About the time the first wave of attackers hit the 40’ ditch, the Suevi cavalry burst over the hill in full gallop on the Roman right flank. They expected to pursue fleeing Romans, but instead saw a fort, ditches, and their own warriors running downhill. They pulled up abruptly when they saw the short oblique ditches that lay to their immediately front. Some horses broke left, hit caltrops and limped to a stop despite their riders angry urging. Others turned right and hit their own men.
The ballistae crew saw the horses come over the hill, made quick aiming adjustment, and triggered the firing mechanism. The release of the ballistae was inaudible above the din of the attacking Suevi, but the sound of wounded and dying horses was heard by many that day. Some arrows missed the horses, but most flew with deadly accuracy. The effects were immediate. Horses and riders careened wildly over the field causing panic in their unpredictable paths. In a few seconds, the Suevi cavalry was rendered useless and a number of Suevi infantry were trampled.
The Suevi’s arrival at the 40’ ditch was the signal to fire arrows from ballistae and archers. In one minute, the archers’ unleashed 9600 barbed missiles into the men bunched up at the ditch. The four ballistae in the center caused untold horror upon the now crouched and cowering men. Arrows do not always kill; they wound five times as often. Wounded men tried to crawl back up the hill to escape, but were stumbled over by the onrushing hoard. By chance, it was at this moment that Ariovistus decided to ride up the hill on his horse. The unexpected clamor perplexed him. He had also seen a ballista arrow sail over the hill and crash into the woods behind him. He was concerned for his personal safety, but decided to advance.
As he crested the hill, he stopped. What he saw was beyond comprehension! Archers were thick on the wall and towers firing into his unprotected men. Horses were crashing about without their riders. Huge ballista arrows thumped into squirming masses of men. This was not what he expected to see!
Suddenly, he was lying on the ground and his horse was falling besides him. He rolled to avoid getting crushed and saw the huge arrow protruding from the side of his dying horse. He got up and ran for the backside of the hill. His body guards followed. All were ashen faced. They were seeing a Suevi disaster unparalleled in their history. He stayed on the far side of the hill while dozens of thoughts raced through his minds. Some of his aides bolted for the woods, but most stayed with Ariovistus. After a few minutes, Ariovistus crawled back to the crest of the hill and peered over. This could not be happening. He watched with horror, but also a certain amount of fascination.
Once the Suevi cavalry was knocked out, the eight ballistae on the edges of the wall turned their weapons on the center of the Suevi mass surging toward the walls. Many were now through the first ditch and running for the wall. Each of the eight ballistae could only fire a few arrows before it was time to allow the Auxiliaries to take their place. The ballistae crews and the archers had done their work and began pulling back to allow the Auxiliaries to continue the fight with rocks, spears, and swords. Over 4000 Suevi lay dead or wounded. The survivors were demoralized, but their pride and honor kept them going.
A few Suevi warriors opted not to attack the wall to their front and instead chose the seemingly easier path to the side of the fort. They quickly became the focus of the archers in the towers and changed their minds.
The 4000 Legionaries who stood just beneath the south wall received a steady stream of information from the men on the wall above them, but still knew little of the battle raging just 500’ away. They were waiting for orders to swing around the fort and into the space between the front wall and the 40’ ditch. Once into this position, they were to throw their pila, draw their gladius, and engage the enemy. The Triarii and Rasce’s cavalry would block the Suevi on the other side and the archers were ready to move back on the wall to support the infantry.
The Auxiliaries threw their torches and the brush caught instantly. This caused the Suevi to temporarily abandoned their attempt to scale the wall and were now were trying desperately to dodge the barrage of heavy rocks and spears descending on them. Manius watched from the tower. It was time! He signaled Calvus, who was on the wall above the waiting 4000, to attack! Manius then took out a red cloth and waved it back and forth in the direction of Rasce and the cavalry. Rasce responded immediately that he received the order. The cavalry came out of the woods and lined up. The Triarii was already massed at the gate and stood waiting for the order to march out and block the Suevi escape.
Joseph who never strayed more than a dozen feet from Manius, stood at the base of the tower and heard Manius’ command to Calvus. He had been feeling left out and not fully respected by his peers. He was a trained Legionary, but had never participated in a battle. He was curious to know what it was like and how he would react personally. He made a snap decision. He grabbed his shield and pilum and bolted for the gate to intercept Calvus. “Sir,” he said, “Request permission to join the Hastati.”
Calvus said, “Yes,” while on the run and Joseph followed him.
Calvus ran to the gate and worked his way to the front of the waiting men. He looked at them for a few second and yelled, “Are you ready?” With one voice the Legionaries came to attention and growled their response. Calvus drew his gladius and waved it forward as he led the troops out into the open. As Calvus brought them around to the front wall and straightened their lines, the archers resumed their place on the wall and the Auxiliaries stepped back. This would prove to be a costly mistake.
Joseph was wide eyed and tense. He found his place near Accius and Tertius. Joseph was now in the front line. As he advanced, he tried to remember his training. He told himself that this would not be a choreographed dance with ordered steps, but a wild and violent encounter. In training, his instructors demonstrated how barbarians fight. Unlike Romans who block with their shields and thrust with their swords, the enemy tries to batter you into submission. He remembered holding his shield while the instructor simply overwhelmed him with repeated sword blows all over his shield and legs. It was like a heavy rain pounding on him that he could not escape. With practice, he learned to remain calm, trust in his shield, and to use it to push and batter his opponent.
The Hastati threw their pila and rushed forward with drawn swords. For the Suevi who survived the pila assault, this was something they understood: man to man combat. They rushed screaming at the Romans who butted them backwards with their shields and quick low thrusts with their gladius. Despite their fierceness and bravery, the Suevi were no match for the Roman shield and body armor. Joseph was in the thick of it and fought well. He could see the man across from him. He saw the sweat, the wild eyes, and dirty beard. He pushed, butted, and thrust his gladius, which always hit something; he just did not know what. His shield was constantly jarred by repeated sword strikes. Once it was almost ripped off his arm by a violent downward pull.
Joseph heard the whistle to rotate, pushed hard with his shield, and stepped back. He quickly moved to the right, backed up, and turned. His shield slid over his back as he went to the end of his line. His replacement immediately took up the fight. Joseph was exhilarated, more so than he had ever been before. His heart was pounding; he was breathing rapidly and wet with sweat. He felt strong and aggressive. He started yelling, encouraging his fellow Legionaries. Within 10 minutes, he was once again face to face with a wall of Suevi. His shield rocked with the blows. It was hard to keep his footing with the Suevi pushing from the front and the sideways bumping from the Legionaries on his left and right. He was grateful to the Legionary behind him who steadied him with his shield and free hand. Joseph was in constant motion pushing with his shield, blocking, swinging left, thrusting up and always stabbing with his gladius. He was quickly becoming weary. His shield arm burned with exhaustion and began to tremble. His movements slowed. The horns sounded. The Principes were passing through and he let down his guard.
The Principes crashed through the Hastati and continued to push the Suevi across the front of the fort wh
ile the archers fired a relentless stream of arrow into the tiring warriors. As Joseph gave a final push with his shield and began to turn to step back for the advancing Principes, he felt something hit the unprotected part of his shield arm. It did not hurt, more of a burning sensation, and he quickly forgot it. When he took up his new position behind the Principes, he felt lightheaded, weak, and stomach sick. It was then that he saw his arm was cut to the bone and blood was pouring onto his shield. Everything went black.
*******
Seeing that the Hastati and Principes were now driving the Suevi across the front of the fort, Manius ordered Servilius to move the Triarii out of the gate on the run and swing around to the front of the fort. The jaws of the trap were swinging shut. The Suevi would soon be pinned between the Triarii on one side and the advancing Hastati and Principes on the other. The Triarii came around the edge of the fort and aligned them just as the Suevi broke under the assault of the Hastati and Principes’. They had time to throw just one pila before the Suevi ran in every direction, except at them. The fire from the burning brush in the ditch closest to the wall was almost out, but the thick smoke obscured the hundreds of Suevi who now chose scaling the wall as the safest escape route. They chose well.
The Auxiliaries manning the walls had long since exhausted their supply of rocks and pila to hurl downward. Similarly, the archers had fired all their remaining arrows. The desperation of the Suevi to avoid the onslaught of the Legion exceeded the determination of the Auxiliaries to repel them. The Auxiliaries were no match for men frantically seeking to escape certain death.
*******
Once his cavalry were on line, Rasce urged his horse to a gallop and the entire force surged forward. When they were still about 100 yards from the fort, some of the Suevi began to break and run for the woods. This is what the cavalry understood: pursuit! And they were very good at it. Their four horned saddles held them firmly in their seats while their six foot lances did their deadly work.
Despite the unfolding Suevi defeat in front of the fort, the battle for the wall had tipped decidedly in the Suevi’s favor. The Auxiliaries were being beaten back. In a set piece man-to-man fight, the Auxiliaries were like a rock, but defending a wall was another matter. Like an avalanche, the Suevi broke over the top of the palisades. The Auxiliaries began giving more and more ground.
*******
Manius craned his head forward and shaded his eyes. He thought he could see Ariovistus at the top of the hill as he stood up, turned, and disappeared over the far side. Manius ran down the tower; called for his horse; and yelled for his personal body guards to follow him, “And bring an interpreter,” he yelled. The gate opened and he raced out and over the hill, being careful to swing wide of the caltrops. He could see Ariovistus and a few of his men in the distance running for the woods they occupied earlier in the day. He could also see three Roman cavalrymen bearing down on him and yelled for them to break off their attack. Manius easily rode in front of the Suevi Chief and now faced him. Ariovistus stopped running and was breathing hard, so hard, in fact, he could not speak and was bent low at the waist catching his breath.
*******
Manius had focused so intently on Ariovistus in the few minutes before riding out of the fort that he failed to see the desperate struggled that was unfolding all along the east wall of the fort. The Auxiliaries were slowly being pushed back from the edge of the wall and Suevi were now inside. Only a few at first, but their numbers were growing rapidly. Auxiliary fighters were now beginning to jump off the fighting platform to save themselves.
The Auxiliary Commanders, Taluric and Lugano, stood with their combined 900-man reserve force in the center of the fort and could see the walls were slowly being breached. However, instead of sending the entire reserve force to expel the Suevi, they sent 50 here, 100 there. They were sending men to the wall in a piecemeal fashion while the seriously deteriorating situation actually called for more drastic action. In some cases, these reinforcements could not even get to the wall because the defenders, their own countrymen, were fleeing in ever greater numbers and blocking their access. Andreas pleaded with the two Auxiliary Commanders to commit their entire force to the wall, but to no avail.
*******
Manius dismounted and got a shield from one of the men. He waited patiently while Ariovistus slowly recovered from his exertion. When he gauged that Ariovistus could speak, Manius said, “Earlier today you wanted to fight me man to man and, if you remember, I didn’t say no. You may recall that I simply said you were bigger than me.” Then, flush with victory and throwing all caution to the wind, Manius said, “Here’s my answer, let’s fight now if you still have the stomach for it.”
That enraged Ariovistus; he drew his sword and rushed at Manius with a yell. Ariovistus raised the sword high over his head and held the handle with both hands. He intended to split Manius in half! Manius raised his shield, braced himself and waited until just before the sword came crashing down, and then violently thrust the shield upwards into Ariovistus arm and face and thrust his gladius into his upper thigh. The Suevi sword never hit the shield; instead, it dropped harmlessly to the ground as Ariovistus crumpled with his hands pressed hard on the wound and his face distorted in pain.
Manius backed away from Ariovistus instead of delivering a lethal blow. He had other plans for him, but he was not finished. Manius was feeling a rage he had not felt since he was a young Legionary; he wanted to fight. “Get up,” he shouted. “Fight!” Ariovistus got to his feet. Warm blood ran down his leg. He picked up his shield and sword and faced Manius.
“You could have killed me Roman. Why didn’t you?”
When Manius did not answer him, Ariovistus lunged at Manius pushing his shield into Manius’ shield and swinging his sword low at Manius left leg. Manius saw the arm movement and barely pulled his shield free to parry the stroke, but not before it left a deep gash just above his knee. Manius screamed and backed up as the pain spread through his body. Now he was bleeding. His head filled with cotton and he dropped to one knee. Ariovistus saw his moment and rushed at Manius. His sword rose over his head. Manius lifted his shield to block the blow and thrust his gladius at Ariovistus’ exposed and bleeding thigh. The sword hit the same wound and penetrated even more deeply. Manius felt it hit bone. Ariovistus bellow in pain, twisted away, and renewed his downward swing at Manius’ shield. The force of the blow drove Manius to the ground. His head and neck now totally exposed. Ariovistus drew back his sword for a thrust into the throat and then stopped. He looked into Manius’ eyes as Manius looked at him. Ariovistus backed away a few steps and lowered his sword. He had won, but he felt no victory. He looked up at the hill 300 yards away and could hear the sounds of battle, but knew he had lost not only the battle, but also his army. He dropped to both knees as Manius slowly rose to a sitting position. Both were now covered with blood and exhausted. Ariovistus may have won his fight with Manius, but he had a serious wound and was losing too much blood.
Manius sat for a moment and then pushed his shield away. He took his scarf off from around his neck and tightly wrapped it around his leg. He was feeling stronger. Ariovistus rolled onto his side then lay on his back. For the first time in his life, he felt he was dying. Manius crawled over to Ariovistus to look at his wound. “We’ve got to stop the blood flow.” As he moved his hand to place it over the wound, Ariovistus drew his dagger from his belt and weakly swung it at Manius shoulder. It hit armor! Manius grabbed the dagger and said, “I want you alive; we can help each other”
“How,” said Ariovistus through clamped teeth.
“You will allow commerce to pass freely through Innsbruck. You will stay out of Raeti territory. If you do these things, Rome will help you fight your enemies.” Ariovistus nodded his ascent and passed out.
*******
Bethica pushed her troops hard. She stayed in the woods and advanced quickly with her men in four loosely organized columns. She expected to find the Romans trying to escape. At 1500 hours
, she arrived at Ranggen and stopped at the wood line. To her dismay, the ground was littered with Suevi dead that Calvus had placed there earlier. She estimated 3 to 4 thousand. She was stunned!
In the field to her front, she could see a triangular shaped fort with towers and thousands of bodies lying on the surrounding ground. Soldiers, she assumed to be Romans because of their strange equipment, were standing and walking among the bodies. Small isolated groups were still fighting, but obviously the battle was mostly over and it appeared that her father had lost. She was physically sick. She slid off her horse, bent over and threw up. She knelt down. Her fingers dug deeply into the ground. She was devastated. The Suevi army and probably her father were all dead.
Davenhardt saw Bethica’s distress. He helped her to stand up and encouraged her to be strong. “Your men need you now and, if your father and Vocion are dead, the entire Suevi nation needs you. Mourn later. Be a Commander now.”
Bethica got up. She knew Davenhardt was right. She sent a runner to recall the 1000 men on the road then washed her face and took a long drink of water. She had to think clearly. Revenge filled her heart. She wanted to lash out, but then she began to think. She said to her Second-in Command, Kacili, “These Romans have defeated Vocion and his 6000 men as well as the 11,000 that were with my father. If I fight them, we may lose another 4000, which the tribe cannot afford. I could evade them by turning around and fleeing back into the mountains, but that would devastate the men’s morale. Running in the face of the enemy is not an option. I could approach them to learn more about them and try to establish a relationship between equals. But if they want to fight, we will fight.” He concurred.
The 1000 men from the road joined the main body at a run. While still out of sight of the Romans, Bethica spread her men out in one thick long line. She instructed then to draw their swords only on her command and to advance silently. She planned to approach the Romans in battle formation, but to try to first talk with the Roman Commander. She mounted her horse, adjusted her sword belt, took up her shield, and ordered the line to advance out of the woods.
Legio XVII: Roman Legion at War Page 34