Caesar Triumphant- Chapter 5
The move to the new island went smoothly, with only one minor skirmish between a small group of Wa warships, very small craft, poorly armed and crewed, all of them quickly sent to the bottom of the bay. As Caesar's massive fleet cruised by the mainland, heading for the protected harbor of the island, the men lined the rails to watch the activity on the shore, which was a swirl of movement as thousands of Wa stood watching the foreign invaders sailing by. "How many do you suppose there are?" Sextus Scribonius asked Titus Pullus, the two standing side by side on one of the transports. "I don't know, but there's a lot of 'em," Pullus grunted. "But I don't worry about the civilians. I worry about those bastards," he pointed to a large group of Wa warriors, standing separately from the others. "I don't know," Scribonius said doubtfully. "If the civilians are even half as fierce as their warriors, we're going to have our hands full." Pullus laughed and slapped his friend on the back. "What, did you want to live forever? Besides, didn't Caesar tell us he's got a plan to defeat them?" "Actually, I did plan on living forever," Scribonius retorted, "or at least longer than you. But speaking of Caesar's plan? Still no idea what it is?" Pullus answered with a frustrated grimace and shake of his head. "No, not a clue. And I'm beginning to wonder..........." before he finished, he lowered his voice and took a furtive glance about to see if anyone was listening. ".....if he really has a plan, or he's just telling us that he does."Scribonius couldn't hide his shock; never before had he heard his best friend express this level of doubt in their commanding officer. With those words ringing in his ears, Scribonius turned his attention back to the sight on shore, both men lost in their own thoughts.
As usual in Caesar's army, everything moved with absolute efficiency and speed, so that within two watches of the first ships pulling into the protected harbor the camp was completed. By the next morning, the northern edge of the island facing the bay was dotted with small forts, each one with a complement of artillery in the form of scorpions and ballistae. Just outside the camp Caesar ordered a large area cleared of all underbrush and trees, and on the second night called a meeting of all Primi Pili and Pili Priores, to be held outside the camp walls, out of earshot of the men. Without preamble, he told them, in the high-pitched tone he used when addressing large groups, "I know that you have been waiting to hear about this new plan I have for defeating these barbarians, now that we know how they fight." He waited a moment for the inevitable buzz as men muttered to their friends, and only those standing close enough could see the quirk of his mouth as he continued, "And I know that some of you have doubted whether or not I actually had a plan, or if I was just saying it to appease the men."Although Pullus was standing closely enough to see the shadow of the smile on his general's face, he still experienced a shiver of dread, wondering if this was just a shrewd guess on Caesar's part, or if he had spies in even more places than Pullus thought. Whatever the case, Caesar's words served to focus the minds of the assembled Centurions in a most effective way, and all murmuring and shifting about stopped as they listened intently. "As you all saw, these barbarians are extremely aggressive," Caesar continued, "and the reason we were repulsed had nothing to do with the bravery of our men. The reality is that the method that we use in making a beach assault, while it has been successful thus far, is not suited for the type of resistance that we saw a week ago. Therefore, after giving it much thought, I have come up with what I believe will give us the best chance of making a successful landing."Caesar paused for a moment, and despite themselves men found that they were leaning forward, waiting for him to continue. Their general knew this, and accordingly didn't say a word for several moments, drawing out the tension and anticipation of the Centurions, until he could tell they were on the verge of shouting at him to continue. "You all know that I set great store in the use of artillery, but I realize my mistake with this landing, and that was I didn't use the artillery nearly as much as I should have. Therefore, I am doubling our artillery, and I am converting even more ships into floating artillery platforms. Before we send in the first landing craft, we are going to pound those barbarians into jellied meat and teach them what the true might of Rome is all about!"The last part of his statement was drowned out by the roars of his Centurions as they thrust their fists in the air, shouting their approval and defiance. All of the anger and frustration came roiling out of these hard-bitten men, and Caesar was content to let them continue for several moments before finally raising his hand for silence. Finally, once it was quiet again, he continued. "But that's not all. We are going to have to get onto the beach more quickly than we have in the past. To that end, I am also ordering a number of transports to be broken down, and their timbers will be used to make smaller craft, holding no more than a Century, so that we can unload more quickly, and these ships can go back to the larger transports and load up with another Century. We are going to practice that maneuver here in this inner harbor, where the Wa cannot see us, until I'm satisfied that it cannot be done any more quickly."Caesar paused again, letting his Centurions absorb this, and this time they were silent, more thoughtful as they considered this. All of them knew that this meant their men would be worked until they dropped, then worked some more, for Caesar was nothing if not a hard taskmaster. But if it meant that less of them would perish on some foreign beach, far from home, then none of them begrudged the work that was to come. There were a few more details that Caesar wanted to go over, then he dismissed the Centurions to go prepare their men for their upcoming ordeal.
And Caesar was good to his word; the very next morning work began as ships were dragged onto the beach and torn apart, their timbers used to build both the artillery platforms and smaller transports. While this was taking place, those Legionaries who were not immunes that were involved in the work on the ships were sent out to the stakes to work on their sword work, or to the range where they worked on throwing their javelins. Everywhere was a scene of nonstop activity, and every man retired to their tents at the end of the day sore and tired, the Centurions included. But despite the pace and harshness of the regimen, no man complained, all of them knowing that it was time to avenge their earlier defeat, and that the harder they worked now, the greater their chance of not only seeing another sunrise, but avenging the loss of friends and comrades. Caesar's army was determined that they would not be turned back a second time.
All posts by R.W. Peake on blog.rwpeake.com are copyrighted by the author, 2012.
As usual in Caesar's army, everything moved with absolute efficiency and speed, so that within two watches of the first ships pulling into the protected harbor the camp was completed. By the next morning, the northern edge of the island facing the bay was dotted with small forts, each one with a complement of artillery in the form of scorpions and ballistae. Just outside the camp Caesar ordered a large area cleared of all underbrush and trees, and on the second night called a meeting of all Primi Pili and Pili Priores, to be held outside the camp walls, out of earshot of the men. Without preamble, he told them, in the high-pitched tone he used when addressing large groups, "I know that you have been waiting to hear about this new plan I have for defeating these barbarians, now that we know how they fight." He waited a moment for the inevitable buzz as men muttered to their friends, and only those standing close enough could see the quirk of his mouth as he continued, "And I know that some of you have doubted whether or not I actually had a plan, or if I was just saying it to appease the men."Although Pullus was standing closely enough to see the shadow of the smile on his general's face, he still experienced a shiver of dread, wondering if this was just a shrewd guess on Caesar's part, or if he had spies in even more places than Pullus thought. Whatever the case, Caesar's words served to focus the minds of the assembled Centurions in a most effective way, and all murmuring and shifting about stopped as they listened intently. "As you all saw, these barbarians are extremely aggressive," Caesar continued, "and the reason we were repulsed had nothing to do with the bravery of our men. The reality is that the method that we use in making a beach assault, while it has been successful thus far, is not suited for the type of resistance that we saw a week ago. Therefore, after giving it much thought, I have come up with what I believe will give us the best chance of making a successful landing."Caesar paused for a moment, and despite themselves men found that they were leaning forward, waiting for him to continue. Their general knew this, and accordingly didn't say a word for several moments, drawing out the tension and anticipation of the Centurions, until he could tell they were on the verge of shouting at him to continue. "You all know that I set great store in the use of artillery, but I realize my mistake with this landing, and that was I didn't use the artillery nearly as much as I should have. Therefore, I am doubling our artillery, and I am converting even more ships into floating artillery platforms. Before we send in the first landing craft, we are going to pound those barbarians into jellied meat and teach them what the true might of Rome is all about!"The last part of his statement was drowned out by the roars of his Centurions as they thrust their fists in the air, shouting their approval and defiance. All of the anger and frustration came roiling out of these hard-bitten men, and Caesar was content to let them continue for several moments before finally raising his hand for silence. Finally, once it was quiet again, he continued. "But that's not all. We are going to have to get onto the beach more quickly than we have in the past. To that end, I am also ordering a number of transports to be broken down, and their timbers will be used to make smaller craft, holding no more than a Century, so that we can unload more quickly, and these ships can go back to the larger transports and load up with another Century. We are going to practice that maneuver here in this inner harbor, where the Wa cannot see us, until I'm satisfied that it cannot be done any more quickly."Caesar paused again, letting his Centurions absorb this, and this time they were silent, more thoughtful as they considered this. All of them knew that this meant their men would be worked until they dropped, then worked some more, for Caesar was nothing if not a hard taskmaster. But if it meant that less of them would perish on some foreign beach, far from home, then none of them begrudged the work that was to come. There were a few more details that Caesar wanted to go over, then he dismissed the Centurions to go prepare their men for their upcoming ordeal.
And Caesar was good to his word; the very next morning work began as ships were dragged onto the beach and torn apart, their timbers used to build both the artillery platforms and smaller transports. While this was taking place, those Legionaries who were not immunes that were involved in the work on the ships were sent out to the stakes to work on their sword work, or to the range where they worked on throwing their javelins. Everywhere was a scene of nonstop activity, and every man retired to their tents at the end of the day sore and tired, the Centurions included. But despite the pace and harshness of the regimen, no man complained, all of them knowing that it was time to avenge their earlier defeat, and that the harder they worked now, the greater their chance of not only seeing another sunrise, but avenging the loss of friends and comrades. Caesar's army was determined that they would not be turned back a second time.
All posts by R.W. Peake on blog.rwpeake.com are copyrighted by the author, 2012.
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