Then she realized with horror that more soldiers like him would soon be coming through her door. She thought, I need to hide. Under the bed? No, that’s the first place they’ll look. Where? She grew desperate. She took a deep breath. Think, she said to herself. What would Kuno do? I’ll leave the dead soldier where he is. They’ll think that he and Kuno killed each other. The fireplace! She crawled to the blackened hearth. The front was stacked with still smoldering logs and several pots still hung suspended above the once burning breakfast fire.
She reached out and touched the walls. They were warm. Her finger tips were black. She rubbed her palms on the wall and transferred the soot to her face, then her legs and hands. More logs. I’ll build it up higher and hide in the back. She grabbed three pieces of wood and stacked them on top of the burnt one. As she squeezed herself alongside the logs and under the pots, her dress blackened with soot. She sat with her legs drawn up tightly to her chest.
Soon the door burst open and two soldiers entered the hut. Alina could see their feet. They saw Kuno and one of their own, both dead. They riffled their pockets and walked quickly through the hut flipping the bed over and opening the food bins. Alina saw feet approaching the fire place. They stopped at the opening. She held her breath as a hand appeared and dipped into a pot. “Empty,” he said to the other man, and they both walked out the door. Alina let out her breath, but didn’t dare to move. Her heart was pounding.
After an hour, the killing was over. Shelters were looted, livestock gather up, and the food bins emptied. A few of the men had qualms about killing children, but did it anyway. Most thought nothing of it.
Later that day, Aze and Lugius were given a count of the dead and wounded. Six thousand mercenaries would no longer fight, and 50,000 Suevi, mostly civilians, had died.
The mercenary army left Bad Tolz the following day. Their wagons were loaded with a 60 day supply of food and loot to please the entire army.
A week later, the mercenary army entered the outskirts of Innsbruck. The cavalry already told Aze and Lugius that Innsbruck, like all the other settlements they had passed, was completely deserted. The army stopped to rest while the cavalry scouted the surrounding area. The ground showed evidence of heavy wagon traffic heading west. Every shelter was searched for food or loot. Many were burned. A cavalry detachment crossed the bridge to find the road to the Brenner Pass and found more empty huts and farms. Nothing remained. Wheel ruts in the dirt showed that people had crossed the bridge and gone west. Cavalry followed the trail and very quickly discovered Fort Seefeld.
Aze, Lugius, Haggith, and the other leaders rode to the fort. It was half the size of Bad Tolz, but they could see the walls were thick with defenders. As they rode closer, they were met with a hail of scorpio arrows. Several horses were hit. They immediately retreated a safe distance to discuss a course of action. No one had the appetite for another siege. They had already lost too many men and they had all the supplies they needed. They made a decision to cross the mountains at the Brenner Pass and continue on to Genoa.
Aze disagreed. He saw the fort as an opportunity. “Maybe we can bluff them into giving up their gold and silver. I think if they see the size of our army, they would consider paying a tribute to have us ride away and leave them in peace. Let’s bring up the army and I will go forward to issue our demand. Pay us or we will attack!” The others agreed that it was worth the effort. The army was marched to Seefeld and arrayed in a battle formation at the southern entrance to the fort and the valley. They filled the valley’s mouth.
Bethica, Nasua, and the troops in Seefeld could easily see that they were badly outnumbered. Once the army was displayed, Aze rode forward with a single aide. He held his hand off to the side in a gesture meant to imply ‘I am coming to talk.’ It was a brave deed considering the scorpio the Suevi had fired earlier.
Bethica instructed the crews to hold their fire. She was interested in hearing what the man had to say. He rode to within 50 feet to demonstrate his lack of fear. Nasua yelled out, “That’s close enough! What do you want?”
Aze dismounted in a further display of bravado and walked to the edge of the ditch surrounding the fort. He addressed his comments to Nasua. Bethica and Davenhardt stood alongside him. “I am Aze, Commander of the Taurisci. You can see that the army behind me could easily surround your fort and eventually conquer it. We want to spare you. In exchange for your lives, we demand a tribute. Fill a wagon will all the gold and silver you have and send it out of the fort. We give you one hour to comply, or we will attack. Your life and the lives of your brave men are surely worth more than gold and silver.” He then turned around and walked back to his horse. His face and arrogant attitude were seared into Bethica’s brain.
Nasua looked at Bethica. He had no intention of paying them a tribute, but it was Bethica’s decision. She said, “Prepare the men to fight. They want gold; we will give them iron!”
The hour passed, and the army marched away. Bethica smiled and slapped Nasua on the back. “I’m glad that’s over,” she said with a wide grin. The following day, June 30th, the mercenary army crossed the bridge and made their way up the hill to the Brenner Pass.
*******
On July 4th, the mercenary army stopped at Bauzanum. It was obvious from studying the ground that a large number of wagons had come to this point from several directions and then proceeded west. Bauzanum itself was completely deserted. A small cavalry detachment of five men rode west searching for the wagons and people.
After about five miles, they were stopped by a row of huge boulders stretched across the road. They heard shouting above them. They looked up and saw a cloud of rocks coming down from the heights above. Horses and men were hit and dropped on the road dead or seriously injured. One rider quickly turned his horse and raced back down the road. A rock had hit his shoulder and his arm hung limply at his side. Each mile he rode, the pain grew more intense. Unable to sit up any longer, he lay on the horse’s neck. By the time he got back to Bauzanum, he fell to the ground barely conscious.
His comrades could see the external damage, but not the ripped muscles and torn tendons inside. He did manage to tell them what happened, so Aze, Lugius, and Haggith were informed of what awaited them if they pursued the Raeti. They opted to continue on to Trento.
Brenner Pass at Red marker (Google Maps)
Two days later, on July 6th, they reached Trento. They found Timo’s residence and were impressed even though it had been stripped of anything personal, valuable, or decorative. It was grand with its many guest rooms, multiple kitchens, and elaborate staircase and fireplaces. That night, the leaders had a banquet in the Hall and drank from barrels of beer intentionally left behind. The idea was to get the mercenaries too drunk to do much damage.
During the feast, Haggith told Aze and Lugius that Carthaginian recruiters had also gone to Scodra, Illyria to amass another force of 20,000 men. He guessed that they would be about a week ahead of them and, perhaps, now in the vicinity of Brixia. Neither man seemed surprised and welcomed a larger army to fight the Romans. Haggith dangled the possibility that Mago could sack Rome with such a large Army. That bit of news piqued their interest and they talked about it for the remainder of the evening. Eventually, they staggered off to bed and slept.
The next day, the army was gathered up and put on the road. Torches were thrown into the King’s residence, but failed to ignite anything and harmlessly burned out. Most of the other huts in Trento were not so fortunate.
The Roman blocking position with 31,000 Legionaries and Auxiliary troops lay four days down the road.
*******
The Illyrian Mercenaries
Mintho, Bostar, Sirom, and their cavalry escort departed Scodra, Illyria along with 20,000 Ardiaei, Albani, and a scattering of other Illyrian tribes. Their Commander was Dindar, an experienced warrior who had just defeated the Macedonians. He was intelligent, capable, and like his King, diplomatic and sophisticated. It was clear to the Carthaginians that Dindar knew hi
s business, and they just needed to stay out of his way. Dindar had two men who each commanded 10,000 troops: Andis and Sali. They too were professional soldiers.
The Army departed Scodra on May 17th accompanied by a large wagon train of food, supplies, and weapons. Horses rather than oxen pulled the wagons and the army made about 15 miles a day. They traveled in groups of 5,000 men and made four separate camps at night. Each group of 5,000 traveled with 50 cavalrymen and 50 archers. Their tents consisted of four poles used to support a leather tarp that was coated with wax and animal fat making it waterproof. They were only tied down in windy conditions.
Since they were passing through friendly tribal lands, the army refrained from looting and foraging. People in the settlements even handed the passing army fruit and other edibles to ensure their good behavior. One evening in camp, Mintho told Dindar, “We sent men to Ptuj and Posonium to recruit Taurisci, Boii, and Eravisci warriors. We should be behind them by a few weeks.”
“How many men?”
“I don’t know the exact number, but it could be 30,000.”
“With that many additional men, Mago should be successful. Perhaps, we will actually sack the city of Rome. Then we will all be rich,” he said sarcastically. He knew it wouldn’t happen.
The army was professional, disciplined, and knew its business. Dindar posted his cavalry to the front and mixed archers in with his advance party. Cavalry brought up the rear.
They covered the 530 miles to Trieste in 35 days. Dindar granted the men a one day rest on June 17th, after which they began the 165 mile, 12 day march to Verona. Trieste marked the boundary of tribes allied with the Illyrians. From Trieste westward, the foragers and looters were free to roam the countryside, and that slowed the pace. The settlements all along the northern crescent of the Adriatic suffered extensive damage. The Veneti took years to recover.
The Roman-built fort at Mestre escaped the looting and was the exception. In 210 BC, Servilius provided the settlement with Roman construction expertise and weapons training in exchange for troops to defend Patavium. He helped Chief Axius build a strong fort around his settlement. The Illyrians decided it was not worth the effort and bypassed it. Easier targets were readily available.
As the cavalry approached Verona, they kept in the woods to observe. The settlement appeared deserted. The advance guard spread out. Dindar was told Verona was just ahead, and he halted his men about three miles from the settlement. He sent Bujar and his 5,000 men in a wide loop to approach Verona from the south and Landi’s 5,000 to come at it from the north. After 90 minutes had passed to allow the men to get into position, he instructed Andis to move his remaining 10,000 men on the road towards Verona. As they approached the outskirts of the village, Andis put 5,000 of his men on one side of the road and 5,000 on the other. The three forces converged on the settlement, drew their swords, and charged into the village. They opened every door and searched every hut. All the people, animals, and food were gone.
When Dindar learned that the village was deserted, he turned to Mintho, “They knew we were coming; I’m not surprised. Word of our approach has spread throughout the area. I suspect the people are hiding nearby, but we have enough food to last awhile. I don’t plan to search for them. I am concerned that the settlements from here on will be empty like Verona. My foragers will have to go out farther out to gather grain. We’ll stay here for a few days to rest the men and animals.”
Lake Benacus lay 18 miles due west. Two days later, on June 30th, Dindar pushed out his cavalry and advance guard and began marching west. Little additional grain had been gathered, but his army was well rested.
Chapter VI: Prelude to Battle 205 BC
On June 8th, while the Legions rested and repaired their equipment, Manius gathered his four Legates, Calvus, Caile, Lugano, and Taluric as well as his other key leaders and planners; it was now time to plan the defense of the blocking position. Earlier, he told his two clerks, Acamus and Pittacus, to take notes, and whenever he tasked someone to do something, to write it down and prepare a short note for his signature. “Canutus, when can we expect the grain wagons, supplies, and onagri to arrive?”
“Sir, they were scheduled to depart one week after we left Rome. That should put them here in two weeks, barring any unforeseen problems. Sir, when they arrive, four Maniples from Legio XVII and V Etrusci will be escorting them. I suggest we make other arrangements for any future escorts.”
“How much grain are they carrying?”
“Sir, they should have a 30 day supply.”
“And we arrived with a 30 day supply. We may not need any more grain, but I’ll talk to Segovesus to see if he’s in any position to resupply us if we need it.” Manius then looked at Tomaeus. “On the 10th, we start building the ramparts, parapets, gates, and towers, right?”
“Yes sir and following that, we’ll begin constructing the Legion camps, the west facing wall, and dig the ditch on that side. It’ll look the same as the river wall. Simultaneously, we’ll begin working on the islands’ defenses. We’ll extend the river wall out into the lake and connect it to the far island. We’ll build 12 foot high dirt ramparts topped with a five foot parapet around each island and connect the islands with bridges. I think we can complete the Legion camps, west wall, and the island defenses in two weeks, June 24th. When everything is done, we will have rectangular Legion camps inside a rectangular fort.”
“That’s cutting it close,” said Manius. “When you build the connecting wall across the water to the island, I want you to build a gate about 50 feet from the end of the river wall. I want it to be inconspicuous. Don’t put towers around it. Make it look like it’s part of the wall. I don’t plan to defend this gate, but we will use it when we need to cross the Mincio. Put in a similar gate on the wall that connects the west wall to the islands in case we need to get out of the fort on that side.”
“Tomaeus, when the Legions begin to work on their individual camps, I want you to pay particular attention to the granaries. The food may have to last two months and I don’t want it to spoil because of faulty construction. I know that you already laid out eight camps, but we will only need five. You’ll have to reconfigure the spacing. I want Legio XVII closest to the lake, followed by the two Raeti Legions, then V Etrusci, and one Cenomani Legion at the south end down by the swamp. I plan to place the second Cenomani Legion on the islands.”
“Place one onager between each of the five Legion camps and one on each side of the first and last camp. I’ll hold four in reserve to fire over the east or west wall. What will be the distance between the two walls?”
“Sir, 330 yards. Each of the five Legion camps will be 1600 feet long and 900 feet wide. Each camp will have an eight foot ditch completely surrounding it. The two ramparts for the river wall and west facing wall will each be 20 feet wide. That leaves 20 feet between the rampart and the ditch around each camp to allow the troops to move about. That all adds up to 330 yards.”
“Good. The Legion camps will be our fallback position should the mercenaries get over the walls. Lugano, I’ll put my headquarters with your second Legion camp, camp number 3.”
“Let’s discuss manning the walls, but first, Vitulus, tell me again how the mercenaries could attack our position.”
“Sir, they have several options available to them. Initially, they will not know our strength or disposition. All they will see is the river, the ditch, and the wall. If they think the walls are sparsely manned, I believe they will attack all across the front in one massive effort. When they are repulsed, I think they will regroup and attack the islands and the wall down by the swamp at the same time as a diversion. Once those attacks are underway, the main attack will focus on a narrow part of the wall, maybe 500 yards wide. They will use scaling ladders to climb the wall, which should be 33 feet high from ditch to parapet, and also use three pronged hooks to try to pull down the parapets on top of the ramparts. I think their archers will try to keep our archers in the towers ducking for cover so they wi
ll not be able to fire down the length of the wall.”
“I think that’s a reasonable analysis. Tomaeus, when you begin to build the towers on the river wall, I want them big enough to hold at least four archers and two scorpio each; one scorpio to fire north along the wall and the other south. The towers will probably have to have two levels; the first for the scorpio and the second for the archers. Put shutters on the front openings to protect the men inside from fire coming at them from across the river. I want the archers and scorpio to deliver their fire primarily down the length of the walls. If we need to fire across the river, they can open the shutters to do so. How many towers do you plan to construct?”
“Sir, I plan to space them 200 yards apart and put one on each of the four corners. That means the wall facing the river will have about 15 towers, and the wall facing west will have another 15. With that kind of spacing, the scorpio and archers will only have to fire 100 yards in either direction before their fire would overlap with that of the adjacent tower.”
“That should be adequate,” said Manius. “What are your plans for the islands?”
“Praetor, I plan to do basically the same construction there as we’re doing here by the river. The lake will serve as the ditch. All three islands will be completely enclosed within walls and connected with pontoon bridges. A wall will extend from our primary river wall to the first island, and a wall will link the last island to the shore on the west side. We will build two more pontoon bridges from the shore to the first and last islands. There will be a gate in the north wall that faces the lake to allow access to these bridges and the islands.”
Legio XVII: Battle of Zama Page 22