Annals of a Fortress Part 8

Thereupon, trees were felled in the forest on the plateau, and the timberwork of the houses of the lower town brought away. A moat, filled from the river, surrounded the works of the great _tete de pont_; but those of the smaller one no longer possessed any; the fosse had long been filled up, and the besieged had neglected to sink it afresh. The south wall of the _Emporium_, which joined the northern shoulder of that smaller _tete de pont_, was crenelated, and in the hands of the defenders, including the square return on the road coming from the west.

Thus half the area of the Emporium was commanded in its length by this wall.[13] Astride on this western road, Secondinus erected an _agger_ which rested against the river, fifty paces from the square return, and on this agger he fixed up a work of framed timber, which commanded the enemy's rampart (Fig. 21). Around the great _tete de pont_, he contented himself with raising a contravallation, which cut off the two roads.

Before the eastern gate of the city, the operation presented great difficulties, because of the steepness of the slope of the plateau.

Every night, the besiegers' works were thrown down by the defenders, who had the advantage of the dominant position. Secondinus, after several unsuccessful attempts, was obliged to confine himself to forming beneath the ascent of the plateau a work of earth and timber, forming an arc of a circle, as in the accompanying sketch (Fig. 22).

The besiegers could reach this work, which was out of range of the plateau, by a road descending gently towards the western arm of the rivulet.

These works had not been executed without attempts on the part of the besieged to destroy them, nor without considerable loss on the part of the Franks. A fortnight, however, after the enemy's arrival, they were completed, and strongly guarded.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 21.]

The enemy's troops were thus disposed around the cite:--The large encampment on the north plateau was occupied by twelve thousand men; the defenders of the great contravallation on the same side numbered two thousand. The body lodged in the lower town consisted of six thousand men; the guard of the work opposite the small _tete de pont_, five hundred; that of the contravallation around the great _tete de pont_, one thousand two hundred; the work raised at the bottom of the plateau facing the east gate contained one thousand two hundred men. Total: twenty-two thousand nine hundred men. There remained, deducting for losses since the commencement of the siege, about ten thousand soldiers, who scoured and devastated the country, collected provisions and forage, and formed a reserve corps, ready to make a fresh attempt when the propitious moment arrived.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 22.]

These preparations rendered it clear to Clodoald that the enemy since his first checks was acting with method, and preparing for a decisive action. He had quickly perceived that his attack would be directed to the weak points of the fortress,--that is to say, the northern salient and the banks of the river opposite the western bend of the cite; he had therefore strongly barricaded all the roads of the town leading to the quay, and had strengthened the latter with a _vallum_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 23]

In addition to this, two hundred paces behind the square tower on the river, to the north, he had run another vallum, _a_, _b_, through the houses and gardens, following the slopes of the plateau in an oblique direction, and joining the south-west gate (Fig. 23). The habitations had been left as a mask in front of this entrenchment; a few houses and fences only had been cleared away to give a free s.p.a.ce outside.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 24.]

Clodoald could not attempt anything before the northern salient, the enemy being there in front of him in force; but within the salient itself he sunk ditches with retrenchments of earth and stakes, as shown in Fig. 24. These works being low and masked were invisible to the enemy outside. Every night he sent out of the city, by the postern which led to the bottom of the wide fosse on the northern front, spies who rendered him an account of the operations of the enemy.

At the end of the third week from the beginning of the siege, his spies reported a considerable degree of activity in the large camp; that f.a.ggots were being got ready, that the soldiers were preparing their arms, and that war-engines were being mounted. One of these spies, who crossed the river below the town and observed the att.i.tude of the enemy encamped on the west, brought a similar report. Clodoald judged, therefore, that the besiegers were on the point of attempting a grand effort on the west and the north.

On the morning of the twenty-third day of the siege, in fact, four _onagri_ planted on the work opposite the small _tete de pont_ swept the latter with stones so effectually that the defenders were scarcely sheltered behind the parapets, and could not work the engines placed at that point. At the same time, boats laden with inflammable materials were launched in the river above the wooden bridge. These boats, impelled in the direction required, were arrested by the piles of the bridge, and were not long in setting it on fire (Fig. 25). The defenders of the small _tete de pont_, seeing that their retreat was going to be cut off, abandoned the work, which was soon occupied by the Franks.

Retired within the _place d'armes_ behind the bridge, the besieged could do nothing but watch the fire.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG 25.]

At the same time, shielded by wicker mantelets, a numerous troop of the enemy were advancing boldly against the north-east and north-west flanks of the northern salient. Filling up the fosse with f.a.ggots, the a.s.sailants rushed in a dense column against the rampart. The conflict was furious. Thanks to the stonework of the aqueduct the enemy were unable to break through the north-east flank; but they succeeded in gaining a footing[14] on the opposite one. The besieged were obliged to abandon the salient, retiring from one retrenchment to another, and with but slight loss, whereas the a.s.sailants had more than two hundred men killed on the rampart and in the ditches.

At nightfall Clodoald with the three thousand men of his reserve corps issued suddenly by the central gate--the bridge of which, strongly barricaded, had remained in his possession--and fell upon the enemy: he killed a hundred more, but was unable to retake the work. Moreover, he antic.i.p.ated another attack, and was not mistaken. Towards midnight the Franks took possession of the island of sand with the help of rafts, and there entrenched themselves in front of the quay. They were within bowshot, and arrows were discharged on both sides, but with little result.

The loss of the advanced work had only the effect of animating the besieged, who were for immediately re-taking it. Clodoald had to calm their ardour by promising them to do better than retake it; adding, that just then he had another enterprise in view, and that the enemy was going to give them a fine opportunity of beating him.

Clodoald strengthened the defences of the northern front, which could not be taken by storm; placed a strong body in the outwork of the eastern gate, with orders to defend it to the last man; and sent down as large a number of troops as they would hold into the two _places d`armes_ south and south-west. He strongly manned the oblique entrenchment descending to the edge of the water, and placed there a chief on whom he could depend, with special instructions.

The next day pa.s.sed without fighting. The Franks were engaged in intrenching themselves within the outwork against the north front, and destroying the _vallum_. They were bringing to the island timbers, fascines, earth, and stones, and were beginning to fill up the small arm with these materials. Sheltering themselves with wicker mantelets, they threw stones into the water, then fascines, in which large pebbles were inclosed to make them sink between the stones, then when these materials began to rise above the surface; they laid trunks of trees upon them across the stream, and between these fascines and clods of turf. The besieged could scarcely do anything to hinder these operations. Two _onagri_ sometimes hurled stones at the workmen; but they, well shielded and always in motion, were seldom struck. Towards evening the embankment was barely twenty feet from the quay wall, and the water--rather low at that season--ran through the sunken fascines without endangering the stability of the dam. The Franks continued all night working at the consolidation and enlargement of the causeway; then they brought timbers and ladders, and raised on its extremity about fifteen feet from the quay wall a stage of timberwork prepared beforehand. At daybreak the besieged perceived on the stage the end of a kind of bridge, furnished with a wicker mantelet, moving slowly forwards towards the edge of the quay (Fig. 26). Secondinus had the platform of a bridge framed ten feet wide: this platform, laid on rollers which rested on the inclined beams, was propelled by soldiers, aided by levers, and drawn by two cables wound on capstans fixed in advance. The men with the levers were screened by sheets of thick canvas stretched before them, which stopped the darts. All this time two catapults and two _onagri_ showered long darts and stones on the _vallum_ of the quay; while slingers and archers rendered it impossible for the defenders to show themselves.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 26.--THE ATTACK--THE MOVABLE BRIDGE INTENDED FOR CROSSING THE SMALL ARM OF THE RIVER OF ABONIA.]

The chief who commanded the latter, following the instructions of Clodoald, drew his men gradually away in the direction of the houses; and when the rolling bridge attained the ridge of the _vallum_ of the quay, not a single Burgundian remained behind this defence. The Franks rushed with loud shouts on the platform, threw down the wicker parapet, and spread themselves in great numbers over the deserted and silent quay. Dreading some ambuscade, they were in no hurry to ascend the slopes of the plateau, gentle though they were at this point, or to venture along the roads whose barricades appeared not to be guarded.

They drew up along the quay in good order until they numbered about four thousand men. This did not take long; for as soon as the first few had pa.s.sed from the stage to the _vallum_, the besiegers had placed beams across on which they laid logs, brushwood, and turf, and the bridge had thus attained a width of nearly thirty feet.

A second body of considerable strength ready to sustain the first was a.s.sembled on the island, and a third body was approaching on the opposite bank.

Secondinus was one of the first to reach the left bank, and he augured no good from the apparent inaction of the besieged. He desired that any advance should be made with caution, and not until a _tete de pont_ had been erected with stakes and _debris_ taken from the neighbouring houses. An exploring party sent into these houses found that they were deserted, while behind the barricades erected where the roads opened on the quay there were no defenders.

He therefore ordered these barricades to be cleared away. All this took up time, and the Franks began to murmur loudly, asking if they had been sent across the river merely to guard the sh.o.r.es. Their chiefs insisted that the besieged had abandoned this part of the cite, as they had the lower town, that they had retired behind their walls, and that if advantage was not taken of their retreat, they would regain courage and come and attack the Franks in the night; that it was essential to occupy the ground vacated by them without loss of time, and take up a position beneath the walls, seizing in its rear the smaller _place d'armes_.

Secondinus shook his head, and persevered in ordering measures of safety. Towards midday one of the Frank chiefs, still more impatient than the rest, called his men together and declared that there had been too long a delay, and that the slopes must be occupied. "Let the brave follow me, and those who are afraid remain here and find themselves sheltering-places!" and he and his followers made for the summit of the plateau. His example was quickly followed, and by various paths through the houses and gardens more than two thousand men ascended the slopes.

Arrived at the _vallum_ formed on the slant, they were received by a shower of stones and darts. But soon recovering the surprise, and urged on by their chiefs, the Franks sprang up the escarpment. Their position, commanded as it was by the besieged, was unfavourable, and the first a.s.sault failed. They had to rally in the shelter afforded by the habitations and hedges left by Clodoald outside the _vallum_. Hearing the shouts of the onslaught, the troops left near the pa.s.sage hurried in their turn up the hill. Secondinus then judged it expedient to get over a thousand men from among those who had remained in the island, giving excellent reasons for keeping them at that point.

Seeing the reinforcement ascending the hill, the first a.s.sailants separated into three large parties, and at the word of command advanced anew against the _vallum_. The fall of the foremost did not arrest the new comers, who pa.s.sed over their bodies. There were moments when the intrenchment seemed to be carried, for its ridge was crowned by Frank soldiers; but the defenders--independently of those who guarded the _vallum_--had also divided into compact bodies, which, in readiness behind, fell on the a.s.saulting columns when their heads appealed above the ridge. Thus the conflict presented a series of captures and recaptures of the _vallum_, and it appeared as if the same turns of fortune would be repeated as long as the a.s.sailants and defenders were able to form bodies of soldiers. Many fell on both sides, for they fought hand to hand.

Then it was that Clodoald, who held the smaller _place d'armes_ on the south-west, led forth a thousand men in good order, keeping along the river; he ordered those who occupied the large _place d'armes_ to pa.s.s on between him and the _vallum_, and to fall on the a.s.sailants in flank.

From the right sh.o.r.e the Franks perceived this movement of Clodoald, and hurried towards the island to attack him and support those of their party who were on the left sh.o.r.e. But Clodoald had the start, and advanced by a direct road, whereas the enemy had to make a detour. In a few minutes, therefore, he came upon the body of Franks which, at the instance of Secondinus, was guarding the pa.s.sage. He attacked it most vigorously, and cut down the first he met with. The Franks resisted, however, and, covering the embankment, formed in a square, with their right against the river. Fresh a.s.sailants pa.s.sed over to the embankment, and took up such a position on the left that Clodoald's troop was on the point of being surrounded, and to free itself was obliged to make a movement in retreat, not without much loss--abandoning the left sh.o.r.e in order to reach the slopes and choose more advantageous ground.

The second troop of Burgundians was then advancing on the flank of the besiegers, who were furiously storming the _vallum_. The a.s.sailants, attacked in flank, almost in rear--by reason of the direction of the _vallum_--gave way and ran down towards the pa.s.sage, pursued by the Burgundians. Seeing himself thus supported, Clodoald a.s.sailed the foe with renewed energy. At that juncture came Gondomar sallying out from the western gate, with fresh troops to reinforce the defenders of the _vallum_. Seeing the enemy flying in all haste towards the pa.s.sage, he concluded that his force was strong enough to press them vigorously, and, following the southern ramping wall, and then turning to the left, he attacked the enemy on the sh.o.r.e opposite the island. The Franks, thus attacked in front and on both flanks, with a narrow pa.s.sage behind, offered a desperate resistance; but their very numbers were unfavourable to success, and they were overwhelmed with missiles hurled by Burgundian slingers posted in the houses on the slope.

When night came not an enemy remained alive on the left sh.o.r.e; many had sought to reach the island by swimming, and a considerable number had also effected their escape by the embankment; but more than two thousand five hundred bodies remained along the _vallum_ and about the entrance of the pa.s.sage. Clodoald had f.a.ggots and straw heaped on the movable bridge, which soon caught fire as well as the stage. The besieged lost a thousand, and Clodoald was wounded.

The Burgundians had kept the western portion of the town, but they could not take the offensive in that quarter, since dense ma.s.ses of the enemy presented themselves there.

During the same day the Frank kings had made a feint of attacking the north front of the city; but the ramparts and the towers erected on this front could only be taken by a regular siege, and the Burgundian troops a.s.signed to that quarter were more than sufficient to defy a serious attack.

Retired within their tent, Childebert and his brother accused one another of the failure of their operations, but ultimately agreed in throwing on Secondinus the blame of their defeat. The latter, summoned into their presence, had to undergo the bitterest reproaches. "If,"

replied the engineer, "your troops were disciplined--if they had not persisted in attacking the quarter, on which we had fortunately gained a footing, at haphazard--we should still be on that sh.o.r.e, and should have been able to-morrow to seize the whole of that region; not that I think it necessary to attack the cite on that front, but because we could thus have prevented any sortie, and might without risk attack the northern front and take it--which would only be an affair of time.

"Not being in possession of the western quarter, all our siege works may be destroyed in a vigorous sortie; for the besieged are audacious--they have shown themselves so; and the ramping wall which descends to the river from the west corner will always put our attack on the north front of the cite at the mercy of a vigorous effort.

"This ramping wall has no visible gates, but it will be easy for the besieged to make outlets if there are not already some hidden ones; and then under favour of night he can fall on the right flank of the attack, burn our works, and render the siege much longer and more uncertain in its issue. Each of our chiefs insists on commanding; and, brave though they all are, before a cite so well fortified and defended, blind bravery only involves you in useless perils. Obtain from them, therefore, an implicit obedience to your commands, and remember that your ill.u.s.trious father owed his victories to the rigorous discipline which he succeeded in maintaining." This firm language did not fail to make an impression on the two kings, who, repressing their anger, began to deliberate coolly on the situation. It was decided to seize the great _tete de pont_, still in the hands of the besieged; to keep a strict watch on the sh.o.r.es of the river; and to attack the place along the whole extent of the northern front, comprising the ramping wall.

The two kings decided that the chiefs of the various corps should obey Secondinus, whom they intrusted with the direction of their operations.

The chiefs were a.s.sembled, and received from Childebert's own mouth the order not to engage in any enterprise except such as Secondinus should sanction. But these Franks had no liking for the Roman, as they called him, and received the admonition with a bad grace. Many raised objections, declaring that the slow proceedings of the Roman were the cause of their failures, and that if they might have their way the cite would soon be in their power. Childebert and his brother began to feel their resolution failing at these representations, and looked to Secondinus to reply. Addressing himself then to the chiefs who had accused him, he said: "Let those of you who have a plan of attack to offer, speak; let them explain by what methods they propose to force walls defended by men inured to war and well commanded; and if they can exhibit a plan superior to mine, I am ready to follow them like the humblest of their soldiers. But the kings and the whole army, before being called upon to advance, have a right to demand that their lives be not risked in an enterprise without definite purpose, and not presenting any chance of success." To this speech there was no response. "You, who spoke," said Childebert then to one of the chiefs, "what do you propose?"--"We took Autun by main strength; we invested the cite, made a breach in the wall, and entered it."--"Yes," replied Secondinus; "but Autun is not a cite built on the summit of escarpments like this; we were able to attack it from the level on two of its fronts, without having a river in the rear. Its walls, good though they were, were but ill defended, and our simultaneous attacks on two opposite points disconcerted the besieged. Here there is but a single front that can be attacked from the level; all the others crown escarpments, that could be easily defended, even without walls. Only two courses, then, are possible: either to invest the place so closely as to force it to surrender through want of provisions--which may be a tedious process, for the besieged are well provisioned, and the Frank army, which dislikes inaction, will melt away during such a blockade--or to attack the only vulnerable side, and concentrate all our forces on that point.

"By proceeding regularly, this front will be in our power in three weeks. Then we shall be able to invest the _castellum_ closely, leaving a numerous body to prevent any sortie. It must surrender eventually, and in the meantime the kings will subdue the rest of Burgundy, without being delayed here." Many of the chiefs responded, proposing irrational plans of attack--appearing such, indeed, to the a.s.sembly; for though all agreed in blaming the conduct of the siege hitherto, no one could suggest a consistent plan of operation. Every proposition was therefore received with murmurs or ironical laughter. Seeing this, Childebert made a formal declaration that he and his brother were determined that Secondinus should be obeyed in all points, since no one had a desirable plan to propose; and the a.s.sembly separated. The two kings, remaining alone with the engineer, urged him to contrive for securing an immediate success that might cause the recent failures to be forgotten and restore confidence to the army.

"The difficulty," replied Secondinus, "is to obtain such a success, without risk, with troops that do not strictly follow orders. What secures success in siege warfare is patience, a.s.siduous labour, and rigid discipline; but your men are not patient, are not fond of digging, and are undisciplined. They prefer getting killed in an a.s.sault under unfavourable conditions to the safe, though painful, labour which in the course of some days would secure the capture of the place without much loss."

Meantime the Frank army was reinforced by a body of about two thousand men, sent by Theodoric, who, having terminated his expedition into Auvergne, was reckoning on gaining some advantage from the war going on in Burgundy. These two thousand men were robust, but ill-armed, and little fitted for active war; but they were able to render great services in siege works. They were placed directly under the orders of Secondinus, who set them to work immediately, promising them a large share of the booty when the cite was taken.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 27.]

We have seen that the northern salient had remained in the power of the Franks. Secondinus raised an _agger_ at this point, in front of the gate of the cite; and on the declivity of the plateau another _agger_ opposite and on the counterscarp of the fosse of the ramping wall (Fig.

27). The ridge of these works did not reach the level of the footway of the cite walls, but yet rose high enough to allow great stones to be discharged on the battlements by means of onagers, and to render the situation perilous to the defenders. The especial object of this was to occupy the besieged. Under shelter of these two earthworks, Secondinus had two mines commenced, one at the point A, the other at B, which, carried under the bottom of the dry ditches, were to penetrate beneath the walls. Clodoald, who had been rather severely wounded, was obliged to confide the superintendence of the defence to his lieutenants, who informed him of the besiegers' operations, and who believed that the Franks were going to raise timber works to command the walls, destroy the battlements, and throw bridges across. Nothing, however, favoured the supposition that such was the intention of the Franks, who limited themselves to furnishing the earthworks with screens to protect their engines. This apparent inactivity was a constant source of anxiety to Clodoald, who knew, through his spies, that the besiegers had received reinforcements. As he was unable to take the lead, he dared not direct his lieutenants to undertake any fresh sorties, and was obliged to content himself with recommending the most scrupulous vigilance.

Trusting, moreover, to the solidity of the Roman walls and the rocky site of the plateau, he scarcely believed that mining could be rendered efficient; yet, in antic.i.p.ation of such a contingency, he ordered that trusty men should be set to listen in the lower stories of the towers, and at the base of the walls opposite the face of attack; then he had platforms prepared behind the rampart to receive six machines, which discharged stones in abundance on the earthworks of the besiegers (Fig.

28).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 28.]

The Franks, on their side, were working vigorously at their two mining galleries, not without great difficulty, for they had at several points very hard rock to pierce. The excavated earth was heaped up within the earthwork, and could not be seen by the besieged. Till they reached the fosse the noise of the work could not be heard from the cite; but when the miners had arrived below the fosse, the men on guard in the town heard the sound of pickaxes dully reverberating through the night.

Clodoald, informed of this, immediately gave orders to countermine, starting from the interior base of the rampart, and in the direction of the sound. On both sides, therefore, the miners were at work; but this did not prevent the projectile engines from being worked all day by both parties.

In a fortnight the besiegers' tunnels were near enough for the workmen to hear the blows of the pickaxes in the rock. Clodoald was then in a condition to leave his dwelling; he examined what had been done, stopped the work, and listened attentively. He judged that the enemy's miners were digging obliquely under the wall, near the north gate (Fig. 29), while the countermine of the besieged followed the direction A B.