with our cavalry, but if the cavalry threat is low, we can employ mounted archers.  Unless someone has an objection, Snake I want you to train all your archers in this technique.”

Manius then looked directly at his disapproving 40ish cavalry commander and knew this was the moment to force the issue.  Sextus had been uncooperative and captious since the day he arrived.  Sextus was a wealthy blowhard who possessed countless foibles and demonstrated dozens of reasons to despise him, chief among them being his refusal to eat Legionaries food as something beneath him.  Servants fed him his special cuisine.  He was lazy and irresponsible, but he had patronage in high places.  Manius was loath to get embroiled in a controversy with a political appointee, but for the sake of the mission and morale, he had to take this on.

With an inward sigh, he said, “Sextus, what do you think of diverting cavalry resources to train the archers?” The edge in his voice barely concealed the dread welling up inside of him.  Sextus’ narcissism prevented him from properly reading Manius’ growing resolve and where this conversation was really going.  He loudly and angrily denigrated Snake’s idea with an
ad hominem
attack against Snake’s character, reliability, ethnicity, and parentage.  This was Sextus at his illogical best and his words sealed his fate.  Manius calmed his emotions as Sextus’ tirade helped finalized his decision.

“Thank you Sextus,” Manius said politely and adjourned the gathering.

“Levi, can you help me find another job for Sextus.  You know he’s been a wen on our morale ever since he took over as cavalry commander.  For the good of the mission, he has to go.  Perhaps, one of the Legates in the south could request him by name.  He’d jump at the chance to serve with a Legion of the line.”  Levi felt he could do it, but he needed a couple of weeks.  In the meantime, he would use him to escort the Egyptian Ambassador who’s going to be in Rome for a couple of weeks.  Sextus would like that.