Chapter 515
However, the Diónia's spear phalanx was approaching, and the Celts at the front were directly faced with the threat of a terrifying spear wall. They were already furious when they were attacked by the Numibians. Now, in order to escape, some of the more irascible warriors among them simply brandished their greatswords and killed the Numibians who stood in their way. This caused the Numibians' anger and resistance, further delaying the entire cavalry's escape.
The leaders and officers of Akhilita, Garba, and the rest of the two tribes shouted loudly, even blowing the horn to retreat. However, in this dusty, noisy, and abnormally chaotic battlefield, their efforts were in vain …
… …
When the huge figures of the Celtic cavalry and their horses crashed towards Tapirus, he could not help but tense up. He closed his eyes and subconsciously gripped his spear tightly, preparing to withstand the huge impact.
He only heard the miserable neigh of the horse, and a strong force was transmitted to the spear shaft, making it almost impossible for him to hold it tightly. At the same time, the few rows of soldiers in front of him also crashed into him, pushing him back violently.
"Hold on, brothers! Hold on! " The soldiers behind him tried their best to support his body. While giving him strength, they also cheered them on loudly.
The spear phalanx phalanx of 15 rows, together with the light armored soldiers at the back, gave Tapirus and his men enough strength to support them, allowing them to stabilize themselves.
Tapirus opened his eyes and saw that the warhorse's hind hooves were on the ground, and its front hooves were raised. Eight or nine spears pierced its neck and chest at the same time, holding it up in midair. However, it was not dead yet, and was wailing incessantly. The enemy on the horse had already been pierced through the chest by two spears, lying on the ground, dead. Horse blood and human blood flowed down the spear shaft …
The soldiers laboriously pulled out the spears.
Tapirus was surprised to find that although the enemy cavalry was fierce, there were no major casualties among the soldiers, and their formation was relatively intact. Only a few of the soldiers' spears were broken. After this collision, the enemy did not dare to continue their attack. Instead, they hurriedly stopped their horses and tried to escape in panic. The scene in front of them was a chaotic scene … …
Tapirus and the other soldiers were relieved, and the enemy's cowardice fueled their courage.
"Brothers, keep going!" Tapirus shouted, and the soldiers responded with a roar.
They stepped over the corpses of the enemy, around the dying War Horse, and moved on.
Capus, who was at the rear of the phalanx, was pleasantly surprised to see that the phalanx had successfully stopped the advance of the enemy's large number of cavalry. The enemies who were in a state of chaos also made him realize that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so he decisively ordered, "Charge!"
That's right, the soldiers of the spear brigade not only knew how to move forward steadily, but they could also charge forward like heavy infantry without any armor. These few days, the focus of their training was on this tactic.
The continuous blasts of the bugle boosted the morale of the soldiers.
"Watch out! They were going to charge! Tapirus shouted hoarsely.
The soldiers of the company no longer stuck close to each other. Instead, they opened up some distance between each other. Their footsteps were still small, but the frequency of their steps was gradually increasing …
The phalanx's advance increased, and the enemy cavalry was pierced off their horses one by one. Screams of agony could be heard everywhere.
At the same time, the phalanx was no longer continuous, and there were many gaps in the formation. The light armored soldiers rushed into the formation through the gaps and worked together with the spear brigade to kill the enemies who were sitting on their horses and stopped moving.
When the Diónia cavalry turned around to lure the enemy, a few of them accidentally ran into the phalanx due to their nervousness. Some of the cavalry at the rear of the formation were killed by the Celtic cavalry that caught up to them … After suffering some casualties, they successfully retreated from the two sides. Just as the phalanx sounded the horn to charge, the Diónia cavalry that had quickly reorganized immediately returned from the two sides. They bravely blocked the passage on both sides.
"Avenge Sobers!" Ledes shouted and gave the order to attack.
The infantry had their unyielding hero, Dracos, and the cavalry had their fallen hero, Sobers. At this time, the Diónia cavalry was determined to wash away the humiliation of losing to the Syracuse mercenaries, and fought with all their might against the enemy.
On the battlefield where the War Horse could not gallop, the difference in horsemanship was not apparent, and it was useless. This allowed the Diónia cavalry to fight the Celts and Numibians on both sides of the battlefield, making it even more difficult for the enemy to escape from the two sides of the battlefield. As a result, the central area of the battlefield was compressed, and they could not retreat from the rear for a while. This created the conditions for the spear brigade and light armored soldiers to decimate the enemy.
… …
"Your Majesty, the Pike Brigade has stopped the enemy cavalry's charge, and is now fighting back!" Hearing Tormid's excited report, the Devers's uneasy heart calmed down, but his expression was still solemn. "Now it's up to the First and Second Legions and Myron!"
… …
In the middle of the battle formation, Phoebidas did not know the situation of his own cavalry. He was now focused on leading Syracuse's right flank forward, and at the same time, he kept an eye on the entire right flank. Just as he expected, the whole formation was gradually tilting to the left.
The infantry tactic that the Sparta army was best at was the "left-turn tactic". During the battle, the Sparta army took advantage of the fact that the heavy infantry held a shield in their left hand, leaned their body to the right, and gradually tilted their formation to the left as they advanced. Thus, when they reached the enemy's formation, the entire right flank would naturally turn to the left, and thus directly attack the enemy's left flank. This caused the enemy, who lacked training, to be the first to be defeated when the flanks were attacked. Most of the time, the battle was already over before the other two sides came into direct contact.
In such an important battle, Phoebidas, who was equally nervous, chose the tactic that he was most familiar with. Although the Syracuse army could not achieve a uniform left-turn attack like the Sparta soldiers who had undergone rigorous training since they were young, the Syracuse army had an advantage that the Sparta army did not have. They had a large number of infantry and cavalry, and they had more soldiers and more cavalry than the Diónia army. After roughly understanding the Diónia's formation, Phoebidas was delighted to find that he could completely concentrate the heavy infantry on the right flank and take the lead in defeating the enemy's left flank, laying the foundation for the entire battle!
Since the left flank of the right flank was connected to the middle flank at the beginning of the march (the cavalry on the right flank had already rushed to the front), according to previous habits, the speed of the right flank was instinctively slower than the soldiers on the right flank who did not have any allies. In addition, when the heavy infantry moved forward, the entire formation of the Syracuse army, which was more than two miles long, began to tilt after advancing for a while.
In this regard, Phoebidas was happy to see this happen. He calculated that when they came into contact with the Diónia's left flank, the tilted formation should be able to cut through the enemy's flank. By that time, the cavalry should have already taken care of the Diónia's cavalry and turned to attack the rear of the Diónia's left flank. The left flank of the Diónia army was attacked from three sides. No matter how strong the heavy infantry was, they might not be able to withstand it!
If Phoebidas could notice the abnormality in the formation, the experienced officers of the First and Second Legion of Diónia could also notice it. The two Legion Commanders immediately realized that something was wrong after receiving continuous reports. At this time, the two armies were less than 400 meters apart.
Antonios immediately sent messengers to Amyntas, Myron, and Cypross on both sides to convey his suggestion: stop the advance immediately and regroup to face the enemy in front of them.
Very quickly, the Second Legion Commander, Amyntas, agreed.
Antonios could not wait for the response of Myron and Cypross, who were still hesitating. He decisively blew the bugle to "stop the advance". Following that, the Second Legion issued the same order.
The First and Second Legions were indeed the earliest established Legion of Dionysia, with the most veterans and the strongest fighting force. The strongest fighting force also meant that their ability to carry out orders was also the strongest.
The bugle blew and the military flag waved. Although the officers and soldiers were puzzled, they all stopped the advance.
The two Legion of Dionysia stopped the advance. This caused the Crotone – Triene reinforcements at the far left to be at a loss. Myron and Cypross who were still hesitating had no choice but to immediately give the order: stop the advance!
Unlike Diónia, their citizen soldiers did not have systematic military training and complicated military rules and organization. They did not even have the bugle to "stop the advance". All they could do was send messengers to the front and back of the formation to relay the order loudly. Hence, the entire formation was a little disorderly. Fortunately, they were connected to the First Legion. If the First Legion did not move, it would naturally affect the neighboring Cater reinforcements.
Comments