Life of a Legionnaire

When the sword drills were finished formation training and battle-field discipline commenced. The men could fight, but not as a unit. They practiced forming a shield wall, marching as a shield wall and fighting as a shield wall. They also practiced opening gaps in the line and closing them quickly, these were in case the enemy flung boulders down on-top of them.

When all the training was finished there were only one hundred legionnaires left, over half of what had arrived in Augustus' group had been fully trained. They were told that they would be marching to the coast and getting a ship to Massilia in southern Gaul.

The marching took up most of the day and by the time they reached the coast it was night time, the ship was set to arrive in the morning so they made camp near the beach. In the morning they were loaded onto three roman warships and they set sail. The journey by sea only took a few hours, some of which consisted of men getting sick and when they docked in Massilia it was only the middle of the day.

They marched through the city and into the castrum where they joined onto their legion which was commanded by Caesar. Augustus got his first look at Caesar on the second day in the castrum, they had been awoken early, before sunrise, to do training drills and marching drills in preparation for the journey into Gaul. Caesar had arrived from the main city to oversee the drills. He wore sparkling gold armour and rode on the finest white horse Augustus had ever seen. He was an awe inspiring site.

After two weeks of training and more contingents joining in from the other provinces the legion was ready to march north. Augustus had been under the command of a veteran legionnaire who had fought in the eastern countries and was still serving Rome. He had one more tour left before he could retire. Lucky him, thought Augustus.

They marched north, straight into Gallic territory; they were expected to be greeted by strong resistance. Augustus had heard that they were heading north towards the main Gallic fort of Alesia where they would hope to establish a control point for the area, but to get to that they had to pass through 100's of kilometres of hostile territory.

The first night was scary at times, during the night some Gauls had decided to congregate in the area around the encampment. They started making strange noises and shooting arrows over the walls into the tents, they were run off when the guards fired flaming arrows into the woods.

In the morning they set off marching again, during the march Caesar climbed off his horse, dismissed his guards and walked with the men. It was a real confidence booster and helped get through the sleepless night and long march.

There was some commotion and the legion was formed into battle formations, Augustus' squad was two ranks back from the front rank. Later Augustus heard that scouts who had gone on ahead had sighted a large Gallic army moving quickly towards them. The legion marched on; they were expecting an attack any minute. It was a nerve wrecking time.

An arrow flew out of the trees striking a legionnaires shield, the whole legion jolted and men prepared for the fight.

The clash of steel, the roars from great heroes. Augustus swung his sword down, and then sliced it to the left chomping into a leg. The battle raged on, the cries of the wounded echoed throughout the battleground and the screams as men lost legs and legs, Augustus was terrifying. It sent a chill down Augustus' neck. He had found himself a formidable opponent; a brute barbarian wielding an iron war axe. Augustus couldn't get close enough with his gladius to slash him and was just out of range of the war axe. The rest of the men were in combat so there was no one to help him. He dived out of the way of the axe, he thrusted his sword up, slicing the brute's leg and injuring his hip. He jumped up behind the brute. He was bent over holding his leg. Augustus didn't waste a second and jabbed at his back. Watching him fall, he resumed his killing spree.