Chapter 388 The Battle of Addis (2)

"No, Printols, you are not only a good staff officer, you are also an excellent commander! The reason why I say so much is that I hope to gain your approval and help me win this battle! ' Alexis said sincerely.

Plintos was stunned for a moment, then looked forward, and after a moment said: "Lord Commander, look... the Carthaginians seem to be stretching the formation, so that their wings may exceed the bottom of the valley, and close to the bottom of the valley. The mountain range, which limits the power of the Numibian cavalry. Since the Carthaginians are eager to have a decisive battle with us, can we directly ask them to line up and stay away from the mountains?"

Alexis' eyes lit up with a smile: "This is a good idea, we also try to command the Carthaginian army."

As soon as he said it, he immediately selected a soldier who could speak the Carthaginian language from the escort, let him serve as a messenger, went to meet the commander of the Carthaginian army, and made this request to him.

Ten minutes later, the soldiers returned safely, conveying the words of Samuels, the commander of Carthage, that he agreed to move the army forward.

In fact, after hearing the request from the Dionysian messenger, Samuels was not angry, but rather happy, because he led the army out of the city to form an array to attract the Dionysian army and conduct a battle. The Onian army ignored this at all, and everything he did was in vain. Now that the Dionians asked for it, they showed that they had the will to fight. In order to achieve this goal, even if they could only temporarily give up a little tactical advantage is acceptable.

When Samuels ordered the entire array to move eastward, Alexis had returned to the camp. He called Amyntas, Matonis, and Lizaru, and ordered them to fight with the Carthaginian army. The three legion commanders were very excited when they heard the order for the battle.

Alexis then said solemnly: "Amintas, Matonis, Lizaru, please go and tell the soldiers of the legion that this may be the last battle in this long war. The Carthaginians are defending themselves. Their homeland, they will fight to the death! If the kingdom wins in the end, they will win the supreme honor! If they fail, we will all have no way to retreat! The outcome of the battle will ultimately depend on whether they do their best!"

Amyntas immediately said confidently: Don't worry, the soldiers of the First Corps have experienced many battles and do not need us to mobilize. They know what to do when.

Matonis and Lizaru expressed the same opinion.

Before landing in Africa, all three legions had experienced battles and suffered casualties, especially the first legion defending Serinus. The casualties were close to a quarter of the total number of legions. Those who are capable of fighting, but it will undoubtedly take too much time to draw reserve soldiers from Turii, so Davest allowed the three legions to draw soldiers from other legions.

to complement the preparation.

The three legion commanders took this order from Davos and excitedly went to each legion to recruit elite soldiers. Except for the fourth legion, the other legion commanders cooperated actively. After all, most of the officers and soldiers under their command Desperately want to go to Africa to make new contributions and win honors. Therefore, the nearly full three legions at this time were much stronger in terms of experience and combat effectiveness than at the beginning of the war, which gave Amyntas enough confidence.

On February 6, 378 BC (the 16th year of the Kingdom of Dionia), the weather in the area of ​​Addis and Hadrummentum was sunny. Although it was still winter, the noon in this seaside area was refreshing. , suitable for travel, but the armies of Dionia and Carthage have set up a battlefield here.

The Carthaginian army consisted of 6000 Carthaginian heavy infantry, 4000 Carthaginian Holy Legion infantry, 2500 Carthaginian light armoured, 1500 Carthaginian light infantry, 600 Holy Legion cavalry, and 3000 more The newly added reinforcements consisted of old Carthaginians and young men, plus 6,200 Phoenician reinforcements (including 3,000 heavy infantry, 1,000 light armoured, 2,000 light infantry, and 200 cavalry) in total The strength is 23,800 soldiers.

The Dionian Army against it consisted of three legions and Western Numibian cavalry, of which the Dionian Legion consisted of 18,000 heavy infantry, 3,000 light infantry, 3,000 light armour, and 2,500 West Numi. Biya cavalry, a total of 26,500 soldiers.

The Carthaginian army had formed a formation early on. Later, after observing the formation of the Dionysian army, Samuels made some adjustments. The final formation arrangement was: 4,000 soldiers of the Holy Legion were in the front row in the middle. 3,000 new reinforcements, consisting of old men and young men, were arranged in the rear; 6,000 Carthaginian heavy infantry on the left, 600 Holy Legion cavalry on the periphery of the left flank; 3,000 Phoenician heavy infantry in the front of the right wing, and 2,500 in the rear A light armoured soldier, with 200 Phoenician cavalry on the periphery of the right flank. In addition, Summers placed 4,500 light infantry equally in the rear of the array.

If Carthage's formation is relatively balanced in the left, center, and right, and the left flank is relatively strong, the strength of the left, center, and right of the Dionysian Array is exactly the same: the first legion is in the middle. , the 2nd Army was on the left flank, the 3rd Army was on the right, 2,500 Western Numibian cavalry were evenly distributed on the periphery of the two flanks, and Alexis left only 3,000 light armoured soldiers as a reserve.

There is nothing surprising about the formation of the two sides. It is the most common formation in the Greek city-state heavy infantry battle in the early years. Even in the Greek mainland where wars are frequent today, it is becoming more and more rare, but such a mediocre formation battle will Decide the rise and fall of a city-state that once had a glorious history.

The soldiers on both sides who had completed the formation seemed to realize the importance of this battle. They stopped all the noise and stood quietly. The dust and mist that had been stirred up before gradually dissipated, and the soldiers could clearly see a few hundred meters. the face of an external opponent.

On this broad and flat brownish-yellow land, the several-mile-long array formed by the armies of Carthage and Dionia is like two parallel lines, black and white. The contrast between black and white is so sharp, as if Day and night cannot coexist.

"Wow!!!..." The bugle rang, and the Dionian army first launched an attack. The slingers, javelinmen, and archers quickly passed through the checkerboard formation like flowing water and rushed towards the Carthaginian army formation.

The Carthaginian army then blew the offensive bugle, but they did not let the light infantry go forward to face the Dionysian light infantry, but the entire formation accelerated.

When the Dionysian light infantry had just rushed out of the formation, the Eastern Numibian cavalry on both flanks had already approached the formation on the two flanks of Carthage.

However, the cavalry in the Carthaginian array did not attack, but retreated to the rear. After all, the Carthaginians had dealt too much with the Western Numibian cavalry and knew their characteristics.

When the Western Numibian cavalry continued to approach and began to draw their bows and shoot arrows, the light infantry archers at the rear of the Carthaginian array, relying on the long range of their bows, began to attack the Western Numibian cavalry on both flanks. A rain of arrows was fired.

At the same time, the lead shot thrown by the slingers of the First Dionysian Legion had already flown over the Carthaginian army...

Arrows, javelins, and lead pellets flew into the Carthaginian formation, and the screams continued, but the Carthaginian soldiers were unmoved by them. They charged forward firmly, and soon joined Dionysus. Asian soldiers fought together.

The spear was broken, the shield shattered, the flesh and blood flew, and the sound of killing shook the sky...

On one side is a new force rising from the Western Mediterranean. The soldiers are all well-trained elites, with passion and pride, vowing to win more glorious glory; Although glory has become a thing of the past, but now the powerful enemy is invading, the soldiers only have one thought in their hearts, "defend the homeland and drive away the enemy", and they are not afraid to sacrifice for this.

Therefore, although the Dionysian army has an advantage in strength, the quality of the soldiers is stronger than the opponent, the organization of the army is more efficient than the opponent, and the cooperation of the soldiers is more tacit than the opponent... However, after two battles After more than an hour, the entire front of Carthage retreated from before, but the two sides basically maintained a balance of power.

Even the Carthaginians had the upper hand in cavalry. Samuels used light infantry against the galloping West Numibian cavalry. After a long battle, the West Numibian cavalry was exhausted from horses and out of arrows. It is a direct confrontation with the enemy, so basically it can be said that it has lost its combat effectiveness.

At this time, Samuels dispatched the Holy Legion cavalry and Phoenician cavalry who had been recharging their batteries in the rear, and asked them to join forces and attack the flank of Dionia's left flank.

Alexis had to send 3,000 light armoured troops as a reserve to the left flank to neutralize the threat.

Knowing that the attack of the cavalry unit was contained by the enemy, seeing that the soldiers who had been fighting for a long time were sweating and exhausted, the entire front was slowly retreating... The worry in Samuels' heart was gradually increasing.

Before that, he had never fought against the Dionian army, and he had spent most of his military commanding career conquering and suppressing the Numibians, always without a hitch. Although he had heard a lot about the powerful and terrible Dionysian army, he did not take it seriously. According to what he had learned of the war, he believed that the reason why Carthage was facing the current predicament in this war, It is mainly the strength of the Dionysian navy that has caused the Carthaginian navy to suffer consecutive defeats, and in terms of the army, the strength of the two sides should not be much different.

Because in Summers' view, the real test of the army's combat effectiveness is to conduct battles, and there are not many battles in this war.