[RS AAR] The Conquest of Sicily - Part II and III.
The Conquest of Sicily - Part II.
It was now three weeks after the defeat of Captain Ceyx.
The Legion was ready for the next engagement with the Syracusans and General Cornelius Asinius was well on his way with the siege of Agrigentum.
Then I heard the news of the approach of three forces in the area East of Panormus. Two large and one small.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-17
Our scouts kept an eye on their movements and a few days later came back with the news that the Syracusans had split up with one force approaching my Legion and the other one attacking the fort by the bridge East from Agrigentum in an attempt to relieve the besieged city. The small force was left East of Panormus.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
This split was a welcome event. It gave me the oppertunity to take on both forces seperately.
So I moved my Legion East in order to surprise the enemy before the should deside to join again. Not many days later I met an army under Captain Praxinos near the coast East of Lylibaeum, well supplied with heavy weapons.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
I was approaching them from behind a thin forest and planned on attacking them through the woods in order to prevent many casualties from their onagers and scorpions.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
Then I noticed that Praxinos onagers and scorpions were kind of separated from the rest of their army towards the South.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
Immediately I ordered General Mancinus to attack the onagers and scorpions with our cavalry before they could join the main army.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
They fell on the enemy with great speed and before the Syracusans could react our cavalry was on them.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
The Syracusan cavalry didn’t dare to attack our cavalry because of her large size, but quickly Praxinos sent some infantry.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
But before they could reach our cavalry all the crew of the onagers and scorpions were killed leaving a devastating sight for the Syracusans.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
Since the Syracusan artillery was destroyed I desided to attack them in the open. And while the victorious cavalry rejoined our lines under loud cheers I ordered the Legion to move out to the open field towards the South.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
Soon we were lined up exactly where ones was the artillery of the Syracusans.
I deployed my skirmishers between the two lines of cohorts, with the cavalry in the back and my Triarii more to the left behind the main line since the strongest part of the enemy was on that side.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
Soon the enemy did their first attack on our wings with great force.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
We received them with showers of darts and especially the center of the enemy line that had not approached us became a big target for our skirmishers.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
The losses on the Syracusan center were tremendous. Especially in their first line.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
Now the main attack on our line was on the wings. They were pushed back under great pressure from the elite units of the Syracusans. I reinforced the wings with units from our center.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
Now the Syracusans began to increase their attacks with infantry and cavalry over the whole line.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
But our line held.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
Now Captain Praxinos tried to force a decision and fired his man on to the extreme to break our line. In doing so he moved to far ahead of his men and sadly for the Syracusans found his end through the spears of our Triarii who had come to strengthen our left wing.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
The battle raged on now for an hour and slowly our right wing gained the upper hand and pushed the exhausted Syracusans back. This gave our cavalry the chance to go around them and attack the Syracusan right wing near the woods who were gaining the upper hand. Cavalry General Mancinus underestimated the strength of the Syracusan units who fought on that side and was killed by the pikes of Sicilian Hoplites.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
In the meantime also the infantry from our right wing had reached the Syracusan right wing and fell in the back of the Sicilian Hoplites.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
This was too much for the enemy and soon their whole army was in flight.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
General Mancinus bodyguards slaughtered as many Syracusans as they could find to cool off their anger over the loss of their general.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-21
In the end almost the whole Syracusan army was destroyed while we had suffered almost 500 losses.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
Now the only enemy forces left were a small army East of Panormus and the large army besieging the fort near the bridge of Agrigentum.
I expected the enemy to abandon the siege of the fort and retreat towards the East to protect Messana and Catana.
So after reinforcing my Legion I desided to pass by Panormus and move to the bridge East of Agrigentum to meet the enemy there.
Lilybaeum was left to defend herself on her own strenght.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-20
The Conquest of Sicily - Part III.
The journey to the fort took about a week. During that time we received the news that Agrigentum had fallen in our hands. That was great news. General Asinius also let me know that he was sending a unit of Scorpions to join us.
When we came at the fort we found that the enemy had abandoned the siege as expected and had moved East. So we left there very soon to follow the enemy and take controll of the bridge.
Surprisingly we didn’t find any enemy forces at the bridge. So I desided to set up camp there for the night.
Next morning the unit of Scorpions joined us. Our scouts came back with the news that they had spotted two large forces not far East moving our way and that they were under the command of Aristoboulos the Cruel, the tyrant of Syracuse, himself. So he had come out now himself to meet me in battle and take back what we had taken from him.
I desided to stay at the bridge and wait for Aristoboulos next move.
By WilliamTheSilent at 2008-02-21
To my surprise he had desided to engage me at the bridge, which was a great advantage to us. Aristoboulos must have been very convident about his abilities to take us on at a bridge. I knew he never had personally taken on a Roman army and probably believed that his troops were superior under his command, since he had never lost a battle.
By WilliamTheSilent at 2008-02-21
I was glad that the Scorpions had joined us. They were a great addition to our defense of the bridge. While the enemy approached they started releasing their firy missiles on them.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-21
The troops marching towards the bridge were an easy target for them and especially the fire added an extra devastating effect to the impact of every hit.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-21
The first wave of seemingly fearless hoplites engaged us on the other side of the bridge. A fierce battle developed.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-21
More and more units tried to cross the bridge eager to engage us. The Scorpions did their deadly work on them.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-21
Aristoboulos seeing the effect on his men ordered his archers to focus their fire on our Scorpions and soon they started to take heavy losses. But the brave crew continued to do their work, knowing that this was a crucial battle for this campaign and for the survival of all of us.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-21
I ordered more Velites towards the bridge to make up for the loss of fire power. But also they were targeted by the archers of the Syracusans and suffered heavy losses.
By WilliamTheSilent at 2008-02-21
After they had used up all their darts they retreated to the rear. The effect of their efforts became clearly visible in the frontline. Dead Syracusans were piled up at the feet of our legionairs. They now had not only suffered in the rear from our scorpions, but also in the front from our Velites.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-21
Some Syracusan units started to waver and move backwards.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-21
This was the moment for me to put some extra pressure on the Syracusans.
The three cohorts that had held the frontline now bravely for such a long time were too tired, so I brought forward three fresh ones. And before they joined the battle they released their pila on the enemy. Did had such a devastating effect on the tired enemy that they broke and fled.
Aristoboulos who had been in the rear of his army couldn’t stop them and fled too.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-21
Great slaughter followed and before the day was over the country side was covered with the dead bodies of the Syracusans. Especially the bridge was a horrible sight of that.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-21
This was the most important victory of my campaign. Aristoboulos had totally underestimated our strength. Never before had he faced a Roman Legion. Otherwise he would have known to not take us on at a bridge.
He fled to Syracuse, leaving his second inverior force to engage us.
I sent message to Cornelius Asinius ordering him to take the South road to Syracuse and besiege the city. In the meantime I would deal with the last Syracusan army facing me.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-21
I came face to face with them on the road to Catana, but after some skirmishing they left the field and retreated inside the city. This gave me the key to total victory over the Syracusans and possession of the Sicily. With Aristoboulos trapped in his city and his last army in Catana there was no escape possible for them. Messana would never be able to raise a large enough force to threaten me.
By williamthesilent at 2008-02-21
Three months later Syracuse and Messana were taken by storm. Catana held out for four more years, but basicly the Campaign of Sicily was over and Aristoboulos was brought to Rome to be shown to the people in my Triumph together with all the spoils of the campaign. This Triumph lasted for three days and secured my name in the history of the Roman Republic.
Marcus Macrianus the Conqueror of Sicily.
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Originally Posted by The Fuzz
