June 52 BC · Senones territory (Paris basin) Theater
June 52 BC
While Caesar faced disaster at Gergovia in the south, his senior legate Titus Labienus commanded four legions in the north, where Paris (then the small island town of Lutetia of the Parisii) sat amid the marshes of the Seine. Camulogenus, an old but capable Gallic commander, flooded the surrounding marshes and positioned himself on the far bank of the Seine to prevent a crossing. Labienus feinted a retreat northward overnight, then reversed, crossed the Seine at a different point, and attacked Camulogenus from an unexpected direction. The battle was sharp: Camulogenus died in the fighting, and his army was scattered. Labienus captured Lutetia and then — receiving news of the Aeduan revolt — marched south to rejoin Caesar, burning the town behind him.
Commanders