Testudo Formation

[Fafnir]

I've heard of the Testudo formation the legionnaires performed when under arrow fire, but how effective was this formation?

 

I assume the soldiers were very tired even before melee fighting begun if they marched in this formation.

 

Also, according to some Han China fanboys, arrows could pierce the Roman shield at a certain distance. Wouldnt that cause the Testudo formation to lose its effectiveness?

 

And, what if they were charged by cavalry while in this formation? Did they have spears pertruding from the formation to counter this? Or were they just hopelessly screwed if they saw a Parthian cavalry force charging their formation?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Fafnir

 

(EDIT: Btw, sorry if there's already a thread on this topic, i couldn't find one)

[Guest Scanderbeg]

The Tetsudo formation was a very effective formtaion when under arrow fire. Yes, however certain arrows could pierce through and the formation can be heavily disrupted by cavalry. Ill use the battle of Carrhae.

In that battle the foolish Crassus headed headlong into the middle of Parthia thinking that the Parthian soldiers were running away, they were actually just leading them into a trap. After a while Crassus realized his mistake. but it was too late. He was surrounded by Parthian horse archers. Add to the fact that his germanic cavalry had just been slaughtered by Parthian Cataphracts during their headlong charge, things looked grim. Between the volleys of arrow fire, Crassus ordered his men into tetsudo formation. This is fine now and Crassus wants to wait until the Persian cavalry archers run out of arrows .The problem now was that his men were immobolized and there was a huge cataphracts cavalry in coming from the front.

 

 

You see the problem with it? Its very hard to move and its only as good as the strategy used around it. Going headlog into an archer army with just the Tetsudo formation as your backing is deadly. In the formation your about as safe as long as the enemy doesnt have anything to break through it.

[hannibal_barca]

The testudo was a good formation for protection against arrows but it wouldn't work for any sort of melee. Just think all a soldier would have to do was trip while he was inside the formation and it would most likely fall apart.

[Germanicus]

Does anyone know if there were variations on the Testudo ? By that I mean - were the soldiers ever able to go into the formation, but with their pilum pointing outward either between or above their sheilds ? In that way they may have been able to withstand the first shock of a cavalry charge, locked together with the horses charging onto their outward pointing spears ?

 

I suppose the formation wouldn't hold though for the same reason as skenderbeg mentions - a horse falling prone on one mans sheild would wreck the whole thing.

[Guest Scanderbeg]

I've seen that formation you mentioned in recreation pictures. I would imagine that it wasn't too widely used however as it's not nearly as popular.

 

Here I found something on it.

 

http://www.cavazzi.com/roman-empire/divers...egionaries.html

[Germanicus]

Thanks Skenderbeg - that was a great picture of it too !

[Hamilcar Barca]

On Trajans coloumn, there is a depiction of the testudo formation been used successfully in a siege situation against the Dacians The teusto has advanced alongside the fortified walls and the legionaries at the front are using a type of crowbar to force open an entrence while recieving protection from enemy missiles by their colleagues.

 

Another account of the Testudo's success is recorded in the Social war by Appian in his civil wars where he refers to a besieged Italian town been taken by similar means, stressing the exasperation of the defenders whose consistent arrow fire upon the testudo does nothing to impede its efforts.

 

These are of course but two accounts of the Testudo's success but they do illustrate its practibility when used at the right time and place.

[Marcus Regulus]

Wow! Great pictures and it really puts it into perspective.

[Julius Caesar]

Crassus seemed to make the wrong decision at every turn during his ill-fated invasion of Parthia. He ignored good advice from his officers and the Armenian king, while listening those who turned out to be on the Parthian side.

 

I've read that the Romans used the testudo formation much more effectively against the Parthians during Ventidious Bassus' victories over them in 39 and 38 BC

[CenPrinCohILegVIVictPF]

I and my fraters have done a Testudo or ten.

We've done it under arrow fire.

Once drilled, it can be done and undone very quickly. We were actually able to quickmarch, wait for the volley to fly, form the Testudo and take the hit and then disassemble into a quickmarch again on the fly. Worked great as long as the enemy was using volley fire.

Once they went to fire at will, we locked into the Testudo and rolled right up to their lines. You can move fairly quickly with a sort of step-drag movement, like crabwalking. Maybe half normal march pace. Once at their lines the Centurio yells out for the charge and sheilds start smashing barbarians. The third ranks and deeper start chucking pilae.

Actually, what to do with the pila in a Testudo was one of the hardest things to figgure out. It doesn't work well sticking out because it interferes with the overlap of the scuta that is critical to missile defence. We end up bringing the pilae into a horizontal grip front to back where we grab the one of the trooper in back and in front of us as well. By interlocking like this, it helps stedy the formation and keeps the pointy bits out of our buddies. Takes some practice to do it though. Most of the time we try not to have pila on us for a Testudo.

There are a couple of photos at the bottom of this page- http://www.legionsix.org/Conquest.htm

 

Si vales, valeo

Gaius Manlius Magnus

Centurio Pinceps Cohors I Legio VI Victrix Pia Fidelis

[Hamilcar Barca]

Great pictures CenPrinCohILegVIVictPF.

[Fafnir]

Thanks for the information guys. So in your opinion, would you say the Testudo formation was more of a vice to the Roman army than a virtue?

[Cleopatra Aelia]

What I've read so far (an I refer mostly to the book "The Complete Roman Army" by Adrian Goldsworthy) the testudo was used only when storming against a wall and the defenders of the wall were shooting arrows or throwing stones from it. It doesn't seem to me that the Romans used this formation in an open field battle.

[wally1987]

From what i can see this formation was just a temporary defensive measure contained within an offensive towards fortifications....... hold up in the testudo untill the arrowfire dies down or untill the defenders simply run out of ammo, its only really became as well known as it has due to its inventiveness and portrays the roman army's attempt to become invincible on the bettlefield...... in my opinion of course.....

 

'The complete roman army' is an awesome book btw!

[mquish]

The Tetsudo formation was a very effective formtaion when under arrow fire. Yes, however certain arrows could pierce through and the formation can be heavily disrupted by cavalry. Ill use the battle of Carrhae.

In that battle the foolish Crassus headed headlong into the middle of Parthia thinking that the Parthian soldiers were running away, they were actually just leading them into a trap. After a while Crassus realized his mistake. but it was too late. He was surrounded by Parthian horse archers. Add to the fact that his germanic cavalry had just been slaughtered by Parthian Cataphracts during their headlong charge, things looked grim. Between the volleys of arrow fire, Crassus ordered his men into tetsudo formation. This is fine now and Crassus wants to wait until the Persian cavalry archers run out of arrows .The problem now was that his men were immobolized and there was a huge cataphracts cavalry in coming from the front.

 

 

You see the problem with it? Its very hard to move and its only as good as the strategy used around it. Going headlog into an archer army with just the Tetsudo formation as your backing is deadly. In the formation your about as safe as long as the enemy doesnt have anything to break through it.

 

The testudo was best used when sieging an enemy. It was used to shield the soldiers from arrow fire as they advanced toward the main wall to climb ladders. It became a problem in certain situations. The primary problem with the formation was that it was so tight that the soldiers had great difficulty fighting in hand-to-hand combat