Legio XVII: Roman Legion at War (24 page)

The two teams linked up by accident and raced west together.  The other three teams continued observing and by 0900, they too departed.  It was clear that the entire camp minus the sick was heading west.

The Legionaries were walking fast, maybe 4 mph.  The cool air helped, but many were now sweating with the exertion.  They were carrying their armor on wooden cross beams placed over their shoulder and feeling the pain.  Most men put a homemade pad under the staff to help cushion its weight.  Every hour the column stopped for a 5 minute rest.  It was not enough, but it helped.

Centurion Accius usually walked at the head of his Maniple, but as the hours wore on and the effort increased, he began to walk alongside his men to encourage them.  Everyone was making an all out effort to keep up the pace.  After three hours, individuals began to fall out.  Some fainted; others staggered off the road and fell.  The wagons bringing up the rear collected these men and kept moving forward.  Accius wanted to tell the Deputy to cut the pace, but held back.  In this instance, the mission was more important.  The men would recover.  This was not a training exercise.

Around 1000 hours, the first two scouting teams found Centurion Servilius and his cavalry escort in a broad flat open field with the Pescara River on the south and thick trees on the north.  The road coming from the east came out of the woods and opened onto the field, which was about half a mile long.  After much searching, Servilius found the ground on which he would fight.  After the scouts reported what they had seen, Servilius sent one of his escorts back down the road to hurry the Maniples, which were now about an hour away.  He figured he had about two hours before the Ardiaei arrived.  He was now convinced they meant him harm and that he must fight.

He envisioned the enemy warriors exiting the woods on the road a half a mile away from where he intended to position his Maniples.  His right flank would be protected by the river, which was about 10 yards away.  He planned to hide 50 of his 100 cavalry, 100 of the 200 archers, and all four
Scorpios
in the woods on his left flank, about 100 yards north of the road and 200 yards from his position.  If the
Ardiaei
decide to attack him, he planned for his cavalry with mounted archers to advance out of the woods, approach the
Ardiaei
exposed right flank, dismount the archers, and take them under fire.

Servilius was now thinking out loud, “I want some of them to break off the attack on the Maniples to pursue the archers and, thereby, take pressure off my center.  The cavalry is then to engage and destroy any
Ardiaei
who go after the archers.  I want the four
ballistae
with their carriers and horses collocated with the cavalry and archers.  This will give the
ballistae
crews protection should the
Ardiaei
go after them.  The
ballistae
are to remain hidden and only fire on my command.  They’ll need to set up as soon as possible and test fire a few arrows to get the range.”

*******

The cry “ambush” went up among the
Ardiaei
as the arrows thudded into shield, armor and flesh.  It was a complete surprise.  By the time the
Ardiaei
raced into the woods behind their shield to attack their tormentors, the archers had disappeared.  The wounded were left to fend for themselves.  Some started the long walk back to camp; others lie in their blood awaiting death. A while later, a shout went up at the head of the
Ardiaei
column, “Cavalry!”

Twenty horsemen suddenly appeared with mounted archers galloping down the road heading straight for the
Ardiaei
, who instinctively knelt down and raised their shields.  About 60’ in front of the column, the horses suddenly whirled about and arrows whizzed into the packed warriors; some stuck in shields while others ricocheted off and struck armor and flesh.  More wounded men.  Then the horsemen disappeared as suddenly as they had come.

Agron saw this for what it was ~ a delaying tactic.  To counter the archers, he threw out an advance guard about 100 yards in front of the main body, flankers 50 yards off to the sides, and, through much shouting, encouraged his men to speed up.  Then a pattern emerged: two hundred yards farther down the road, arrows again flew into his ranks from about 100 yards off the road, but the archers were quickly run off.  His men were ready now, but each ambush did cause the column to stop and caused a few more wounded.  Agron figured he had been delayed about one hour and suffered up to 100 casualties so far, some minor, but some severe.

*******

When Servilius finally saw the approaching gray colored Roman column all his pent up energy exploded.  He raced to meet them and then remembered he was the Commander and told himself to calm down.  He slowed his horse to a steady walk; saluted the Deputy and told him to give the Legionaries a break in place.  He added, “Make them drink plenty of water.”

He called for his Centurions and had them sit down while he explained his concept of the coming engagement.  He told everyone to drink freely while he explained who they were facing and where the Maniples, cavalry, archers, and ballistae would be positioned.  When he felt they all understood what was expected of them and the prearranged signal for the mounted archers to advance and the
ballistae
to fire, he told them to get into position.  The Legionaries had eaten about two hours earlier and were now adequately hydrated.  Nothing remained, but to await the enemy.  It was noon.  The Legionaries breathed a sigh of relief.  It had been a hard march.

*******

The attacks had stopped about half an hour earlier, so Agron knew they must be close to the Romans.  He told himself that he needed to be very careful as these Romans appear to know what they are doing.  He mentally reviewed his goals; he needed food supplies in order to begin his northward march back to
Illyria
; he didn’t want to lose too many men fighting these Romans, but he could tolerate a few casualties; he had to preserve the bulk of his force to fight the hostile tribes he knew he would meet on his march north through Italy.

Within 20 minutes a runner came back from the advance guard and said he could see Romans drawn up in three battle lines about half a mile west in a clearing by the river. Agron told his soldiers to take a break while he and his staff went forward to the edge of the clearing.  There they were all right; all lined up and waiting for him.  He made a quick estimate of the Roman force and it basically agreed with what his scout had told him three hours earlier.  He estimated that he almost tripled the Roman troop strength; he could not clearly see their cavalry, but he knew they had about 20 horses.  It was time to talk with these Romans, but first he wanted to put on a show of strength.  He told his Deputy to march the warriors out into the field about 100 yards so the Romans could see them and then to stop and await his return.

Agron took a small detachment and rode out to meet the Roman Commander. As he rode, he looked intently at the field in front of him, the woods off to his right, and the disposition of the Romans.  Nothing he saw looked out of the ordinary.  Just a small group of Roman soldiers who are probably scared to death.  Servilius saw the five Ardiaei coming across the field; gathered his staff, and rode out to meet them.  The Maniples noticed the coming riders and stirred, but remained sitting.  They needed to rest from their six hour forced march.

Agron stopped his horse and raised his hand in greeting when Servilius was about 50’ away.  “Roman, I, Agron, salute you!  Your mounted archers did a lot of damage and slowed us down considerably.  I shall remember that technique.  Despite the fact that the sun feels good on these old bones of mine, let us get down to business.  Behind me, coming out of the woods is an army that has beaten many Roman Legions and I’d rather not have to add you and your fine soldiers to that list.”  Agron was feeling very confident.  “What I’m interested in is your supply wagons.  Here is my offer: give me your wagons and we will allow you to pass unmolested.  What say you Centurion?  It is a fair offer.  The lives of your men for some corn and wheat?  By the way, you are early.  I wasn’t expecting you for another 30 days.”

“Agron,” said Servilius sternly, “On behalf of the People and Senate of Rome, I reject your offer.  You are an enemy of Rome and today we will decide the matter on this field.”  Servilius then wheeled his horse around and trotted back to his lines.  He noticed that his hands were shaking and took several deep breaths to calm himself.  When he was about 50’ away from the waiting Maniples, he draw his sword, rode his horse across the line of troops, and declared in a loud voice, “They come from Hannibal and claim to have killed many Romans.”  The Maniples stood up.  “They want our wagons in exchange for safe passage.  I told him he is an enemy of our land, our Republic, our families, our freedom, and today, we will drive him back across the Adriatic.  Each of you is worth three of them.  Listen to your Centurions.  Do your duty.  Do not be afraid.  We are Romans!”  The Legionaries cheered.  They were fed, rested, and ready to fight and to die if necessary!

The Maniples were dressed into position and stood easy: there were 300 men in the
Hastati
, 300 in the
Principes
, and one hundred in the
Triarii
.  The remaining 100
Triarii
, armed with light javelins, went forward of the
Hastati
about 200 yards to act as skirmishers to distract the enemy warriors.  The plan was that after they threw their javelins, they would return and rejoin the
Triarii
.  Servilius positioned 50 horses on his left flank and 100 archers on his right.  Servilius took up his position behind the
Principes
with his three trumpeters standing by his side.

The
Ardiaei
cleared the woods, walked onto the field and into the sun, and stood there.  It had warmed up and they soon began to perspire.  Most were not only hungry, but now also thirsty.  Morale at this point was not good.  Most missed breakfast and lunch and were beginning to feel the effects.  They lacked energy and failed to display their usual fighting spirit.  When Agron returned from his meeting with the Romans, he sensed the problem and tried to rally them with promises of all they could eat once they cleared away the Romans and captured the wagons.  He told them how weak the Romans were.  He told them that the Legionaries wanted to trade the wagons and not have to die, but that their Centurion was making them fight.  He said Roman morale was bad and they would break and run as soon as we charge.  The vision of full bellies drove them on.

Agron dismounted, stood in front of his men and shouted, “Advance.”  The tired warriors began to walk, slowly at first, but began to walk faster as the distance closed.  A few were shouting now and began banging their swords on their shields.  Agron was out front encouraging them, yelling, challenging them, belittling the Romans, reminding his men of their past victories.  His army was stirring at last.  He could hear the blood lust in their rising voices and see it in their jerky aggressive movements.  They moved forward in fits and starts; each wanting to run, but waiting for the entire mass to break.

Meanwhile the 100 Roman skirmishers unleashed their javelins into the
Ardiaei’s
waiting shields.  Like an unspoken signal, the chains were now loosed and the entire
Ardiaei
army broke into a run hoping to cover the remaining 200 yards before the Romans could react.

The archers waiting out of sight in the woods were mounted and ready.  The four
ballistae
teams had fired test shots earlier and were ready to unleash a total of 12 arrows per minute as soon as they heard the signal to fire.  When Servilius saw the
Ardiaei
start to run, he told the
cornicen
[trumpeters] to sound the
cornu
.  Before the
Ardiaei
could cover another 15 yards, 50 archers rode forward, dismounted and were rapidly firing arrow after arrow into the exposed
Ardiaei
right flank.  The
ballistae
were even quicker.  The first four shots ripped huge holes in the lines of running men.  Simultaneously, the 100 archers positioned on Servilius right flank began high angle rapid fire with deep penetrating arrows.

The advancing
Ardiaei
faced missiles from the flank and overhead.  If they raised their shield, they were vulnerable on the side.  Their instincts and training made them keep going despite the punishing losses and sounds of falling men all around them.  They lost about 300 men even before drawing Roman blood.  Agron, running with his men sensed the disaster befalling him, but, at this point, was powerless to stop it.  “How did I not see the archers in the woods,” he asked himself.

When the
Ardiaei
were still 100 yards out, Servilius directed his archers to move away from his right flank on the run and reposition themselves to fire into the exposed flank of the advancing enemy.  Similarly, the cavalry left their left flank position and rode to the rear of the
Ardiaei
, which was the signal for the
ballistae
teams to cease firing.  Archers now fired relentlessly into the two flanks with devastating results.

None of the
Ardiaei
broke away to attack the archers or
ballistae
as expected, but kept running straight for the
Hastati
whose hands held the deadly
pilum
, now cocked back into a throwing position.  The
Ardiaei
expected the Romans to break and run, but they still stood fast.  On order, 300
pila
sailed forward and slammed into the attackers, then another 300; then the
Principes
threw their 600 while the
Hastati
drew their swords and shield met shield.  The Romans fought aggressively using their heavy shields to butt and push opposing shields upward in order to deliver a quick stabbing thrust to the belly or groin.

The
Hastati
held the line and fought well.  Servilius ordered the
Principes
to form a massive wedge formation behind the
Hastati
and, on order, pass through the
Hastati
and divide the
Ardiaei
into two parts.

The
Hastati
pushed hard and suddenly backed away from the
Ardiaei
.  The
Principes
then drove through butting, stabbing, and pushing.  (Their heavy shields were as much a weapon as their swords.)  The
Ardiaei
separated down the middle and the
Principes
swung left.  Servilius ordered the
Triarii
to follow the
Principes
and swing right.  Archers crowded into the resulting melee and fired point blank.  Servilius ordered Quintus Didius Sura and his cavalry to swing in behind the two shrinking circles and close them off.

Without realizing it, Servilius had achieved a mini-
Cannae
and the
Ardiaei
was completely surrounded.  When the last Ardiaei fell, the Roman Legionaries just stood there; breathing deeply; blood splatter covered everything; it had suddenly grown quiet except for the groans of the wounded.  It was a great victory, but, at the moment, nobody had the energy to celebrate.

Servilius built an altar and offered thanks to the gods.  He had suffered 28 dead and 153 wounded.  A sweep of the battlefield found 300 lightly wounded
Ardiaei
who were taken prisoner.  The seriously wounded were mercifully executed.  When Servilius stood in front of the Maniples and declared victory, the Legionaries cheered themselves hoarse.

Those Legionaries too wounded to walk were put on wagons and moved the 200 yards to where the night’s encampment was being dug.  His soldiers were exhausted, but Servilius was not taking any chances.  While they worked, Servilius gathered his leadership team and began a walk of the battlefield.  He reviewed everything that led up to the engagement, the actions of the
Ardiaei
, his preparation for the battle, and the outcome.  His
ballistae
Centurion reported that 36 arrows were fired.  The cavalry reported three horses were wounded and subsequently destroyed and one suffered a broken leg and was put down.  One rider was killed when his horse fell on him.  The archers suffered no killed or wounded.  The
Hastati
had 11 killed, the
Principes
9, and the
Triarii
7.  Agron was found dead with an arrow in his right eye.

Prisoners talked the devastating effects of the hidden
ballistae
.  The weapon terrorized them as did the storm of arrows hitting them on the flank and falling from the sky.  Lack of food and water and over confidence, however, were the decisive factors in their defeat.  The
Ardiaei
underestimated the fighting ability and weaponry of the Romans.  Servilius indentified this as poor pre-battle intelligence.  The single
Ardiaei
scout did not see everything and even failed to report accurately those things he did see.  Servilius cited three reasons for Roman success:  the troops were adequately fed and watered; Roman pre-battle intelligence was superb; and the use of surprise by concealing the
ballistae
and archers severely impeded the
Ardiaei
attack and hurt their morale.

The next morning, the Legionaries gathered their dead and burned them according to Roman custom. 
Ardiaei
dead were left on the field.  Arrows and usable
pila
were gathered for reuse.  Servilius sent his cavalry and mounted archers to the
Ardiaei
camp to announce the outcome of the battle, quell any resistance, and offer to escort the women and children to the port of
Aternum
. Servilius’ column was on the road by 0800 and arrived at the port four days later on December 22.  He now had nine days to prepare his command to load the ships and get underway by January 1st.

He made time to coordinate with a mixed Roman and Auxiliary unit to escort his wounded back to Rome as part of their normal supply convoy, which was scheduled to depart in two days.  From the wounded, Servilius selected two men to brief Tribune Tullus in detail upon their return to Rome about all that had happened to “Mission
Patavium
.”   Servilius knew Tullus would be most anxious to hear about any dead and wounded as well as how the
Scorpio
and mounted archers had fared during the engagement.

After much discussion and a hefty bribe, Servilius convinced the commander of the Auxiliary unit to immediately send a cavalry detachment from his unit back to Rome to tell Tribune Tullus the news that Agron knew he was coming, but that Servilius’ early arrival prevented Agron from properly executing the ambush.  That was a critical piece of intelligence that could not wait.  Similarly, knowing Tullus’ concern for his men, Servilius drew up a list of the Legionaries that had been killed and a list of the wounded who were returning.  He knew that Tullus would want to inform the families.

The Auxiliary detachment made the 130 mile trip back to Rome in four days and delivered Servilius’ adumbrated message to Tribune Tullus.  The killed and wounded distressed him, but casualties were a fact of war and had to be expected.  He was angry that someone had leaked Servilius’ route to
Aternum
and the approximate date when he would be in the vicinity.  He immediately suspected Calvus and decided that from now on, he would keep the specifics of troop movements to himself.  The staff would have to trust him.  The consequences of that kind of information getting to their enemies were too severe to take any chances.  It was apparent that he had already shared too much critical information with too many people.  This time his counter espionage measures had succeeded, next time it might not.  He told himself to be more careful.