Legio XVII: Roman Legion at War (8 page)

A Centurion on the hillside overlooking the site, suddenly called the group to come up and see what he had found.  From the impressions left in the ground, it was clear that five
ballistae
had been lined up and dug in on this hill.  They had been carefully camouflaged from the amount of dried branches and leaves scattered about.  One of the
ballista
had evidently broken apart under the enormous tension of the drawn sinews and scattered its parts over a 20’ area.  One of the pole arrows was lying broken on the ground and showed that the Gauls had inserted lead into the sides of the shaft to weight it and give it more penetrating power.  The weighted arrows worked exceedingly well based on the evidence lying clumped together in death at the base of the hill.

Discovery of the Gauls’
ballistae
convinced the Consuls not to attack the Gauls in a defensive position where they would have time to employ these new weapons.  Word of the Gauls’ use of mobile
ballistae
was immediately sent back to Rome along with the broken parts and pole arrow.  The Legions needed this type weapon immediately.

Manius requested a meeting with the Legate to tell him about the power of the Gallic slashing sword and its impact on the Roman shield and helmet.  The Legate was immediately alarmed when Manius briefed him and walked with Manius back to the battlefield to see for himself.  He them summoned his head blacksmith and engineer.  The resulting discussion sent the engineer and blacksmith into a frenzy of activity.  The Legate had ordered them to affix whatever iron could be gathered from the battlefield to the top of the
Hastati’s
shields to blunt the force of the Gallic sword.

This was a monumental assignment and required three Maniples to gather iron and firewood, and to assist the blacksmiths with the alteration.  They worked for two days and nights to accomplish the task.  Regulus followed suit.  Testing showed that it took an iron bar at least 1” thick to stop the Gallic sword from splitting the shield.

Manius also suggested to the Legate an individual tactic for each soldier to minimize the downward power of the sword.  He demonstrated it to the Legate.  As the sword is raised, but before it begins its downward descent, the Roman shield must be brought up sharply against the Gauls’ sword arm or sword itself to pin it and prevent completion of the strike.  The Legate tried the technique himself and immediately instructed his assembled Tribunes
to implement the new technique throughout the Legions.  The Legate and Tribunes were impressed with Manius.

Manius further recommended that the Legionaries’ helmet have an extra piece of metal affixed to the top of the helmet.  In view of the effort involved to alter the shields, this idea was abandoned for the present.  Several years later, Manius would make this simple fix and save countless lives.

*******

The Gauls were in no hurry to move.  After looting the battlefield, the spoils had to be divided up among the troops and stored in their wagons.  The celebrations continued long into the night.  They knew the Romans were pinned to their camps under the watchful eye of their strong cavalry and felt they could beat the Romans if they wanted a battle.  The Chieftains planned to keep the two Roman camps from uniting if they showed any sign of offering to fight.  The Romans burned their dead without interference from the Gauls.  It was an unspoken truce.  In exchange, the Romans allowed the Gauls to recover their dead.

Once the shields were altered, the dead properly disposed of, and with the Gauls still showing no inclination to move back north into the Cisalpine region with their loot, Papus and Regulus began to fear the worst, a possible attack on Rome.

Regulus’ Legions were pinned to their hill by an ever present strong Gallic cavalry.  Papus was not so harassed and felt he could slip his five Legions out of camp in the dead of night unobserved.  Both Consuls knew they had to get their Legions between Rome and the Gauls.  They devised a plan that would have Regulus create a diversion to draw all the Gallic cavalry to his position while Papus led his Legions off in a wide swing to the east followed by a rapid march south to get between Rome and the Gauls.

The plan worked and it was not until the following morning that the Gauls realized that Papus’ camp was empty.  Gallic cavalry quickly found the marching Roman Legions, but by this time they were already south of the Gauls.  Papus took an extraordinary risk by separating his supply wagons from the Legions.  The wagons swung farther east of the Legions before heading south.  Papus needed to push the Legions to their maximum speed and did not want to be slowed by the baggage trains.  For the Legionaire, this separation meant that each man had to carry four days rations instead of the usual two just in case they did not reunite with their wagons for several more days.  They groaned under the load, but doggedly pressed forward.

Fortunately for the Romans, the Gauls were not very mobile at this point.  They had an extensive baggage train to carry the lucrative results of months of pillaging the Italian countryside.

It took the Gauls a full day to begin their march to Rome and, therefore, adequate time for Papus to get around them.  He marched 110 miles in five days and stopped south of the village of
Telamon
[modern Talamone in Tuscany] by the coast and near the
Via Aurelia
.

As soon as the Gauls began their ponderous southward move out of their camp, Regulus marched his two Legions and Auxiliary survivors off the fortified hill in a slow cautious pursuit.  He kept a respectful distance so as not to provoke the Gauls into attacking him.  As he marched south, Regulus was constantly asking himself what he would do and where would he position his Legions should the Gauls surprise him by doubling back.  His cavalry was closely following the Gauls and reporting on their every move, but still Regulus worried.  Perhaps unconsciously, Regulus allowed the distance between his army and the Gauls to increase more and more.  This slow pursuit lasted for 10 days and may have cost Regulus his life in the coming battle.

The Battle of
Telamon
225 BC

The Gauls continued their slow movement south past the town of
Telamon
, but began to question their decision to move on Rome itself.  The
Boii
and
Insubres
wanted to go home with their loot.  They had had enough fighting.  Even the Gallic chieftains were concerned when the cavalry reported that Papus’ five Legions were now between them and Rome and digging defensive positions.  The Romans were finally going to fight.  The Chieftains knew the initiative had now passed from them to the Legions.

Concolitanus and Aneroestes were also aware that Regulus and his three Legions were behind them blocking an easy escape route.  After a relatively short debate, the chieftains decided it would be wiser to reverse direction and go back north.  They felt they could pin Regulus’ Legions with the use of aggressive cavalry tactics while the bulk of the army and loot laden wagons would swing east around him.  The word went out: stop the march, reorient the column; fighters to the front and back, wagons in the middle.  “We’re going home!”

Regulus was the first to learn that the Gauls had reversed their line of march and were now approaching the town of
Telamon
from the south, which they had passed going in the opposite direction several hours earlier.  His Legions were closer to
Telamon
than Papus’, but it would be a race to occupy Telamon’s key terrain such as hills or roads before the Gauls did.  He sensed a battle was about to take place; one that would make or break the Army and his own personal career.

He immediately ordered his 12 Tribunes to put the Legions in fighting order.  The Legionaries advanced in the attacking three line formation at marching pace, in so far as the nature of the ground allowed. He put his two Legions on line abreast of each other with each in their customary
triplex acies
attack formation.  The
Velites
were about 100 yards in front of the two 500-man
Hastati
lines, which were arrayed in the checkered board manner.

Keeping the two Legions on line with each other was extremely difficult and required constant stopping or running to catch up as the terrain dictated.  The individual Legionaries carried their shield on their left side while their right hand carried two spears: the lighter javelin and the heavy
pilum
.

Each man moved with his own thoughts.  They were rested, well nourished, and confident in their collective power, but the fear of death or a wound was a constant companion.  The two Legions on line presented a front of 1000 men and stretched out over half a mile wide. The
Principes
and
Triarii
were similarly aligned and separated by about 20’.

As they advanced, Regulus noticed a hill above the road that dominated the surrounding terrain.  He reasoned that whichever way the Gauls moved, they must pass close by that hill.  His instincts and training told him that that hill was the key to this battle and it had to be in Roman control.  Taking his escort with him, he galloped away at full speed to occupy the crest of the hill before the Gauls could beat him to it.  His cavalry, farther to the rear and flanks, was order to follow his lead.  He was now out in front of his entire army and would pay the ultimate price.

*******

Papus meanwhile had found a good defensive position on a slight rise in the ground south of
Telamon
and was awaiting the arrival of the Gauls.  He was in an excellent defensive position and knew that he and Regulus had the Gauls right where they wanted them ~ between seven trained Legions and an Auxiliary Legion.  He deployed three Legions on line each with a 500 man front and placed the two remaining Legions, one on each flank stacked behind the leading Legion.  He had the rear Legions dig ditches to prevent the Gallic cavalry from coming around either flank to weaken and cause disarray in the three center Legions.  He wanted the Gallic infantry to conduct a frontal attack against his prepared defensive position.

When word was brought to Papus that the Gauls had changed directions and were now heading north away from him and into Regulus’ Legions, he reluctantly abandoned his fortifications, but moved with all haste to make contact with the Gauls’ rear elements.  The decisive battle was upon him.  Within the hour, he could see the Gauls’ rear guard and immediately sent his cavalry to attack them.  He hoped to force the Gauls to stop, turn, and deploy to face his advancing Legionaries.  He deployed his five Legions as he had done in the defensive: three on line and one stacked behind the front Legions on each flank.  He feared that the Gallic cavalry would attack one of his flanks, but felt the sight of a Legion on each flank would give them second thoughts.  He reasoned that if his weaker center started to give way, he could reinforce it with whichever Legion on the flank was not engaged.

The Gauls were unaware of Regulus' rush to seize the hill and assumed that Papus had somehow managed to send part of his cavalry ahead to occupy the hill.  The Chieftains sent some of their own cavalry and a few light infantry including archers against them to contest the hill.

At first, the battle was confined to the hill with a small number of cavalry engaged in a desperate struggle for supremacy in full view of Regulus’ advancing Legions and the now stationary Gallic army.  Regulus was in the thick of it when he was struck down by a Gallic arrow.  The archer ran up to the fallen Roman, cut off his head and brought it to the chieftains; but there was no time to celebrate.  Despite the loss of Regulus, his entire 1200-man Roman cavalry force eventually arrived on the hill in a massive cloud of dust and continued the fight.  By sheer numbers, they overpowered the Gauls before they could send for reinforcements and the Romans gained possession of the hill.  The advancing Legions sent up a loud cheer as they saw the Gallic cavalry flee the hill and the Roman horsemen raising their swords in victory.  It was a well timed morale boost for the Legions.

For the Gauls, the situation grew more desperate by the minute.  They now faced three Legions to their front and five in the rear.  Their cavalry had just been mauled and they worried about their valuable baggage train.

The Chieftains had no choice but to deploy their infantry facing both front and rear. They knew the situation was perilous, but did not yet think it was desperate.  They decided to keep the tough 30,000
Gaesatae
and
Insubres
at the rear against Papus, and moved the
Boii
and
Taurisci
to the front to meet Regulus’ two Legions.   A small Gallic infantry force quickly established a defensive perimeter around the heavy laden wagons and precious loot.  Gallic archers were placed at the front and rear and were the first to draw Roman blood.  Hundreds of arrows flew into the shields; some stuck flesh, many others ricocheted off to the sides.  Shield and helmets resounded with the sound of the arrows; an occasional strike in the face was followed by a scream of pain and another Legionaire stepped forward to fill the gap.

The Gauls’ redeployment of men to the front and others to the rear was done too quickly and the Gallic army lost its coherence and confidence.  The individual Gallic units were barely repositioned against the advancing wall of shields when the first of thousands of iron-tipped Roman
pila
smashed into their still milling ranks.

The Legate had earlier moved Manius from his Maniple in the
Principes
to one in the
Hastati
to capitalize on his power of observation and leadership.  The Legate wanted Manius in the thick of it to see what else he would discover about the Gauls’ fighting techniques.  Manius did not like leaving his Maniple after training them for just such a battle, but saw the wisdom of the move.  He immediate refreshed his new Maniple about how to defeat the power of the Gallic sword.  As they advanced, he shouted words of encouragement and reminders.  “Throw your shield up!  Pin his arm!  Thrust your
gladius
!”

When the gap between the advancing Romans and waiting Gauls closed to within 50’ Manius gave the order to “Prepare to throw the javelin” followed quickly by the order “Throw.”  He immediately followed this order with another “Prepare to throw the
pila
” and “Throw.”  The
Hastati
of the three Legions on-line unleashed their 4500 javelins and immediately followed it with 4500
pila
.  The air was filled with the hissing of 9000 iron-tipped wooden spears slicing through the morning mist.  The swarm of missiles was followed by the sounds of impact as the javelins and
pila
found their marks on shield and warrior.  The first and second Gallic ranks simply dropped amid shrieks of pain and panic.  The weighted
pila
penetrated deeply into Gallic shields, armor, and flesh.

Manius then ordered the Maniple to, “Present shields,” “Draw
gladius
,” “Make contact with the man to your front.”  This is how the Legion trained and these were the orders they expected to hear from their Centurions.  Manius’ strong voice and expected commands gave them confidence to overcome their fears as the lines closed to within a few feet.  The Gauls, their long hair flying, were fiercely yelling to bolster their confidence; the Roman lines were steely silent.  Roman shields touched each other slightly; their
gladius
protruded from the side, and their helmeted head was barely visible above the top of the shield.  Each man was in a semi crouch as he prepared to violently thrust his shield upward to stop the Gallic sword from renting his shield.

As the lines smashed into one another, Manius put his whistle in his mouth and clamped down.  In the excitement and deafening noise of clashing shields and shouting men, he could not forget to rotate the lead Legionaries.  Each man in front facing the enemy was to fight as hard as he could until he heard his Centurion’s whistle, then he would step to the right, put his shield over his head, and move to the rear of his file.  Each Roman soldier kept his hand on the back of the man to his front to ensure the lines did not get mixed as individuals moved forwarded and rotated.  The man immediately behind him would then take up the fight.