Free Legio XVII: Roman Legion at War by Thomas A. Timmes

downward power of the sword.  He demonstrated it to the Legate.  As the sword is raised, but before it begins its downward descent, the Roman shield must be brought up sharply against the Gauls’ sword arm or sword itself to pin it and prevent completion of the strike.  The Legate tried the technique himself and immediately instructed his assembled Tribunes to implement the new technique throughout the Legions.  The Legate and Tribunes were impressed with Manius.
    Manius further recommended that the Legionaries’ helmet have an extra piece of metal affixed to the top of the helmet.  In view of the effort involved to alter the shields, this idea was abandoned for the present.  Several years later, Manius would make this simple fix and save countless lives.
     
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    The Gauls were in no hurry to move.  After looting the battlefield, the spoils had to be divided up among the troops and stored in their wagons.  The celebrations continued long into the night.  They knew the Romans were pinned to their camps under the watchful eye of their strong cavalry and felt they could beat the Romans if they wanted a battle.  The Chieftains planned to keep the two Roman camps from uniting if they showed any sign of offering to fight.  The Romans burned their dead without interference from the Gauls.  It was an unspoken truce.  In exchange, the Romans allowed the Gauls to recover their dead.
    Once the shields were altered, the dead properly disposed of, and with the Gauls still showing no inclination to move back north into the Cisalpine region with their loot, Papus and Regulus began to fear the worst, a possible attack on Rome.
    Regulus’ Legions were pinned to their hill by an ever present strong Gallic cavalry.  Papus was not so harassed and felt he could slip his five Legions out of camp in the dead of night unobserved.  Both Consuls knew they had to get their Legions between Rome and the Gauls.  They devised a plan that would have Regulus create a diversion to draw all the Gallic cavalry to his position while Papus led his Legions off in a wide swing to the east followed by a rapid march south to get between Rome and the Gauls.
    The plan worked and it was not until the following morning that the Gauls realized that Papus’ camp was empty.  Gallic cavalry quickly found the marching Roman Legions, but by this time they were already south of the Gauls.  Papus took an extraordinary risk by separating his supply wagons from the Legions.  The wagons swung farther east of the Legions before heading south.  Papus needed to push the Legions to their maximum speed and did not want to be slowed by the baggage trains.  For the Legionaire, this separation meant that each man had to carry four days rations instead of the usual two just in case they did not reunite with their wagons for several more days.  They groaned under the load, but doggedly pressed forward.

Figure 6 Telamon (Google Maps)
    Fortunately for the Romans, the Gauls were not very mobile at this point.  They had an extensive baggage train to carry the lucrative results of months of pillaging the Italian countryside.
    It took the Gauls a full day to begin their march to Rome and, therefore, adequate time for Papus to get around them.  He marched 110 miles in five days and stopped south of the village of Telamon [modern Talamone in Tuscany] by the coast and near the Via Aurelia .
    As soon as the Gauls began their ponderous southward move out of their camp, Regulus marched his two Legions and Auxiliary survivors off the fortified hill in a slow cautious pursuit.  He kept a respectful distance so as not to provoke the Gauls into attacking him.  As he marched south, Regulus was constantly asking himself what he would do and where would he position his Legions should the Gauls surprise him by doubling back.  His cavalry was closely following the Gauls and reporting on their every move, but still Regulus worried.  Perhaps unconsciously, Regulus allowed the