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Chapter 694: Theonia v Rome (VIII)
Especially in the first line, after the Theonian soldier has used the force of his charge to break through the enemy’s shield, the spear in his right hand stabs like lightning. But even after the Roman soldier dodged the enemy’s stab, another stab came to him…and because of the disparity in numbers, the young Roman soldiers would often find themselves in dangerous situations of fighting two enemies. Thus, despite their bravery in battle, their losses gradually increased, forcing them to retreat again and again. At the same time, miserable screams echoed through the formation. Most of them come from the wounded soldiers struck by the javelins and are lying on the ground. But after being trampled several times by their retreating comrades, the wailing sound gradually disappears, adding to the panic in the hearts of the young soldiers…
Camillus watched as the enemy kept forcing his front line to retreat. After frowning for a moment, he quickly realised that it wasn’t just the centre suffering but the left and right flanks as well. The Theonians’ initial javelin attack and rapid charge had confused the brave young soldiers, making it impossible for them to remain calm.
“Blow the horn immediately and have them switch the line!” Camillus ordered decisively.
With their trust in their supreme commander, the soldiers blew the curved brass horn without hesitation.
Lucius then asked his father beside him, “Although the soldiers at the front are unstable, they are still fighting tenaciously. But if we ordered them to retreat this time, it would only increase the casualties, so I think it is better to wait for the situation to stabilise before ordering a retreat.”
“Our loss will be greater if we delay giving the order!” Camillus said with slight remorse, “I should have done more study about their battle characteristics if I had known I would encounter the Theonian army here in Volsci!”
Lucius tried to comfort him by saying, “You want to learn, but no Roman knows about them,” but he didn’t say it out loud after seeing Camillus’ grave expression.
At the sound of the horn, the veteran centuriae of the Romans in the third line began to move forward, but they didn’t immediately squeeze in when they reached the area between the centuriae of the second line. Instead, they formed a new front and paused there, leaving enough space for a phalanx of centuriae to pass through.
Hearing the repeated horns, the young Roman soldiers struggling to hold off the Theonians’ attack breathed a sigh of relief. But at the reminder of the centurions and officers, they could only slowly retreat while maintaining the line.
Eventually, the pressure exerted by the Theonian soldiers caused some parts of the Roman formation to collapse. Fortunately, the centuriae of the second line were close behind and would soon join them. And with the centuriae of experienced soldiers, the centuriae of young soldiers had gained some confidence. Soon, the young soldiers sped up and retreated before slipping through the gaps on either side of the centuriae of experienced and veteran soldiers.
The Theonian soldiers tried to squeeze into the gap but ended up in a situation where enemies surrounded them on three sides. Of course, the opposing Roman centuriae who hadn’t retreated faced the same situation, just like an interlocking dog’s teeth. But as each of the centuriae of experienced soldiers continued to give way, the centuriae of young soldiers would eventually manage to retreat to the rear. Finally, the centuriae of experienced and veteran soldiers would form a new line.
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Behind the centre of Theonia, Amintas learned from the patrolling cavalry that the Romans were about to change formation. But even though Amintas had led the Theonian army for more than ten years, he still couldn’t understand what the Romans, using similar tactics, would do next.
“Legatus, we should sound the salpinx and have the fourth, fifth and sixth brigades advance,” Phryntor suggested while Amintas was deeply pondering.
Although he hesitated for a moment, Amintas understood why Phryntor suggested this. After considering the Theonian soldiers’ advantage, all they had to do was increase their offensive to disrupt the Roman’s formation chance, causing the enemy to suffer more casualties in the chaos. But since the frontline soldiers couldn’t do that, it means that they have exhausted their strength from the rapid offensive they just launched. Otherwise, they would have taken advantage of the enemy’s confusion to attack even harder, turning the enemy’s retreat into a rout. Instead, the soldiers’ attacking speed is slowing down…
Amintas stared at the battle ahead as he knew that the tired first, second and third brigades would likely suffer once the Romans completed their formation change and fought the new phalanx of fully prepared and energetic Roman soldiers.
Although he wanted his soldiers to fight bravely against the enemy, Amintas didn’t want them to encounter difficulties that would affect the battle’s outcome. So, in the end, he followed Phryntor’s advice.
When Theonia’s salpinx sounded, the officers and men of the fourth, fifth and sixth brigades were already expecting the order, having seen the performance of their comrades.
On the other hand, the fighting officers and soldiers were relieved to hear the salpinx, as most were already so exhausted that they had difficulty breathing. Fortunately, the enemy was retreating. Otherwise, they would have rushed over, causing some of the soldiers to fall from their tired legs.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
On the Roman side, the panicked young Roman soldiers saw a strange sight: the enemy who had been chasing them suddenly began to retreat…
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Instead of being pleased to hear that the enemy was also retreating and changing formation, Camillus frowned even more at the Theonian general’s calmness and the determination of his soldiers to follow his orders.
By this time, a line of almost twenty metres separated the two sides, and the battlefield, which had been filled with the roar of battle, had fallen silent. All that remained in the open space were the dead bodies and a few crawling and groaning wounded; most of them were Roman soldiers.
But even though the armed Roman soldiers weren’t far away, they only stared at the enemy in front of them, with no one going to rescue their wounded
Suddenly, knowing that the Theonians could afford to waste time while they could not, Camillus ordered his men to attack.
Amidst the shouting of the centurions, the Roman soldiers became more cautious as they used their long shields to cover their bodies and marched slowly. Evidently, they became frightened by the previous javelin attack.
On the other side, the Theonian soldiers of the fourth, fifth and sixth brigades felt it funny seeing their opponent’s cautiousness, knowing they had already thrown all their javelins.
But when the two armies began to fight again, the Theonian soldiers could no longer laugh.
The Roman soldiers used the combination of shield and spear skilfully: They thrust their spears with precision and ferocity and had tacit cooperation with the shield formation so that their overall fighting power was no less than that of the Theonian legions, which really took the Theonian officers by surprise.
The Theonian soldiers would not have been surprised if they had known Rome. These new Roman soldiers had served for more than eight years, fought in many wars and won the Civic Crown*. (The Civic Crown is the Roman Senate’s recognition of its citizens who have shown bravery in many battles. Thus all Roman citizens, including the senators, showed respect to the citizens wearing the civic crown in public places, and even their fathers were treated with courtesy. So even though it was only an honour and not a material reward, the Roman citizens highly desired to have it, which proves the Romans were also a race with a strong warrior spirit.)
So for a while, the soldiers on both sides were at a stalemate.
Naturally, Camillus wanted more than just maintaining the stalemate with the Theonians since he needed to crush the enemy fast.
So he ordered the twelve Roman reserve centuriae (the ten centuriae of young soldiers and the two centuriae of experienced soldiers) to split in two, bypass their fighting troops and attack the enemy’s flank.
After giving the order, Camillus turned around and asked, “Have we counted our casualties?”
“We suffered about…four hundred casualties…” Lucius shuddered when giving his report. Although the initial battle didn’t last long, this battle of nearly twenty minutes long had cost them four centuriae, which they had never encountered in the last ten years of fighting.
Despite feeling pained, Camillus firmly ordered, “Let the retreating centuriae quickly reorganise, wait for my order, and then attack the enemy! They must wash away their humiliation with victory!”
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At the same time, Amintas asked his adjutant, “How is the situation on the Volscian’s side?”
Aristonos looked at the slate and said, “The messenger reported they have set out! Setia sent out a thousand men while Privernum sent seven thousand men, and they are all coming this way!”
Amintas became more determined and thus continued to pay attention to the battle ahead.
Suddenly, a mounted scout came galloping, “Reporting to the legatus! The enemy sent out more than seven hundred infantry and are going around towards the rear of our left flank!”
As soon as he said that, another scout came galloping, “Reporting to the legatus! Around seven hundred enemy heavy infantries are circling towards our right flank!”
Amintas’ expression changed slightly as he loudly said, “Have the first brigade rush to protect our left flank! The second brigade to protect our right flank! The third brigade…”
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