Manius instructed the onagri to hold their fire over the river wall until he gave the order. “I want burning oil to hit the woods and piles of brush across the river. After you do that, aim for large groups of the enemy. I want to disrupt their attack formation. Keep firing until you hear otherwise from me. I’m going up by the wall. Have one of your men go with me, so he can bring you the order to fire. Tell him to stay by my side.”
Elitovius found Manius. “Sir, I haven’t talked to all the prisoners by the west wall, but I’ve learned they are Gauls from Mago’s army. Do you remember Emil, the angry young Boii that we released to find his mother? He’s one of the prisoners. He led the Gauls right to us.”
After the 1,000 Illyrians went forward, Lugius waited for about 20 minutes and ordered a general attack. Landi’s men were the first to come screaming out of the woods, cross the river, and begin throwing their ladders across the ditch. The Taurisci followed. Manius yelled, “Tell the onagri to fire!” The crewman ran down the rampart yelling “Shoot” as he ran. The onagri snapped violently forward and threw their pot of burning oil. Each pot could be seen streaking across the night sky. Some hit the trees and spewed burning oil 20 feet in all directions. Others landed on or near the brush piles and several landed among groups of men. Each pot burst open and scattered its fiery contents. The woods lining the river were ablaze within minutes. The attackers were fully exposed, and no longer hidden by the night.
Lugius, Aze, and Dindar stood in the woods watching and directing the battle when a pot of burning oil hit a tree and burst open 10 feet above them. Lugius caught the brunt of the oil, and his clothes caught fire. Aze and Dindar looked on with horror as they smothered the few drops that hit them. Lugius started running for the river, but stumbled and fell. The fire intensified. His aides ran to him and threw their shirts over him to extinguish the fire. They patted at the flames until nothing remained but smoke. When they removed their shirts, Lugius was dead.
Aze and Dindar ran up to look. Dindar said, “I am now in Command.”
Aze replied, “My men comprise the largest part of this army, and I will assume command.” The two men stared at each other. The anger already in Dindar spilled over. He had suffered one humiliation after another and would not be rebuffed by Aze. He drew his sword. Aze drew his sword and stabbed at Dindar’s throat. Dindar turned away and swung sideways at Aze’s middle. The sword struck his armor. Aze drew back his sword arm and swung overhead at Dindar’s exposed neck between his helmet and shoulder armor. It hit just below his ear and blood gushed. Dindar dropped his sword, fell to his knees and held his bleeding neck wound. Aze approached Dindar, ripped off his helmet, and brought his sword down on Dindar’s head with all his strength. It broke through his skull and slit his face in half.
Caile quickly gauged that V Etrusci could manage the attack on his part of the wall. Calvus looked at the horde approaching the north gate and felt he was in trouble. His men were exhausted. They had forced marched 25 miles and just fought a battle. And now their lives depended on summoning the energy to fight another enemy much larger than their Legion. Buckets of water were placed around the ramparts and the Legionaries were ordered to drink.
Lugano’s men standing adjacent to Legio XVII were in the same shape. He knew his Legion and XVII would take the full brunt of the attack.
Calvus and Lugano found Manius by the signum that accompanied him. Calvus said, “Sir, my men are exhausted. I’m not sure how long we can fight effectively. The fight outside the west wall took what little they had left.” Lugano echoed Calvus’ comment.
Manius said, “I’ll be standing by your two Legions, if they start to break, I’ll have Bricius come around the east side of the wall to take the pressure off.”
As Aze’s men crossed over the mount and began crawling over their ladders to stay out of the ditch, the towers shut their river facing shutters and shifted their aim to the wall. Soon hundreds of scorpio arrows were impacting all along the ditch and wall. The archers had clear fields of fire and perfect visibility. They fired without ceasing. Boii, Eravisci, and Taurisci began falling in large numbers, but Aze was unaware of this. His focus was on the top of the wall.
Calvus and Lugano ordered the men to throw the oil pots into the ditch. Dozens were tossed over the wall and soon the brush in the ditch created a roaring inferno. But by then, many men had already crossed over the ditch, set up the ladders, and began to climb. When the flames died down, more ladders and men streamed over the ditch and began setting up their ladders. Thousands were now on the wall.
Manius had an aide ride to the south gate where Legate Odo stood waiting with his Suevi Legion. He also sent a runner to tell the onagri to cease fire. “Legate Odo, Praetor Tullus says to launch your attack now. Commander Gervasius, you are to follow the Suevi out of the gate.”
The men of Legio XVII and I Raetorum were hard pressed to resist the onslaught. The muscles in their shield and sword arms were near muscle collapse. They could barely lift their shields. They began to give ground and started taking casualties. The two Legates ordered their reserve Maniples at the base of the ramparts to man the walls. These men were in little better shape than the men on the ramparts. The Centurions got them to their feet and they charged up the dirt rampart. They pushed and butted their way to the front and took up the fight. Manius ordered the 1,000 men on the north facing wall to run to help Legio XVII. He turned to an aide, “Bring up the 900 man reserve and send them to Lugano. Quickly!” Five minutes later they were pushing their way through I Raetorum to face the enemy.
Boii and Eravisci were pouring over the parapet. The fight was now on the rampart. As more men came over the wall, Legio XVII and I Raetorum began to back down the rampart. The fighting was desperate and threatened to get out of Manius’ control. Two thousand Boii and Eravisci were on the ramparts and more were coming over the wall every minute.
“Tell Bricius to come around the wall now!” he told an aide. The man ran to the north facing wall and yelled for Bricius. “The Praetor says to attack with all speed.”
Five thousand Cenomani warriors, who had not fought that day and were fresh, came running from behind the wall in three lines. The leading elements ran straight into the river, through it, and stopped when they reached the woods. When Bricius’ men heard the Cenomani trumpet, they stopped, turned, and faced the enemy. Their lines stretched out from the wall across the river and into the woods. They threw their spears and charged. There appearance caught Aze’s men completely by surprise. Their initial charge drove deep into the Boii/Eravici. The men on the wall side of the ditch scrambled to cross back over the ditch. The men on the ladders began to jump down. The men who had climbed over the wall were abandoned.
The Boii/Eravisci turned away from the wall to face this unexpected threat. They began to reoriented their lines and fight back. Their lines thickened. The scorpio crews in the towers adjusted their aim and poured a relentless stream of high powered arrows into the new targets. The effects were immediate. The mercenaries began to move from the wall into the river and tree line. The Cenomani fought like wild beasts; the Boii and Eravisci were tiring and gave ground. They became more disorganized and started to retreat.
Manius raced to the nearest tower by the center gate to get a better view. Cassius and Modius ran alongside him with their shield facing outward. Several times, Manius would have been exposed had it not been for the shields. He stopped to encourage the scorpio crews and continued up the steps to the archer level. As he turned on the stairs, he was completely exposed for a split second. Modius thrust his shield forward to cover Manius’ side. A spear hit his shield and slid off and struck Manius. The force of the impact knocked Manius back against the stairs. It stuck his exposed left bicep and exited the other side.
Manius regained his footing and stood silent for a moment as he looked at the spear. “Cassius,” he said, “pull it out.” Cassius grabbed the spear with both hands and pulled. It slid out easily. Blood gushed out both sides of
his arm. Modius dropped his shield, pulled off the scarf from around his neck, and wrapped it tightly around the wound. Cassius was outraged. He leaned over the wall. He saw several ladders full of climbing men, but only one Boii was looking up. They made eye contact and the Boii smiled.
Cassius ran down the tower’s stairs to the rampart where he saw files of men, lined up behind the man at the wall doing the fighting. The files were almost shoulder to shoulder. He knew he could not push his way through. A fellow Centurion from V Etrusci who was controlling the rotation of the men saw Cassius. Cassius yelled, “I need to get to the wall!” The Praetor’s been hit and the scum who did it is the second man down the ladder.”
The Centurion began calling men by name to move to their right or left to create a small pathway for Cassius. Cassius dropped his shield and picked up a pilum and began weaving his way to edge of the wall. The men at the wall to his left and right were furiously battling Boii warriors who stood at the top of the ladders thrusting and swing their swords. Shields were swinging violently left, right, up, and down as the Legionaries blocked their blows and thrust with their gladii. Cassius rushed the last foot to the edge of the parapet with the pila in both hands raised high over his head. He had seconds to spot the once smiling Boii and drive the pila downward.
Cassius looked past the man at the top of the ladder and saw his target. Once again they made eye contact just as Cassius drove the pilum down into the Boii’s shield. It penetrated and Cassius kept pushing. The Boii’s eyes suddenly sprung wide open as the pilum penetrated his chest. Cassius released the pilum and quickly backed away from the wall as the Boii fell backwards off the ladder. The Etruscan Centurion yelled, “Did you get him?” as Cassius picked his way to the rear.
“Got the bastard, thanks!”
Modius and Manius’ aides carried him to his tent and called for Quintus, the Greek Medical Officer. He had his hands full, but dropped everything when he heard that Manius was wounded. He and Manius had served together at Bad Tolz and campaigned against the Cimbri/Teutons.
When Quintus arrived, he looked at Manius and opened his leather medical bag. He drew out powdered henbane, mandrake, and belladonna. He carefully mixed the three together in a cup of water and honey. He prayed that the proportions were correct or it would kill Manius before he died of his wound. He held the cup to Manius’ lips and told him, “Drink this. It’ll make you feel better.” Manius drank the cup. Within seconds, his face flushed and he struggled to rise. “Help me hold him down,” he yelled to Modius. Just then Cassius came into the tent and grabbed Manius’ legs.
After three to four minutes, Manius calmed and began to relax. Then his eyes closed. Quintus put his ear to Manius chest listening for a heartbeat. He smiled, and said, “He’s asleep.” Quintus examined the wound. The spear had passed through and through. There were no jagged edges. He knew if he left the tourniquet on much longer, Manius would lose his arm. “Modius,” he said, “Release the tourniquet.” Modius struggled with the hastily tied knot. When he pulled the scarf loose, blood gushed out of Manius’ under arm. “Quickly, tie it off again. The artery’s cut.” Quintus reached into his kit and retrieved a scalpel, thin strips of papyrus, and a container of honey. “Modius smear some of this honey on the papyrus and cut this thread so it’s about six inches long.”
Quintus took a deep breath, held it, and then slowly let it out. He picked up the scalpel and cut a four inch incision over the wound. He spread the skin wide looking for the source of the bleeding. He found the artery and gently pulled it towards the opening in Manius’ arm. He turned it around in his fingers looking and feeling for a cut. “There you are,” he announced. He found a small smooth nick running across the artery. He knew that if he simply clamped it off, Manius would lose blood flow to his lower arm and the arm would die. First he had to repair the cut, and then he could allow the blood to continue to flow down the artery. “Hand me that ball of lint,” he said to Modius. When he had it, he blotted the blood.
“Modius, now give me the papyrus strips.” Slowly and skillfully, Quintus wrapped the honey covered strips around the cut in the artery. Quintus then reached for the thread and wrapped it around the papyrus. “Modius, slowly untie your scarf. This is the test. Let’s see if the patch holds against the pressure of the blood.” Modius loosened the scarf. Quintus watched the papyrus expand as the artery filled with blood. “It’s holding,” he said. The bleeding had stopped and the artery was fully inflated.
One of Quintus’ medical aides walked in. “What can I do?” he asked.
“Prepare a wash of vinum acetum” (modern vinegar). The aide took a jar of vinegar, soaked a tightly rolled ball of fresh lint, and handed it to Quintus who liberally washed the area around the artery.
He stitched the wound closed, but left a small drainage hole held open by a stiffened coil of papyrus. Quintus painted the stitches with honey and animal fat.
Manius’ arm was swollen with blood. “Keep his arm elevated.” That was all he could do and he had other patients to tend to. He told Manius’ aides, “Keep him absolutely quiet or the papyrus will rip away. Give him water and more pain killer. I’ll come back later.” As he turned to leave, Quintus stopped and faced Modius. “Modius, he owes his life to you. If you hadn’t applied that tourniquet, he’d be dead.” Modius beamed with pride and looked at his uncle, Cassius, who was smiling from ear to ear!
*******
Odo’s men threw logs across the ditch opposite the south gate and came around the wall. Odo put his men into a triplex acies formation and they moved northward parallel to the wall. They scattered the 1,000 men harassing the Cenomani on the wall and ran to engage the 10,000 Illyrians and Taurisci attacking the center gate. Gervasius’ Cenomani crossed over the ditch, forded the river, and formed into their battle lines on the far side of the woods. They met small groups of men who were wounded or were shirkers, but no large forces. They trotted forward in three long lines until they were opposite the center gate. Gervasius turned them to face the wall and immediately ordered them forward.
The Illyrians and Taurisci saw the Suevi coming at them from the south and turned to face them. They quickly formed into a fighting formation and met the Suevi. They did not see Gervasius men until they splashed across the river. Their flank was completely exposed and the Cenomani drove into them viciously. They were caught completely by surprise. Some offered resistance; most fled northward as the sky began to lighten. What were moving shapes became men running for their lives. Aze saw what was happening and started yelling, “Return to the camp, return to the camp!” His cry was picked up all along the wall.
Caile could now see the raging fight on the rampart by Legio XVII and I Raetorum. The Illyrians and Taurisci that were attacking his position were now fighting the Suevi and Cenomani. He ordered V Etrusci to run along the rampart to assist I Raetorum. He sent others down the rampart to come up behind Legio XVII. When they joined the fight, the 2,000 mercenaries who had breached the wall were now isolated and facing fresh troops who outnumbered them. They were cut down, but not before taking a heavy toll of Legionaries. The battle had lasted for two hours. It was 7:00 A.M.
The mercenaries retreated from the wall a safe distance and stopped. Aze gather his remaining leaders to discuss what to do next. Haggith, Mintho, and the other Carthaginians joined them. After a heated discussion, they decided to go north back over the Brenner Pass to Innsbruck and then travel west to join Mago. The defeated army was now without its key leaders and its organization began to rapidly fall apart.
Odo’s men along with Gervasius’ captured the men by the center gate who couldn’t run away. At the northern end of the wall, Bricius’ Cenomani did the same. The vicious and bloody fighting had come to an end. Dead and wounded littered the ditch, mound, river, and tree line.
Calvus has a bad slice on his left forearm and Caile had suffered an arrow strike on his helmet, but they were otherwise still firmly in Command. The Commanders all along the wall ordered a count of the
dead and wounded. They knew Manius would ask. The men outside the wall took a tally of their men who were killed and wounded. The news that Manius was down had not yet spread throughout the camp.
Cassius, Modius, the two Greek scribes, Acamus, and Pittacus, and Manius’ aides stood by his bed. Manius awoke about 30 minutes later. He was pale and a bit woozy from the drug, but his mind was clear and the pain minimal. The inevitable infection had not yet begun to ravage his body. The first thing he said was, “I’m alive and so are you so I guess we won!”
Cassius said, “We took a beating, but the bastards are on the run. It’s over for now.”
“Take some notes,” he said to his scribes and began issuing a stream of orders in no particular pattern. “Calvus is to assume command immediately. Use the captured Gauls to throw their dead in the west wall ditch. Give me a count of our dead and wounded. Make an estimate of the enemy dead. Let the men recover for five hours and then get them moving to start the pursuit.”
He breathed deeply and continued. “Queen Bethica was told by Andreas to come around the west side of the lake. Send a signal to have a rider meet her on the north-south road at the top of the lake and tell her to come down the east side of the lake to help finish the enemy. Tell her to be prepared to meet the mercenary army going north.”
“Tell Rasce to have his cavalry follow the mercenaries so we know where they are going. Send my congratulations to the Commanders and men. They performed magnificently and I’m proud of them all. It’s an honor to command such men. Tell Calvus I want to see him. I need more pain killer.”
Manius was asleep 10 minutes later.
The aides went out to assemble the Legates. They briefed them on Manius condition and Acamus read the notes to them.
The Commander’s signum now stood by Calvus. The men were told about Manius. Calvus collected the reports and passed the information to Manius’ aides. The Commanders were told not to disturb him. He needed to rest and not move at all. Calvus told Rasce to dispatch his men to follow the mercenaries.
Legio XVII: Battle of Zama Page 32