ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 697 Dionia vs Rome ([-])

Not only him, but the fourth and fifth captains and other company captains also quickly made a decision: let the soldiers rush forward quickly, entangle the enemy, and prevent them from escaping!
But the staggering pursuit of the exhausted Dionian legionnaires only made the distance between them and the Roman soldiers wider and wider.

As for the young Roman soldiers on the two flanks, because the previous attack was too fierce, the formations of both sides were intertwined and stuck too close, making it difficult to withdraw for a while.Especially nearly half of the more than 2000 Roman young soldiers who were behind the right wing of the Dionysian army and finally came to attack were already red-eyed. They only focused on the attack and ignored the bugles and shouts from the outside world. Not heard.

At this moment, more than 2000 Volscians from Antium and Setia quickly arrived. Together with the third group of the First Legion and the light armored soldiers, they attacked these Roman young soldiers back and forth, and actually killed most of them. Surround.

But for a while, these Roman soldiers did not panic. The squadron behind them turned around to resist the Volscian attack, while the soldiers in the front attacked even more desperately, causing the array of the third group and the light armored soldiers in front of them to almost collapse. Fortunately, they Knowing the news of the arrival of reinforcements strengthened their confidence in trying to hold on.

At the same time, Amyntas urgently transferred soldiers from the second brigade next to the third brigade to strengthen the defense line.

When Wolsey's other reinforcements arrived on the battlefield, they saw that the entire Roman army was already retreating, so they immediately started the pursuit.

The Dionian heavy infantry were exhausted and could not continue after running for a while. Only the light infantry and cavalry were still chasing.

The Seventh Brigade, all light infantry, was the strongest among the First Legion. They ran desperately, trying to get around to the front and intercept the six Roman youth squadrons that originally attacked the left flank.

Unexpectedly, these Roman squadrons did not know the news of the arrival of Volscian reinforcements when they were on the left wing, so they only responded to military orders and retreated instead of retreating, and their morale was not bad.And it is somewhat similar to the way the Dionian army retreated. They retreated as a whole squadron, rather than running around completely scattered, and they could immediately organize a counterattack.

After the Seventh Brigade suffered some losses, they no longer dared to stand in front of them. Instead, they followed them and attacked with javelins and bows, thus achieving some results.

The pursuit of the Dionian cavalry was more direct, driving the horses directly from behind, knocking the enemy squadron apart, and then stabbing the lone enemies one by one. However, this method is more harmful to the tired horses. The cavalry only used it a few times at the beginning of the pursuit, and then they only attacked some sporadic enemies who fell behind.

The battlefield was only four or five miles away from the Roman camp. Camillus led most of the middle-aged and veteran squadrons and light infantry, and retreated to the north gate of the camp without any hindrance.

Phrius had already received the news and had opened the camp gates long ago, preparing to meet Camillus.

Camillus did not enter the camp immediately, but reminded Phrius to guard the camp to prevent the enemy from taking the opportunity to attack the camp, and asked the light infantry to quickly stand on the wooden wall and climb the guard tower to attack any enemy who dared to approach the camp. At the same time, he led more than 3000 young and old soldiers to form an array a hundred meters away from the camp, and launched a rapid attack on the Volscians who caught up not long after.

Because the Volscians only focused on chasing the defeated troops, their formation had long been scattered and lost organization, and they were quickly defeated by Camillus' troops.

Camillus defeated several Volscian pursuing troops in succession, and after ensuring the safety of the defeated Roman troops, he did not launch a counter-pursuit. Instead, he led his troops to retreat steadily and stood 50 meters away from the north gate of the camp. Standing still, under the protection of the arrows and javelins of the light infantry behind him, he guarded the escape route of the defeated troops.

By the time the Volscians had to gather all the chasing warriors and form a large army to approach the Roman camp, Camillus had already led the troops into the camp.

Seeing the dense Roman soldiers on the wooden walls, the Volscians finally gave up the idea of ​​taking advantage of the situation to attack the Roman camp.

Only then did this arduous battle finally end.

Although the battle was victorious, Amyntas was not happy when he looked at the wounded soldiers on the ground. Rough casualty statistics had come out: the first legion suffered more than 2400 casualties, which was already 1/4 of the entire legion. In particular, more than half of the Third Battalion and the Light Infantry Battalion were lost. Although some of the wounded soldiers were only injured in the flesh and could recover in a short time after being bandaged, treated and recuperated, this had already left the First Army severely injured.

Ledes next to him was also sighing: The First Cavalry Corps blocked the retreat of the Roman food-raising troops at the beginning, and blocked the reinforcements of Roman heavy infantry and cavalry at the end. Therefore, it paid a great price, and the final casualty number was as high as more than 700 people. , has reached nearly half of the legion's number, especially the horses, which have suffered serious losses. The horses may need a period of recovery before they can go to the battlefield again.

"This battle was a huge loss!" Leders lamented on the sidelines, his voice loud enough for Amyntas to hear. Although he tried his best to assist Amyntas during the battle, this did not prevent him from fighting after the war. He vented his anger.

Amyntas did not refute, and in fact he had no intention of refuting now.While he asked the messenger to quickly notify the medical battalion to come to treat the wounded soldiers, he also asked the soldiers of the escort team who were still in good physical strength to help the wounded soldiers bandage their wounds and perform preliminary treatment (in normal military training, the soldiers received trained in this area).

At this time, the soldiers of the First Legion were so tired that they didn't even have time to take off their helmets and breastplates. They lay on the ground and fell asleep. They didn't even react when someone stepped on them. They were mistaken for them by the escort members many times. They were too tired to pick up the corpse.

Amyntas walked among the soldiers, his steps were cautious, lest he wake them up, but his mood was heavy: he had been the commander of the First Army for nine years, and he was very considerate of all the soldiers and officers in the army. Familiar, now seeing these soldiers and team officers who he often got along with and who fought side by side under his command during the war, fell into a pool of blood one by one, how could he not feel distressed!

At the same time, he was also blaming himself in his heart: Although King Davos told him several times to pay attention to the Roman army before leaving, he still underestimated the Romans, otherwise he would not have allowed the legionnaires to fight after a long march. They also launched attacks against enemies who outnumbered them.He treated the Romans as the Messapians, Puchetis, and Daunis who had fought with the Dionysian Legion in the past.But it turns out that King Davos's concerns were correct. The organization and tactics of this army are somewhat similar to Dionia's. The combat effectiveness of this army is indeed better than Dionia's previous enemies! ...If the First Legion had more physical strength and a larger number of people, they would never be so passive!Rome...Rome...

Amyntas was thinking as he walked. In front of him, Heitbarus stood up unsteadily. His right arm was tied with a bandage, and there was a long blood mark on his forehead. He could only barely perform a military salute with his left hand: " Army...Legion Commander..."

"Lie down quickly, Heitbarus!" Amyntas said hurriedly. Facing the captain of the third brigade, he rarely showed a gentle and caring smile.

"Legion Commander, brothers of the Third Brigade..." Heitbarus looked sad, and before he finished speaking, tears filled his eyes.

Amyntas' smile froze on his face, and he could only say in a deep voice: "Thanks to your third and eighth battalions for tenaciously blocking the enemy's attack, we won this victory! The medical battalion will do its best. Treat the soldiers under your command! You must also receive good treatment and recover as soon as possible, you are indispensable for the First Legion!"

After speaking, Amyntas left in a hurry.

At this time, the adjutant Aristonos came over and whispered: "Legion Commander, Stepforos was slightly injured and is not serious." These children of the old senators of Dionia are relatively close to each other. familiar.

"He was injured too lightly!" Amyntas sighed, making Aristonus stunned.

.......................................

In the Roman camp tent, Camillus briefly described the battle to Phylius.

After listening, Frius couldn't help but took a breath: "Camillus, you mean... the Dionysian army marched from Selshe to the south of our camp, without stopping in the middle, towards Our grain collection troops launched an attack, and then... resisted the continuous attack of more than 9000 of our infantry, and finally waited for the arrival of Volscian reinforcements?!..."

"Yes!" Camillus sighed and said solemnly: "The key is that our numbers are much larger than theirs, more than 9000 heavy infantry plus 2000 light infantry and 700 cavalry. The troops I led There are nearly 12000 people, and the Dionians... After many reports from the reconnaissance cavalry, they have about 1 people, but the heavy infantry may only have 7000 to [-] people, but such a group is physically worse than us and has more people than us. With a small army, our Roman soldiers fought fiercely for more than two hours, but they were never able to defeat the other side!"

Over the years, the Roman army was invincible in the Latium and Etruscan regions. Frius, who was accustomed to victory, found it difficult to accept the fact that the Roman army was not as good as the Dionysian army.Of course, he knew Camillus and did not think that this respected veteran would distort the facts in order to clear himself of the crime of losing the battle, so he couldn't help but ask again: "Is the combat effectiveness of the Dionysian army really so strong? ?!”

"Let's not talk about the cavalry in Dionia. You already know the previous situation. As for the light infantry, we don't pay much attention to it. They are all provided by the allies, so they are undisciplined, lack training and cooperation. But the light infantry of Dionysia has slingers who can invest long-distance lead shot, archers and javelin soldiers. They cooperate with each other tacitly and are well-trained, so before I led the army to arrive, they only had About a thousand light infantry can suppress our 2000 light infantry and 700 cavalry..."

(End of this chapter)