Chapter 512: Battle of Crotone (V)
As a result, the phalanx formation of the clumsy Crotone-Terina reinforcements slammed into each other and made a clamour.
But at this moment, Milo and Siprus, who was on horseback, saw the approaching enemy’s direction of attack. So if the Crotone-Terina reinforcements continued their movements, they would protrude in front of the formation and be completely exposed to the enemy’s front attack and perished. Thus they were now determined to completely change their direction.
So with a large group of escorts, the two men quickly rode around the front of the formation to shout and force the soldiers to fall back and change direction…
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While advancing, Phidias noticed that the Theonian army had stopped moving. Then he began wondering why Theonia’s left-wing phalanx that had been diagonal to him gradually began to face him…
Phidias was surprised, ‘The enemy is changing direction while in a formation?! How dare they make a turn in the middle of a battle!!’
There is a reason why Phidias was surprised: In this era, it would be difficult to make major tactical changes once the Greek heavy infantry battle began. Thus they would face each other according to the previous plan, and that is because: First of all – the heavy infantry with heavy helmets and armour have trouble making flexible manoeuvres. Secondly, the lack of training of city-state soldiers made them afraid of making complex tactical manoeuvres when marching in a dense phalanx formation to avoid confusion and be vulnerable to attack.
That is also one of the reasons why the Spartan soldiers had an advantage in battles, as they could achieve tactical manoeuvres in battles that the other city-state armies could not. Thus they could be counted as professional soldiers. However, even the Spartans would only use the characteristics of heavy infantry in a huge battle to perform the left rotation tactics and would rarely make temporary tactical changes after the battle began, just like what the Theonians are doing now. That is because Sparta, like most Greek city-states, had their officers and strategoi that commanded the various armies to be with the soldiers, following the Spartan tradition (The Spartan king is excluded from that as he could just sit in the command post and let the strategoi be in the middle of the formation. However, this would significantly weaken his commanding ability). Even the democratic city-states require their strategoi to be in the forefront of the army and play a leading role so as not to be criticised in the ecclesia. Hence once they blew the salpinx and the army marched, the strategoi would lose almost all command of the entire force, and they could only follow the tactics they decided before the battle.
That was why Phidias was shocked by the improvised change made by Theonia’s left-wing, which was obviously to deal with Syracuse’s right-wing. Naturally, he also saw the chaos in Theonia’s army (mainly the Crotone-Terina reinforcements), which somewhat compensated for his loss of not being able to attack the enemy’s flank.
“Quickly! Quickly!!…” Unfortunately, his shouting could only coerce a small group of soldiers around him. But for the huge phalanx of 25,000 men, it was like throwing a stone into a raging river, which would not make much difference.
Following their initial plan, Syracuse’s right-wing continued to march, rapidly closing the distance between them and Theonia’s left-wing as the soldiers advanced in stride…
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Syracuse’s light infantry fighting in the middle of the battlefield had already started withdrawing. In contrast, the 7th brigade of the first legion led by Cid and the seventh brigade of the second legion led by Arpenst remained in front of the phalanx. Besides having enough space to retreat in Theonia’s checkerboard formation, they also wanted to stop the advance of Syracuse’s right-wing to buy time for the Crotone-Terina reinforcements to complete their formation change.
With the Syracusan army nearing, it had not only made the Crotone-Terina reinforcements nervous but also forced them to speed up the change of direction.
However, the light infantry’s effort could still not stop the Syracusans. In the end, they could only throw one more round of javelin and arrows before they had to gradually retreat to the rear under the pressure of the Syracusan formation.
At this moment, the distance between the two armies was only about 60 metres. Fortunately, the Crotone-Terina reinforcements barely completed their formation change. When Milo and Siprus rushed back to the rear of the phalanx, although they were sweating hard, they became relieved.
Milo sighed and said, “Now I know the gap between Crotone’s army and Theonia’s army!”
Siprus then said with lingering fear, “Fortunately, Lord Davos repeatedly asked us to leave the phalanx and stand behind the formation to command. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to make changes even if we see the cunning action of the Syracusans and would have suffered a great loss!”
“Yes! Without Theonia’s obstinance, we would not dare make changes on the formation for fear of trouble!” Milo sighed again.
At this time, Theonia’s left-wing and Syracuse’s right-wing almost became two parallel lines. But in contrast to the Theonian troops in the centre that was still advancing southward, they became almost vertical.
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As Syracuse’s right-wing got closer to the Theonians’ left-wing, the Syracusan soldiers began to clench their round shields as they remembered Theonia’s unique tactics after previously fighting them.
So when the Theonian soldiers began raising their javelins, the Syracusans slightly squatted and protected their heads with the round shield. But even when javelins rained down on the Syracusan line, showering them with death and screams to rang out, it still didn’t affect their determination to advance. Rather they speed up their advance to force the Theonian soldiers to hastily throw the second round of javelins, making it less lethal.
Now that the two armies were only less than twenty metres apart, Phidias became a bit out of breath, and he could even hear the rapid breathing of the soldiers around. They became exhausted due to the physical exertion caused by the change from retreat to attack, hastily forming up, rushing several hundred metres and from the extreme excitement caused by the impending battle.
Phidias, through the narrow eyehole, saw the opposite army’s glittering long shields, spears and armour. The deep black unique to Theonia’s army made them feel like they were facing a cold night even during the day. Although he knew he was facing the main of the Theonian army, he was instead excited than afraid. Moreover, he believed that the Syracusan soldiers wouldn’t be afraid as they were not only the elite of the Syracusan army but had gotten told by Dionysius that “They can only return home if they win. Otherwise, only burial in a foreign land awaits them!”
So even without the urging of the salpinx, the Syracusan soldiers shouted “Apollo!!!”, strode forward and began to charge. Syracuse’s entire right-wing’s phalanx was like a golden mountain crushing the enemy.
At the same time, the Theonian soldiers roared “Hades!!!” simultaneously and began charging as well. They were like a black tide in a stormy sea, wave after wave, eventually converging into a gigantic wave that would swallow the Syracusans.
On the other hand, the Crotone-Terina soldiers, with the hatred of their nation, roared with rage and turned it into boundless strength as they vowed to kill all their enemies.
As tens of thousands of people stepped firmly on the ground, the earth shook and rumbled like thunder.
And with a loud noise, the battle between heavy infantry began…
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“Your majesty, the left-wing is now fully engaged with the enemy!” Tolmides loudly told the report of the reconnaissance cavalry.
Davos nodded, but his gaze remained on the front. Then he pointed to the enemy’s military formation in the distance, sneered and said, “The Syracusans are marching slowly, so it seems that Dionysius is trying to wait for his right-wing to gain victory first!”
Tolmides smiled wildly, “But he would never imagine that the wonderful tactics you devised trapped the cavalry he placed his hope, your majesty!”
Davos didn’t have the heart to taunt his enemy at this point, so he said seriously, “We can’t let Dionysius have it easy! Order all troops to speed up and clash with the enemy as soon as possible!”
Tolmides, however, didn’t immediately accept the order and reminded, “Your majesty, I fear that we would reach the traversable part of Targines River if we advance too fast. If that is the case, the enemy may send troops to cross the Targines River and attack our right-wing’s flank and rear!”
Davos already considered the question, so he immediately replied, “Judging from the current situation, Dionysius has invested most of their strength on their right-wing, which shows that he mainly focuses on the left-wing. Besides, I don’t think Dionysius had spare troops to attack our right-wing’s rear, not to mention that we have more than enough reserves to deal with them.” Indeed, behind Davos were the 2,000 light-armoured drawn from the various legions and a thousand men from the mountain reconnaissance brigade led by Izam – A total of 3,000 men in reserve, which they haven’t used yet.
“Understood, your majesty.” Tolmides then left.
“Wait a minute!” Davos stopped him again, “Go and tell the legati that the sarisa brigade, led by Kapus, has gained an advantage over the Syracusan cavalry. So the next part will be up to them!”
Tomides smiled as he understood Davos’ intentions: With the newly established sarissa brigade achieving impressive results, how could the other legions fall behind them?
Sure enough, the phalanx sped up after Davos’ order was transmitted to all the troops. So whether it is the right-wing composed of the sixth and seventh legions or the centre composed of the fourth and fifth legions and Bruttian soldiers, they were all urged on by the legion’s legati and officers.