The cunning Messapian cavalry then quickly move diagonally which then exposed the infantry phalanx behind them.
Then the Messapian army stopped their advance, and once again entered a stand-off with the army of Archytas a hundred meters away.
However, Archytas couldn’t wait any longer, with having twice the strength of the enemy and his uneasiness also prompted him to immediately order to sound the salpinx!
In Taranto, there are a lot of people who are envious or look down on the Theonians, however, Archytas wasn’t one of them. He not only had a good relationship with Davos, but he had also carefully studied his military tactics and absorbed some of them and applied them to his troops. Increasing the number of light infantry, organizing them separately, and giving full play to their ability is a major change in his army.
When the light infantry attack the enemy first, the length of Archytas’ formation was far longer than the right-wing rear of the enemy’s phalanx formation, so he had also commanded the right-wing hoplites to advance and prepare to encircle the left-wing of the enemy.
While the Messapian phalanx remained motionless, the Messapian cavalry that is surrounding the formation of Taranto, pressed up from all sides and threw javelins at the soldiers of Taranto in an attempt to disrupt and hinder the enemies’ adance.
Archytas remained unmoved, as the salpinx kept on playing while the hoplites would soon enter the distance where they would be able to charge.
Then came a mighty and long horn sound ringing on the battlefield.
Archytas was startled, ‘This sound came from the rear?!!!’
“There are enemies in the rear! There are enemies in the rear!!….” Some soldiers at the rear of the right-wing of the phalanx formation began to shout in panic. Then rumbling footsteps could be heard and shadowy figures in the morning fog could be seen in the rear of the phalanx formation.
‘We walked into a trap! The Messapian had set up an ambush here!’ Archytas’ heart began thumping for a while, and a thought flashed through his mind quickly, ‘To advance or to retreat?’ he must make a decision immediately.
Fortunately, he had learned from the Theonian army, of having the commander not be in the phalanx and instead outside. Before this incident, some people had accused him in the council that carrying out a decadent aristocratic style in battle and not fighting side by side with the citizens is an act of greed for life and fear of death.
However, he did not change his approach due to some criticism, and thanks to this, he was now able to make adjustments before the battle starts, “Halt! Immediately retreat to the left rear while keeping the formation intact!” Archytas immediately gave the orders to the heralds and the men playing the salpinx. He hoped that by retreating, he would be able to turn the bad situation of being pincered into a direct attack on the two enemies.
The salpinx sounded. And the heralds galloped behind the phalanx and shouted the orders.
For the ordinary Greek city-state army, retreating to the left and back is a complex tactical action, which is difficult to achieve even in training, let alone on the battlefield. However, Archytas believes that the army he led, which has been fighting for half a year, like the Theonian army and is strictly trained by him, can do it.
In the many battles with the Messapians, Archytas had learnt of the bravery and tenacity of this race. He was not confident that he could defeat the enemy on the west, even with him having twice the number, head-on in a very short time, and he also did not want to fall into a dangerous situation of being caught between the front and the back, so the only way was to get out of the current battlefield immediately and regroup. Since the main force of Messapian was attacking Manduria, he was confident that the enemy here was not much more numerous than his army, if at all, and he was confident of defeating them in a frontal encounter!
The phalanx stopped their marching and had begun to retreat slowly, but instead of the Taranto army advancing, the Messapian infantry began to charge. Along with this, the Messapian cavalry had also begun to intensify their attack, howling and even driving their horses towards the phalanx in an attempt to disrupt Taranto’s retreat.
The desperate fighting of the Messapian cavalry had surprised Archytas and had begun to feel the determination of the Messapians to annihilate his army here, which made it hard for him to keep his calm.
‘Continue to retreat or strengthen the defence?’ Once again, Archytas had caught himself in a difficult choice.
However, time was pressing. The Messapian cavalry had rushed to the front and the light infantry quickly retreated to both sides. Hindered by the Messapian cavalry, the hoplites of Taranto, who could not retreat with all their strength, had to turn around to fight.
And in the face of such a dilemma, on the one hand, he had let the light infantry use arrows to disperse the Messapian cavalry, and told the officers to shorten the length of the hoplite’s phalanx and thicken the column; At the same time, the soldiers at the back of the phalanx formation will turn back quickly and faced the coming enemy and move forward for more than ten meters. In this way, the whole formation changes from the original “Snake formation” to “Two-line formation”, which is parallel with each other in order to protect each other’s rear.
Archytas believes that even if his troops are temporarily passive, he could repel the Messapians with a sturdy defence!
The Messapian cavalry in the rear then withdraw to the sides, then came the clear rumbling footsteps and the loud cries from the morning mist…
When the shadowy enemy approached, the Taranto soldiers were taken aback. Not only were the enemies staggering in numbers, but they were not dressed in the same attire as the Messapian soldiers. They were armed with wooden shields and spears, wearing simple helmets and breastplates.
“Lord Archytas, it’s the Peucetians! It’s the Peucetians!!” After receiving the report from the scouts, Archytas had also become shocked, ‘The Messapian and the Peucetians had united!’ For decades, the Messapian and Peucetians have always harboured hatred and frequent conflict with each other, but now, they have joined hands!!
Watching as more and more Peucetians warriors rushing in, Archytas shuddered, not only for the safety of this army but also for the situation of Taranto…
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
“Congratulations, king of the Peucetians! Taranto’s army has now been surrounded!” Timogeras, archon of Alytia, shouted with a compliment.
“Yes, the Archytas who had made you lose a lot of battle is now surrounded by my brave warriors. Kill them quickly! So that we could attack Brindisi afterwards!” Telemani, the king of the Peucetians, had a joyful expression while not forgetting to mock the Messapians.
However, half an hour later, the flag of Taranto in the encirclement still stood upright. Besides compressing the encirclement, the Messapian-Peucetians alliance did not make any substantial progress. On the contrary, because of the concentration of Taranto’s soldiers, their attack had encountered greater resistance.
The king of the Peucetians himself had personally joined the expedition, bringing with him more than 10,000 warriors, which, together with the soldiers of Alytia, was more than double the number of Archytas’ army.
In this situation where the opponent was already surrounded, the battle had become harder.
The king of the Peucetians, the archon of Alytia and the generals of Peucetti had all gazed at the dusty battlefield with a startled look.
“Fight! Taranto fight! Son of Taras, don’t stop waving your spear! Remember, every time you kill an enemy, your parents, wife and children will become safer!….” In the centre of the encirclement, Archytas galloped back and forth while dodging the coming arrows and javelins, and shouted loudly to boost the morale.
His voice had become hoarse, his horse was panting, but he didn’t notice it at all. He knew that this time he was in grave danger, but even if he had to die, he wanted to inflict a heavy blow on the enemy and reduce the threat to his home city.
Taranto’s formation has changed from “=” to a round formation. Encouraged by him, the light infantry in the centre kept shooting their arrows, regardless of their fingers being cut by their bowstring and their arm muscles being strained; The hoplites kept close to each other and work together to resist the powerful impact of the enemy, and at the same time, they held their spears high and stab and withdraw from the top of the closely arranged shield wall. Once their spearhead breaks, they will immediately draw out their swords and continue to slash at the enemy…they knew that the only way to survive was to fight to their death, so even with the constant fall of their comrades around them, it still did not shake their fighting spirit.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
An hour later, the king of Peucetians’ face turned blue, because the flag of Taranto still stood, but his generals had asked him to stop the attack because their soldiers were already tired and their casualties were not small.
“Waste, a bunch of waste! Are you still the descendant of the heroic king Lycaon of Arcadia! Look at the Greeks that are surrounded by you, they are not as tall as us, nor are they as numerous as us, and if that scares you, I will have to replace you and let true warriors take command of my warriors!….” Telemani swore and waved his arm, and almost sweeping the spear in his hand into the face of the general in front of his horse.
“Esteemed king of the Peucetians, Archytas is indeed a famous strategos of Taranto, and the army he commands is truly powerful! We shouldn’t waste too much of our troops here as we have to take back Brindisi!” Timogeras suppressed his gloating mood and persuaded him.
“You mean to stop fighting?” Telemani glanced at him and said with disdain.
“The only reason why these Taranto soldiers are fighting to their death is that they do not have a way to escape, so if our encirclement can open a passage….” There was a sly smile on Timogeras’ face.
“You mean-” Telemani was not a mediocre king, when he was young, he had led his army around for the sake of Peucetti’s might, and he was just being too obsessed with victory at this time, but with the reminder of Timogeras, he had immediately woken up and turned his attention to the Messapian and Peucetian cavalries that are waiting silently on either side of the battlefield, who had merged and are close to a thousand, but they are now useless because the enemy was surrounded.
“I had the same thought!” Telemani said loudly while raising his chest to hide his earlier loss of temper. He then drove his horse forward and pointed his spear at Taranto’s flag standing in the middle of the chaotic battlefield, “Just don’t let Archytas escape!”
Because the Peucetians had many troops and the Messapians are in desperate need of their help, so the Messapian-Peucetians alliance deliberated and chose to give way in the direction of Alytia’s army.
