R. Peake - Marching With Caesar - Conquest of Gaul

Once the army was assembled, minus the 14th down in the woods, we were given our final orders and instructions. Much to our initial chagrin, Caesar ordered the 10th to stay in reserve, although it turned out to be a move blessed by the gods. Command of what would be the assault element was by Caesar, who would stay for the time being with the reserves, and his orders were clear; the primary goal of the operation was to separate the army of Vercingetorix from the town proper. Only if the opportunity presented itself in an open gate or some other favor of the gods was the assault to continue into the town. I very distinctly remember that Caesar placed an emphasis on the Legions not stopping to plunder the camps of the Arverni army, but instead sweep them from the area between the two walls before maneuvering into position behind the enemy army, who by now looked like they were completely convinced that an assault from the west was imminent. Supporting our belief was the fact that Vercingetorix shifted the remainder of his troops to the expected main line of resistance, urging them to improve the fortifications in anticipation of our assault. In other words, the ruse worked perfectly, and all was ready for us to spring the trap to stop that bastard here and now.

In my mind, the only thing more fickle than Gauls are the gods themselves, which is why I have severed all ties with them now. In the beginning, Caesar’s plan worked brilliantly; on a blast from the cornu , along with the waving of Caesar’s standard that was relayed back to the main camp, the assault began just as planned. Springing from the gates of the small camp, four Legions quickly assembled in the relatively open and flat ground to the east, or to the right of the front gate as we were facing Gergovia, quickly and efficiently, a move that was practiced both in training and in battle hundreds of times. We of the 10th exited the camp as well, and were standing on the slope of the hill watching our comrades begin their march up the opposite incline. The slope rose northward before bending slightly west to form the saddle between the plateau and the hills where Vercingetorix was waiting for an assault that would never come, at least from the direction he was expecting it. Quickly, the Legions marched up the hill and with almost contemptuous ease, quickly crossed over the outer wall, knocking it over in many places as the Legionaries discovered that it was just loosely piled rock, with no mortar to hold it together. Attacking three separate camps of the enemy, the only men they found defending them were the sick, lame or lazy as we said in the army. Or in one case, the bodyguard of one of the kings of the Nitiobriges, who was forced to flee naked on his horse while his bodyguard stayed and died to buy him time. The sight of his white, puny body astride his horse galloping away gave us much cause for mirth, and I had tears streaming from my eyes as I watched him flee. Little did I know that before this day was through I would be crying again, if for different reasons.

I cannot say exactly what went wrong, or where it went wrong, although I have my suspicions. Oh, the reason things went sour in a hurry was clear enough; once they swept through the camps, Caesar ordered the cornu to sound the recall, apparently so that the Legions would re-form back up to face the inevitable counterattack from Vercingetorix once he was aware that there was a Roman army in his rear, except I do not think that is where things went bad. To my dying breath, I believe that the men in the assault element heard the recall, but chose to ignore it. Instead, they were pushed on by Centurions like a man named Lucius Favius, who apparently was on the sick list when Avaricum was sacked and therefore did not receive any share of the spoils. This day, the initial success was so easy and so overwhelming that he convinced the men of his Century to continue to the walls of the town proper, his goal being getting into the town first to grab his share of loot. Once a Century moved in that direction, the others, not wanting to miss out on the chance of spoils, were quick to follow. Before any orders could be given or relayed, the whole army was charging toward the walls of the town. The first Century to arrive naturally was that of Favius, who was boosted onto the walls by his men, whereupon he immediately pulled some of them up to the parapet. Elsewhere along the walls of the town, we could see women beseeching the Romans not to enter, some of them even throwing themselves down to the men to be ravished by them in a vain attempt to assuage their lust. I cannot speak of their fates, but I think it sufficient to say that I hope that any man left alive who was part of what happened suffers nights of tormented sleep because of it. Initially, everything was going our way, while the sight of Romans at the walls of the town created a panic among the townspeople and the garrison of the town. Even the Legion designated to fortify the hill vacated by Vercingetorix, the main objective of this operation, now looked and saw what appeared to be a town falling under our arms. Dropping what they were doing, they hurried to join their comrades, who were now at the base of the town wall trying to help each other get up and over it. Then, the tide began to turn as the people within the town started to realize that as formidable as our army was, what faced them was only a fraction of it, and besides that, our men were still vastly outnumbered by the Gauls on the other side of the wall. Within moments, the fighting became fierce, with more defenders appearing in answer to the cries of the women and children, while some of the women were brandishing their babies in front of their defenders in an obvious attempt to convince them to repel our men at the walls.

I will say that the Gallic warriors did not take much convincing, and almost before we could realize exactly what was happening, our army was in trouble. Caesar sent orders for the Tribune Sextius, left behind in the second camp with five Cohorts of the 13th on guard, to bring the men out to form a line farther down the slope than where we were presently standing. Their directions were to wait and pounce on the right flank of the enemy if they began to pursue our army at the walls, who at that very moment were beginning to take steps backward. Following Caesar, the 10th moved down the slope to perhaps 100 paces from the outer wall, while he waited further developments. One Century was at one of the town gates, their Centurion leading an attempt to tear it down when he was overwhelmed by a counterattack of the enemy. Surrounded by Gauls the Centurion, Petronius was his name, fought savagely to keep the enemy at bay while ordering his Century to retreat. At first they refused, but finally they withdrew down the hill, leaving Petronius behind to die a glorious death, taking as many of the Gauls with him as he could. As this was going on, Caesar moved us into a position that was almost perpendicular to the outer wall, in the anticipation of being able to descend on the flank of the enemy should our men turn back, and the Gauls decided to pursue. Our men at the wall were engaged in a ferocious battle, as now the final trick the gods held in store for us came into play. Looking to their right, to the east, our men saw the Aedui column ascending the hill in their own diversionary attack. I believe with all of my heart that, had the men at the wall not been so hard pressed, they would have had the presence of mind to remember that this could only be the Aedui launching their assault and were in fact part of our force. Unfortunately, in their embattled state, with every man fighting for his life, what they saw was another Gallic army heading more or less in their direction, and this was enough to break the dam and release the flood.

Our men, beginning with those on the right nearest to the advance of the misidentified Aedui, turned and began running down the slope, triggering an effect much like a cascade, with each successive Century either sensing or seeing the Century to their right suddenly turning and running. Caesar was rapidly marching us east now, to a small rise that served as the outer edge of the rest of the army’s retreat. Using faultless logic, he quickly determined that fleeing men will automatically take the easiest escape route available, and would therefore not bother with running up the side of a hill, however small, if there was a way to avoid it. The configuration of the slope was such that it served to act as a funnel between two small rises, just bumps really, but it was between those bumps that the vast majority of our army headed. The 10th was on the small hill on the eastern side, still facing perpendicular to the outer wall, with Sextius and his five Cohorts opposite us on the other. The Gauls, seeing the backs of a Roman army for the first time in their lives were in hot pursuit, the troops of Vercingetorix, by this point alerted to what was happening in their rear, now leading the chase. Like an avalanche, our army went streaming down the slope, heading for a clear and level area where they could form up again, except if we and the men of the 13th did not stop the pursuit of Vercingetorix’s men, they would have no chance to regroup. It was of the utmost importance that we stop the enemy’s headlong pursuit, so to that end, we arrayed ourselves in a single line of Centuries to give all of us a chance to assault them as they went running by. The enemy came closer and closer, not seeming to notice us standing on the slopes of the small hill, so intent were they on the destruction of the other Legions.