ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 512 Battle of Crotone ([-])

As a result, the clumsy heavy infantry of the Ket reinforcements jostled and shouted at each other, and the formation became quite chaotic.

However, at this moment, Milon and Sipulos were determined to complete the turn of the array, because as the enemy approached, they had clearly seen the enemy's attack direction on horseback. If the Kett reinforcements could not compete with the first, The array of the Second Army remained consistent, so the flanks of the Ket reinforcements protruding in front of the array were completely exposed to the enemy's frontal attack, and only destruction awaited them.

So the two of them led the guards of the brigade, quickly rode around to the front of the formation, fired their spears horizontally one by one, shouted loudly, and kept advancing on their horses, forcing the soldiers to retreat and turn...

On the way forward, Phoebidas suddenly discovered that the Dionian army in front had stopped advancing. When he was wondering, the Dionian left-wing array that was originally facing him gradually began to face him...

Phoebus was shocked: The enemy was turning the array? !The enemy dared to turn their array during the battle! !

There is a reason for Phoebidas to be so surprised: once a Greek heavy infantry battle of this era begins, the enemy and ourselves will move towards each other according to the prior plan, and it will be difficult to make major tactical changes.This is because first of all, the heavily armored heavy infantry moves clumsily and it is difficult for them to make more flexible maneuvers; secondly, the lack of training of city-state citizen soldiers also prevents them from doing complex maneuvers when marching in dense phalanxes. Tactical maneuver to avoid confusion in the array and make it vulnerable to attack.

This is also one of the reasons why Spartan warriors have an advantage in battles. They can be regarded as professional soldiers. Spartan warriors can achieve tactical maneuvers in battles that other city-state armies cannot do.But even the Spartans only used the characteristics of the heavy infantry in marching to perform left-hand tactics to the extreme in large battles. They rarely made temporary tactical changes after the battle began, just like the one on the opposite side now. What the Dionians did is because Sparta, like most Greek city-states, the Spartan officers and generals who commanded each army, according to the tradition of the Spartan city-state, had to be in the same situation with the soldiers. In the formation, fight with the enemy (the King of Sparta does not need to, he can sit and command, but his generals are all in the formation, and his command effectiveness is greatly weakened).Democratic city-states even require generals to be at the forefront of the military formation and take the lead, so that they will not be criticized in the citizens' assembly.Therefore, when the attack horn sounds for the battle and the army marches, the generals almost lose the command of the entire army, and the military formation will conduct the battle according to the tactics formulated in advance.

The temporary change of Dionia's left wing in response to the attack on Syracuse's right wing really shocked Phoebias. Of course, he also saw the chaos in the Dionysia army formation (mainly Ket reinforcements) , which more or less compensates for the loss of his possible inability to attack the enemy's flanks.

"Faster! Faster!!..." Phoebe Das shouted loudly and quickened his pace.It's a pity that his shouts can only mobilize a small group of soldiers around him. For the huge phalanx of 25000 people, it is like throwing stones into a rushing river and has no effect.

Syracuse's right wing is still marching according to the previous plan, but as the soldiers stride forward, the distance between it and the left wing of Dionia is rapidly closing...

The Syracuse light infantry fighting in the middle has begun to withdraw, and the Seventh Group of the First Army led by Cipit and the Seventh Group of the Second Army of Alpans are still in front of the phalanx, not only because of Dionia The checkerboard square formation left them with enough retreat channels, especially because they wanted to stop the forward speed of Syracuse's right wing as much as possible and buy time for the Cutt reinforcements to complete the array turn.

The approaching Syracuse army made the Cutter reinforcements nervous, and at the same time forced them to speed up their formation changes.

The efforts of the light infantry of the First and Second Legions could not stop the Syracusans from advancing. They only threw one more round of javelins and one more round of arrows, and had to gradually retreat under the pressure of the Syracuse array. Retreat to the rear.

At this time, the distance between the two armies was only about 60 meters, and the array of Ket reinforcements barely completed the turn. When Milon and Sipulos rushed back to the rear of the phalanx, they were already sweating profusely, but they felt a lot more relaxed.

Milon said with a sigh: "Now I know how big the gap is between Crotone's army and the Dionysian army!"

Sipulos said with lingering fear: "Fortunately, Lord Davos repeatedly asked us to break away from the phalanx and stand at the back of the queue to facilitate command. Otherwise, even if we saw the cunning actions of the Syracuse people, There is no way to change it, and it must be a big loss!"

"Yes! Without the persistence of the Dionians, we would not dare to make changes to the formation because we are afraid of difficulties!" Milon sighed again.

At this time, Dionia's left wing and Syracuse's right array formed almost two parallel lines, but they were almost perpendicular to the Dionia center troops that were still advancing southward.

The Syracuse right-wing army was getting closer and closer to the Dionian left wing, but the Syracuse soldiers began to tighten their grip on the bucklers in their hands. After fighting against the Dionians once, the Dionians were unique. His tactics were deeply memorable to them.

When the Dionian soldiers on the opposite side raised their javelins, they crouched slightly and protected their round shields above their heads. The rain of javelins that covered the sky hit the Syracuse army formation, splashing with clouds. Flower of Death, the screams one after another did not affect their determination to move forward, but made them speed up the pace of advancement, forcing the Dionian soldiers to throw a second round of javelins in a hurry, and the killing effect was much worse. .

Now the distance between the two armies is less than 20 meters, and even Phoebidas is a little out of breath. He can hear the rapid breathing of the soldiers around him. This is not only because of the transition from retreat to attack, the hasty formation and the quick steps. The physical exhaustion caused by running hundreds of meters, and at the same time, the body was extremely excited by the approaching killing moment.

Through the narrow eyeholes of the helmet, Phoebidas could see the densely packed long shields, spears and armor of the opposite army. The deep black color unique to the Dionysian army made people feel like they were facing the cold even in the daytime. dark night.He knew that the main force of the Dionysian army was on the opposite side, but he was not afraid, but excited, and he was also convinced that the soldiers of Syracuse would not be afraid, not only because they were also the elite of the Syracuse army, And before the war, Dionysius had told every Sicilian soldier, 'They can only return home smoothly if they win, otherwise they will be buried in a foreign land! '

Without the urging of the bugle, the Syracuse soldiers shouted "Apollo!!", took big steps, accelerated their speed and began to charge. The entire Syracuse right wing phalanx was like a golden mountain crushing towards the enemy. Press away.

At the same time, the uniform roar of the Dionian soldiers "Hades!!!" rang out from the opposite army, and they also began to charge. They were like the black tide surging in the sea storm, one wave after another, Eventually it gathered into a huge wave and surged toward the people of Syracuse like a mountain.

The soldiers of the Ket reinforcements, holding the hatred of the country and the family, roared angrily, turning their anger into infinite power, and vowed to kill all their enemies of life and death.

The feet of tens of thousands of people stepped powerfully onto the ground, rumbling like thunder, and the earth was shaking.

With a loud bang, the heavy infantry battle began...

...............................

"Your Majesty, the left wing has been fully engaged by the enemy!" Tormid loudly responded to the news of the scout cavalry's report.

Davos nodded, but his eyes were staring ahead.At this time, he pointed to the enemy's military formation in the distance, sneered a few times, and said: "The Syracusans are marching very slowly. It seems that Dionysius wants to wait for his right wing to win first!"

Tormid laughed in amusement and said: "But he never imagined that the cavalry he was expecting had been trapped by the wonderful tactics formulated by your Majesty!"

Davos had no intention of taunting the enemy at this time. He said with a serious expression: "We can't let Dionysius take it too easy! Order all the troops to speed up and engage the enemy as soon as possible!"

Tormid did not immediately accept the order, but reminded: "Your Majesty, if our right wing advances too fast, I am afraid that we will reach the section where the Tachinadi River can be waded, and the enemy may send troops to cross it." Tachinadi River, attack the flank and rear of our right wing!”

Davers had already considered this question, and he immediately answered: "Judging from the current situation, Dionysius has invested enough force on Syracuse's right wing, which shows that the focus of his attack is on our left wing. I don't think Dionysius can spare enough troops to attack my right flank, not to mention that I still have enough reserves to deal with his detour." Indeed, behind Davos there are still There are 2000 light armored soldiers drawn from various legions and 1000 people from the mountain reconnaissance brigade led by Izam, a total of 3000 people as reserve teams, which have not yet been put into use.

"I understand, Your Majesty." Tormid turned to leave.

"Wait a minute!" Davos stopped him again: "Go and tell the commanders of the legions that the Spear Brigade, led by Capps, has gained an advantage over the Syracuse Cavalry. The next step is up to them. !”

Tormid smiled, and he understood what Daves meant: the spear brigade, which had been formed less than ten days ago, had achieved impressive results, how could other legions fall behind him?

Sure enough, after Daves' order was conveyed to each unit, the forward speed of the phalanx suddenly increased. Whether it was the right wing composed of the Sixth and Seventh Legions, or the center composed of the Fourth, Fifth Legions and Bruti warriors, all were in the Legion. Encouraged and urged by the captain and team officers, he accelerated forward.

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(End of this chapter)