Chapter 508: Battle of Crotone (I)
Siprus pondered deeply.
On the other hand, Milo, a native of Crotone, warned, “Beware of the Syracusans! With the traversability of the Targines River, they wouldn’t just focus their attack on the left-wing.”
Tolmides smiled and said, “We have already surveyed the area thoroughly in advance. As far as we know, it is still difficult to traverse the upper-middle reaches of the Targines River, so his majesty Davos ordered that the seventh legion on the far right end of the formation shouldn’t cross the middle-end of the middle reaches of the Targines.”
Tolmides’s explanation caused Milo and Siprus’ expressions to become even more grave.
“Syracuse’s heavy infantry is not weak. Besides their numbers, they will definitely place those foreign cavalries on this side to attack us. Although we Crotonians do not fear death… However-” Milo became embarrassed. Although he did not participate in the Battle of Allaro River, he had witnessed the destruction of their city by Syracuse’s infantry in just one day. And from what the soldiers had said, he also learned the strength of those mercenary cavalries, “Once we cannot resist Syracuse’s full force from the left, it would inevitably affect the success and defeat of the whole battlefield!”
At this time, Siprus interjected, “Since King Davos deliberately set up such a formation in advance to guide the Syracusans to focus their attack on the left-wing, then there must be corresponding countermeasures.”
“That’s right.” Tolmides seriously said, “Theonia’s most powerful first and second legion will support the whole left-wing together with you, so I believe that no matter how many enemies you face, they will not easily defeat you! And to your left, there are more than 1,500 Theonian cavalries to stop the enemy cavalries from attacking our flanks. And the most important thing is-” An odd expression appeared on Tolmides’ face, “We will arrange a sarissa brigade behind you, who will be responsible for defeating the enemy cavalries and counterattacking!”
‘A brigade of only a thousand men would decide the victory or defeat of the left-wing?!’ Both Milo and Siprus were puzzled because they knew that Theonia’s army arrangements were all relatively fixed, assembling the same number of troops in each operation since their establishment, unlike the common Greek city-states. Hence they were sure that they had not heard of the establishment of the sarissa brigade in all of Theonia Union’s legions before, ‘Could it be a new force they created after the outbreak of the war? If so, will they have powerful combat strength?!’
The two looked at each other with doubts in their eyes.
Tolmides smiled, “You will know before the battle begins.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
With the steady advance of the Theonian army, the Syracusan mercenaries could only rapidly retreat.
The distance between the Theonian and Syracusan armies was only 5 kilometres. But after an hour or so of marching, they got closer to each other.
As the sun in the middle of the sky began to drift to the west, Dionysius, who was at the forefront of the formation, heard a “Stomp! Stomp!…” sound coming from the front, which got louder and louder that even the ground shook slightly.
It even made Dionysius’ warhorse restless as it neighed incessantly, causing Dionysius to slap its neck in annoyance to quiet it down.
Seeing what happened, the attendant nearby hurriedly came to soothe the warhorse.
“The Theonians are coming…” Dionysius whispered to his attendant with a grim expression.
After a while, they saw rising grey dust at the far end of their sight that slowly drifted towards them. With the advancement of the dust, it became bigger and bigger, extending infinitely to the east and west that they couldn’t see the end. It is like a dark cloud that gets thicker and thicker as it descends in the sky before a storm. It’s so overwhelming and suffocating that the people couldn’t stop thinking about how terrifying the accumulated power was once it burst out…
Although Syracuse had more troops, the soldiers were hurriedly formed up and hadn’t had the time to get experience and integrate into this colossal formation. Thus they felt nervous when faced with the Theonian army that pressed them like a mountain range or a tide.
Dionysius frowned and hurriedly said, “Go to the right-wing and urge Phidias to complete the plan. I fear that the enemy is about to attack!”
“Yes, milord!” The herald sped away.
Dionysius looked ahead with a serious expression.
At a distance of six-seven hundred metres, the vast band of dust stopped its advance. Suddenly, you could hear the sound of salpinx, drum beats, shouting, and the collision of armour and shield coming from the opposite side…
Dionysius knew that the Theonians were reorganising, so he became very anxious. Although the herald had only left for a while, Dionysius felt that a long time had passed.
As time passed, the sound coming from the opposite side from the ear-shattering volume at the start became small until it disappeared. It finally became quiet that the sound from the beginning felt like an illusion and didn’t exist. Then the dust whirling in the air also gradually dispersed…
“Milord, strategos Phidias finished forming up, but he wants you to delay for a while so the soldiers can take a breather.” The herald hurriedly returned while gasping for air.
Dionysius understood. He then stared ahead as the dust had cleared by now, revealing the massive Theonian army to him. Under the sunlight, the armour and shields of the closely packed soldiers reflected a dazzling cold light, like an endless wall of steel.
Unlike the previous Battle of Allaro River, Dionysius saw not only black but also yellow, cyan and several colours intertwined in a huge phalanx formation. It just shows that even though Theonia had put together a great army, they could not guarantee that every soldier would get their so-called ‘standard equipment’, giving Dionysius more confidence. Thus he said to his attendant, “Go tell the Theonians that I want to talk to their new king!”
The attendant nodded his head in understanding and galloped towards the enemy formation and stopped at 50 metres away from the Theonian as he shouted, “King Davos of Theonia, Lord Dionysius – the supreme military commander of Syracuse, wishes to speak with you! King Davos of Theonia…”
A herald reported the shouting of the Syracusan to Davos, who was at the rear of the army.
But Davos only pondered and said to Tolmides, who was next to him, “What do you think Dionysius wish to discuss with me for?”
“Your majesty.” Tolmides thought and said, “…Dionysius might be curious about the opponent who had given him a headache looks like.”
Davos laughed loudly at Tolmides’ implicit flattery and said, “I don’t have the time to play such childish game with him.”
Davos paused and asked, “Are the sarissa brigade in position?”
“Yes, your majesty. And just as you commanded, they did not raise their sarissa.” Tolmides replied.
“That’s for fear that those roaming Syracuse’s mercenary cavalries will notice something amiss. Still, don’t underestimate the tyrant of Sicily; he is very alert!” Although Davos didn’t dare underestimate his enemy, he was equally fully confident due to the enemy concentrating their forces on their right-wing, so he hoped that the sarissa brigade would give them a surprise.
After gazing at the enemy formation in front of him, Davos said in an impassioned tone, “Tolmides, tell the legati to order their brothers that the time has come to avenge the deceased Drakos and the warriors and Theonian people that were tortured and killed! Let them chant the ode of Hades and prepare to attack!”
“Understood!” Tolmides responded loudly.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Milo finally met the sarissa brigade that he was curious about.
A brigade varies from about a thousand men in the average Greek city-state’s army. So even though the sarissa brigade at the rear of their formation had 6,000 men, it was still not enough to form Theonia’s unique legion.
So when Davos said the word “sarissa brigade”, Milo was only surprised by the name. After all, except for the light infantry, almost all Greek infantry are armed with spears (sarissa is a kind of spear), so is it really necessary to emphasise it?! But once he saw the weapons, he finally understood why it was called “sarissa”. Although the soldiers did not lift it up and just held it flatly, he could clearly see its design that even though it is similar to a spear, its length is significantly longer! Moreover, they were not wearing armours.
‘Extremely long spears, unarmoured soldiers, column formation…’ Milo’s thought was filled with curiosity and doubt that he could not help but wonder, ‘What could Davos plan with such a strange army?’
Just as he was speculating, the Theonian formation resounded with the ode of Hades, “I devoutly praise you, O dark-haired and dark-eyes Hades!
The king of the underworld, the ruler of the night!
The impartial judge, the strict overseer!
…”
Each soldier sang attentively and devoutly, hoping to get the great Hades’ blessing. As countless voices merged in the sky over the Theonian army, it gradually became neat and consistent as it echoed over the battlefield for thousands of metres, which is extremely solemn and majestic!
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dionysius, who could hear it very clearly at the frontline, became pale, “Damn it! The Theonians are going to attack! Quick! Go and tell all the soldiers to pray to Apollo and immediately prepare for the clash!”
After giving his order, he drew back his horse, crossed the gap reserved between the phalanxes, and reached the rear.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
But just as the Syracusan started praying, the chanting on Theonia’s side ended.