Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 517: Battle of Crotone (X)

Finally, the salpinx that sounded the retreat came.

The Syracusan soldiers at the right end of the right-wing, struggling to resist the sarissa brigade and Crotone-Terina reinforcements, immediately turned around and fled. Instantly resulting in the collapse of Syracuse’s thick phalanx formation, and the fleeing soldiers were like a flood that spilt out from a broken dam…

Phidias did not panic even when he saw the soldiers beside him flee. After throwing his spear at the enemy and smashing his round shield at the one facing him, he forced open a small space where he immediately turned around and ran away while throwing away his helmet. Although he had suffered many defeats before, Phidias still felt frustrated by this defeat…

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“Your majesty, the enemy has retreated! We won! We won this battle! Theonia won!!!” Tolmides was very excited as he watched the Syracusan soldiers retreat like a tide.

A smile finally appeared on Davos' face as he listened to the guards' cheers beside him. He then said, “Tell all the troops to pursue the enemy with all their strength!”

“Roger!” Tolmides responded loudly.

“Your majesty-” A shout came from behind Davos. When he turned around, he could see the excited Rodom and immediately understood what he was thinking, so he said with a smile, “The guards can also participate in the pursuit.”

Immediately after, cheers rang out around him, with only Martius and a few other guards remaining indifferent and standing at Davos' side.

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“Chief Acilita, Lord Dionysius' orders were for you to lead your men back together with me to fight the enemy!” Astagoras finally found Acilita, who had fled to the east bank of the Targines.

Acilita, whose dishevelled hair covered his face, evasively said, “With my men now scattered everywhere, it would be difficult for me to gather them in a short time.”

“Acilita.” Astagoras sneered and said, “You are a wise man. Do you think that once we, Syracusans, are defeated, the Theonians would spare you, foreigners, after what you have done on Theonia's land?! Moreover, with the Mediterranean Sea between Magna Graecia and Numidia, do you plan to return to Numidia on horseback?!”

After hearing that, Acilita's expression considerably changed as he had only cared about escaping and didn't think about that issue for a while.

Suddenly, Acilita's men exclaimed, “Leader, the enemy is coming again!”

After finally deciding in his heart, Acilita said, “Strategos Astagoras, let's repel those cavalries first.”

Astagoras became pleased when he saw Acilita's change of attitude, so he immediately led the more than 300 cavalries to unite with Acilita's remaining more than 200 cavalries to return and meet the enemy.

At this moment, Astagoras and Acilita could hear the sound of “rumbling” footsteps from the front left, making them subconsciously look to the north as the growing noise made them feel uneasy.

Soon after, everyone's face turned pale when countless Syracusan soldiers appeared and rushed towards them like a tide.

“Retreat!” Acilita quickly turned his horse around and fled in a panic together with the Numidian cavalry, followed by numerous Sicilian cavalries.

‘We lost?!…’ Astagoras couldn't believe this fact and was then stabbed by the pursuing Theonian cavalry as he was in a trance…

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“Theonia won! We won! Crotone won!!…” The scouts sent by Lysias and his men ran wildly all the way to the ruins of Crotone as they shouted excitedly and incoherently.

The people of Crotone, who were watching the battle from the city wall, were already crying. As they were far away from the battlefield, they couldn’t really see the situation but could the Syracusans still be victorious if all the soldiers were running south?! At this moment, countless people shed tears of excitement, ‘Finally, Crotone was saved!!!’

Lysias was focused on watching the battle as he nervously stood near the battlements. After being relieved, he noticed that his legs were sore and could no longer keep him up. Thus he just sat down on the walkway, facing the rubble and ruined city, as the ecstasy of the near-death experience turned into deep sorrow: Although the people of Crotone are now safe, the city no longer exists…

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When Dionysius decided to retreat, he had planned to make the defenders of the camp rendezvous with them and stop the chasing army behind and allow the fleeing Syracusan soldiers to enter the camp smoothly. However, that has now proven impossible.

The Theonian troops of Aprustum, who watched the camp's movements closely, discovered the defender moving around. At the same time, the news of ‘Theonia's victory’ brought by the mountain reconnaissance soldiers excited Agasias, who, although he was a Praetor, was also a mercenary and had a rich combat experience. So he decisively acted and led 3,000 defenders to attack the Syracusan camp blocking Aprustum's road in the south.

The Syracusan defenders, on the other hand, were disturbed by the news of their defeat, and with half of their troops sent outside the camp, they no longer had the desire to resist the all-out attack of the Aprustum army. After barely resisting for a while, they easily let the excited Theonian soldiers into the camp.

Dionysius also tried to reorganise his army while they were fleeing, but the pursuit of the Theonian army made his efforts futile. Furthermore, the attendants he sent were either swept away or knocked down by the tide of fleeing soldiers, who then snatched their horses.

With around 60,000 men poured into the Targines, they almost cut off the river's flow. However, the slippery riverbed and the subsequent pursuit of the Theonian soldiers made the terrified Syracusan soldiers cross the river and leave a trail of floating bodies.

And the camp defenders, who came to meet them, were frightened by the tide of fleeing soldiers that they immediately turned around and ran.

Then the surging tide of fleeing soldiers crushed the narrow camp gate, with some simply pushing down the wooden wall and pouring into the gap. Unfortunately, the pursuers also entered the camp.

At the same time, they could hear the cries of Theonian soldiers in the north of the camp: It was Aprustum's army who rushed into the camp in pursuit of the retreating defenders.

So the fleeing Syracusans no longer dared to stay in the camp and continued fleeing south as they were afraid that the Theonians would cut off their way back…

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“Strategos Hielos, we defeated the Syracusans! Numerous Syracusans are now fleeing to Scylletium!…” Said the excited and nervous scout who came to report.

By this time, Hielos had already crossed the Targines with his army, entered Scylletium's territory, and marched northeast towards the Syracusan camp in Crotone.

Hielos became delighted upon hearing the report from the scouts. At the same time, he immediately realised that this was an excellent opportunity to wipe out the enemy, so he hurriedly asked, “How far are we from the fleeing Syracusans?”

“They had just entered the ‘coastal passage’ when I returned to report.”

Hielos was previously the Praetor of Aprustum, so he had surveyed the nearby terrain several times and was familiar with it. Naturally, he knew that the ‘coastal passage’ referred to by the scouts was, in fact, a narrow strip of coastline between the southern plain of Crotone on the west bank of the Targines and Scylletium's territory, with mountains surrounding it to the north and the sea to the south. This coastal passage was about 18 kilometres long, with its narrowest width of 5 kilometres. With his army only 7 kilometres away, it would seem that it would not be difficult to get there and intercept the fleeing Syracusans before they could leave the coastal passage. However, he then considered that his army would march on the mountains while the Syracusans were running on the flat seashore, not to mention that they were fleeing for their lives.

Hielos thought a bit and immediately ordered, “All troops are to march faster!”

Considering that at least half of the joint Theonia-Terina troops were heavy infantry, this fast marching made the soldiers complain. Fortunately, these Bruttian soldiers were disciplined and to strictly execute orders after several years of training, while the flame of vengeance supported the Terinians. But more importantly, the news of Theonia's victory gave them great encouragement.

Once they arrived at the coastal passage, the length of their column stretched to more than 2 kilometres, with most of the soldiers sitting directly on the ground, panting heavily, drenched in sweat and screaming for water. In the next half hour, Hielos, who was also exhausted, struggled to reorganise his troops while also trying to let the soldiers, who had just arrived, rest and recover some strength as soon as possible.

Although most of the soldiers have arrived, there are still some who have fallen behind and came in groups of twos and threes.

But at this moment, a scout came to report that the fleeing Syracusan soldiers were only a kilometre away from them.

Fortunately, Hielos was rational in not letting the exhausted soldiers block the fleeing Syracusans head-on as he knew that he wouldn't be able to block tens of thousands of soldiers who wanted to escape back to Scylettium with only a thousand soldiers. If they did, these exhausted and inexperienced soldiers would instead be caught in the tide of fleeing soldiers.

So he immediately had his troops line up with their backs facing the mountains and diagonally to the coast, leaving enough gap of several metres long for the fleeing soldiers to pass through. Thus even if they attacked fiercely, the Syracusans, who were bent on fleeing, wouldn't put up much resistance.

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Theonia's pursuit lasted until dusk before the bugler sounded the retreat.

From the statistics after the battle: Syracuse suffered nearly 20,000 casualties in the battle that decided the fate of Magna Graecia, with most of the casualties happening while they were escaping. Then more than 10,000 soldiers were captured, mostly due to Hielos. First, he had his soldiers only attack those fleeing soldiers at the edge of the ‘coastal passage’. Afterwards, he decisively ordered an all-out attack, which instantly blocked the tail end of the fleeing soldiers. In the end, only more than 30,000 Syracusans manage to reach Scylletium.

Theonia suffered nearly 7,000 casualties, especially the Crotone-Terina reinforcements, which lost almost half. Followed by the sarissa brigade and the cavalry legion, which had paid the price of more than 2,000 men as they were the key to turning the situation around.

In the end, the result of the battle: Theonia, with 58,000 soldiers, defeated Syracuse, which had 65,500 soldiers.