In broken Latin, he called out, to no one in particular, “You men going to Clastidium?” In years past, he had often seen such columns coming and going from Genua to the fort.
Vitulus called a 10 minute break and spoke to the man. “Anyone at the fort old man?” he asked. “No not since nine years ago when Hannibal captured it and killed the guards.” “Any idea how the walls and gate are these days?”
“Everything needs to be replaced. What Hannibal didn’t destroy the weather and time surely have.”
“Are we going to meet any hostile forces?”
The old man laughed. “Anyone who can lift a sword or throw a spear is down south with Hannibal. And us? We are going to starve this winter because no one is tending to the fields. If you’re in the fort this winter, people will be trying to break in looking for something to eat. It’s going to be bad.” That was an interesting bit of intelligence. Vitulus gave him some Roman rations, which were received with much gratitude.
When they were about a day out from the fort, Vitulus sent a cavalry detachment to the fort to determine its condition. The report they brought back was encouraging. The gate and the wooden wall it was attached to were broken beyond simple repair. They would have to be replaced, but the other walls and buildings internal to the fort simply needed some care. They were usable.
During the march, Vitulus continued training his men. He would stage mock attacks and form his men into battle lines. One night he announced a surprise night time attack on the encampment to see how rapidly the men could occupy their assigned positions on the ramparts. The Ligurians were quickly folded into his scheme of defense and offense. Once, upon entering a low area with hills on both sides, he stopped his unit, formed them into battle lines, and sent the cavalry up the hills to conduct a detailed search since it was a perfect ambush site. But not this time. The next day, they arrived at the fort and, to the Legionaries’ great relief, the fort was still strong enough to occupy, post guards, and let the majority of the troops rest. There would be no digging tonight, but the Ready Maniple remained under arms and alert.
Vitulus let the men and animals rest from heavy work for three days during which time fodder and firewood were gathered, supplies were stored, and immediate defensive needs looked after. For the cavalry, however, there was no rest. They began actively patrolling the region early the first day and never stopped.
Information is the key element to success in any mission. In that regard, Vitulus’ Ligurian spy master Quiamelius, who was hired by Elitovius, proposed a plan to hire locals to observe and report what they see in their villages and surrounding areas. He devised a scheme whereby information could be passed to the Romans without compromising the spies. Vitulus approved the plan and Quiamelius began his life saving work.
Vitulus and his subordinate leaders also did not rest. They inspected the fort and noted what needed to be done. They rode around the immediate area looking for stands of trees that would meet their construction needs and also looked at the fort through the eyes of an attacker.
This inspection technique was a very interactive process. Everyone was encouraged to speak his mind particularly on those topics for which he was the acknowledged expert. The archer, for example, explained where he would place his archers if he were attacking the fort. The commander of the ballistae teams did the same. They identified places where the enemy could establish his base camp, where he could form his battle lines, and how he could attempt to storm the fort. They also thought long and hard about what deception and surprises they could incorporate into a plan to attack the fort. Each of these possibilities was factored into the defensive plan that Vitulus was formulating and would announce in the coming week.
A key piece of hardware that Vitulus planned to incorporate into his defense was the caltrop, which is a small hand thrown metal device used to deny access to a specific area. It is composed of four sharpened spikes attached to a common center. When thrown, it rests on three spikes and presents the fourth point upright. These devices had been around for years, but not yet fully incorporated into Legions’ operational planning. Manius saw their value and managed to secure one for every member of his command. Each Legionary carried one with him in the field.
On the fourth day, the recovery period from the long trip from Rome was over. Vitulus sent out teams of men to cut and gather wooden poles to replace the gate and damaged parts of the wall. He knew it could take as long as a month to make the repairs and add additional fortifications and did not want to be surprised while the work was in progress. With that in mind, he gathered a 50-man cavalry escort and rode out to discover what was around the fort in terms of villages, forests, rivers and so forth. His cavalry scouts provided a steady stream of information, but he needed to see for himself.
During the ride, he found that most of the villages were in desperate condition. Their animals had been eaten for food in the hard winter; there was little seed for the planting season just a few months away, and most of the young men were nowhere to be found. It was a grim picture and ripe with implication for his mission.
In his weekly report to Tribune Tullus, Vitulus mentioned the grave situation of the surrounding villages and speculated that they could be expected, in the short term, to be lined up outside the fort begging for food. He noted that in a sense, it would be like enabling their enemies if they were to feed them, but, on the other hand, Rome would earn their eternal hatred if they did not.
Two weeks later, Tullus’ response was clear and straight to the point. His letter said, “Feed them now and give them adequate seed stock to ensure a good harvest later. Take precaution to avoid food riots when you distribute the food. I am also sending 300 cows on the next supply ships to Genua, to replace the ones they killed for food. Ensure they go only to the local villages.” Vitulus concurred with Tullus’ solutions. It would have been hard on the Legionaries to turn away starving people.
By mid February, the fort had been mostly repaired and strengthened. The local people had adequate food and seed stock for planting and the weather was warming a little more every day. The system of letters that Tullus instituted was working well and Legionaries morale was exceptionally good. Discipline problems were at an all time low. Two men had climbed the walls recently and visited the closest village seeking female companionship. They were reported missing the next day and caught a few hours later. The women had been paid for their services and had no complaint. Vitulus put the men on bread and water for a week.
To solve this problem, Vitulus established a camp a short distance away and invited the women to stay there. Food and other necessities would be provided to them and the men could visit with permission at their own expense. In time, this camp outside the fort grew into a thriving mini village as the locals sold and traded goods with the Legionaries.
Vitulus’ cavalry scouts and Quiamelius’ spies gave him frequent reports of activity in the surrounding area. Towards the end of February, they reported an ominous turn of events. More and more armed young men of fighting age were observed arriving back at their villages to begin planting the summer’s crops. They came in groups of 10, 20, and even 100s.
Vitulus figured that these men were warriors fresh from Hannibal’s camp and should be occupied for the next month or so with farming. One night the village that had grown up almost overnight outside the fort was mysteriously burned to the ground and anyone in the make shift huts associated with providing services and goods to the Legionaries was killed. Vitulus knew that this was the Insubres’ response to collaborating with Romans. It was about this time that Tribune Tullus notified Vitulus that the 2500-man Etruscan Auxiliary unit should arrive at the fort in mid March and instructed him to quickly train them in the day-to-day defense of the fort.
The forest had been cleared to about a quarter of mile out from the fort and some of the cut logs and debris had been used to fill in the three existing ditches in the fields surrounding the fort. The all important gate and supporting walls were rebuilt a
nd strengthened and four new watch towers had been constructed at the four corners of the fort.
The four ballistae were set up in these towers as their primary position, but other firing positions had been prepared at several points along each wall to receive the weapons should they need to concentrate their fires. Archers and the ballistae had test fired their weapons to get various ranges in the fields surrounding the fort and markers were set up to facilitate aiming. Every day, the two dogs and a small security detachment patrolled around the fort.
The troops had already completed the digging of a 15’wide 10’ deep moat around the fort. Sharpened wooded stakes were imbedded in the walls of the ditch and caltrops were spread on its floor. It was now time to give the ditch its final touch. He directed his men to partially fill the ditch with dry brush and then soak it with a flammable pitch-like substance that he had obtained from the navy’s supply ships. His intent was to light the brush to thwart a storming of the fort. He separated the brush in the ditch to correspond to the side of the fort. This way if he wanted to torch only one side of the ditch, the flames would not spread. To provide nighttime illumination, piles of pitch soaked grasses were placed about 20-30 yards out from the walls on all four sides of the fort. The archers placed aiming stakes along the walls to ensure their flaming arrows would hit the piles in the dark of night.
Vitulus also began sending out two-man listen posts every night and positioning them in the nearest wood line opposite the fort’s four walls. They were to listen and report any suspicious sounds to prevent a surprise attack. This was an extremely hazardous and nerve racking duty for the men involved. Initially, the fort was alerted several times throughout the night because of what turned out to be animals moving about the woods. In time, the listen posts learned to differentiate between animal and human sounds and the fort settled down to a manageable level of heightened alert.
Once the fort was strengthened and supplies were flowing from Genua, Vitulus restarted training his men. He mixed individual and unit training as well as personal fitness to keep it interesting and to provide motivation. He established competition and a rewards program. Exceptional individuals were even sent back to Rome for short visits. The men were highly motivated and willingly kept in fighting shape. One night, Vitulus staged a mock attack on the fort in the middle of the night to ensure the troops could respond rapidly to a real attack. Because of his concern that the fort might be attacked at night, Vitulus increased the size of his rapid reaction force to two Maniples.
In early March, about the time that the newly promoted Praetor Tullus and the Legion were arriving in Brixia, Quiamelius reported that the Insubres as well as the Ligurians were beginning to talk about attacking the fort and had already held several meeting among the various village Chiefs and Elders. Apparently, there were as many that favored an attack as there were against it and a decision could go in any direction at this point. The older men wanted to complete the spring planting before undertaking an attack, if at all, while the younger men were for an attack as soon as possible.
Everyone acknowledged that the fort appeared well defended and that an assault would be difficult, but with proper planning, not impossible. The Insubres figured that they needed about a 5 to 1 manpower advantage, or about 5000 men, to successfully storm the fort. Eventually, it was decided to not attack, for the time being. That decision did not sit well with the younger men and soon a 19 year old firebrand named Bellovesus, more brave than smart, began to rally like minded individuals. He went from village to village drumming up support for an immediate attack.
After vigorously recruiting for a few weeks, 1000 men decided to join him. Bellovesus planned for a 0200 attack during a new moon phase when the sun, moon, and earth are perfectly aligned thus ensuring total darkness. During the week preceding the night of the planned attack, Bellovesus’ scouts watched the fort and its routine from their vantage point in the surrounding woods. They went undetected by the Roman cavalry patrolling the area. During the night, they withdrew to report their observations and, thus, failed to spot the Roman listening posts that moved silently into their positions just inside the wood line.
On the day designated for the attack, the band formed up about a mile from the fort while there was still some light and began to walk single file through the wood. Every tenth and eleventh man carried a crude 20’ ladder that would be used to span the Roman ditch and also scale the fort’s walls. As they entered the shade of the trees, the sun was setting and it grew darker and darker. In no time, the column was lost. Bellovesus called a halt and sent out several individuals to find a way to the fort. Several men in the long column immediately fell asleep while waiting for the pathfinders to return.
Eventually, two men returned and said that they found their way and could take the attackers through the woods opposite the fort. The column started moving again, but one sleeping individual about mid way in the column did not wake and everyone behind him continued to sit in the dark either sleeping or waiting for the line to move again.
The two-man listening post on the north side of the fort picked up the unmistaken sounds of humans moving through the woods. They listened for a while and then ran back to the fort where they exchanged passwords with the gate guards and ran to the guard house. “Centurion, we heard a large group of people moving towards our position in the woods. They were coming from the north. They must be armed because we heard the sounds of shields hitting branches and other equipment like spears or armor.”
“Can you estimate the size of the group,” the Centurion asked as he quickly dressed.
“No sir, just that there was a lot of noise.”
“Good job, return to your Maniple.”
The Senior Centurion on duty that night with the two Ready Reserve Maniples went immediately to Centurion Vitulus’ room, knocked, and softly told him what the listening post reported and that he had already ordered the two Maniples to man the walls.
Vitulus told the Centurion, “Awaken the Legionaries, but do so quietly. No noise, no horns, or whistles. Have the archers standing by on the north wall to light the brush. I’ll meet them there.
A few minutes later, Vitulus stood on the wall intently listening and heard the faint sounds of men walking. He turned to his waiting archers, three of the best, and told them to light their arrows and fire at the brush piles. The arrows were already wrapped in pitch covered reeds and readily took the fire from the burning oil lamp. The archers leaned out over the wall, drew their bows, aligned their arrows with the angle of the pointer sticks affixed to the wall, and fired. The arrows, travelling at approximately 135 mph, hit the brush piles in just under half a second and immediately ignited the pitch. Within another five seconds each blaze was about 12” high and illuminating a 100 square foot areas.
Bellovesus was taken completely by surprise. He had picked up the soft sounds of men moving about inside the fort, but had no idea he had been discovered until arrows streaked through the night’s utter darkness and three piles of brush began to burn. He was now totally frustrated and very angry. Minutes earlier, he had spread out his men and reiterated his instructions to walk quickly and quietly for the wall of the fort about 200 yards straight ahead. He had no idea what had happened to the other 500 men, but he took what he had and began advancing to the fort.
He was just able to make out the top of the walls when the arrows were lit and fired. In the glow of the burning arrows, he got a quick glimpse of helmets manning every foot of the wall. He and his men were spotted when they were about even with the burning brush. Without thinking, he yelled “attack” and immediately ran for the wall. The others followed and were met with a hailstorm of arrows. They scrambled down the ditch surrounding the wall to avoid the arrows, but then found it too deep to easily climb up its dirt wall. They were standing on shifting brush that made solid footing impossible. Some stepped on the caltrops and yelled out in pain.
Bellovesus then smelled the pitch and yelled, “Go back, get out of the d
itch; go back to the woods.” But it was too late, deadly pila were already raining down on them; suddenly torches were lit at the top of the wall and joined the pila. Bellovesus picked up a few torches, as did some of his men, and threw them back, but there were too many and the brush had already begun to burn.
As men tried to scramble out of the ditch, now fully illuminated by the fire, they were easy targets for arrow and pila. A few managed to escape the nightmare, but almost the entire 500 perished including Bellovesus. The 500 who had been left in the woods saw the fire and instinctively moved in that direction. By the time they arrived at the edge of the woods, the fight was mostly finished. They stared for a while and slowly slipped back into the woods and out of sight.
The next day, the Romans retrieved any usable pila and arrows from the battle and then invited the surrounding villages to remove their dead from the ditch. Vitulus reasoned that everyone by now knew of the brush and pitch, so no surprise remained there and opted to allow the people to carry away what was left of the bodies. He was surprised by the number of people that actually came and hoped that they would be impressed with the fort’s defense. Maybe this would deter another attack. The bodies that were not carried away were covered with dirt. The men threw fresh brush in the ditch and covered it with pitch. He notified Praetor Tullus by courier the next day of what had happened and proposed a punitive attack on the surrounding villages. When Manius received the report, his response was firm and to the point. “Yes, go to the surrounding villages, but not to punish. Go to them to offer assistance and express your sympathy to the parents of the slain Insubres youth. The intent of our expedition is to turn enemies into friends not give them one more reasons to hate us.”
Chapter VII: Among the Gauls 209 BC
Legio XVII Departs Rome ~ February 1, 209 BC
Despite all the obstacles, on January 1st, 209, the 1600 man Triarii, which had been evenly divided between Centurions Servilius and Vitulus, sat in their ships ready to sail north. Half of them were at Aternum on the east coast and the other half at Ostia on the west. The ships were loaded to capacity with their supporting archers, cavalry, and draft animals. The weather was fair for rowing and everyone was eager to be underway. After five months of training and preparation, the waiting was finally over for this part of the mission.
Legio XVII: Roman Legion at War Page 21