Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 998: Tunnel Warfare

Amyntas froze. Caught up in the excitement of the excellent idea, he had forgotten that the Carthaginians also possessed ballistae.

Chalcides had clearly considered this. "Carthaginian ballistae are certainly a concern," he said unhurriedly, "but their accuracy isn't very high. Besides, we can find ways to counter them. For instance... we could drape taut fishing nets over the wooden walls, or pack enough dirt between the wooden frames..."

"Furthermore, since we are building wooden walls, couldn't we treat them like the modular watchtowers we use for our camps? We can have the Engineering Brigade prefabricate the frames inside the city. Once the Carthaginians finish their earthworks, we can quickly move the frames onto our ramparts and assemble them. From that elevated position, we can suppress the Carthaginians and launch a surprise attack on the light infantry stationed on their mounds. They will have wasted all that time building earthworks. To regain the initiative, they would have to lay larger foundations to build even higher mounds, costing them even more time..."

"A great idea! A truly brilliant idea!" Amyntas roared with laughter. "I can't wait to see the Carthaginians' smug faces turn to frustration and despair. Aristonos, go summon the engineers from the Engineering Brigade immediately! Have them survey the ramparts thoroughly, and then, following Chalcides' suggestion, build these wooden walls to repel the Carthaginian attack!"

"Yes, Commander," Aristonos replied, turning at once to head down from the wall.

Before long, the slingers from the light infantry battalion arrived on the ramparts. Following Amyntas' instructions, they launched an attack on the Carthaginian heavy infantry below. Egg-sized, heavy lead bullets slammed into helmets at close range, delivering enough concussive force to leave men dizzy, or struck breastplates with agonizing impact...

Soon, the orderly, snaking column of Carthaginians devolved into chaos. Ignoring the shouts of their officers, the soldiers dropped their wooden baskets. Yelping and jumping to dodge the incoming barrage of lead bullets, they scrambled to flee in panic.

The slingers' attack had worked.

Not long after, however, the Daionian soldiers on the walls suddenly shouted in alarm, "Watch out! Flying stones!..."

Now it was the Daionian soldiers' turn to tense up. They hurriedly angled their long shields, trying to form a shield wall to provide cover for themselves and the slingers.

Amidst a chorus of pained groans, Amyntas gritted his teeth. "It has to be the Balearic Slingers!"

After the main army had landed in Sicily, Leotychides had mentioned to Davos and the other senior Daionian generals that Carthage employed thousands of Balearic Slingers. As the only commander with slingers of his own, Amyntas had asked about their combat prowess with keen interest. He had never expected to experience it firsthand here in Selinus.

Naturally, the First Legion slingers refused to be outdone and returned fire. Countless lead bullets crisscrossed continuously through the air. While the other soldiers on the wall could huddle beneath their long shields, the slingers could not be protected by others while actively throwing. As a result, men continually suffered injuries.

The Daionian slingers, who were ultimately fewer in number, gradually struggled to hold their ground. To preserve his forces, Amyntas was forced to pull them back from the wall. Soon after, he watched the Carthaginian heavy infantry form up in their long column once more, carrying wooden baskets on their backs to resume piling up the earthworks.

Just then, he heard someone shouting, "General Chalcides! General Chalcides!..."

He glared at the caller, vaguely recognizing him as a battalion commander from the reserves. Annoyed, he snapped, "What are you yelling about?! What's the matter?!"

The battalion commander rushed up the wall. Before he could even report the situation to Chalcides, he met Amyntas' reprimand. Seeing the angry look on Amyntas' face, the man immediately recalled the rumors about him and panicked.

"Commander Amyntas is asking you a question. Just tell him what's going on," Chalcides quickly reminded him from the side.

"Oh... Com... Commander... It's like this. We noticed something unusual while digging the trenches. The Carthaginians might be digging tunnels!"

Amyntas and the men around him were shocked.

"Where did you find this?! Take me there immediately!" Amyntas demanded.

After Amyntas had taken over as the commander defending Selinunte, he had followed Chalcides' advice and begun constructing inner walls within the city. To ensure they could build multiple defensive lines, he had placed the first Inner Wall less than fifty meters from the outer ramparts.

Walls and trenches were typically constructed together, ensuring that the excavated dirt could be used directly as rammed earth for the walls. Amyntas had set strict requirements: the trenches had to be four meters deep and at least four meters wide. The task of digging these trenches had mainly fallen to the original garrison of Selinus. (Some reserve soldiers had voiced complaints about this, but Chalcides had smoothed things over perfectly.)

After several days of hard work, the trench was basically finished. The next step was for the soldiers to plant sharp wooden stakes inside. While they were doing this today, one soldier had just dug a small hole and was about to plant a stake when he noticed mud and sand constantly seeping into the hole, sinking downward. Terrified that he had provoked some sort of monster or spirit, he scrambled out of the trench, fell to his knees, and began praying fervently to Hades.

The news had quickly spread like wildfire.

When the reserve battalion commander arrived to investigate, his greater military experience made him immediately uneasy at the sight of this bizarre phenomenon. Ordering the soldiers to stay quiet, he carefully hopped down into the trench, pressed his ear against the sinking dirt, and listened closely. From below, he heard the muffled sounds of digging.

He had immediately rushed over to report it.

The location was not far from the north gate. Once Amyntas and his entourage hurried over, he personally climbed down into the trench and verified the battalion commander's report. Pulled back up by his guards, his face darkened, and he cursed with lingering dread, "Crafty Carthaginians!"

He truly had not expected it. The Carthaginians were building inner walls and piling up earthworks, putting on a grand show of preparing a surface assault on Selinunte, all while secretly digging tunnels for a sneak attack!

Amyntas had been kept completely in the dark. Part of the reason, of course, was that the Carthaginians had built their own inner wall, which blocked the Daionian defenders on the ramparts from observing the Carthaginian Camp. They had no way to track the enemy's movements inside.

"Legion Commander, this might not be the only tunnel the Carthaginians are digging!" Chalcides stepped forward and warned in a low voice.

Amyntas nodded and immediately issued orders: all soldiers were to stop digging trenches, and the mountain reconnaissance squad was to lead the light infantry battalion to carefully search the city's inner trenches for other tunnels.

A while later, the reconnaissance squad leader returned to report: they had found the Carthaginians digging tunnels beneath the east wall and the Western Wall as well.

Although Amyntas and the others had braced themselves, the news was still startling. Adjutant Aristonos even theorized, "It seems the dirt the Carthaginians are using for their three earthworks comes straight from excavating these tunnels. How cunning!"

Amyntas' face was now ashen. He snapped an order, "Go fetch the engineers at once! Have them thoroughly inspect the site and estimate the direction and depth of the Carthaginian tunnels. Then, design a counter-tunnel for us to dig so we can quickly break into theirs. And then—" Amyntas chopped his hand down forcefully, "wipe out every Carthaginian inside!"

The order was carried out immediately. The engineers mapped out the routes, the reserve soldiers handled the digging, and three detachments from the First Legion were assigned to slaughter the enemy.

With thousands of soldiers digging with all their might, the tunnels were soon connected. The prepared legionnaires immediately charged inside.

Caught completely off guard, the Carthaginian soldiers—who had removed their armor and left their weapons behind to dig—were ruthlessly slaughtered. The Carthaginians in the rear, who had been responsible for hauling away the dirt, panicked and scrambled back.

The legionnaires did not pursue them. Instead, they pulled back, allowing the reserve soldiers to come in and seal off the tunnel.

But after only a short while of sealing work, fully armed Carthaginian soldiers came charging back through the tunnel.

The legionnaires quickly stepped up to meet them in battle.

As a result, while Carthage and Daionia continued exchanging intermittent ranged fire on the surface, a bloody, head-on slaughter unfolded underground.

The butchery dragged on throughout the day, with both sides continuously feeding troops into the tunnels.

In the cramped confines of the tunnels, superior numbers meant nothing. Combat relied heavily on individual skill. In this regard, the masterful thrusting techniques of the Daionian First Legion soldiers clearly outmatched their foes. Coupled with the fact that narrow tunnels were perfectly suited for short-bladed weapons, the Daionian soldiers gained a distinct advantage in the melee.

Recognizing this, Amyntas did not hesitate to rotate the various detachments of the First Legion into the fray.

It was not that the Carthaginian army lacked soldiers skilled with short swords; the men of Lusitania and the Celtic Warriors of northern Iberia were masters of the craft. However, when Mago ordered them to join the fight, the leaders of these mountain tribes firmly refused. They declared that their warriors were accustomed to fighting bravely against their enemies on solid ground under the blazing sun, and loathed burrowing into dark, damp tunnels like rats.

When the Carthaginian soldiers, as well as Mago's trusted Phoenician Soldiers and those from Southern Iberia, were routed from the tunnels time and time again, he finally realized something: aside from the Iberian natives, the main forces he relied on might not be weaker than their opponents in open combat, but they were clearly inferior in the close-quarters slaughter where individual skill mattered most.