Roman
Battle Tactics
Lucius
looked across the flat ground at the mass of Gallic tribesmen.
A wailing banshee of noise came from their warriors as they
whipped themselves in to a frenzy before the attack.
Lucius
had seen it before and stood firm. Looking around he noticed
the inexperienced Legionaries of his Century shifting nervously.
‘Stand Firm’ he said in a clear and confident
tone. The shuffling of feet stopped.
If those
warriors had attacked whilst the Legion was forming up for
battle they may have crushed the Roman army but they just
stood there chanting and banging their shields. Now the
Legion was in battle formation and ready to take the fight
to the barbarians. Nothing could stop his Legionaries now.
The
Cornicen blew the horn and the Legion began to move forward
at the walk. The cacophony from the Gauls seemed to fade
in to the background as the sound of stamping feet signalled
the Legion moving remorsefully forward.
It had
been several days since Lucius had seen his posterior centurion
Livius. Glancing to his right he took in the giant centurion
that was Livius. Any man over 6 feet tall towered over most
Romans and so it was with Livius. Livius commanded loyalty
from his century by being the strongest and bravest and
his purposeful stride was reflected through the march of
his Legionaries.
Lucius
swung his gaze back to the menacing Gauls as their noise
changed to a scream and with it their warriors charged across
the plain. Almost at the same time, the Legion’s trumpets
blew and the first line of maniples charged forward throwing
their pila with only yards to go. The whine of hundreds
of javelins shooting through the air made the barbarians
apprehensive and their charge stalled. Numerous Gauls fell
before they even reached the Roman line. With scutum held
to the front and gladius at the ready the Roman Legionaries
crashed in to the Gallic warriors. In the confined space
of close contact the Roman way of fighting began to take
its toll on the Gauls.
More
Gallic warriors joined the fight to Lucius’ front
and the sustained fighting was showing signs of tiring the
front maniple.
Lucius
watched as the young men of the hastati began to give ground.
The horn was blown again, this time to signal the 'Change
Over' at the line of battle from hastati to the Princeps
of Lucius’ Century.
