“You crazy bastard, you should know better than to hit the ground,” he yelled at me, but I could just stare at him for a second, his words not really registering.
After a moment, my head began to clear; only then did I realize that there were men streaming past me, and I looked about to see that the entire German left wing had collapsed, with the men of the 10th in hot pursuit. Retrieving my shield, I cursed when I saw that it was ruined, split in half by the German’s axe; the cost to replace it would be docked from my pay.
Things went well on our side of the battlefield, but the same was not the case on the left wing, where the men of the 7th and 12th were threatened with being overwhelmed by the German right wing. Caesar writes that it was only due to the sheer weight of numbers, and again, despite the fact I do not like to disagree with the great man, the numbers were not any greater than what we in the 10th faced, but I suppose that’s just an old soldier’s pride speaking. Regardless of the reason, the outcome of the overall battle was still very much in doubt, so the horns sounded to call off our pursuit of the Germans we had routed. These men were running for their lives, some of them heading back to the wagons, while most streamed past them heading north. However, it is hard to re-form when the men’s blood is up and they are hot on the heels of their enemy, so it took precious moments before we began to gather in some semblance of a formation. Luckily, young Publius Crassus, who was the commander of the cavalry at that point, kept his head about him, and seeing the looming disaster, ordered the entire third line of all six Legions to head to the aid of the 7th and 12th. Moving quickly, they slammed into the flank of the Germans who were now wrapped around the two Legions, almost completely surrounding them. Before our eyes, what was shaping up to be a disaster for us quickly turned around into total victory, and it was not long before the rout was complete, with all of the surviving Germans now fleeing for their lives. Meanwhile, the Legions in the center, the 8th, 9th and 11th, had entered the camp and were eliminating the last shreds of resistance from the German warriors who retreated back there to defend their families. Again we could hear the cries and shrieks of the women watching their men slaughtered before the Legionaries turned their attention to them. By this time, we in the 10th were fully formed up, so Caesar commanded us to move north after the fleeing Germans, in the event that some of them had the presence of mind to regroup into a large formation. At the same time Caesar sent the cavalry to harass and cut down as many stragglers as they could find. Finally the cavalry provided some worth to the army, their pressure keeping Ariovistus or any of his commanders from rallying their warriors. Marching for a third of a watch in a single line of Cohorts, we were ready to confront any group of Germans who decided to stop to make a stand, but it soon became obvious that they were not stopping for anything. Once this was clear, we halted for a brief rest before turning and marching in column back to the battlefield to check for our wounded and dead.