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[split] Distances between files and ranks
#1
John wrote: 

amid the silence I have been plodding away. 

Among other things I have been looking at the physical attributes of what we think of as the Roman Army that may have been with SP and also the amount of space that the legions, the auxiliaries and cavalry took up. 

There appear to be some anomalies regarding the distances between the legionaries especially if they were 8 deep. 

Firstly when the pilums were thrown there would have to have been 3 foot between each man to allow for the throw therefore they couldn't have been in close order at that time. 

Secondly if the  legionaries were to be replaced / rotated through the 8 rows they would have to been double spaced to allow for them to step aside to the rear and be replaced by the man in the next row.,

Thirdly when advancing over open ground, close order would not have been possible with overlocking shields and certainly not in a charge. 

The implication is that at 8 deep for the infantry alone each man would have taken up 6 feet which means that just for the infantry the width of the force would have been around 1,800 to 2,000 yards.  

If the cavalry were on the wings this would add to the width of the line although the cavalry could have been behind the infantry before they broke out.

So it would appear that the width of the "throat" would have to be much greater than 1,000 yards.
Deryk
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[split] Distances between files and ranks - by Theoderic - 08-20-2018, 10:53 PM

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