Marching camps

[terzer]

Hello,
l'm curious what kind of fortifications the Roman legions built every day, after a long march. I cannot believe that every day they dug fortifications and built walls.
Thanks!

[Epictetus]

I can't believe the Romans did a lot of the things they did. :wink:

This is a popular topic. If you do a search in the upper right hand corner you can find all sorts of threads about camps.
Here are some good general ones:
Roman Marching / Temporary Camps. This is a longer discussion.
Medium Roman Marching Camp. This one has some good images.

Then there are very specialised topics you can find as well, such as:
Ditch dimensions or
de Bello Gallico 5.50-51, which includes some information on camps in Caesar's Gallic War.

[terzer]

Thank you!

[D B Campbell]

This is a popular topic. ...

Yup. And on this thread, we went in search of the marching camp at Normandykes. (Did you ever find it, Byron?!)

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

No, haven't been out that way in some time. Too busy down south most of the time!

[Sardaukar]

And they were not too defensive either, since Roman doctrine was usually going to offense when enemy was encountered.

So, they were probably more to prevent harassing/surprise attacks and also to keep own troops inside to reduce desertion (big problem of Roman legions all the time).

[Forty-One]

They apparently didn't always dig-in every day. I seem to recall an account of a Roman army (during the civil war in 69?) hurriedly digging-in their camp when the sudden approach of the enemy was reported.