*******
Rasce’s first belt of cavalry and mounted archers guarded the north-south Innsbruck-Brenner road. His second line was two miles west of the first line and extended from the river to the mountains. His final line was a mile east of Kematen. It was almost 1300 hours when the first line of horsemen spotted about 5000 men crossing the fields to their front and moving in their direction. They sent back word immediately to Manius and held their position. They alerted the other cavalrymen across the entire belt and soon Rasce rode up to see for himself. “When they get within 200 yards, shoot your arrows and ride back to the second belt,” he told them, and then he rode south to the woods where his other cavalry waited. Within 30 minutes, Rasce and the scouts could see the Suevi making their way through the woods. They fired a hail of arrows at them and rode back to the second belt.
An hour later, the second belt spotted the advancing Suevi, brought them under fire, and then rode back to the third line.
Manius plotted the advance of the Suevi on his map. He figured that in about two hours they would be in Kematen, which was his starting point earlier in the day, and about two miles from the hill he now occupied. He did not like the fact that about 5000 of the Suevi were in the open close to the river. This group could easily get around behind him and attack his left flank. Somehow, he had to force them back into the woods with the rest of the Suevi army. Calvus,” he called. “Look here at the map.
Half the Suevi army is about two miles away in the open space north of the woods. As they get closer, we need to force them south and into the woods. I want you to take all 6 ballistae and move them immediately to the road and prepare to fire. When you’re set up and the Suevi are even with Kematen, come and get me. Go now and hurry!” Calvus got 12 horses and rode over to where the ballistae crews were waiting to go into the fort. “Hook up the horses and 6 weapons. You’ve got a new mission.” Within 15 minutes, they were galloping to the wood line.
Manius was keeping track of the advancing Suevi and watching Tomaeus work his wonders on the fort. Tomaeus was one of a kind. After Calvus directed the removal of the Suevi dead from the site of the future fort, Tomaeus successfully orchestrated the work of 9,000 men as they dug the ditches, cut trees, built palisades, and erected the observation tower requested by Manius. He worked the men in shifts to ensure they all ate and had plenty of water. By 1400, the major work was about 50% completed not counting the myriad details that make or break the successful defense of a fort.
The fort was on relatively flat ground about 75 yards from the crest of the hill. The base of the triangular shaped fort was 1400’ in length and ran parallel to the hill. This side had three fighting towers suitable for archers; one on each end and one in the middle of the wall. The two sides were roughly 700’ in length. There was one gate where the walls met with a tower over it. Tomaeus dug two 8’ wide by 8’ deep ditches with a tradition “V” at the bottom completely around the fort. The walls of the ditches were bristling with short sharpened stakes to deter anyone from attempting to climb through them or to impale those unlucky enough to fall in.
The first ditch was just below the walls of the fort and the second lay some 40’ out. In addition, Manius directed Tomaeus to dig a series of short ditches close to the top of the hill and angling in towards the fort. Deadly caltrops were sprinkled liberally on the enemy side of these ditches. He hoped these obstacles would encourage infantry and horse to attack straight on and not sweep around to the sides of the fort.
The walls stood 10’ high or 16’ from the bottom of the ditch. Dirt from the ditches and additional timber was used inside the fort to create a platform about 6’ wide and 4’ below the top of the walls for the defenders to stand on.
Manius told Andreas to place 4000 of the Auxiliaries in the fort to man the walls. He calculated he would allocate 2’ per man and stack them 3 deep on the 1400’ wall. He planned to station 500 men each on the other two walls. This would leave him with a 900-man Auxiliary reserve, which he told Andreas to position behind each of the three interior walls in three groups of 300 to act as a reserve.
He also envisioned situating the 1500-man Triarii in the center of the fort. Ideally, at the critical moment, he would use them to march out of the fort and sweep around the north side of the fort to engage the Suevi. His alternate idea was to use the Triarii as a final reserve if the Suevi successful stormed the fort.
He planned to place the Hastati and Principes just outside the walls on the back side of the fort and use them to sweep around the front of the fort. He told Rasce earlier that when the cavalry completed its screening mission to assemble his men in the woods behind Ranggen, and to be prepared to attack on order.
A rider raced up the hill to where Manius stood and told him the ballistae were prepared to fire on the Suevi who were in the open alongside the road. The other half of the Suevi army was now entering the mile long woods leading to the open field. As Manius raced to the waiting ballistae, he knew everything was riding on driving all the Suevi into the woods. Manius also had in mind the fact that he did not want to reveal too much capability.
When he saw Calvus and the waiting ballistae, he said, “Optio, load all the ballistae, but only fire four arrows. If that doesn’t drive them into the woods, we’ll fire more, but at this point, I don’t want them to know how many ballistae we have or their rate of fire.” It was 1500 hours.
*******
Ariovistus was extremely annoyed with the constant delays that the archers forced on him. He did not mind the minor casualties they caused, but the day was slipping by and he still had not made contact with Vocion. The Roman cavalry along with their cowardly archers had effectively blocked his men from finding Vocion and had also cost him at least two hours, maybe three.
He was perplexed as to the location of the Romans. He thought they would be hiding immediately behind their cavalry, but the cavalry just kept moving west - and still no Romans. He had only brought enough food for six days and this was already the end of the third. He decided to spend the night in the woods they were now entering, just past Kematen. He still kept half his army in the open by the river, but had to keep reining them in to keep pace with the slower moving men in the woods.
“Ballistae, ballistae!” the cry went ringing through the woods. Soon a man came running up to Ariovistus and told him the Romans were firing huge arrows from about 500-600 yards away and had just killed and wounded several men.
Ariovistus painfully mounted his horse. When he arrived at the wood line, he was shown a ballistae arrow and could see wounded men lying about. With some trepidation, he entered the open field and had some men point to where the ballistae were sited. He could not see anything. “How many arrows were shot at you,” he asked. “Four,” was the answer. “Stay in the woods from now on,” he told the Commander. “In fact, move over and tie in with the rest of the army. The Romans must be close by.” Then he asked, “Have you heard anything from Vocion?” He knew the answer before he asked and felt stupid for asking.
“Ballistae,” he thought. He had heard of them, but never seen one. But for now, he had to get off this horse. It was about 1600 and he decided to camp for the night. Maybe tomorrow they would make contact with Vocion and find the Romans with their cowardly bowman and ballistae.
*******
As soon as Manius was told the Suevi had crossed the Innsbruck-Brenner road and were committed to continuing west, he sent mounted couriers to recall the 500 Cenomani guarding the entrance to the pass. He instructed their Centurions to move the men 5 miles northwest to Vols, which is about 2 miles east of Kematen and 3 miles from the Suevi army. Their mission was to guard the east-west road along the river and intercept any Suevi retreating from the coming battle. Manius’ optimism was reflected in his planning.
Scouts reported that the Suevi appeared to be making camp for the night and the entire enemy force was together in the woods less than 2 miles away. Manius figured there would be no battle today, but this could always be
a ruse. He expected that Suevi scouts were probably watching him at this moment from the wood line ¾ of a mile away. Well, that was expected and he had something for them to see.
Four thousand Auxiliaries now stood on the crest of the hill facing east along with almost 600 archers and 200 horse. Manius had them spread out from woods to woods. His 5000 Romans remained in the fort undetected and hard at work erecting palisades, towers, and digging ditches. He intended to maintain this posture until it was dark and then send the Cenomani to the north woods and the Rhaetians to the south woods into pre-selected positions.
Manius hoped these forces would stop any Suevi nighttime attempt to get behind the hill through the woods. He told them to set up multiple piles of dry brush in the woods strategically placed to illuminate likely avenues of approach. The archers would be divided between these two units. There were all given strict orders: “No fires and no noise. You must remain undetected.” This meant another night of cold food.
The cavalry had mostly been recalled except for a few elements that still scouted the area between the Suevi and the Pass, some 5 to 6 miles of mostly woods. Their orders were to report a Suevi attempt to circle wide behind the fort from the south. The Romans in the fort took up their positions along the entire 2800’ of the walls and all but one ballista was now in position along the 1400’ portion of the wall facing the hill. Manius hoped to use the remaining ballista to gain more time for his men to finish building the fort. He had this ballista crew mount their weapon on a heavy wagon pulled by four horses and position it just shy of the crest of the hill and out of sight of the Suevi. He hoped to entice Ariovistus to talk with a promise to display the ballista.
*******
Ariovistus’ men were just beginning to set up their camp for the night when the scouts returned. Cook fires were just catching hold and the men were relaxed and in a good mood. Ariovistus was sitting with his back resting against a tree. He was feeling his 55 years and was in a sour mood. From the very beginning, something about the Romans and this entire campaign made him uncomfortable. Maybe he was too old to do this anymore. Nothing made sense. It was not conventional. The meeting at the bridge; the killing of the 500; the taunting Romans; the fire on the bridge; the disappearing Romans; Vocion; the ballistae. He was not even clear who he was fighting. He was guessing at their strength and did not know their location. He felt tired. In fact, he was tired of leading and tired of cold winters. “Maybe it is time to rest,” he thought to himself.
“Sir, we found the Romans!”
“Where,” asked Ariovistus, suddenly feeling rejuvenated.
“About a mile farther east through the woods; we were just in the wood line looking across a wide open field and we saw them.
“What were they doing; how many did you see?”
“We saw about 5 or 6 thousand men on a hill in the middle of the field. They were just standing there facing us.”
“Go back and tell me if they do anything else,” ordered Ariovistus. “So the Romans finally want to fight,” he though.
Ariovistus summoned his Commanders and reported the good news to them. Some proposed attacking immediately, before the sun set. Most urged caution and wanted to wait for Vocion fearing they would lose too many men if they attacked without him. Ariovistus added that “Even though we have the advantage in manpower, they own the hill, which nullifies our advantage. We need to push them off the hill. As far as Vocion, yes, it would be better if he would attack them from the rear while we strike the front, but we need to face facts, we don’t know for sure what’s happened to him. Knowing Vocion, I suspect he’s behind them right now waiting for us to launch our attack, but we can’t count on that.”
He continued, “Here’s my plan: as soon as it gets dark, I will send 2000 men to the north of the hill in the woods by the river and 2000 to the south. In the morning, at first light, I will signal the attack by sending our remaining 7000 out into the field and directly against the hill. When the men in the north and south see us attack, they will attack. This plan should catch them all even any hiding on the far side of the hill. As soon as it gets dark, in another hour or so, move your men out. Keep quiet so they don’t detect you. The main force will get up at 0400 and attack at first light, about 0600.” Ariovistus felt much better; even his back did not hurt any more. “Finally,” he thought, “We will have an end to this.”
*******
While it was still day, Snake’s archers set up numerous piles of brush in a line about 20 yards in front of their positions, which was integrated in with the Auxiliaries’. The entire battle line was only about 15 yards inside the woods. They soaked the piles of brush with pitch and took several practice shots. Aiming stakes were set up for nighttime firing and arrows were wrapped in pitch soaked cloth. Manius stressed to Snake that they should expect a major Suevi attack. He told them it was logical that the Suevi would want to occupy the flanks of the battlefield. He said it was not a matter of “if” they come, but when. Snake passed this warning along to his men. Just before dark, Manius told the Auxiliaries and archers to leave the hill and take up their positions in the north and south woods.
*******
The 2000 Suevi going north and the 2000 going south had similar experiences. The Commanders wisely assembled their men before it was dark and sent out guides to find a route to where they would spend the night. Despite these precautions, both groups got lost immediately. The group going north ended up at the river and had to retrace their steps. By accident, they eventually bumped into the missing guide who led them back to the woods. They advanced quietly in single file. The bright moon made walking easier. They were unaware that they had already been spotted and that the Auxiliaries and archers were concentrating to intercept them.
When the Suevi Commander could just make out the edge of the woods and open field through the trees, he passed the word for the men to come up on line to his left and right. Once everyone was on line, he passed the word to move very quietly up to the edge of the wood line and then to stop. They saw and heard nothing suspicious. The first indication they had that they were not alone was when dozens of arrows were suddenly lit. They stood watching as these pinpoints of flame grew larger and were flying through the air. It still did not make sense to them and they continued to simply stand and look.
The brush piles caught fire instantly and the dark woods became like day. They could clearly see each other in the light and presented perfect targets. Hundreds began dropping with arrows sticking in them before the Commander began yelling to retreat. They ran through the woods and only stopped when they hit the open field by the road. They did not know it yet, but they had left about 300 dead and dying men in the woods.
It was past midnight when the first Commander returned to camp with his weary men. Ariovistus was sleeping soundly and had not heard the commotion. The Commander feared Ariovistus’ reaction to the failed attempt and decided to not wake him. He walked off and simply went to sleep. When the second Commander returned about 0200, he woke Ariovistus and told him that the Romans were waiting for him. He speculated that someone had tipped them off which meant there was a spy in the camp. His ploy was to get Ariovistus focused on the spy theory and to overlook his failure. It worked. The first Commander heard Ariovistus’ loud angry cursing about spies and decided this was not a good time to discuss his own failed mission. Eventually, the camp settled down.
Four o’clock came and went and the camp continued to sleep. There would be no attack this morning. It had taken Ariovistus an hour to fall back to sleep. Before drifting off, he decided to sleep late and let the men rest. By 0600 the camp was up and preparing food. They had been told the night before that they would attack at dawn, but were happy to have slept instead. Ariovistus assumed that the 2000 that went north had met the same fate as the other 2000 and no one told him any different. He heard from those around him that they had lost men last night, but did not hear a specific number and did not bother to ask. He felt very tired this morning and r
eally wanted to be somewhere else. Things were not going well.
*******
As soon as the Suevi fled the woods in the north and south, the troops frantically scrambled to put the fires out. The brush piles had almost burned themselves out, but, in the process, started numerous ground fires. After about an hour, the fires were mostly out and the archers began rebuilding their brush piles in case the Suevi returned. Meanwhile, Snake and the Commanding Centurion walked back to the fort and woke Manius with the good news. Manius smiled as they told the story. He was also pleased that they had no casualties. Two hours later, the other Centurion reported in from the south woods. Manius listened attentive, asked a few questions, complimented the Centurion, and dismissed him. In a few hours he would set up his tent in the field by the woods and invite the Suevi Commander to talk, but for now he could get another hour of much needed sleep.
*******
About 0630 hours, one of the scouts told Ariovistus that there was a group of Romans in the field about 300 yards from the wood line and they are setting up a tent. Ariovistus thought, “That Roman I met at the bridge wants to talk again. Well, so do I!” He called for his horse, selected a half a dozen men to accompany him, and worked his way to the edge of the woods. When he looked out, he saw Manius sitting on his camp stool eating with five men standing nearby. It was the same scene he had witnessed about a week ago. This time, he was more curious and eager to talk. In the back of his mind, he hoped this delay in the battle would allow Vocion the time he needed to get into position. It frustrated him that he could not figure out where Vocion was.
Legio XVII: Roman Legion at War Page 32