Chapter 1052
"No, Printos, you're not only a good staff officer, you're also an excellent commander! The reason why I'm saying so much is that I hope to get your approval and help me win this battle! "Alexis said sincerely.
Printos was stunned and immediately looked ahead. After a moment, he said, "Commander, look … Carthage's people seem to be stretching their formation. This way, their flanks may be beyond the valley floor and close to the mountain ridge. This will limit the power of the Numibian cavalry. Since Carthage's people are eager to fight us, can we directly ask them to move to the front and stay away from the mountain ridge? "
Alexis's eyes lit up and he smiled. "That's a good idea. Let's try to command Carthage's army."
He immediately picked a soldier who could speak Carthage's language from the guards and asked him to be the messenger. He went to meet the commander-in-chief of Carthage's army and made the request.
Ten minutes later, the soldier returned safely and conveyed the words of Carthage's commander-in-chief, Samores. He agreed to move the army forward.
In fact, Samores was not angry when he heard the request of the Diónia messenger. Instead, he was somewhat happy. This was because he led the army out of the city to attract the Dionysian Army and engage in a battle. If the Dionysian Army did not care, everything he did would have been in vain. Now that the Diónia people had made a request, it showed that they were willing to engage in a battle. In order to achieve this goal, even if they had to temporarily give up a little tactical advantage, it was acceptable.
When Samores ordered the entire formation to move to the east, Alexis had already returned to the camp. He called Amyntas, Matonis, and Lizaru and gave them the order to engage in a battle with Carthage's army. The three corps commanders were very excited when they heard this.
Alexis then said seriously, "Amyntas, Matonis, Lizaru, please go and tell the soldiers that this may be the last battle in this long war. Carthage's people will fight to the death to protect their homeland! If the kingdom wins in the end, they will win supreme glory! If we fail, we will have no way out! The outcome of the battle will ultimately depend on whether or not they give it their all! "
Amyntas immediately said confidently, "Don't worry, the soldiers of the First Legion have been through hundreds of battles. They don't need us to mobilize them. They know what to do at what time."
Matonis and Lizaru expressed the same opinion.
Before landing on Afrika, the three legions had experienced battle and casualties, especially when the 1st Legion was defending Selinus. The casualties were close to a quarter of the legion's total number. If they were not replenished, it would be difficult for them to fight again. However, transferring reserve soldiers from Turkistan would undoubtedly take too much time, so the Devers allowed the three legions to transfer soldiers from other legions to make up for their lack of manpower.
With this order from the Devers, the three corps commanders excitedly transferred elite soldiers from their respective legions. Other than the Legion IV, the other corps commanders actively cooperated. After all, most of the officers and soldiers under their command were eager to go to Afrika and gain more glory. As a result, the nearly full three legions were now much stronger than they were at the start of the war, both in terms of experience and combat power. This gave Amyntas and the others enough confidence.
On the 6th of February, 378 BC (16th year of the Kingdom of Diónia), the weather in Ardis and Hadrumentum was clear. Although it was still winter, the wind at noon in this coastal area was cool and refreshing, suitable for traveling. The armies of Diónia and Carthage set up a battlefield here.
The Carthaginian army consisted of 6000 Carthaginian heavy infantry, 4000 Carthaginian Sacred Legion infantrymen, 2500 Carthaginian light armored soldiers, 1500 Carthaginian light infantrymen, 600 Sacred Legion cavalrymen, and 3000 newly added reinforcements made up of Carthaginian elderly and youths. In addition, there were also 6200 Phoenician reinforcements (3000 heavy infantry, 1000 light armored soldiers, 2000 light infantrymen, and 200 cavalrymen). In total, there were 23,800 soldiers.
The opposing Dionysian Army was made up of three legions and West Numibian Cavalry. The Legion of Dionysia had 18000 Heavy Infantry, 3,000 Light Infantry, 3,000 Light Armored Soldiers, and 2,500 West Numibian Cavalry, for a total of 26500 soldiers.
The Carthaginian army was already in formation. After observing the formation of the Dionite army, Samores made some adjustments. The final arrangement of the formation was as follows: the middle had 4,000 soldiers of the Sacred Army at the front, and 3,000 new reinforcements made up of old men and young men at the back. The left wing had 6,000 Carthaginian heavy infantrymen, and 600 Sacred Army cavalrymen at the periphery of the left wing. The front of the right wing had 3,000 Phoenician heavy infantrymen, and the rear had 2,500 light-armored soldiers. The right wing had 200 Phoenician cavalry. In addition, Samos placed the 4,500 Light Infantry at the back of the formation.
If Carthage's formation was relatively balanced on the left, middle, and right, and the left wing was relatively stronger, then Diónia's formation had the same strength. The First Legion was in the middle, the Second Legion was on the left wing, and the Third Legion was on the right wing. 2,500 West Numibian Cavalry were evenly distributed on the periphery of the two wings, and Alexis only left 3,000 Light Armored Soldiers as a reserve.
There was nothing special about the formation of the two sides. It was the most common formation used by the heavy infantry of the Greek city-states in the early years. Even in the current chaotic Greece, such a formation was becoming rarer and rarer. However, such a mediocre formation would determine the rise and fall of a city-state with a glorious history.
The soldiers on both sides seemed to have realized the importance of this battle. They stopped all the noise and stood quietly. The dust that was stirred up earlier gradually dispersed, and the soldiers could clearly see the faces of their opponents hundreds of meters away.
On this wide and flat brownish-yellow land, the formation formed by Carthage and the Dionysian Army was like two parallel lines, one black and one white. The contrast between the black and white was so stark that it was like day and night, destined to never coexist.
"Wooo!!!" The bugle sounded, and the Dionysian Army launched the first attack. Slingers, javelins, and archers quickly flowed through the chessboard formation and rushed toward Carthage's formation.
Carthage's army also blew the bugle to attack, but they did not let the Light Infantry advance to fight against the Diónia Light Infantry. Instead, the entire formation accelerated.
When the Diónia Light Infantry rushed out of the formation, the Eastern Numibian cavalry on the two flanks had already closed in on Carthage's formation.
However, the cavalry in Carthage's formation did not attack. Instead, they retreated further back. After all, Carthage's men had dealt with the Western Numibian cavalry too many times and knew their characteristics very well.
As the West Numibian cavalry continued to press forward and began to draw their bows, the light infantry archers at the rear of the Carthaginian formation, relying on the long range of their bows, began to rain arrows on the flanks of the West Numibian cavalry.
At the same time, the lead balls thrown by the Diónia's First Legion's slingers were already above Carthage's formation.
Arrows, javelins, and lead pellets continued to fly into the Carthaginian formation. The screams continued, but the Carthaginian soldiers were not moved at all. They charged forward resolutely, and soon, they were engaged in a fierce battle with the Dionian soldiers.
Spears were broken, shields were shattered, flesh and blood were splattered, and the sound of battle was deafening.
On one side was a new power rising in the Western Mediterranean. The soldiers were all well-trained elites, passionate and proud, vowing to win more glorious glory. On the other side was a veteran powerhouse with a long history of hundreds of years. Although pride and glory were a thing of the past, now that a powerful enemy had invaded, the soldiers only had one thought in mind: "Protect their homeland and drive away the enemy". For this, they were not afraid to sacrifice themselves.
Therefore, even though the Dionysian Army had the advantage in terms of numbers, the quality of the soldiers was better than the opponent, the efficiency of the military organization was better than the opponent, and the teamwork of the soldiers was better than the opponent. However, after more than two hours of battle, Carthage's entire formation had retreated, but both sides were still basically evenly matched.
In fact, Carthage's men even had the upper hand in terms of cavalry. Samos used his light infantry to fight against the West Numibian cavalry. After a long battle, the West Numibian cavalry's horses were tired and they had run out of arrows. In addition, they had never engaged in direct confrontation with the enemy, so it could be said that they had basically lost their combat effectiveness.
At this time, Samos sent out the Sacred Legion and Phoenician cavalry that had been recuperating at the rear. He had them join forces and attack Diónia's left flank.
Alexis had no choice but to send three thousand light armored soldiers as reserves to the left flank to eliminate the threat.
After learning that the cavalry's attack was stopped by the enemy, and seeing that the soldiers who had been fighting for a long time were sweating and exhausted, and the entire formation was slowly retreating, Samos's worry gradually increased.
Before this, he had never fought against the Dionysian Army. Most of his military career was spent conquering and suppressing the Numibians, and it had always been smooth sailing without defeat. Although he had heard a lot about how powerful and terrifying the Dionysian Army was, he did not think much of it. According to what he knew about the battle, he believed that in this war, Carthage's current predicament was mainly due to the strength of Diónia's navy, which caused Carthage's navy to suffer a series of crushing defeats. In terms of the army, the strength of the two sides should be about the same.
This was because in Samos's opinion, the real test of the army's strength was a battle, and there were not many battles in this war.
Comments