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light infantry
#1
I understand the concept of heavy infantry advancing against each other but it is less clear from the things I am reading what and how the light infantry was utilized and would there be some sort of elite group in a legion comparable to our special forces for reconnaissanse of things of that nature ? <p></p><i></i>
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#2
Salve,<br>
<br>
An ancient equivalent to modern day special forces is hard to find (there were ofcourse few barbarian bridges needing to be destroyed!). There were numerous elite formations, but they did not have a comparable range of special tasks as modern day commando's or rangers. They could include both heavy and light forces and were generally used as shock troops. Some elite troops were employed as scouts, but they operated at much shorter ranges than today due to the communication problems: since there was no radio signalling in those days it was not much use to range further than a day's march ahead.<br>
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Light infantry was used for scouting and skirmishing, screening the heavy infantry so that these could form up in an orderly fashion in a set piece battle. During the republic the legion counted a large number of skirmishers (1200 or more) called <i> velites</i>, <i> leves</i>, <i> rorarii</i> and <i> antesignani</i> (troops fighting in font of the standards). The former of these disappeared during the late republic (last reference to <i> velites</i> refers to a battle fought by Sulla) and the <i> [antesignani</i> thereafter appear as an elite corps of legionaries, three hundred to four hundred strong, who act both as heavy infantry shock troops and as skirkmishers with special equipment. Such <i> antesignani</i> are also attested for imperial legions with special weapons, <i> arma antesignana</i>, while other light infantrymen were known as <i> lancearii</i> or <i> lonchophoroi</i> or <i> armaturae</i> (the same term used for the advanced weapons drill and for the weapons instructor, but studying the Roman army gets more confusing as you go along).<br>
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Scouts were provided by <i> speculatores</i> during the republic, who under the empire were mounted and numbered ten per legion (that is at least the highest attested number). During the republic they apparently served as mounted scouts, but during the empire they had shifted in function to bodyguards and executioners, no longer reliably connected to recon tasks. New troops called <i> exploratores</i> are found in imperial times, partly from the legionary cavalry, partly mounted and foot troops from the auxiliaries. The books by Peter Connolly on Tiberius Claudius Maximus give an excellent overview of the career of one such elite trooper, a former legionary cavalryman who led a band of <i> exploratores</i> and captured of the Dacian king Decebalus and brought his head to Traianus.<br>
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Regards,<br>
<br>
Sander van Dorst <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showLocalUserPublicProfile?login=sandervandorst>Sander van Dorst</A> at: 3/12/01 9:20:47 am<br></i>
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