Before Manius left the fort for his meeting with the Suevi Commander, he instructed Tomaeus and his Commanders to complete the work on the fort. He kept the Auxiliaries in the woods they occupied the previous evening and even told them to push deeper into the woods to stop any possible Suevi flanking maneuver. He emphasized that the Suevi must not be allowed to get behind the fort under any circumstances.
Manius’ ideal scenario for this battle would have all the Auxiliaries in the fort along with the Triarii reserve while his 2000-man Hastati and 2000-man Principes would form up together outside the fort in a triplex acies. He intended to mask their presence by positioning them under the back walls and, when appropriate, to swing around the fort and engage the Suevi in close order battle. This scenario would have the entire Suevi army attack across the open field, pass over the hill, and hit the fort head on. But, as he discussed with his Commanders, battles rarely go as intended.
Other likely scenarios included twin Suevi secondary attacks that pin his Auxiliaries in the woods, preventing them from returning to the fort to man the walls, while the main Suevi attack goes directly for the fort and the Romans manning the walls. In this scenario, he would be unable to assist the Auxiliaries with the Triarii. His only reserve would be the 600-man cavalry, who would be completely ineffective in the woods. They could, however, be used to take the pressure off the Auxiliaries by attacking the rear of these secondary attacks. These options and possible scenarios had been thoroughly explored with his Commanders. He told them all to remain flexible and not be wedded to any particular plan. Suevi actions will dictate the final battle plan.
Manius sat in his chair eating as Ariovistus rode up and dismounted. Manius was taking a chance. He had few guards and none with standard Roman equipment. He was continuing the charade he initiated at the bridge by appearing unwarlike and rather simple. He stood up when Ariovistus was about 30’ away and said, “Last time we stood and talked according to Suevi custom; would you sit with me and talk today according to Roman custom?” Ariovistus nodded his ascent and Manius had a stool brought for him. “So far, so good,” he thought.
Manius had his men bring food to Ariovistus who refused it with a wave of his hand and spoke, “Roman, as you undoubtedly know, I crossed the river with two armies. One is here and the other is missing. Have you seen them?”
Manius replied, “Yes, we saw them two days ago heading west, and then they entered the thick forest moving in the direction of the mountains. Perhaps, they’ve gotten lost in the mountains with their numerous twisting valleys.”
Ariovistus did not expect a straight answer, but this one had merit. It was possible that Vocion decided to get into the mountains to shake Roman eyes and to better position his force for an attack.
“Good answer; why isn’t your army on the hill this morning like they were yesterday,” Ariovistus asked with a smirk. “They didn’t get much sleep last night,” Manius replied. “They were putting out fires all night,” and he smiled to match that of Ariovistus’.
“Yesterday, you fired ballista at us. I’ve heard about these weapons, but have never seen one,” said Ariovistus.
“Would you like a demonstration of their capability?” asked Manius. Ariovistus nodded. Manius turned to one of the men standing nearby and said, “Have the ballista show our guest what it can do.” He mounted up and rode for the hill. While they waited, Manius sipped some wine and offered a cup to Ariovistus, which he accepted. Within a few minutes, a huge lumbering wagon pulled by four horses appeared on the crest of the hill. It stopped and three men could be seen disconnecting the wagon from the horses and working on the machine that lay in the bed as a rider raced for the wood line some 400 yards away.
He dismounted upon reaching the woods and attached several shirts and trousers to a tree about 6’ up to serve as targets. The men pushed the wagon in one direction than another as they lined up the ballista with the target. Manius explained their actions to Ariovistus who watched with eyes glued to the distant weapon. The right arm of the crew leader on the wagon shot straight up in the air, signaling to Manius that the weapon was ready to fire.
Manius raised his arm, as rehearsed, held it for a second, and chopped it downward. The release of the arrow was audible even 500 yards away and its flight could clearly be followed. It smashed into the target and sent the clothes flying. Ariovistus audibly drew a breath! He was truly impressed. To have hit the target from so great a distance was unheard of! “How long before it can do that again,” he asked. Manius lied and said, “About 10 minutes.” When he heard that, Ariovistus dismissed it as a threat to his army and his mind moved elsewhere.
Manius signaled for more wine, which Ariovistus accepted. As the wine warmed his stomach, Ariovistus got talkative and asked Manius about Rome, its land, and people. Manius gave expansive answers, which seemed to satisfy Ariovistus’ curiosity.
After about 30 minutes of questions and answers, Ariovistus smiling broadly said, “Why don’t we settle this business with a fight between just you and me. Our armies could watch. If I win, Rome stays out of the Brenner and the Valley and if you win, we stay north of the Inn River?”
Manius laughed! “You are fully a head taller than I and at least 50 pounds heavier. What chance would I have?”
Pretending to let the wine talk, Manius continued, “There is no one in my entire army of 5000 that could beat such a warrior as you. Let’s have our armies fight it out to decide the future, but here on the field of honor, not in the woods like squirrels scampering among the trees. That’s how Roman men settle differences.”
The hair on Ariovistus’ neck began to rise and he felt his temper stir. “Are you saying we are not men? If you want to fight here, I will grant you your wish. We will fight” and with that he poured his remaining wine out on the ground and rose from his chair. “We do not fear your ballista or your puny soldiers. Good bye Roman.” And with that, he spun around and walked back to his waiting horse.
Manius felt good. He had bought about 90 minutes and was fairly certain that the Suevi army would now attack straight up this field to his waiting army. It was a huge gamble, but he now planned to recall the Auxiliaries from the woods. He sent a rider ahead to assemble his Commanders and calmly rode back to his lines as his men broke down the tent and put it on a waiting cart.
“Before the Auxiliaries leave the woods and again take up their position on the hill as bait, have them build brush piles in the woods, like they did last night. Also gather up caltrops from the Legionaries and sprinkle them in the woods before you leave. Snake, I want you to place 100 archers in the north and 100 archers in the south woods to ignite the brush just in case the Suevi come that way. The fires and caltrops should blunt any flanking attack. If the Suevi stay out of the woods, your archers can still support the fort from that distance. Place your remaining archers on the walls and in the towers.
Rasce, as we discussed, be prepared to attack the rear of any Suevi advance through the woods. If they attack straight up the field, as I now think they now will, I envision you sweeping around our left flank to hit them in the flank and rear. Wait for my command. Optio form the Legion, minus the Triarii, outside the fort. Have them sit down and drink plenty of water. Then, on my command, have them sweep around the south side of the fort to the front. Servilius, be prepared to move the Triarii out of the fort and onto the north side to box them in. I will be in the observation tower. Tomaeus, that tower better hold me!” Everyone laughed as they exited the meeting.
Joseph stood in the tower as he watched his two friends Accius and Tertius move outside the fort with the Hastati. He had been greatly relieved that were still alive after the fight with Vocion’s men, but still angry he had been was unable to join them. Last night around the tent group fire, they told Joseph about the battle. He listened with rapt attention. Surprisingly, no one expressed any resentment that Joseph was safely in the rear with the wagon train while they fought. He was greatly relieved, but overwhelmed with guilt. Accius tol
d him that after throwing his two pila, it actually felt good to run downhill and charge the Suevi. He said running and yelling broke the tension and when he saw so many Suevi fall from the pila, he realized they weren’t invincible. Tertius added that our stabbing technique with the gladius as opposed to their overhead swinging was much better. Joseph hung on every word and stayed with them until they were ordered back to work on the fort. He resolved that, one way or another, he would join his comrades for the fight tomorrow.
Andreas’ Auxiliaries built the brush piles and then ran to the field to form up on the top of the hill. Excitement was high! Andreas told them they would march along the back side of the hill, stop, turn, and then advance over the top forming a long line. Andreas told them, “Your job is to stand here at the top of the hill until the Suevi begin their advance some ¾ of a mile to your front. When the advancing Suevi are about 400 yards away, you are to “flee” the hill in “panic,” race to the fort, cross the ditches on the temporary bridges, and take up your positions on the walls.”
Legionaries had already stock piled the walls with caches of stones every 25’ or so. The archers filled the towers and were to have priority on the walls until the Suevi entered the final ditch. At that point, the Auxiliaries would throw the rocks and ignite the pitch-soaked brush in the ditch. The wooden walls by the ditch were coated with mud up to a height of 4’ to prevent them from catching fire.
At 1000 hours, Manius issued orders for the troops to eat a light meal. The bulk of the preparation for the battle was complete and the men now had time to cook. Manius was concerned that they would have to go too long without food and become weak and lethargic just when they needed to exert themselves. Since the Auxiliaries were busy building brush piles and then would be standing battle ready on the hill, Manius had the Legionaries prepare extra food and it was carried up to the Auxiliaries in carts. Those men too sick, injured, or wounded to fight were placed in the towers. The senior man among them was designated a sentry and instructed to continuously scan the surrounding countryside for signs of any Suevi surprises.
*******
1100: The Suevi army was almost giddy as they filtered out of the woods and into the field. They were well rested and had eaten a hot breakfast. From the onset, they had only heard how inept the Romans were; how ill prepared they were to fight; and how they outnumbered them by at least 2 to 1. At this point, most Suevi soldiers were ready to get this over with and return home. They all figured on an easy fight, unlike when they faced the Teuton and Cimbri. Ariovistus’ orders to his Commanders had been simple and straight forward: “Assemble in the field and wait for me. We will attack the Romans standing on the hill to the front.”
*******
Bethica spent a restless night as she mentally reviewed the options open to her. Yesterday, her scouts had scoured the countryside from the river to the mountains for a distance of about 5 miles east of Telfs and found nothing. She concluded that Vocion and the Romans had to be closer to Innsbruck and the Brenner Pass. “It is possible,” she thought, “that the Romans had already fled back south through the Pass when they saw the size of her father’s army.” When she talked with her father at Schwaz, he told to link up with Vocion, but if the battle had already been fought by the time she arrived in the area, then her mission was to block any Romans escaping from the battle area. She called her Commanders to discuss their next move.
When they had assembled, she said, “As you know, yesterday, our patrols found neither Vocion nor the Romans. If the Romans are still in the valley, they must be closer to the Innsbruck-Brenner Road and, by now, very close to our main army. In fact, the battle may very well be over. This morning at first light, I sent out patrols with instructions to continue the search all the way to the Brenner road. Unless we hear from the scouts, my plan is to hold the army together here for a few more hours and then spread them out north and south to block any escaping Romans.”
For Bethica, the tension was unbearable as she waited for word from her patrols. Her men, on the other hand, welcomed the inactivity and freedom to just sit and rest. Just as she reached her breaking point, two highly agitated scouts raced into the camp calling her loudly by name. She approached them. “Just tell me what happened,” she said in a calm voice.
“We got as far as Ranggen,” one of the scouts said. “That’s where we saw the bodies of Vocion’s army and, out in the field, the Romans were fighting your father’s men from a big fortification with 20’ walls,” said the other. “That’s when we left to come and tell you. We ran the entire way.”
Bethica was greatly disturbed, but hid it as she looked at her Commanders. They had assembled when they heard the scouts calling for Bethica. She said, “Assemble the army. I want to approach Ranggen on a broad front to catch the Romans running away from the battle. Kacili take 1000 men to the road by the river and keep even with me as we move forward. I will lead the remaining 2000 directly to Ranggen through the woods. We move in 5 minutes. It was 1300 hours. Ranggen was 8 miles away.
*******
About 1120 hours, Ariovistus rode out of the woods to address his men. He felt no need to deliver a stirring speech in order to motivate them as they were already well motivated, so he simply reinforced their view of the waiting Roman army and their expected victory. He pointed in the direction of the river and Innsbruck and told them that tonight they would all be home with their families. His remarks were greeted with wild enthusiasm. The men patted each other on the back, joked, some even sang songs. It was more like men at a celebration than men preparing for a battle.
1130: The Suevi army, 11,000 strong, moved forward in a mass. Ariovistus led them on his horse. About 20 horsemen rode on the flank. The advancing army yelled and hollered, but for their own fun and amusement rather than to steel their courage. When the distance closed to half a mile, the younger and more excitable warriors began to push their way to the front in anticipation of running. As more and more of them got to the front, they increased the pace and the shouting became more warlike. With 400 yards to go, the leading edge suddenly took off. Thousands of young men now raced for the hill and the waiting Auxiliaries, which was their signal to turn and flee in “panic” back to the fort to man the walls.
As the Auxiliaries began to disappear from the hill, the entire Suevi mass cheered and broke into a run. The intent was to catch the fleeing Romans before they got too far away. A gap of about 100 yards had now opened between the younger faster runners and the bulk of the army.
As the first wave of the pursuing Suevi crested the hill, they found themselves looking down at a fully manned wall that stretched almost the entire length of the hill and not the fleeing Romans they expected to see. Most stopped dead in their tracks while a few others kept going, but at a slower pace as their eyes darted about. They were all completely surprised by what they saw and it took them a few seconds to figure out that this was an enemy fortification. When this information processed from their eyes to their brains, they started forward again, helped in part, by newcomers arriving behind them who pushed them forward in order to see better themselves.
The 800 archers on the walls and in the three towers held their fire. Their orders were to fire when the Suevi hit the first ditch 40’ from the wall and then to fire as accurately and as fast as they could. The archers on the two side towers were told to fire on any Suevi who tried to run around the sides of the fort. Manius watched as the first wave of Suevi crested the hill. He could see their surprise. He hoped the ditches and caltrop off on the flanks would prevent any Suevi from coming around to the sides. So far it was working, but the real test would come when the Suevi mass came over the hill.
From his position in the observation tower, Manius could see the Legion hidden along the back wall and hoped the Suevi could not. The Auxiliaries stood behind the archers on the wall. Some were holding rocks and others torches to light the brush in the final ditch. The Triarii stood at the ready in the center of the fort. Moments later, the Suevi mass burst
over the hill. The sight gave everyone a chill. There were so many of them.
Ariovistus spurred his horse so he could keep up with the leading edge of his men, but pulled up when he reached the base of the hill. He turned and rode back to the bulk of the army and waved them forward. The cavalry rushed by on his left. As they passed him, he stopped his horse and just watched. There was nothing he could do at this point and he was wary of stray arrows. He would go over the hill later. He had not lived this long to be killed or wounded by a randomly fired arrow.
The archers in the woods adjacent to the hill watched the mass of Suevi flow onto and over the hill. It was clear to them at this point that no Suevi were coming through the woods so they moved to the edge of the woods and even into the field. The distance from them to the Suevi was about 300 yards, which was a long shot, but within their range. They held their fire until they saw the archers on the towers begin to fire, then they fired arrow after arrow into the mass.
The ballistae crews had winched their bows back and placed arrows in the slide. They were told to aim center mass unless Suevi horse appeared. Horses were to be their number one priority. Their number two target was Suevi attempting to get around the sides of the fort. Manius told the ballistae Commander that he expected the Suevi cavalry to come over the hill on the flank of the infantry and that by targeting the horses, they could turn a Suevi asset into a deficit. Wounded horses charging uncontrollably around the battlefield can destroy formations and cause soldiers to watch out for them more than the enemy. Earlier, Manius directed that four ballistae be placed on the two outer edges of the wall facing the hill and the remaining four grouped in the center of the wall. All the crews were prepared to pull back from the wall when the Suevi got close. Defending the wall was the responsibility of the infantry not ballistae crews.
Legio XVII: Roman Legion at War Page 33