The Battle of Teutoburg
Forest
Arminius, leader of the
Cherusci tribe and former Roman auxiliary
commander, brought to Varus the news that there
was a huge uprising of German tribes hostile to
Rome. While cetainly unwelcome, this was not a
huge surprise -- Rome had been fighting fires on
the frontier of Germania since Julius Caeser
created it after conquering Gaul. So Varus set
forth to suppress the rebellion with the XVII,
XIIX, and XIX'th legions; following behind was a
massive baggage train, stretching to as much as
15km, with food, materiel, household goods etc.,
and accompanied by servants, wives, children and
assorted other camp followers.
In the region of Kalkreise,
20km NE of modern-day Osnabrueck, Germany, the
entire troop was spread out along several
kilometers of a narrow track of solid land
between a looming mountain (OK, a large hill to
those of us from Colorado and Switzerland) on
one side and a vast marsh on the other side. In
some places the solid ground was hardly wide
enough for the carts. While the invading force
was spread out in ths fashion, unable to keep in
formation due to the terrain, they were ambushed
by the waiting Germans. For several weeks
(estimated by the amount of work involved) huge
blinds were constructed up the base of the
mountain along this winding track. This wall of
dirt and foilage served two purposes -- it
further funneled the Romans into an attenuated
line, and it supplied a hiding place for
thousands of attackers.
