06-26-2007, 02:22 AM
When reading military history, I am often struck by some of the incredible marches undertaken, usually out of military necessity, by soldiers across sometimes incredibly tough terrain and in all kinds of extreme weather.
The inspiration for this thread came from reading the 'weight of legionary equipment thread', and memories of leading teams of 'grunts' in battle order, in long-distance marching competitions here in Australia. These were run by the Dutch community with various categories, in imitation of the famous 'Nijmegen marches'. Competing in just one of these was enough to make a 'tiro' expert on boot comfort and fitting !!! Not to mention treatment of blisters etc !!
For mine, one of the best feats of this type was carried out by a group of legionaries in 207 B.C........
In 216 B.C Hannibal had crushed the Roman army at Cannae, and his strategy of breaking up the Roman confederation was on the verge of success, with the defection of Italy's second biggest city, Capua, and most of Southern Italy.
Since then, the strategy of Fabius Cunctator("the delayer") had allowed Rome to build up her armies, nibble back the defectors town by town (Hannibal couldn't be everywhere ) until by 207 B.C. Rome fielded no less than 23 legions, plus a similar number of allies - over 200,000 men - to confront her enemies in various theatres.
This year would see the "watershed" of Hannibal's war.
As Spring and the campaigning season opened, Hannibal emerged from his winter camp in Bruttium( the toe of Italy), and by clever skirmishing and sudden marches began to move North, dogged as ever by the Romans.....
Meanwhile, his brother Hasdrubal shook off his foes in Spain, and crossed the Alps with a similar army to his brother, including Africans, Spaniards and elephants.
As he swept down the Po valley (Cisalpine Gaul), like his brother ten years earlier, he recruited thousands of Gauls...In the face of numbers, the Consul Marcus Livius Salinator gave ground, back to the Adriatic east coast.
Hasdrubal sent four Celtic horsemen and two Numidians as scouts to take a message to Hannibal as to where to meet. These intrepid troopers rode the length of Italy undetected and arrived in Bruttium. (what an epic journey that must have been !! Hundreds of kilometres through enemy territory !! ).There they learnt that Hannibal had already moved North. They headed after him but their luck ran out near Tarentum ( modern Taranto in the "instep" of Italy ) and they were captured. They were sent to the other Consul, an inveterate enemy of Livius, incidently, who was keeping close watch on Hannibal, at Canusium in the River Aufidus (modern Ofanto), just below the "spur" on Italy's heel and not too far from Cannae. A crisis as great, if not greater, than Cannae now arose.
Two Punic armies on the loose in Italy, and bent on joining up and crushing the Romans in between !
But, as the saying goes, "Cometh the hour, cometh the man!"
That man was the Consul Marcus Claudius Nero who had saved the Army in Spain the year before, following the deaths of the two elder Scipios (Publius and Gnaeus, father and uncle of Scipio Africanus-to-be ).
Nero sent Hasdrubal's message on to the Senate, but in this terrible crisis he did not wait. Instead he embarked on a feat of arms that has won him undying fame in the Annals of Rome.
The same night he selected 6,000 of his best soldiers, and 1,000 of his best cavalry, told them to bring only their arms (i.e. travelling "light" ) and slipped away up the Aufidus valley under cover of the darkness, allegedly to surprise a Lucanian town loyal to Hannibal.
As dawn broke and the tired troops had climbed into the foothills of the Apenine mountains, Nero briefly halted and told his men the truth........their real objective was to head north, re-inforce Livius, defeat Hasdrubal and get back before Hannibal noticed they were gone!! They would not halt in the afternoon to camp, forage and eat, but, to paraphrase the French Foreign Legion, they were to "March or Die!". Nero sent on messengers to arrange food and drink to be brought to the roadside, so nothing would slow them.
One of history's most gruelling marches began.
They marched 475-500km(295-310 miles), the first 230(143 miles) or so through the Apennine mountains, coming down to the coast at Larino ( the other side of the "spur") and then a 250km(155 miles) 'sprint' (!!) north up the coast to Sena Gallica (modern Senagallia, north of Ancona).En route they were joined by veterans and teenagers not yet called up, swelling their numbers. Everyone understood the massive crisis at hand.
They did this in an astonishing seven days (!!!) arriving in Livius camp after dark on the seventh day. Next day at dawn ( no rest for these heroes! ) the Consuls marched out to give battle, but Hasdrubal smelt a rat, refused battle and that night attempted to escape up the River Metaurus valley.By dint of hard,fast marching (what, more??? ) the Romans caught Hasdrubal......The battle of the Metaurus was won, and Nero and his heroes played a prominent part in the fighting. In the afternoon the Romans stormed Hasdrubal's camp.
That same evening ( what, not even an hour to celebrate? ) they headed south, this time straight down the coast road - 400km (248.6 miles)or so, this time in six days !!
The first Hannibal knew of it was when Roman cavalry flung Hasdrubal's head in to his outposts. Hannibal retired back into Bruttium never to emerge into Italy again.....
In fifteen days, they had marched around 900km(560 miles)not counting the 30+ km (20 miles aprox) chase up the Metaurus valley, and spent a day fighting a battle and storming a camp...meaning they averaged around 69km(43 miles) a day, more than a quarter of it over mountains. And this is not a bunch of elite athletes, or 'special forces' nor were they professional soldiers ( though admittedly the best third or so of Nero's army) but ordinary legionaries, augmented by 'old men' veterans and 'boys' !!
Now I know there are many other legionary "feats of fitness", perhaps fellow RATters might care to post favourites here ?
Can professionals of Imperial Rome, or the Late Empire, match the early Republican "amateurs" ??
The Challenge is on !
The inspiration for this thread came from reading the 'weight of legionary equipment thread', and memories of leading teams of 'grunts' in battle order, in long-distance marching competitions here in Australia. These were run by the Dutch community with various categories, in imitation of the famous 'Nijmegen marches'. Competing in just one of these was enough to make a 'tiro' expert on boot comfort and fitting !!! Not to mention treatment of blisters etc !!
For mine, one of the best feats of this type was carried out by a group of legionaries in 207 B.C........
In 216 B.C Hannibal had crushed the Roman army at Cannae, and his strategy of breaking up the Roman confederation was on the verge of success, with the defection of Italy's second biggest city, Capua, and most of Southern Italy.
Since then, the strategy of Fabius Cunctator("the delayer") had allowed Rome to build up her armies, nibble back the defectors town by town (Hannibal couldn't be everywhere ) until by 207 B.C. Rome fielded no less than 23 legions, plus a similar number of allies - over 200,000 men - to confront her enemies in various theatres.
This year would see the "watershed" of Hannibal's war.
As Spring and the campaigning season opened, Hannibal emerged from his winter camp in Bruttium( the toe of Italy), and by clever skirmishing and sudden marches began to move North, dogged as ever by the Romans.....
Meanwhile, his brother Hasdrubal shook off his foes in Spain, and crossed the Alps with a similar army to his brother, including Africans, Spaniards and elephants.
As he swept down the Po valley (Cisalpine Gaul), like his brother ten years earlier, he recruited thousands of Gauls...In the face of numbers, the Consul Marcus Livius Salinator gave ground, back to the Adriatic east coast.
Hasdrubal sent four Celtic horsemen and two Numidians as scouts to take a message to Hannibal as to where to meet. These intrepid troopers rode the length of Italy undetected and arrived in Bruttium. (what an epic journey that must have been !! Hundreds of kilometres through enemy territory !! ).There they learnt that Hannibal had already moved North. They headed after him but their luck ran out near Tarentum ( modern Taranto in the "instep" of Italy ) and they were captured. They were sent to the other Consul, an inveterate enemy of Livius, incidently, who was keeping close watch on Hannibal, at Canusium in the River Aufidus (modern Ofanto), just below the "spur" on Italy's heel and not too far from Cannae. A crisis as great, if not greater, than Cannae now arose.
Two Punic armies on the loose in Italy, and bent on joining up and crushing the Romans in between !
But, as the saying goes, "Cometh the hour, cometh the man!"
That man was the Consul Marcus Claudius Nero who had saved the Army in Spain the year before, following the deaths of the two elder Scipios (Publius and Gnaeus, father and uncle of Scipio Africanus-to-be ).
Nero sent Hasdrubal's message on to the Senate, but in this terrible crisis he did not wait. Instead he embarked on a feat of arms that has won him undying fame in the Annals of Rome.
The same night he selected 6,000 of his best soldiers, and 1,000 of his best cavalry, told them to bring only their arms (i.e. travelling "light" ) and slipped away up the Aufidus valley under cover of the darkness, allegedly to surprise a Lucanian town loyal to Hannibal.
As dawn broke and the tired troops had climbed into the foothills of the Apenine mountains, Nero briefly halted and told his men the truth........their real objective was to head north, re-inforce Livius, defeat Hasdrubal and get back before Hannibal noticed they were gone!! They would not halt in the afternoon to camp, forage and eat, but, to paraphrase the French Foreign Legion, they were to "March or Die!". Nero sent on messengers to arrange food and drink to be brought to the roadside, so nothing would slow them.
One of history's most gruelling marches began.
They marched 475-500km(295-310 miles), the first 230(143 miles) or so through the Apennine mountains, coming down to the coast at Larino ( the other side of the "spur") and then a 250km(155 miles) 'sprint' (!!) north up the coast to Sena Gallica (modern Senagallia, north of Ancona).En route they were joined by veterans and teenagers not yet called up, swelling their numbers. Everyone understood the massive crisis at hand.
They did this in an astonishing seven days (!!!) arriving in Livius camp after dark on the seventh day. Next day at dawn ( no rest for these heroes! ) the Consuls marched out to give battle, but Hasdrubal smelt a rat, refused battle and that night attempted to escape up the River Metaurus valley.By dint of hard,fast marching (what, more??? ) the Romans caught Hasdrubal......The battle of the Metaurus was won, and Nero and his heroes played a prominent part in the fighting. In the afternoon the Romans stormed Hasdrubal's camp.
That same evening ( what, not even an hour to celebrate? ) they headed south, this time straight down the coast road - 400km (248.6 miles)or so, this time in six days !!
The first Hannibal knew of it was when Roman cavalry flung Hasdrubal's head in to his outposts. Hannibal retired back into Bruttium never to emerge into Italy again.....
In fifteen days, they had marched around 900km(560 miles)not counting the 30+ km (20 miles aprox) chase up the Metaurus valley, and spent a day fighting a battle and storming a camp...meaning they averaged around 69km(43 miles) a day, more than a quarter of it over mountains. And this is not a bunch of elite athletes, or 'special forces' nor were they professional soldiers ( though admittedly the best third or so of Nero's army) but ordinary legionaries, augmented by 'old men' veterans and 'boys' !!
Now I know there are many other legionary "feats of fitness", perhaps fellow RATters might care to post favourites here ?
Can professionals of Imperial Rome, or the Late Empire, match the early Republican "amateurs" ??
The Challenge is on !
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
