01-30-2014, 03:41 PM
IMO we are moving toward the Napoleonic attack columns (or maybe also the Ordre mixte, the Emperour was an interested reader of Livy and Vegetius).
This is the description of the 'cuneus' by Simon Macdowall, IMO it's highly belivable and accurate:
"... The real form of the 'cuneus' can be found elsewhere. Tacitus' in his Histories, describes the formation as[b] 'closely compressed on all sides and secure in the front, rear and flank'. [/b] The Strategicon gives a similar description saying that the Germans attack in a formation that is 'even and dense'.
This would indicate an 'attack column' .... Taking a 400-men Auxilia unit as an example, it might form a cuneus 16 men deep with a frontage of 25 men. Once the men in the column launched a charge, the neat alignment of the ranks and files would naturally be lost and the men in the centre, feeling more secure, would surge forward, while those to the flanks might hang back. Just prior to contact, there fore, the 'cuneus' could well have had a wedge-like appearance.
Both Vegetius and the Strategikon reccomend that reserve units be deployed in 'cuneus'. This makes sense if we accept that the formation was an attack column. Having a narrower frontage, it would be more manoevrable than a battle line and the depth of the column would give it the punch needed to break through an enemy formation or plug a gap in the line."
In my opinion the wole passage of Simon Macdowell is absolutely convincing, the most interesting part is the quote of Tacitus, even if I still need to find it in the Historiae (I need to search better ... any help would be highly appreciated, at least the chapter ....
)
This is the description of the 'cuneus' by Simon Macdowall, IMO it's highly belivable and accurate:
"... The real form of the 'cuneus' can be found elsewhere. Tacitus' in his Histories, describes the formation as[b] 'closely compressed on all sides and secure in the front, rear and flank'. [/b] The Strategicon gives a similar description saying that the Germans attack in a formation that is 'even and dense'.
This would indicate an 'attack column' .... Taking a 400-men Auxilia unit as an example, it might form a cuneus 16 men deep with a frontage of 25 men. Once the men in the column launched a charge, the neat alignment of the ranks and files would naturally be lost and the men in the centre, feeling more secure, would surge forward, while those to the flanks might hang back. Just prior to contact, there fore, the 'cuneus' could well have had a wedge-like appearance.
Both Vegetius and the Strategikon reccomend that reserve units be deployed in 'cuneus'. This makes sense if we accept that the formation was an attack column. Having a narrower frontage, it would be more manoevrable than a battle line and the depth of the column would give it the punch needed to break through an enemy formation or plug a gap in the line."
In my opinion the wole passage of Simon Macdowell is absolutely convincing, the most interesting part is the quote of Tacitus, even if I still need to find it in the Historiae (I need to search better ... any help would be highly appreciated, at least the chapter ....
)
