by Peter Rhodan
Corotoc was called to an officers meeting at the command position Valerius had chosen on a small rise at the top of the rising ground the army was camped on. That was another thing this army did differently. Senior officers were expected to stay at the back and watch the enemy and direct the forces under them rather than lead the charge as was the norm with barbarian and, as far as he could determine, most Roman army commanders.
The left flank of their position was secured to a rocky rise on top of which most of the artillery were positioned. On the right was some scrub that the cavalry had been hard at work in yesterday afternoon. Both Legion’s cohorts had been brigaded together and were positioned at the back of this scrub nearly at the ridge line. This put them much further back than the infantry line which had worried Corotoc.
Valerius looked quite impressive in his full Roman general armour with the long mail shirt and muscled cuirass. He waited till all the officers were present then raised his hands and the quiet conversations finished abruptly. “This is the situation for those of you who have not heard. Combrosius found the money to hire a horde of Germani. Mostly Saxoni and Frisi but with a smattering of others. The estimate is that something like six thousand or so have crossed the sea and joined his army.”
This caused a stir among the men and some muttering. Valerius waited a moment for the muttering to die down then continued. “The Germani have been broken up into roughly thousand man units under their own chiefs and clan leaders but with a Roman in command of each block. How effective that will be in practice is open to debate.” Here he smiled in what Corotoc could only think was an evil manner, perhaps recalling some such similar command he had been given in the past.
“We expect them to use the Germani to assault us frontally, holding their three Auxilia units back as a reserve. By all accounts Combrosius is a fair cavalry commander and we have tried to offer him an irresistible target on the right which is the only the place for cavalry unless he is really stupid. Unfortunately, we doubt he will be as stupid as Maximus was, but we are going to try and use the same tactic against him anyway, only not so obviously.”
Corotoc wondered what Valerius meant. He had heard how Arturo had goaded Maximus into charging blindly over a ridge to find his flanks covered with Republican archers secure behind stakes emplaced in the ground. They were obviously going to use a similar ploy here but Corotoc could not see how as most of the army was lined up at the ditch. There was a small reserve of maybe two hundred men at the rear which Corotoc had assumed was to be used to plug gaps going on what he had learned from his fellow officers.
Valerius continued. “As you will have surmised we are going to use the same basic tactic we used against King Cluen.” Corotoc had noticed the senior officers were all very careful to never say they had fought the Selgovae, it was always King Cluen. Given the ex-Selgovae warriors made up nearly half the army Corotoc thought their policy was very wise. Valerius had kept talking. “The difference here, just in case someone has warned them, is that we’re are going to start at the trench line and slowly retreat. Each rank will fire and then retire four paces during which they will ready their manuballista. After the four paces they will turn and load, wait for the other rank to pass through their position then aim and fire before repeating the process.”
He paused and there was a small muttering among the officers. “We have practiced this and have it worked out that if they advance at a normal rate till about two hundred paces from our line, which is pretty standard, then our line will be maybe sixty or so paces back from the ditch so when they reach it we will be able to fire extremely effectively into their army as it is halted by the ditch. Those you who were at the battle of Liyth will remember how effective our fire was at close range.” Several heads nodded at this, including his own even though he had been on the opposing side.
He smiled at his officers. “One final note. The supply boys have been hard at work this morning making simple wooden bridges. These will be brought up and positioned behind your expected final position. There will be one per century. Once the Germans fall back you Centurions will detail a squad of men to grab your assigned bridge and have it brought forward and thrown across the ditch. Then we will advance and drive them from the field.” He raised his arm in the air, fist clenched and the officers cheered and followed suit.
All in all, a very brief and to the point speech. No flowery phrases or such like. No bragging or tales about heroes of the past. Just practical information on how the Republican force is going to beat the Imperial force. Corotoc found himself thinking that if anything, this brief, practical speech exemplified the professional nature of the Republican army. No bombast, no yelling and screaming, just here is what we are going to do and how we are going to do it. It was kind of scary in a way.
After a allowing them to cheer themselves out he raised his arms in a placating manner and the officers quietened. “One last thing. We will take prisoners. Always. Remember that and make sure your men understand. We are Romans not barbarians and besides we can always do with more manpower!” And the officers cheered again.
Three hours later Corotoc watched the steady advance of the massed Germans up the slope. They sure looked a lot more threatening than the Selgovae warriors had in the spring. They carried large round or oval shields and spears and moved forward in a far more compact mass many ranks deep. Those at the front were the only ones who had much in the way of armour and probably only two thirds had helmets, and those mostly Roman in design. It was like watching a vast and ominous wave about to drive ashore on the beach he had enjoyed playing on in his youth.
Once the Germans reached the line of distance pegs the Republicans had placed out in front of their position his troops began their leapfrog retirement. The advancing hordes took few casualties at first but as the range closed the arrows started striking home more regularly and with more effect. The shields of the men at the front soon sprouted multiple arrows making them very unwieldy. Given the sheer size of the horde advancing on them their fire seemed to be having little effect but the men under his command seemed steady enough. The veterans were looking and acting confident and the former Selgovae warriors were probably enjoying doing the dishing out this time rather than being on the receiving end!
Gradually the range closed and at about two hundred paces away there came this almighty eerie roaring yell from the Germani and then the whole force surged forward yelling and screaming. It was hard to tell but Corotoc estimated that his company had only killed or injured maybe thirty or forty of their opponents, not enough given their three to one advantage in numbers.
Sejanus heard the eerie war yell of the Germani start on his left and then entire horde took it up, surging forward bellowing at the top of their lungs. They were all determined to close the distance with the Republicans as quickly as possible. Their fire had been galling but not disastrous and certainly insufficient to break up the charge that had now launched itself at their flimsy two deep line. Sejanus ran forward with his men waving his long Gothic sword and yelling as well.
And then there came a yell of a different kind and the whole formation shuddered. The Republicans up slope had stopped retiring and were firing steadily into the mass of men Sejanus was mixed up in. The charge staggered and gradually halted as the men in front stopped and then pushed back against those behind. Eventually the whole charge halted as finally the men at the rear stopped trying to push forward, the war cries replaced by groans and yelling of a different kind. Sejanus managed to get to the front and holding up his shield to protect himself from the smashing fire of the Republicans discovered just how perfidious the Republicans were.
The ditch was deep enough to make getting out difficult. Those that did needed to be boosted up by another man. And as soon as their heads appeared above the edge of ditch, they became the target for all the nearest Republicans. The bottom of the ditch was already filled with dead or injured men, mostly those with broken limbs from either falling in or being fallen on. The
whole charge hung, undecided for a minute or more, the men at the front bracing themselves against the shoving from those at the rear.
Gradually the pressure from the rear ranks eased as the word got through. The casualties mounted though as the Republican fire kept thrumming through the air from a range of less than a hundred paces. More and more men fell, either dead or seriously wounded, the bottom of the ditch starting to fill with bodies. The reek of faeces, urine and blood began filling the air. Sejanus struggled to come up with some way to cross the ditch but the only way he could think of was to fill it with bodies. He was about to order this when there was a trumpet blast from the Republican position and a trum, trum, trum sound produced by some kind of drums started up.
There was a groan from the men around him and looking at the Republicans he realised that instead of retiring they were now slowly advancing. Each rank would march past the one in front of it, stop, fire then stand to reload. The now rear rank would then advance and repeat the process. The sheer force of the Republican arrows was starting to knock men over at the ever-closing range.
Sejanus felt the barbarians around him waver and start falling back. Arrows were starting to punch right through shields and more and more men fell down dead or wounded. “Stand and fight!” He yelled but he could feel the will fading from those around him. Suddenly a cry went up, some German word he did not know. It was repeated all down the line and his whole force, at least those that were still upright, dissolved into chaos as the they turned and started to retreat.
Sejanus tried to hold the men around him in some sort of order but a big blond fellow, who must have been ahead taller than Sejanus, snarled at him when he tried to grab the fellow’s arm and swung his shield around in such a way that Sejanus was knocked off balance. He was forced to take a step back to stop from falling over and his foot landed just short of the edge of the ditch. With all his weight thrown onto that foot he discovered that the edge of the ditch was not as firm as it appeared to be and the soil promptly crumbled away beneath him propelling his flailing form down into the mess below.
He landed on a dead body rather than a live one and hurt his ankle in the process. He had managed to retain his grip on his sword and his shield was next to him. He picked it up and got it position somehow so at least he could protect himself. He could hear the beating of the Republican drum getting closer and closer so started grabbing the nearest men and trying to form a shield line in the ditch with them. The men reluctantly followed his lead, a big fellow with a diagonal scar on his face studying Sejanus for a moment for nodding and starting to give command in German which had more effect than the limited vocabulary Sejanus had managed to pick up.
He had maybe twenty men organised when the heads of the first Republicans appeared above them. The drumming stopped and the Republican soldiers looked down into the ditch with their manuballistas ready to fire. Firing from above them at such a close range Sejanus doubted they would need a second volley to end his little force. Suddenly a voice from the Republican ranks called on the Germani to surrender. Sejanus knew the word for that and was not overly surprised when the men around him began throwing their shields and spears down.
Sejanus remained standing holding his own shield, sword at the ready. There was a stir above them and a man attired pretty much the same as the others in the blue green uniforms all the Republicans wore but with a more elaborate helmet stepped to the front and looked down into the pit. “Brave but a little pointless my friend.” He said in accented but clear Latin.
Sejanus shrugged trying to maintain a brave front but then realised it was pointless on his own and threw his weapons down as well. “Good. We will leave you here under guard. Our medical staff will get here eventually to treat your wounded. Wanda, explain to these fellows they are now our prisoners and are to sit quietly till the battle is done.”
A Republican with blond hair sticking out under his helmet moved slightly forward and harangued the Germani for a few seconds, explaining in their tongue what the officer had commanded him. The Germans around agreed and began looking to their wounded fellows, of which there were plenty in the bottom of the ditch. The Republican officer turned away and bellowed “Bring up the Bridge!” There was an immediate stir in the Republican ranks and shortly the sky was blotted out by a group of men raising a large flat wooden structure which Sejanus realised was designed to dropped across the ditch so the Republican could continue to advance.
The sky above him was blotted out as it dropped down with a wooden thud and he hastily moved out from underneath it, just in case the bank of the ditch gave way and the thing came crashing down on top of him. Further up the ditch he could see another one of these wooden bridges being raised before dropping across the gap and turning to look the other way discovered one already in place in the other direction with Republican troops pouring across it.
There was a shouted command and the troops standing above reformed and began pounding across the makeshift bridge and once across he could just see they were reforming their line on that side. Except for the dozen or so men who lined the edge of ditch keeping an eye on the surrendered Germani. Sejanus began helping organise the wounded, doing what could be done for the poor fellows and eventually he and a couple of the Germani made a sort of seat out several of the dead bodies and sat on their gruesome perch to await their fate.
Corotoc formed his remaining men up on the far side of the ditch and they began firing on the retreating Germans once more. New supplies of arrows had been brought forward while they had halted to await the ditch being bridged which enabled them to keep firing although the rate of fire was dropping away rapidly as the men tired.
He heard the blare of the horns and got his company into motion using the same advance three paces, fire and then reload while the other rank passed forward that they had been using before crossing the ditch. Up ahead the Germans were trying to reform in front of the three regular Auxilia units that were as yet unengaged.
He would remember the sight of those masses of Germans charging forward for as long he would live, he thought to himself, as he slowly advanced with his men. It had been like a massive wave, immense and unstoppable. If it had not been for the ditch they would not have stopped it either, of that much he was certain. The firepower of these manuballistas was immense, better than any normal bow he had ever seen if not as quick to fire, but their fire alone would not have been enough to stop such a large force of well protected men without the ditch.
There came a blare of horns over to the right and a force of fleeing cavalry could be seen riding off into the distance while the seemingly intact massed Republican cavalry moved through the scrub quickly but in an organised group, soon getting behind the flank of the Germans. Suddenly the whole mass wheeled and lined up in perfect formation two ranks deep obviously ready to charge into the flank of the still disorganised Germans.
Corotoc’s men were barely a hundred paces form the milling Germans when they were ordered to halt. They continued firing into the Germans who were huddling in front of them. He looked up and down the line and thought that maybe four thousand remained of the enemy remained, perhaps less. At this range they were dying like flies and anyone who looked like they were organising a counter charge was shot to bits before he could advance more than a dozen paces. Suddenly there was a ripple in the huddling mass and the horde simply dissolved as they fled both backwards and to Corotoc’s left away from the cavalry threatening their flank.
The regular Auxilia behind them were completely disorganised by the routing Germans and many simply ran off with the fleeing barbarians. The remainder tried to re-organise their ranks once the Germans had fled, preparing to face the advancing Republicans who now outnumbered them. The order to cease fire came down the line and the men thankfully stopped firing. There were going to be a lot of very tired and sore arms after so much cranking of the manuballistas.
Corotoc was surprised they had been ordered to stop firing. The Imperial Auxilia, while muddle
d by the German rout were still well organised and as his men rather disorganised and tired from their exertions. He rather thought the Imperials would have a clear edge in combat despite their being outnumbered. Of course, the Republican cavalry on their flank might have something to say about that. He took a moment to look around the battlefield now that things had reached a temporary lull.
The Republican line stretched left and right from where he was, if not parade ground straight at least fairly level. The artillery on the far left had been moved from their position on the outcrop although he could not see where they were now. Behind him could see the first of the German prisoners being helped out of the ditch and organised into holding groups under guard. Over to the right he could see the cavalry sitting on their horses, their tall lances held upright with the pennons waving in the steady breeze.
In the far distance he could vaguely make out a few of the fleeing Imperial cavalry with maybe a century of Republican cavalry in disciplined pursuit. To his front beyond the Auxilia the now completely broken Germans were rapidly opening the distance between themselves and the Republican army. A small group of horsemen appeared on the right between the infantry and cavalry lines. Corotoc immediately recognised Arturo, his aide Oween and another officer whose name he had forgotten. With them rode another cavalryman who had a head impaled on the top of his lance. Behind rode the now four strong black clad female bodyguards of the Dux.
The mounted party rode up to within thirty paces of the Auxilia and halted. Corotoc could hear Arturo shouting words at the Imperials but was too far away to make out what was actually being said. There was a pause after he had finished his speech and a small group of men came forward from the ranks of the Auxilia. They appeared to speak at length with Arturo, the man with the head on his lance dismounted and showed it to them and then there was more talking. Corotoc guessed it must be the head of Combrosius.
