The plan was to convince Vercingetorix that he had made the right choice, that it was indeed the western slope of the hills that we were going to attack. To that end, at the beginning of third watch at midnight, Caesar sent the cavalry out, not with any stealth but with the exact opposite affect, ordering them to make a great show of leaving the camp. The move was designed to be so obvious that even in the gloom, Vercingetorix’s sentries would spot the movements and alert him. Once dawn broke, another mounted contingent left the camp, and despite looking like cavalry, they were anything but mounted troops. Using the mule drivers and giving them helmets from stores as well as from the dead, and accompanied by some real cavalry, this group made another great show of leaving camp, following the path of the river west, acting like they were going to swing around to support the expected assault from that direction. Reaching a spot about four miles downriver where there was a large forest that reached to the banks of the river, they hid there. Following shortly were the men of the 14th, again making no attempt to hide their intentions and traversing the same route that the false cavalry took a short time before, coming to a halt in the same woods. The original cavalry force that was dispatched at midnight had by this time ridden even further to the west than the spot where the other two units were hiding. During this activity, we were ordered to make for the small camp, by way of the trench, with strict orders to keep the standards or eagles below the lip of the trench, and to move in complete silence. This we did, covering the ground quickly but then we stopped just short of the camp, not wanting our numbers in the small camp to suddenly and mysteriously increase. Caesar had by this time returned to the small camp himself, from where he would direct operations. The 10,000 Aedui were left in the large camp, but they had a part to play in this drama as well. This was by far the most complex operation we had ever attempted, with much depending on everyone doing their part, and most importantly, everything going right. I believe it was only because Caesar put so much faith in our abilities that he was willing to gamble in this manner in the first place.
Once the army was assembled, minus the 14th down in the woods, we were given our final orders and instructions. Much to our initial chagrin, Caesar ordered the 10th to stay in reserve, although it turned out to be a move blessed by the gods. Command of what would be the assault element was by Caesar, who would stay for the time being with the reserves, and his orders were clear; the primary goal of the operation was to separate the army of Vercingetorix from the town proper. Only if the opportunity presented itself in an open gate or some other favor of the gods was the assault to continue into the town. I very distinctly remember that Caesar placed an emphasis on the Legions not stopping to plunder the camps of the Arverni army, but instead sweep them from the area between the two walls before maneuvering into position behind the enemy army, who by now looked like they were completely convinced that an assault from the west was imminent. Supporting our belief was the fact that Vercingetorix shifted the remainder of his troops to the expected main line of resistance, urging them to improve the fortifications in anticipation of our assault. In other words, the ruse worked perfectly, and all was ready for us to spring the trap to stop that bastard here and now.
In my mind, the only thing more fickle than Gauls are the gods themselves, which is why I have severed all ties with them now. In the beginning, Caesar’s plan worked brilliantly; on a blast from the cornu, along with the waving of Caesar’s standard that was relayed back to the main camp, the assault began just as planned. Springing from the gates of the small camp, four Legions quickly assembled in the relatively open and flat ground to the east, or to the right of the front gate as we were facing Gergovia, quickly and efficiently, a move that was practiced both in training and in battle hundreds of times. We of the 10th exited the camp as well, and were standing on the slope of the hill watching our comrades begin their march up the opposite incline. The slope rose northward before bending slightly west to form the saddle between the plateau and the hills where Vercingetorix was waiting for an assault that would never come, at least from the direction he was expecting it. Quickly, the Legions marched up the hill and with almost contemptuous ease, quickly crossed over the outer wall, knocking it over in many places as the Legionaries discovered that it was just loosely piled rock, with no mortar to hold it together. Attacking three separate camps of the enemy, the only men they found defending them were the sick, lame or lazy as we said in the army. Or in one case, the bodyguard of one of the kings of the Nitiobriges, who was forced to flee naked on his horse while his bodyguard stayed and died to buy him time. The sight of his white, puny body astride his horse galloping away gave us much cause for mirth, and I had tears streaming from my eyes as I watched him flee. Little did I know that before this day was through I would be crying again, if for different reasons.
I cannot say exactly what went wrong, or where it went wrong, although I have my suspicions. Oh, the reason things went sour in a hurry was clear enough; once they swept through the camps, Caesar ordered the cornu to sound the recall, apparently so that the Legions would re-form back up to face the inevitable counterattack from Vercingetorix once he was aware that there was a Roman army in his rear, except I do not think that is where things went bad. To my dying breath, I believe that the men in the assault element heard the recall, but chose to ignore it. Instead, they were pushed on by Centurions like a man named Lucius Favius, who apparently was on the sick list when Avaricum was sacked and therefore did not receive any share of the spoils. This day, the initial success was so easy and so overwhelming that he convinced the men of his Century to continue to the walls of the town proper, his goal being getting into the town first to grab his share of loot. Once a Century moved in that direction, the others, not wanting to miss out on the chance of spoils, were quick to follow. Before any orders could be given or relayed, the whole army was charging toward the walls of the town. The first Century to arrive naturally was that of Favius, who was boosted onto the walls by his men, whereupon he immediately pulled some of them up to the parapet. Elsewhere along the walls of the town, we could see women beseeching the Romans not to enter, some of them even throwing themselves down to the men to be ravished by them in a vain attempt to assuage their lust. I cannot speak of their fates, but I think it sufficient to say that I hope that any man left alive who was part of what happened suffers nights of tormented sleep because of it. Initially, everything was going our way, while the sight of Romans at the walls of the town created a panic among the townspeople and the garrison of the town. Even the Legion designated to fortify the hill vacated by Vercingetorix, the main objective of this operation, now looked and saw what appeared to be a town falling under our arms. Dropping what they were doing, they hurried to join their comrades, who were now at the base of the town wall trying to help each other get up and over it. Then, the tide began to turn as the people within the town started to realize that as formidable as our army was, what faced them was only a fraction of it, and besides that, our men were still vastly outnumbered by the Gauls on the other side of the wall. Within moments, the fighting became fierce, with more defenders appearing in answer to the cries of the women and children, while some of the women were brandishing their babies in front of their defenders in an obvious attempt to convince them to repel our men at the walls.