Anti-Cavalry Barrier.... - Printable Version

Anti-Cavalry Barrier.... - Printable Version

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Anti-Cavalry Barrier.... - Anonymous - 03-04-2004

I recall mention of this on RAT a year ago or so. Some group (there is historical reference to this too), was able to do an anti cav. barrier, whereas the first rank crouched down behind their scuta. Pila would be thrust into the ground, with the right foot on top of it, held at a 45 degree angle. My question is, what did the 2nd rank do? Hold sheilds similar to a testudo, but instead of being held flat, they held them at an upward angle, or did they hold both the shield, and hold the javelin so as to have a 2nd rank of spikes and shields? 
 
I hope to do one at an upcoming event. Magnus/Matt 
Legio XXX "Ulpia Victrix" Coh I 
 
"Lay your hand, or thy tongue against the greatness of Rome, and feel my wrath." - Matt Lanteigne 
 
- Number of posts: current +1248

Re: Anti-Cavalry Barrier.... - Robert Vermaat - 03-04-2004

Hi Matt, 
 
I would be really pleased if you could find that historical evidence for the two-rank anti-cavalry formation. Graham Sumner and I have looked for evidence, but we came up empty. From my (Late Roman) period, I could only find vague descriptions of what to do against a cavalry attack, but these sounded more like open formations that tightly closed ranks. 
 
Because more and more groups are taking this formation as a given and re-enact it, I'd be very happy to know if (and what) there is any substance to it. 
 
Valete, 
Valerius/Robert

Doh! - Anonymous - 03-05-2004

Darn Robert, 
 
I was hoping you'd remember one of the original posts here about it. I'm afraid my own extremely limited resources have turned up nil. My hazy memory leads me to think that the first time it was posted, someone had said where they got the idea from...but i can't even remember what legion or group they were part of. 
 
I have my copy of A. Goldsworthy's "Roman Warfare" in hand as I'm typing my post, and it seems I'm about to make a liar of myself. On page 128, he says: 
 
"Arian describes a formation designed to resist a charge by the heavily armoured horsemen of the Alans. The legionaries were formed eight ranks deep, the first four armed with the pilum, the remainder with a lighter javelin, probably the lancea. The front rank held their pila at forty-five degrees, the butts braced against the ground so that they presented a dense row of points to the enemy. The men in the next three ranks, after throwing their pila, braced themselves against the men in front. The remaining legionaries threw their lanceae while a ninth rank of foot-archers, a tenth rank of horse archers, and artillery added to the barrage of missiles. This heavy weight of missiles would have brought down a fair number of cavalrymen, but even those that survived would not have been able to get into contact with the infantry since their horses would instinctively refuse to gallop into such a seemingly solid object. Once the charge was stopped the continual deluge of javelins and arrows continued to weaken them as they stood impotently a few metres from the infantry line, until, they were inevitably forced to withdraw. Such a solid formation deterred the cavalry from approaching by its very appearance, while the densley packed ranks prevented the Romans from running away." 
 
Excuse the spelling mistakes...hehehehe. But yeah...sounds like I was close to being on the money..not sure how to do that though with a small number of men. Maybe a model with miniatures may prove better. Hope that helps....if you find the original works by Arian, and that passage, post it if you could, or a link to it somewhere. It would be interesting to read it.

Re: Doh! - Crispvs - 03-05-2004

Matt, 
We are probably the group you were thinking of, as we perform this manouvre at all of our shows (if you have seen a photograph of it and the shields were blue this would confirm it). It is done as a four step move: 
-On the count of "Unus" the soldiers all move slightly to the right, apart from the right marker, who stands still, to form a denser body. The men in the front rank put their right feet at a right angle and use them to brace the buts of their pila. The men in the rear rank reverse their grip on their pila. 
-On the count of "Duos" the front rank drops down behind their shields onto their left knees, keeping the right feet firmly braced against the pila buts. The right hand is slid down the shaft of the pilum as each man drops down, meaning that they project from between the shields at about 45 degrees. The men in the rear rank raise their pila to the shoulder. 
-On the count of "Tres" the front rank tuck their heads down and the rear rank raise their shields in front of them. 
-On the count of "Quattor" the rear rank drop the front edges of their shields down onto the top edges of those of the front rank, draw their pila back, ready to thow and push their left knees into the front rank's backs to brace them. 
The effect from the front is of a row of vertical shields, separated by only two to three inches with a pilum projecting at 45 degrees between each, topped by a shallow pitched roof of shields held by soldiers with their arms drawn back ready to discharge their pila. We use the two rank structure mainly because we generally only have sixteen to twenty legionaries at any one display (unless it is a paid filming job where the numbers jump to nearer forty), and by presenting it as a two rank formation we are able to achieve an eight to ten man frontage. Incidentally, when we were charged by a spooked horse at Kirby Hall a few years ago we hastily formed this formation and the horse stopped short about twenty feet away and ran the other way! 
 
Crispvs

Re: Doh! - Anonymous - 03-05-2004

Hahahah...so it does indeed work. Yes, that was the maneuver I was talking about. Crispus, do you have a link to pictures of this? It would help with my drilling, if you don't mind me using what you have here. Magnus/Matt 
Legio XXX "Ulpia Victrix" Coh I 
 
"Lay your hand, or thy tongue against the greatness of Rome, and feel my wrath." - Matt Lanteigne 
 
- Number of posts: current +1248

Arrian - Chariovalda - 03-05-2004

You can find Arrian's text on Sander van Dorst's site: 
 
s_van_dorst.tripod.com/An...taxis.html 
 
 
 
Chariovalda

Re: Anti-cavalry tactics - aitor iriarte - 03-06-2004

Hi, Graham Sumner has asked me to post this: 
 
Anti Cavalry Drill: 
 
I have seen the manoeuvre described by Crispus many times and it does look visually very impressive and is being copied by a number of other Roman groups. 
 
However I can find no historical evidence for any two rank Roman formation with the front rank kneeling. If anyone out there does have a source for this I would be really pleased to see it. The formation would make a great subject for a painting. 
 
To add to the description mentioned by Arrian posted above I can add the following by Procopius written some years later. 
 
"For standing shoulder to shoulder they kept themselves constantly massed in a small space, and they formed with their shields a rigid, unyielding barricade......the Persians would advance against them determined to beak up and destroy the line but they always retired again from the assault unsuccessful. For their horses annoyed by the clashing of shields, reared up and made confusion for themselves and their riders..." 
 
( I must add my apologies as I no longer have the reference to where this translation came from, perhaps Sander can help with this. ) 
 
One of the most common anti cavalry tactics was to lure them onto unfavourable terrain, either natural or man made with traps and obstacles. 
 
Admittedly these tactics and the formations mentioned above by Arrian and Procopius would be difficult to perform with only 20 or so re-enactors and a couple of riders, but they would appear to be the only accurate ones utilised by the Romans. 
 
For what it is worth, I faced many horses over ten years as part of the Guard display. The quality of the horses ranged from those who jumped over me as I knelt with a shield held above me to those who would be spooked if you moved a muscle, never mind adopting any kind of anti cavalry formation. 
 
Basically it depends on how well trained the horse is and often it can take a few days for a horse just to get used to being around people in armour. On the other hand when I took a Guard collegue in full armour and got them to ride a camel it was noticeable that the camel was completely unperturbed! 
 
Graham

Re: Anti-cavalry tactics - Anonymous - 03-07-2004

Aitor, 
 
With respect to Mr. Sumner, doing the anti-cavalry maneuver as described by Arian would take a rather expensive and numerous amount of troops don't you think? What legion, save maybe 3 or 4 in the world, has enough troops to have 8 ranks deep and a frontage of more than 1 guy? Then, count in the horse archer, and the artillery pieces. 
 
It seems to me that the 2 rank system, while not "supported" in the few remaining military texts, is a lot more realistic given the numbers in most Roman Legions. That is something to consider, and is likely the reason most groups do it as listed above, as you say. Magnus/Matt 
Legio XXX "Ulpia Victrix" Coh I 
 
"Lay your hand, or thy tongue against the greatness of Rome, and feel my wrath." - Matt Lanteigne 
 
- Number of posts: current +1248Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=tiberiuslantaniusmagnus>tiberius lantanius magnus</A> at: 3/7/04 3:50 am

Re: Anti-Cavalry Barrier.... - Tarbicus - 02-18-2006

From this paper: The Fulcum, the Late Roman and Byzantine Testudo: the Germanization of Roman Infantry Tactics? by Philip Rance

Quote:Maurice also describes Roman infantry forming a foÃƒâ€¹lkon when confronting an enemy cavalry charge, though these different tactical circumstances required certain modifications (12.A.7.49Ã¢â‚¬â€œ60): ....

If the enemy [cavalry], coming within a bow shot, attempts to break or dislodge the phalanx, which is hazardous for them, then the infantry close up in the regular manner. And the first, second, and third man in each file are to form themselves into a foÃƒâ€¹lkon, that is, one shield upon another, and having thrust their spears straight forward beyond their shields, fix them firmly in the ground, so that those who dare to come close to them will readily be impaled....

anti-cavalry - Graham Sumner - 02-18-2006

Crispus

It would appear that the formation adopted by your group does have a historical basis after all. However it would be technically correct to say that the formation is anti-archer rather than anti-cavalry.
The tactic was used by Mark Antony's legionaries during his Parhian expedition, when the Parthian Horse archers attacked Plutarch goes on....

(Plutarch Lives Mark Antony45 Smile

....at this the infantry, who carried heavy shields, wheeled so as to enclose the light armed troops within their ranks. Then the legionaries in front dropped on to one knee and held their shields in front of them. Those in the second rank held their shields out over the heads of the first and those behind them took up the same position towards the second rank. This formation, which looks like the tiled roof of a house, makes a striking spectacle and provides the most effective defense against arrows.

According to Plutarch when the Parthian horse archers saw the Romans dropping to one knee they mistook this for exhaustion and so they exchanged their bows for their spears and charged. At which point the Roman front rank stood up and they all shouted a battle cry thrusting their spears into the Parthian front rank and driving the rest off.

Their are consistencies then amongst all the available literary sources for an anti-cavalry drill. It involves standing in close formation and making a great deal of noise to frighten the horses.

Hope this helps to solve the puzzle.

Best wishes

Graham.

Re: Anti-Cavalry Barrier.... - Susanne - 02-18-2006

Crispvs, is the picture in the link below featuring your group? Looks pretty neat to me. Smile

Repelling a cavalry charge

Re: Anti-Cavalry Barrier.... - Caballo - 02-18-2006

Yup, thats us, the RMRS, with the blue legionaries of Leg XIIII in the foreground, a few Batavians on the flank and a bevy of Hamians providing air cover behind.

Cheers

PB

Re: Anti-Cavalry Barrier.... - Crispvs - 02-20-2006

Thanks Susanne,

I was going to post up that very image. You've saved me the trouble!

Graham,

Thanks very much for that piece of information. I will see if we can get it into our commentory somehow.

Crispvs

Re: Anti-Cavalry Barrier.... - FAVENTIANVS - 02-21-2006

A couple if images could enlighten more...

http://www.fectio.org.uk/shows/2005archeonlitus8.jpg
http://www.fectio.org.uk/shows/2005archeonlitus9.jpg
http://personales.ya.com/ad932102038/ge ... 03811.jpg&

Re: Anti-Cavalry Barrier.... - aitor iriarte - 02-21-2006

http://personales.ya.com/ad932102038/ge ... 03811.jpg&
Eeeerh, not our best foulkon, anyway... :oops:
I prefer this one Tongue

Aitor