Heart of the Republic - A Rome: Total War AAR
Part Nine - The Battle of Croton
For the third time in ten years the Republic and the Greeks faced each other on the battlefield. The first two engagements had been at Tarentum, where the great General Pyrrhus had set the terms. This time it was the Romans, under the charge of General Thrawnus, who had drawn out the enemy. In addition, the presence of Consular Kan - leader of the Republic - sent out a clear message to the besieged Greek army - the Romans expected to win at all costs.
Numbers wise, the two sides were relatively even-matched. However the Romans had a clear cavalry advantage, and being under the command of two commanders allowed for better organisation. As such, while Thrawnus retained overall control of the army, he was to command the left flank, while Consular Kan watched over the right. The Greeks, by contrast, had no major generals to lead them, and no special forces of note.
The battle itself began early in 263 BC. One morning the Greek forces simply charged out through the western gate of Croton but, despite his surprise, Thrawnus quickly organised his defence long before the Greeks had prepared their own forces, giving the Romans plenty of time to wait for battle.
The army was deployed to allow for greatest flexibility. The lack of seige equipment meant that Thrawnus was intending to wipe out the Greeks before they could withdraw back into Croton, and as such he intended to be able to encircle the enemy and destroy them quickly.
The Roman Southern Army
An hour into the Greek deployment and Roman scouts reported a strange situation. The Greek captain had left the northern gate of the city and was travelling around the outer walls to join his forces. Deciding to capitalise on this, Thrawnus deployed his heavy cavalry to engage the enemy commander before he could reach his troops.
Seeing this, the Greeks were forced to launch their attack earlier than anticipated in an attempt to distract attention away from their captain, and as such could only deploy half their initial force on the Romans. Already the Gods seemed to be on the Republics side!
The lines meet!
Thrawnus was not impressed by the attempt, and actually let loose
more of his cavalry to halt the captains journey. As such, while the infantry engaged in a great battle of strength, a smaller conflict far from it was proving to be far more important to both sides.
In the end, of course, Thrawnus ambitious charge worked, and the Greek captain was slain. His head was cut off and the victorious cavalry unit rode behind the Greek infantry - displaying it openly. Despite their woe, the Greeks pressed on, and were soon joined by the other half of their forces. Thrawnus however, was not done yet - he still had his own great encirclement to attempt. And it was here where his daring initial deployment of troops - risking an overstretched defence - suddenly came into play.
At first it was only Kans right flank that pushed forward - Greek opposition here was smaller - but as the enemy attack on the left began to crumble Thrawnus could afford to do the same. The cavalry meanwhile held back - it was believed a sudden push by them would frighten the enemy into retreat - until the last moment, when they charged forward into the rear lines, wiping out the ranged units.
The encirclement begins
The Greek forces simply could not cope, and faced with extermination they attempted a withdrawal back into the city. Here though they were thwarted yet again - Roman troops had already captured the main gate! The encirclement was now complete, and both Thrawnus and Kan led the glorious cavalry charge into the enemy, wiping them out completely. It was a massacre.
By mid afternoon the battle was effectively over, and had degenerated into street fighting among the buildings of Croton. Only pocket resistance remained to oppose Thrawnus, who simply deployed his unused reserves to finish the job. By nightfall the city and southern Italy was under the Republics control, and the last memories of the First Battle of Tarentum were put to rest
Kan and Thrawnus enter the city
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) against Germany. The satisfaction of final victory is immense.
