Volume 5: The Hegemon of Southern Italy, Chapter 6: The Battle of Trionto (Part 4)

Although the light-armored infantry were "lightly armored," they were still wearing armor and carrying leather shields and spears—how could they possibly catch up with enemies dressed in only a single layer of clothing? But once they stopped, the enemy's ranged attacks began.

What was more worrying was that the enemy in the center, while the light-armored infantry charged, gradually split into three parts: one part held the light-armored infantry in check from the front, while the other two parts circled around to the flanks of the light-armored infantry.

When the light-armored infantry advanced, their flanks came under enemy attack. If they focused on the front, they couldn't protect their sides; if they focused on their sides, they couldn't defend the front. The Croton light-armored infantry charged recklessly like a wild boar, but the result was that they didn't even touch a hair on the enemy's head, while their own casualties kept rising little by little…

"What about the cavalry?! Why haven't the cavalry arrived yet?! What is Alxisos doing?!" Watching his soldiers fall one by one, Philadelphus grew increasingly agitated and couldn't help cursing aloud. For the first time, he truly understood how miserable it was to fight with pure infantry against an enemy composed entirely of light infantry. You couldn't hit them, you couldn't catch them, and instead you became a living target for the enemy.

"Fall back to the left! Fall back to the left!" he shouted, and his guards echoed the order. If they had been in the excitement of the earlier pursuit, the soldiers would not have been able to hear his commands clearly. But now, huddled together, carefully dodging arrows and stones, already beginning to feel fear and fatigue, Philadelphus's order was exactly what they wanted. The light-armored infantry hastily retreated in a chaotic rush.

Unexpectedly, the Daonian light infantry clung to them like maggots on a bone, refusing to let go.

Philadelphus's original intention was to fall back to the left and join up with the heavy infantry of the left wing. With their presence, they could protect the flanks of the light-armored infantry and reduce casualties until the cavalry returned victorious. Even at this moment, Philadelphus still firmly believed the Croton cavalry would win.

But enveloped in the center of the formation, he did not know that the left-wing heavy infantry, which he had assumed would be to his left rear, had actually been led astray by the enemy's right-wing light infantry. They had deliberately withdrawn little by little to the northwest, causing the slow-moving heavy infantry to unknowingly shift from facing due north to advancing northwest. As a result, the gap between Croton's center and left wing grew larger and larger.

The light-armored infantry retreated quickly for a stretch, but not only did they fail to join the left wing, they also suffered rapidly increasing casualties because they could not maintain proper protection while retreating. Forced to turn around again, they used their leather shields to protect themselves as they slowly fell back, dodging the dense volleys of arrows. Seeing their wounded and fallen comrades on the ground in front of them being finished off by the enemy with throat slits, the morale of the light-armored infantry began to waver.

Just then, they heard the dense sound of hoofbeats behind them. Unable to look back because they were dodging arrows, they all breathed a sigh of relief: "The cavalry! Our cavalry has finally arrived!"

Philadelphus was puzzled: Why had Alxisos's cavalry gone to the rear?! Hadn't he told him that after routing the enemy's left wing, he should lead the cavalry to attack the enemy from the flank? He couldn't even manage that! While he was fuming, someone shouted urgently: "Javelins! Watch out for javelins! They are the enemy!"

Accompanied by this cry of alarm, hundreds of javelins came whistling from the rear.

Philadelphus, being at the back of the formation and wearing a brightly colored commander's helmet, naturally became a primary target. He was struck by three javelins on the spot. As Philadelphus fell, he died without understanding: Why had the numerically superior Croton cavalry been defeated?

The cavalry they had placed their hopes in turned out to be the enemy's! That was the last straw that broke the back of the light-armored infantry. Losing their will to fight, they scattered and fled in all directions. The Daonian light infantry and cavalry pursued the opportunity. The light-armored infantry could not possibly outrun these lightly equipped light infantry, let alone the cavalry's speed. Once overtaken, most of the soldiers chose to surrender.

After disposing of Croton's right-wing cavalry and center light-armored infantry, the Daonians concentrated all their forces on dealing with the toughest nut to crack—the heavy infantry.

When over 3,000 Croton heavy infantry were surrounded by more than 7,000 Daonian light infantry and cavalry, these heavy infantry realized that their center and left wing had likely met with ill fortune. Especially when Laedes's cavalry held high the severed head of Philadelphus, circling the heavy infantry formation and shouting for them to surrender, one can imagine the devastating blow to the morale of these Croton soldiers.

The general commanding this heavy infantry was a Crotonian named Philos, with his deputy being the Scylletium general Pausaleius. The two argued over the dire situation.

Philos believed that the light infantry had not inflicted too much damage on them and that as long as they persevered and advanced to the ford where the main force was crossing the river, they could assist the main army in defeating the Daonian forces. Final victory would still belong to Croton.

Pausaleius, on the other hand, argued that under the condition of being completely surrounded and attacked, the soldiers' morale was already very low, and the destination was at least six or seven *li* away. Given the current state of the soldiers, it was nearly impossible to hold out until reaching the wading section of the river to the west.

Neither could persuade the other, so they parted ways. Pausaleius led 1,700 soldiers—Scylletium troops and some from Trina—and began to withdraw, preparing to return to the south bank of the Trimentus River; Philos led 1,400 Croton heavy infantry and began to accelerate their advance westward.

This sudden splitting of the Croton forces caused confusion among the Daonian generals.

Laedes and Tsipet thought they should heavily surround the westbound heavy infantry and use a small force to drive away the retreating enemy.

Epithenis disagreed. He argued that since the enemy was retreating, it showed their fighting spirit was weak. If we continued to pursue and attack, they would surely surrender. Afterward, we could re-surround the remaining heavy infantry and annihilate the entire enemy force. Carrying out the next step of the plan would then be much easier. His opinion was supported by Xanthiparis.

The situation was urgent, and there was no time to argue. The Daonian forces were also split in two. Epithenis and Xanthiparis led their respective troops to pursue the retreating heavy infantry.

The Scylletium and Trina soldiers indeed had low fighting spirit. They were not Crotonians and had no major conflict of interest with Daonia. Although Scylletium citizens had suffered considerable casualties in a Daonian raid half a year earlier, their participation in this campaign was mainly due to their alliance, with a side interest in looting some benefits—avenging their dead citizens was secondary. When the battle turned unfavorable and threatened their lives, they were naturally unwilling to fight hard. The split was welcome to them; they thought the Daonian light infantry would focus on the westward-advancing Crotonians, but they didn't expect the Daonians to still pursue them relentlessly and in large numbers. Panicked, they had just reached the wading ford of the lower Trimentus River when they recalled the considerable price they had paid while crossing earlier. Now, with more enemies and fiercer attacks, their hearts sank to the bottom.

The Trina soldiers surrendered first, followed by Pausaleius leading the Scylletium troops to surrender.

The Croton heavy infantry had talked about accelerating their advance, but in truth, they were not much faster than before. Although heavy infantry had good protection, that didn't mean they were unafraid of ranged attacks from arrows, javelins, and stones. Strikes from stones hitting their helmets could daze them; their exposed thighs, toes, and hands had to be wary of arrows; and linen cuirasses could not completely stop a close-range heavy javelin thrust. Of course, the large round shields, a meter in diameter and clad in bronze, could fully block frontal attacks. But the enemy was not only in front; there were enemies on the sides and rear—how could they defend against all sides?

The distance to where the main Croton army was located was only six *li*. Normally, a one-hour march would suffice. Half an hour had passed, yet they had advanced less than one *li*… Constantly, men were hit by arrows or javelins and fell. They were like a giant beast being bitten and bled by a pack of agile wolves—growing weaker and more exhausted, seeing no hope ahead, while the enemy's arrows and javelins seemed endless (Davos had ordered the Castronians to bring out all the arrows and javelins accumulated over years in their equipment stores, transporting them to the rear of the battlefield using pack animals). So when Epithenis and Xanthiparis returned with their forces and threw the captured military banners of Scylletium and Trina in front of the Croton heavy infantry formation to demand their surrender, the morale of the Crotonians, surrounded and constantly defending against ranged attacks, finally shattered after holding out for so long on the brink of collapse. When they surrendered, fewer than a thousand soldiers remained unharmed.

…

Alcinus, who had been a raw recruit half a year ago, was now a squad leader in the First Army Corps, commanding nine soldiers, six of whom were preparatory citizens and new recruits.

One could imagine how rapidly the Daonian army had expanded over those six months. Of course, this brought many problems, especially in such a brutal battle. The difference in quality between the heavy infantry of the two sides gradually became apparent as time passed. Being a heavy infantryman meant more than just wearing armor, knowing how to shield bash, and thrusting a spear. In a pitched battle, the most important qualities for heavy infantry were trust and coordination. In a densely packed battle line, a heavy infantryman held his shield in his left hand and his spear in his right. The heavy bronze-clad round shield would cause his body to lean to the left, so the shield naturally protected his left chest and the right chest of the comrade on his left, while his own right chest was protected by the shield of the comrade on his right. Thus, the shields formed a continuous line, defending against enemy thrusts. He needed to shift the round shield back and forth—a movement that consumed energy and could easily disrupt the formation. Instead, he only needed to focus on two actions: thrusting continuously with his right hand and pushing forward. Therefore, trusting his comrades, trusting that they would protect him—that was the key to the success of a hoplite phalanx.

The citizens of a city-state numbered at least a few thousand, at most tens of thousands. They were neighbors, relatives, or friends. They played together as children, received hoplite training from their elders as youths, competed together, learned together, worked together as adults, attended gatherings together… Although the city-state publicly conducted collective military training only a few times a year, trust originated from this lifelong cultivation. As long as they stood on the battlefield, they naturally stood together, united as one.