Chapter 742: Battle of Chalons 20
The Roman army appeared in front of Attila, and they slowly approached from a distance, as they had been deployed, with the Goths on the right, the Romans on the left, and the Alans and the Franks and many other Germanic tribes gathered together in the center.
Attila was not ambiguous at this time, he commanded the barbarian army under his command and also changed the battle line, using the barbarian tribes that had fought with the Goths were still deployed on the right side against the Romans at this time, and the slave soldiers of the steppe tribes under Attila himself.
Maybe Attila thought that the powerful barbarians weren't as loyal and reliable as his own slaves, or maybe he had something else in mind.
Attila's army was in the middle, and it was the Hun army of his own tribe, which he relied on and was proud of.
The Roman army also gradually advanced towards the barbarian army south of the Marne, and they were in the front line with infantry with broad shields, followed by archers, who were there to place the archers of the Huns and nomadic tribes to inflict casualties on the advancing Roman soldiers.
For their part, the Visgoths were the best students of the Romans, and they were also the most dangerous enemies, and they learned the Romans' ways of fighting so well that they were able to put the soldiers with shields and spears in the first row, then the archers, and the rest of the warriors in the second and third lines as a means of supplementing the battle.
Attila was clearly unimpressed by this style of play, and he used the arrows fired by his mounted archery troops to cause the barbarian tribes to fall at his feet and submit to him, as well as the Romans, and Aetius's fear of him was a high recognition of his strength and tactics.
As a great man forged by a conqueror, he has always been reluctant to accept his frustrated past, such as the failure of the hot spring pass.
It was not his fault that he did not take advantage of his salvo in it, and blamed the complex terrain of the hot spring pass, so his immortal heaven gave him a second chance, and it was here, on the flat ground that was spacious enough for his horses to gallop freely, and the riders to be able to draw their bows and arrows and bring death to all opponents who tried to oppose him.
"Friendly reminder, don't eat too much before the battle, or swinging a spear and a spada will often make you look overwhelmed." A large part of the advancing soldiers were holding a piece of bread with one hand and gulping it into their mouths, and because they had not eaten in the morning, their centurions had to turn back from time to time to remind the soldiers present that they would not be too full to eat.
The barbarians opposite them stood in place, and from time to time the tall and strong fellows among them raised their battle axes and shouted loudly, encouraging the soldiers behind them to roar together, hoping that the Romans in front of them would vent their anger.
They were just trying to scare the Romans, the Germans wanted to scare the Germans with the same physique, it seemed like a joke, but it really happened on this battlefield.
"Phew! Phew! Phew! ”
The armies of both sides were shouting frequently as they approached to boost their morale, and the distance between the two sides had reached a distance of five hundred meters.
At this time, I saw that Attila just waved his hand, and the cavalry under his command was dispatched in large numbers.
I saw the riders dressed in the usual burlap clothes with nomadic bows in their hands and rushing towards the combined forces of the Alans and Franks in the middle of the road in front of them.
At a distance of two hundred meters, they instantly split into two lines and rushed towards the two main armies of the Roman coalition on the left and right.
Seeing only that these lightly armed cavalry were rushing in his direction, Luga hurriedly turned around and shouted at Marenius: "Defense! Counterattack! ”
"Raise your shield! Raise your shield! ”
Malenius immediately shouted loudly to the trumpeter not far away and reminded him over and over again, and the trumpeter immediately raised his horn and blew a short trumpet to alert the troops at the front.
"Click..."
The soldiers, who had not yet raised their shields, were struck by a sudden burst of arrows, which clanged and bounced off the iron helmets of the Romans.
Soldiers without good protection can only use their shields to fend off incoming arrows, which causes a constant stream of unprotected soldiers inadvertently falling to the ground.
The soldiers raised their shields as they heard the arrow clattering as it landed on the shield.
"Don't stop, don't stop!"
Braving the rain of arrows, the soldiers accelerated their advance at the orders of the centurion's own field regiment, even as the soldiers continued to fall from arrows.
They advanced in order to close the distance to the Hun cavalry until they were within range of the Roman archers. The Romans believed in the compound bow in their hands, and similarly, they believed that such a tactic would be able to deal a sufficient blow to the Hun cavalry.
"Stop! Stop it! ”
I only heard an order, only to see the huge Roman army formation "boom" to stop in place in an instant, and they gathered together to form a huge tortoiseshell formation.
The Hun cavalry was constantly hovering dozens of meters away from the Romans, and they kept tilting their arrows towards the huge shield phalanx in front of them, not knowing that each of their volleys was clearly seen by the officers hiding under the shields.
The archers stooded sideways into the massive tortoiseshell formation, clenching the arrows on the bowstrings in their hands, their eyes staring at the Hun cavalry in front of them through the gaps in their shields.
After a round of arrows fell, only the officers of the field regiment were heard shouting: "Counterattack!" ”
"Wow!"
I saw the Roman soldiers suddenly remove their shields, and the archers stood up and pointed their bows and arrows at the Hun cavalry in front of them.
"Click..."
More than a thousand arrows flew into the sky, and at this time it was the turn of the Huns to be dumbfounded, they looked at the overwhelming arrows flying in front of them, and it was too late to retreat at this time.
Arrows rained down in a dense manner, instantly knocking the Hun cavalry on their backs, their weak armor powerless to resist the Romans' arrows.
On the side of the Visgoths, again, they were attacked by the bows of the Hun cavalry during their advance. However, they are more confident in their own strength.
Because the Hun cavalry was in the state of telling the place of movement, they counterattacked the Hun cavalry under the guidance of experienced old archers.
The old archer stared at the movement of the Hun cavalry, and with his bow and arrow, he shot an arrow, only to see that the arrow fell from the sky and hit the Hun cavalry at the head.
"Boom!"
Thousands of archers in the Gothic army followed the old archer's target closely, and only to see an overwhelming array of arrows falling, and the Hun cavalry turned on their backs.
Just after the dispersal of the Hun archers, only the rumbling sound of horses' hooves was heard.
The barbarian army in the middle looked at a loss, and of course, it didn't make the necessary moves out of hesitation and uncertainty.
The smoke and dust dispersed, no, it should be said that it was dispersed by a more powerful force, only to see a large number of Hun cavalry wearing heavy armor rushing out from behind the smoke and dust.
They were just as they had been in contact with the battle for the first time, and Attila was convinced that they were still the weakness of the Roman coalition.