Once the attempt to force a crossing at the ford failed, the Belgae chief Galba obviously made the decision that a battle under these conditions was worse than pointless. We were in a strong position, with artillery support, on terrain that favored us, and that was enough to force the Belgae to begin streaming back into their camp. Waiting until they retired before marching back to our own camp, we were suspicious of some sort of trick. This was no deception, however; the Belgae were done as far as fighting that or the next day. Evidently, there was a council of some sort and a decision was made that we became aware of around midnight, when without warning, the Belgae began streaming out of their camp, except this time not to face us, choosing instead to head in the opposite direction. The racket their withdrawal caused convinced the officer of the watch to sound the alarm, so we scrambled up from our cots, got dressed and donned our gear, forming up ready to march within a few moments. The guards on the walls relayed down to us what was happening, and we were of the same mind that this was some sort of ruse, so we waited quietly for the order to be given to repel an attack on our walls. But it was no ruse; when daybreak came, Caesar sent a patrol out, and they returned shortly to assure Caesar that the camp was indeed empty, the Belgae having fled in the night. Later we learned from prisoners that the chiefs of each of the tribes represented demanded a council be held, with a vote taken that each tribe return to its own lands to wait our approach. A pact was made that the first tribe attacked would sound the alarm, whereupon all the tribes would converge on that point to mass together to crush us. Once Caesar deemed that it was no trick, he immediately ordered the cavalry, the 10th, 11th and 12th out of the camp in pursuit in order to inflict as much damage as we could on the retreating horde. We were assembled and ready to march very quickly, moving out after the enemy, setting a quick pace because we carried nothing but our weapons and a canteen of water. It took much less than a full watch before we spotted the rear of the massive column, and our cavalry went flying off in pursuit, while we shook out into an aciesduplex, five Cohorts from each Legion in each line, the Centuries lined up side by side to provide the widest coverage instead of our normal three Century front. The cavalry came at the Belgae at an angle, slicing across the fleeing column and effectively cutting off a group of men who were now faced with cavalry pushing them back towards the Legions. If they turned to try and flee, their backs would be to the cavalry, as close to certain death as one can get, but if they stood their backs would be to us as we advanced, just as certain an end. Quick work was made of these men, effectively cutting them down from behind as they fought the cavalry to their front. Once we were finished with them, the cavalry went off in pursuit of more prey, performing the same maneuver, with the same result. Most of the day passed in this manner, carving up small groups of the rearguard, most of them fighting bravely, yet without any sense of cohesion. If the larger body of men had simply turned and attacked us, we would have been in trouble, except they were more intent on using their comrades’ death as a means of getting farther away, making killing the members of the rearguard easier. Finally we stopped simply because we were running out of time to return back to camp before dark, and we were definitely aware that being caught out in the dark could be a problem. There was no time to build our own camp and have it ready before it got dark, so Labienus ordered us to turn around, marching at a fast pace back to the camp. I am not sure how many Belgae we killed, but I would guess that it was three or four thousand.
The next morning we broke camp, except instead of pursuing the Belgae army, which was not taking the most direct route back to their homelands but were retracing their steps back to where they left their respective baggage trains, Caesar used this as an opportunity to press the attack on just one of the hostile tribes. To that end, he picked the Suessiones and their stronghold at Noviodunum, to the west of our camp along the Axona. It was a hard day’s march away, despite the route being along the river and the trek along level ground, so we were extremely tired by the time we arrived within sight of the walls of the town. Wanting to take advantage of the absence of most of the Suessiones fighting men, since only a few of the older and less bold warriors were left to guard the walls, Caesar had us ground our gear and immediately formed for an assault. Ladders were quickly made, and before perhaps a third of a watch had elapsed from our arrival, we were marching towards the walls, preparing to storm the town. When we drew near, however, it became apparent that ladders would not be enough, because the walls were much higher than they looked from a distance. Compounding the problem was that the ditch was also much wider than we anticipated as well, so we were ordered back to our gear, and despite our fatigue from the march and the hurried preparations for assault, began building a marching camp. Once we finished, we were given just enough time to eat our evening meal before we were given orders to start creating proper siegeworks. Marching to the nearby forest in torchlight, we began felling trees, working for almost a full watch before being allowed to retire for the night. Falling on our cots completely exhausted, most of us did not bother to remove our armor or boots, yet that did not stop any of us from falling asleep immediately.
The next day we arose before dawn to begin in earnest the work of creating the proper equipment to storm the town. Mantlets were created, small huts on wheels that are rolled up to the wall of the besieged town, with sturdy roofs and sides usually covered in wicker or green hides to protect the men working from within, who are either undermining the wall or using a ram to break through. In addition, siege towers were built, and we worked rapidly as the Suessiones could only watch from the walls helplessly. During that first night, the Suessiones war party had returned and since we had not yet encircled the town they were able to enter, so the walls were now crowded with their warriors, yet they were as impotent to stop us as the common citizens of the town. By midday, the towers were nearing completion, built taller than the walls to enable the men who would conduct the assault to effectively run downhill and onto the parapet. There were levels built into the towers where the missile troops and even a scorpion could rake the walls with fire as the tower was pushed into place on huge rollers made out of several of the largest trees that we could find. Another group of men filled the moat up with dirt to provide a path for the towers to be brought to the walls, using large wicker shields called fascines to shelter behind while they worked. The speed at which these preparations were made always astonished even us, but it was no less fearsome and impressive to the Suessiones. Just as we were beginning to roll the two towers into place, and the men working inside the mantlets were dragging their rams to use on the base of the walls, the Suessiones signaled that they wanted to talk, doing so just before the rams actually touched the walls, since that would have been too late. The gates opened and a small group of men, most of them older, with gray in their hair and beards, came out under a flag of truce, asking to speak to Caesar. Our general rode to meet them, dismounting as a courtesy, and listened to their pleas for mercy. Accompanying Caesar was a Remi, who I later learned was Iccius, having come from Bibrax with Caesar when he relieved the town, and the Suessiones begged for him to intercede with Caesar and speak on their behalf, which he did. Caesar agreed to accept their surrender, demanding hostages for security, which they provided immediately, the town surrendering without a single life lost.