Chapter Five, Lost Legion
In 255 BC Rome declared war upon Masaesyli in order to ensure that their African holdings would never be threatened again. They brought their powerful Iberian ally Lusitani into the war and Rome called Dalmatae to aid them. the mighty Lusitani queen dominated most of Iberia and parts of southern Gaul.
The city of Garama in Phazania was besieged by the V Legion as the I marched to their aid.
The IV and II Legions are commanded to march upon the Lusitani.
The III Legion under Marcus Brutus left Carthago to head southwest and seize the desert settlement of Dimmidi and its surrounding lands and villages. On the command from Lucius Scipio-now forty-five years old-to commission two additional legions to defend Rome, as all other legions march for war. The legacy of the short-lived VI and the VII were raised.
The port city of Iol fell to a great Masaesyli army.
Garama’s garrison engaged the V Legion.
His men hold as the two armies lines clashed.
However, Appius Maro was suddenly hit by a lucky-or unlucky-arrow and died within minutes. The dozens of men that make up the V Legions cavalry successfully lure away the majority of the Masaesyli cavalry and skirmishers sent their general and his bodyguards running from the field in revenge for their own trusted commander. The Legionnaires pulled a victory and avenged their General’s unfortunate death. When Lucius Scipio arrived with the I Legion he had said that it was an unfortunate loss and appointed Servius Lanatus as the V Legion’s commander. Then he crushed Garama’s defenders. The V would remain in Garama until they were at full strength again, whilst the I headed west to Cydamus. Then the province of Phazania would be under their control. Lucius Scipio would later adopt Servius Lanatus into his family. Servius Lanatus recruited Numidian cavalry and war elephants to strengthen his legion as he desired to march as soon as possible, to prove himself in battle. He believed it in him to become Rome’s greatest field commander. Lucius Scipio’s successor as dictator.
In Gaul the Romans saw great initial success against the Lusitani. Their armies had been far from the frontiers with Rome, unprepared for war. Within six months a fleet sailed the coast and an army was spotted in the mountains between Gaul and Iberia.
Cydamus fell to the I Legion with little to no fight. An Masaesyli army sought free the city but failed and took serious losses before they retreated.
A combined effort by the II Fleet and the III Legion retook Iol and allowed the III to march south and reach Dimmidi. Marcus Brutus laid siege to it and expected the army inside to sally out. Soon the soldiers of Dimmidi came out as an army. Marcus Brutus withdrew to ensure that half remained behind to ensure that the Romans didn’t have a second force to assault the city behind their back.
He placed his two units of Numidian cavalry in the trees west of the battlefield. They would wait for the right opportunity to strike at their enemies rear.
A Masaesyli cavalry unit managed to break through the rear of the army and butchered the Roman slingers. Thanks to a quick charge from Marcus Brutus himself not a single cavalrymen made it back to their own lines. His Numidia cavalry began to chase two units of horse archers by Masaesyli origin around the rear of the battlefield.
The Masaesyli was put to flight and Marcus Brutus hunted them into the hills and arranged a mass execution of all those taken captive. He moved in on the city of Dimmidi and took it with extreme losses. He barely had a III Legion to think of after the battle. He would hurry back to Carthago and abandon the city and hope that any attack could be held back long enough by a garrison. When word reached Lucius Scipio he finished his business in Cydamus and headed forward Dimmidi. From there he could march to Iol and onto Tingis and secure Roman domination over western Africa.
The VI and VII Legion were both on the march through Cisalpina towards Gaul to join the war effort against the Lusitani. The effort was under the command of Lucius Libo, though his command was shadows by doubt from his leadership of the Gallic campaign about a decade earlier. His actions in capturing Bibracte had risked to end the campaign in failure. He had managed to regain the faith of Lucius Scipio and in truth his opinion was the one that mattered most.
In Gaul Gnaeus Vespasianus’s legion found itself in battle against an Lusitani army led by Queen Adginna. Halfway through the battle his cavalry overwhelmed the cavalry she led and slew her. Despite the experience and veterancy of Adginna’s army Gnaeus Vespasianus handed them their greatest and final defeat. It was that army Adginna had used to conquer much of Iberia.
Gaetuli, likely seeing the Romans conquering western Africa offered to become a client state. Rome accepted. The VI Legion marched into Iberia.
The VIII Legion began to be raised in Cisalpina. Half of it would be made up of auxiliaries. They would be deployed to aid Rome’s ally Dalmatia against the growing might of the Tylis barbarians. There was a secondary goal though, to add the region of Iader to Rome.
The VI and VII Legions began a campaign to conquer the eastern regions of Iberia for Rome and Gnaeus Vespasianus’s VI Legion began a trek south into Iberia as well.
In 253 Masaesyli offered to become a client state of the Republic. Half of Africa, all of the west, was in Roman hands. No longer would they need to worry about a threat in Africa, not the western half at least, or so the senate reasoned. Half of Iberia laid in Roman hands at this time.
That year Suetonia Rufa came of age, fifteen years old.
In early 252 BC Lucius Scipio, now a man of forty-eight, proudly saw his eldest son Gnaeus Canus come of age. He was eager to ask for his own command and sought to take advantage of his father’s appointment as dictator. Whether it was out of pride, to advance the Cornelii family or another reason Lucius Scipio promised him a legion, in two years. Some bureaucracy had to be followed.
In a forest east of Iader the VIII Legion was attacked by three Tylis armies.
He placed himself with his combined cavalry force on the left wing of his army.
His first line was made up of four cohorts of Heavy Cohorts and two auxiliary cohorts of Naked Swords, Gallic heavy swordsmen that fought naked.
Behind them stood the Gallic and Roman Javelinmen and archers, then a line of remaining auxiliary and proper Roman cohorts.
General Furius Capito hoped to squash the first army before all three could unite. He led his cavalry ahead of the infantry and managed to lure away part of the first Tylis army. His effort to deal with the armies separately failed though, and however, two enemy Generals died quickly in the battle, one killed by a javelin and one trampled under horse by his cavalry. The horses would grow exhausted by charge after charge. The hardest fighting men on the field was the Heavy Cohorts in the center.
In the end the VIII Legion lost and was wiped out as they fled. A full Roman legion had been wiped out and many Romans in Italy saw it was proof that the Republic had expanded too fast. The young Gnaeus Canus riled up the people in Italy with fears of the Tylis invading. He then had his agents spread the news that Lucius Scipio was returning to Roma and that only he could avenge the death of an entire legion. Marcus Brutus’s III Legion traveled with Lucius Scipio and the young Servius Lanatus stationed his legion in Carthago to oversee the African provinces.
On the request of Dalmatae Rome declared war on the Odrysian Kingdom.