Chapter XLVI: A Campaign of Wits

June to the end of July 1112 VTE, Vesta River, Grand Principality of Syrenia

Magnus' Plan for his summer campaign

This year thus far has been a hectic on for the King of Selenium. Magnus was unable to make real progress to his original objective of Cumae during his spring campaign thanks to his cousin Sven's great blunder, but he had also managed to annihilate the Cato's Army at Populonium and threw Syrenia into disarray as a result of this. While he was unable to truly eliminate the rest of Cato's army thanks to the actions of Kieselbach at Geminiacum, he had driven the Army of the Proserpina back across the Vesta and now stood at a crossroads. He roughly had around 50,000 men in the vicinity of Trinitas after the movement of forces along the front.

Two options presented themselves to the King now at the beginning of June. The first option was to leave a strong force behind at Trinitas to prevent Archduke Demetrius from causing problems again, while Magnus marched his army back down the southern bank of the Vesta towards Cumae once more. This option, if Demetrius was kept in check, would most certainly result in a victory and the fall of Cumae by the end of Summer. But this option also depended on Demetrius, who had shown himself to be a rather clever and quick-thinking commander in his own right to act predictably. Magnus, who was acquainted with the Archduke himself and had seen how well he had performed the previous year and also how he had tricked Sven with his maneuvers and had nearly done the same to Trinitas had the local commander not been confident in the return of the main army. A maxim of war that all great commanders follow is to prepare for what the enemy could do instead of what you assume they would do. This is a principle that Pomerlane, Quedlinburg, The Count Palatine Karl II, and others all followed; Magnus himself was no exception.

Instead, he decided on option two. Option two called for Magnus taking most of his army across the Vesta and taking on Demetrius directly. He believed that the former Army of Aquileia was not capable of actions that would threaten his supply lines, and while he believed that the tattered army would try to do something, he prepared for this by ordering his brother to keep a close eye on Kieselbach and send reinforcements to counter him if necessary. But Magnus properly understood that the only thing that was stopping him at this point from total victory in Syrenia was Demetrius and his army. He would cross the Vesta with 35,000 men to take Luna back and see how the clever Archduke reacted from there. If nothing else, Magnus hoped that he could force the Archduke to fall back along the Vesta River himself, as Demetrius could not allow Laodice to fall without a fight no matter what.

The Campaign begins

Setting out on June 8th, Magnus crossed the Vesta just north of Luna and would have his army fully on the other bank by nightfall. The next day, Luna was put under siege by Magnus. Demetrius had been watching the King's moves carefully up to this point. He missed a golden opportunity to crush part of the army during the landings thanks to his own abnormal passivity and inaccurate reports that were given to him. Nonetheless, he was in no position to engage Magnus in a pitched battle at this point either as any attack would not only be expected but would go against strong positions. Instead, he moved his army to block the road to Laodice and launched raids upon the Dragoons during the course of the short siege.

Luna surrendered on June 13th, with Magnus spending the rest of the day resting his men and planning his next move. The massacre at Fort Aurelia had reached him by this point, and Magnus had realized that this Kieselbach was not only wilier than he thought but also a viscious barbarian. He sent a letter to his reserve forces and levies draw from the locals that were gathering outside of Trinitas to deal with this uncouth pest. Demetrius on the other hand, while disgusted at Kieselbach, was thrilled at what he managed to pull off. Overall, for the Imperial forces, Fort Aurelia was a major moral victory for them and raise the spirits of the men across the theater.

On June 14th, Magnus began two weeks of "dance" with Demetrius along the Vesta, where Demetrius would set himself up in a favorable position and Magnus would march hard to outmaneuver him. Two small battles at the villages of Brixia and Cenebelum on June 19th and June 24th respectively would be inconclusive, both sides losing roughly 400 men. On the 20th, Demetrius received the letter from Kieselbach mentioned in Chapter XLIV (See this chapter to understand his reaction and actions with this) and would begin to try to coordinate with Kieselbach as a result of it.

Anchialus

Magnus had been slowly pushing Demetrius back towards Laodice but the reality of the situation was that he was just exhausting his men by the constant forced marches to outmaneuver him, and he needed to bring Demetrius to battle soon or at least come up with another approach. The good news was that the terrain was becoming much less favorable to the defender the further down the valley he drove Demetrius and thus on June 27th, he would commit to a major battle outside the village of Anchialus.

At Anchialus, Magnus's attack upon the Imperial Position was repelled at first but would succeed in breaking through their lines after 2 hours of fighting. Unfortunately, Demetrius had used his cavalry to halt the Dragoons and the retreat of his army was covered by the men he held in reserve. Anchialus was the first major fight between Magnus and Demetrius, but ultimately was not the decisive battle Magnus needed. The Imperials lost around 2,500 men while the Dragoons lost 2,000 during the battle.

Imperial Cavalry halts the breakthrough at Anchialus

In the aftermath, Demetrius withdrew to Lagentium, a stronger defensive position down the river that would be hard to outflank. Magnus arrived the next day and realized that he would not be able to outflank this position by land, so he cleverly thought of another solution

One if by Land, two if by Sea.

On the foggy night of July 10th, Magnus sent 6,000 men aboard light transports to land behind Lagentium in a daring move. The men picked for this were the best of the best in his army, Royal Guardsmen and veterans. This dangerous operation needed to be done under complete silence and could not be detected by the Imperials. To make it harder, the boats had to make 4 trips total. But when it was complete at 400hrs on the 28th, it was a resounding success. Magnus had trapped the Imperial Army in Lagentium on both sides and now launched his attack on their positions with his main army.

30 minutes of Artillery fire were followed by the charge of 10,000 men towards the earthworks in front of the town. The defenders put up a strong fight, repelling the first and second waves before the third wave forced them back. Thinking that the Imperial Army was now broken, the Dragoons started to loot the town. This lapse of discipline would be costly, as Demetrius had rallied his army and threw it directly at the forces in his rear. Overwhelmed by the sheer number of men, most of the landing force was sent into flight to the north. The Royal Guard, however, fought to the death valiantly. Out of the 1,000 Royal guardsmen that were part of the landing force, only 25 escaped while the rest were killed or wounded.
Last Stand of the Royal Guard at Lagentium

Magnus' bold plan had nearly succeeded but was undone by his own troops and the quick thinking of his opponent. 2,500 Imperials would fall to 1,500 Dragoons, most of which were from the Imperial Guard. Demetrius had narrowly avoided disaster this day, and thanked Elira for his luck. Had the other men fought as hard as the Royal Guard, he reckoned, his army would have been annihilated. He withdrew further down the river over the course of the next week to the city of Utica, where he could count on its strong position to force battle as it did last year. His army was down to 18,000 men and the July heat was taking a toll on his army, with only around 9,000 being combat capable. Magnus didn't fare much better, and his army which started at 40,000 was down to 29,000 total and only 18,000 being combat effective. At Utica both armies would rest, received reinforcements and recover from this particularly hot July.

But Magnus' overall situation was unraveling before his eyes in the South thanks to that villainous Kieselbach and the resistance of Aquileia.