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POV of a Roman soldier
Anno Domini, 832-March-26-27
Long days of marching, the incessant sound of our boots and the trumpets, along with our advance across the countryside where, although there had not been much resistance, we had still been forced to fight constantly against some of the local defenders, who had begun putting up an almost desperate defense against our movement.
Although many of the settlements closest to our landing had greeted us with multiple surrenders and almost no fighting, that usually happened when the main force of the invasion arrived, especially the cavalry contingent. We, on the other hand, had frequently been forced to fight against the local defenders, who were not making our work easy.
They had tried by every possible means to stop our advance toward the Ofanto River. Some men from our unit had fallen in battle and others had been wounded while we continued pushing deeper and deeper into Carolingian territory, and the Frankish barons of the region had begun organizing a more coordinated defense in the form of attacks against our vanguard, forcing us to fight on multiple occasions.
Killing was becoming easier and easier, although that did not make the screams and pleas that some of our opponents sometimes uttered any less difficult to hear.
Especially considering that most of the local defenders were not mercenaries who, although they were not equipped in any standardized way, had plenty of experience fighting, nor were they the men-at-arms from the contingents of the Frankish barons, who possessed very good equipment and training. Compared with some of the troops following us, such as the Slavic cavalry or the Serbian auxiliaries, who did not have particularly good armor and often fought among themselves over who would take the armor from fallen Franks.
Instead, we had mostly been forced to fight peasant troops, men who possessed almost no armor of any kind beyond whatever they had managed to find along the way or whatever their lord or the administrations of their villages had managed to obtain in the little and limited time they had been given to raise armies capable of stopping our advance.
Old spears, shields of every imaginable kind and farming tools were what we saw most often among them. Some did not even have that, marching instead with axes, clubs or whatever their village had been able to give them, and that was when I truly realized how different this was from the hard fighting we had experienced against the mercenaries, where for a long time we had barely been able to strike anyone at all. Here it was normal for blood to be spilled almost as soon as the fighting began because of their lack of shields or armor, and their formations did not take long to collapse, leaving the fields covered with dead bodies.
''The Carolingian forces, together with the Lombards, have fortified themselves in the village to the south, trying to prevent us from taking the bridge'' our kentarchos said as several other officers of the same rank watched a droungarios who was studying the area and looking toward the bridge, where men could be seen defending it.
''Set up a camp in this area. We have little interest in crossing south. The thematic army in the south should already be advancing northward and the fact that they are concentrating troops here means fewer reinforcements can be gathered to stop the main body of the imperial army, so it benefits us if they waste men trying to stop our advance south. We need to secure the west, control the entire Ofanto River and with that we will block any reinforcements coming down along the eastern side of the central Apennines. Then we will have to wait for the results of the Varangian campaign in the west. If it succeeds and they block the central passes through the Apennines, the Carolingian army in this region will be surrounded by three Roman armies'' the droungarios said while pointing toward the terrain with his finger as he continued studying it.
''Then we will build a kastro, my droungarios. We will defend the bridge. Who stays here and who continues the advance?'' another kentarchos asked while raising his voice as the officers continued talking.
''You three stay here. The scouts estimate around five hundred men. Judging by the size of their camp, the fires and the men we have seen around the bridge, there should not be many more than that, so three hundred men should be more than enough to watch the area and build the kastro. Our logistical lines carrying the construction materials should arrive soon, so it would be better for you to pick up your shovels, especially since we will be camping here before continuing west'' the droungarios said before signaling for his horse to be brought over.
An assistant arrived with our superior officer's horse and he quickly mounted before riding back toward the largest concentration of our forces.
The kentarchoi and their officers began calling their subordinates and we were ordered to dig trenches and prepare everything needed to establish a military camp in the area. The rest also began helping with the construction, making the camp larger than necessary for the main body of the army that was supposed to follow behind us.
We spent some time working with shovels until the next group of the army arrived and took over our construction work while we raised tents and prepared fires so that we could finally rest.
''I smell terrible'' I said while removing the multiple layers of my armor and trying to keep them clean.
''Everyone does, brother… everyone smells horrible. We have spent several days marching and fighting. It is normal for us to smell worse than a pigsty'' my brother said while washing his face with some water that had been brought from the river.
''That pay really was too good to be true… fuck, I am so tired. My feet hurt, my back hurts, my arms hurt and I never thought I would have killed so many people since I enlisted'' I said while filling a bowl with water and pouring it over my head. Even though it was somewhat cold, it felt wonderful at that moment.
''Someone had to do it in the end. There has not even been a major battle yet, only skirmishes against the few troops defending the road because they must have already realized what we are trying to do. If the Varangians have already landed near Rome, if everything goes well and they manage to fight the Carolingians in the south with overwhelming numerical superiority, we might not have to fight again until the reinforcements arrive, assuming they do not arrive sooner, since the diversion in Pannonia is supposedly still continuing'' one of our companions said as he began moving several burning logs toward a small stove so he could make some simple bread.
''The worst part is that tomorrow we have to keep marching. To the west we have to control every bridge and ford across the river to block the Carolingian army's retreat and prevent reinforcements from getting through, so we still have a long campaign ahead of us'' I said while taking off my boots and looking at my swollen feet.
''Let's hope the loot is good, although the auxiliaries are taking many of the pieces of armor because unlike them, we have equipment provided by the emperor himself. We are supposedly going to receive part of the treasure being captured, so I assume there will be plenty. We just have to stay alive and we'll have more than enough to pay for the beer'' another one of our companions said after finishing securing his tent.
''God willing'' I said before lying down inside our unit's tent, feeling the others follow my example or eat something before going to sleep.
I fell asleep shortly afterward. Although the rest was greatly appreciated, the enormous muscle pain I was feeling certainly was not. Even though the campaign had not lasted very long, not even a full week, I felt as though it was one of the hardest things we had ever done, even compared with the hellish training we had grown accustomed to.
So as soon as the trumpet sounded the following morning, we quickly began preparing ourselves for another day of marching.
The advance continued while the army kept spreading throughout southern Italy. Our march was now focused on following the river and stopping at every bridge that had already been established across it. If they were made of wood, we had to burn them and whenever possible leave a fortification behind if they were made of stone or were some kind of ancient Roman construction.
But otherwise our advance continued as it always had. The Slavic cavalry continued scouting ahead of the vanguard and occasionally fought with Frankish horsemen who tried to strike our marching columns with their heavy cavalry but at best they achieved very little because the Slavic cavalry was constantly watching our northern flank.
During one brief halt we had finally reached the main objective our officers had been aiming for, the area near Melfi, and we were ordered to control the passes because ideally the Magister ton Scholon wanted to secure this region and see whether he could capture the city to the south, since it would provide an excellent position from which to try to trap the Carolingians who were supposed to be around Matera or Tursi.
Eventually we received orders to cross the bridges because in the end we would indeed march south to block any possible Carolingian retreat.
''Looks like we're going to have to fight to take the bridge'' my brother said while looking toward the bridge where men were blocking the crossing.
''Seems that way. They don't look like mercenaries, but they don't look like Frankish or Lombard men-at-arms either, so I assume they're levies from some local town that managed to equip them reasonably well'' I said while observing the group we were going to have to fight.
''I don't see farming tools or clubs and it looks like they have some armor and spears'' one of the men in our group who had better eyesight said as we continued approaching them.
''Look… the Serbs are moving'' someone said while pointing toward a group of Serbs who were running toward the Carolingian positions near the bridge.
''What are they going to do? Those men don't have enough armor to fight them in the middle of the bridge and no matter how badly they want the loot, they wouldn't do something that stupid'' my brother said without taking his eyes off them.
''They're going to harass them. If we ever fight a major battle, the first thing you'll see will be the Serbs running toward the enemy to use their crossbows and bows to harass the enemy vanguard and open gaps in their lines. Especially here, where they have to hold a fixed position, they're easy targets'' one of our dekarchoi said while watching the Serbs.
It did not take long before we saw a large group of Serbs begin loosing a tremendous number of arrows and crossbow bolts at the defenders of the bridge. Although they raised their shields, those shields were not good enough to stop crossbow bolts or the constant rain of arrows falling upon them and it was only a matter of time before the Carolingian troops abandoned the bridge.
''Hold, Slavs'' our kentarchos said while stopping us with his hand and shortly afterward we saw a large contingent of horsemen begin crossing the bridge carrying their curved bows and swords as they pursued the retreating troops.
A huge cloud of dust was left hanging over the area and we waited for it to settle before beginning to march.
''Now we move'' the kentarchos said as he gave the order to advance and began setting the pace with his command staff as he always did.
As we advanced, we quickly saw that the force that had tried to block our passage had been completely massacred by the Slavs.
The fields south of the river were covered with arrows and lifeless bodies, along with some of the city levies who were still writhing in the middle of the field while our forces continued advancing south in an attempt to reach the city.
During our advance we saw several small villages burning at the hands of the Slavs. Apparently many of the villages were refusing to surrender and the auxiliaries were destroying whatever resistance they could offer.
Our entire march south was filled with scenes like this, burned villages and corpses scattered everywhere in the wake of the auxiliaries because the settlements refused to surrender. There was an enormous Frankish presence in the region because of their army and the locals were unwilling to simply hand the territory over to us without resistance.
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If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
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