The detailed process of Teutonburg forest war

The detailed process of Teutonburg forest war

In the spring of 9th AD, Varus led three of his five most elite legions: 17, 18 and 19, starting from his Castela Fetra camp at the mouth of the Lipo River, and crossing the Rhine River eastward. This is a routine action of the governor of Germania province, aiming to show the military power of the empire to the newly conquered Germans. As an auxiliary force, Arminius also led Croat soldiers to fight in Selous. They arrived at the summer camp on the banks of the Weiss River in May, without any stubborn resistance along the way. Perhaps because of the hot weather, Varus stopped looking eastward at the Elbe River and stayed here for the summer. After the temperature turned cold in August, he camped with a great army and planned to return to Lippert River mouth for the winter. At this time, Arminius has become a red man under his command, and he often goes in and out of the big account of China's army, using his advantage of mastering Latin to report to the officers and explain the local situation. At the beginning of September, Varus's army successfully reached the hilly area of Teutonburg.

Teutonburg Hill is located at the junction of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-westfalen, between the two later university towns of Osnabruck and Bielefeld, and it is a branch of Haltz Mountain in the northwest. Further north from here is the North German Plain in Ma Pingchuan. Its terrain is not steep, the highest point is only 468 meters above sea level, so far it is covered by dense forests, and now it is planned as a bird nature reserve. When Valus was preparing to go straight through the hill to the southwest along the way he came, suddenly a messenger under Arminius came from the right wing, reporting that the headquarters was violently attacked by the enemy and the situation was extremely critical. Please send reinforcements! Varus was overjoyed when he heard the news. This time he never met the enemy again, and he didn't catch any trophies, which made him unhappy because of his aggressive nature. Now that the enemy has delivered the door, he is naturally very excited. "Hum, these timid barbarians will harass people's auxiliary forces, and when my Roman army arrives, they won't even open their eyes!" With that, he urged his whole army to catch up.

The deployment of the Roman army is as follows: at the front are three heavy cavalry brigades, each with about 300 people; Then there are six light infantry brigades, each with about 500 people; Then dozens of trumpeters and hundreds of archers; After that, there are three heavy infantry legions in the phalanx, each with 6000 people; In the middle of these three legions, riding a burly horse is the commanding governor Varus himself, surrounded by his headquarters staff and guards, with about 2,000 people; The two wings of the Corps are some German, Thrace and African hussars, with about 3,000 people; Behind the temple are family members, logistics personnel, doctors, chefs, slaves and so on. The total number of the whole army exceeded 30,000, and the number of combatants was about 25,000, which was equivalent to one tenth of the total strength of the Roman Empire at that time. Not long after they walked along the forest avenue at the northern foot of Teutonburg Mountain, they had to change their formation, because a huge limestone mountain bag appeared on the left and a vast swamp appeared on the right, which was only a few hundred meters apart. The bushes on both sides are getting denser and denser, the hills are getting more and more, the roads are getting narrower and muddy, because the thunderstorm is starting, the thunder is getting louder and louder, and the rain is getting heavier and heavier. Thunder rumbles, rain bursts and wind blows, which sounds like two soldiers and horses are fighting fiercely. Generally speaking, thunderstorms don't last long, but not this time. A few hours later, the enemy disappeared, and Arminius' army did not know where they had gone, but all the Roman soldiers were soaked to the skin. Affected by the climate, they walked dejected and frightened, but never thought that the anti-Roman armed forces in Germania provinces, like hunters, lurked behind the bushes and hills beside them, waiting for their prey to enter the deepest part of the trap.

Arminius had studied in enemy countries for many years and had already found out the advantages and disadvantages of the two armies. The Roman army, dressed in solid armor and armed with heavy shields, formed a close phalanx, so it needed a wider battlefield, strict discipline, slow action, and strong attack and weak defense. The Germanic army had no armor and its shields were small and light. It is not used to any formation in battle, so it doesn't need a wide battlefield. It likes to fight independently, acting quickly, attacking when strong, and defending when weak. Therefore, for the Germans, besieging the Roman fortress is the stupidest tactic, followed by fighting each other on the vast grassland, and the best solution is to ambush them in the narrow jungle. Huge Roman shields are easy to be caught by bushes here, spears and bows and arrows are useless in close combat, and their heavy armor makes them living targets of German javelin. On September 9th, AD, the storm over Teutonburg forest helped the Germans a lot. It's a pity that Roman soldiers didn't discover the existence of the enemy until they were killed under their noses. At this time, it was too late to pick up weapons and arrays. Countless Germans rushed out of the rain and fog, like ants attacking a long snake. They quickly divided the Roman army with a head-to-tail distance of 5000 meters into hundreds, and then slowly ate them one by one. So the two sides fought in the dark swamp forest. Here, military strategy, discipline and array are useless, while heavy armor, large shields and spears become a burden. The soldiers of both sides are more empty-handed and white-edged, relying on the innate strength of body and mind. In this respect, the Romans are obviously inferior to the Germans. Roman veterans who fought all their lives fell down, and many desperate Roman soldiers fled into the swamp and were swallowed up by the ruthless quagmire. After a bloody battle between the two sides lasted for two days and one night, the 55-year-old Governor Valus saw that the tide was gone and drew his sword with some senior officers on the night of/kloc-0. But the resistance of their subordinates did not stop completely, and the remaining Roman soldiers were still fighting tenaciously. A group of veterans formed a circular defense line on a hill to repel the repeated German charges until dark. The fortifications and trenches dug by these people are still faintly visible. It was not until noon on June 1 1 that the battle finally ended in the annihilation of Roman soldiers, and only a few people escaped from the encirclement. Since the Battle of Kani in 2 16 BC, the Roman legions have not been completely destroyed, and their invincible myth since the Battle of Calais in 53 BC (the death of crassus) has come to an end. After traveling to many West Germanic tribes, Varus's head was sent back to Rome for burial by Marbod, the king of the Makoman tribe. The bodies of his men remained on the battlefield forever: more than 20,000 heads were hung on the treetops on both sides of Teutonburg Forest Avenue, and their stripped bodies could be found 50 kilometers away from the battlefield. This is the most thoroughly studied ancient battlefield in Europe. Until 1988, a British expedition dug up a large number of weapons, hundreds of silver coins and some skeletons of Roman soldiers, horses and mules here.