n the autumn of 9 AD Roman forces occupying Northern Germany were lured into a death trap. Over 20,000 of the world's most feared troops, their families, even their animals, were slaughtered by Iron Age tribes. The bloody massacre defined forever the limits of Roman expansion and left Europe fatefully divided, yet for almost 2,000 years the exact site of this disaster was only guessed at. Then, in 1987, a British soldier made a find that suggested the true whereabouts of the 'Battle of Teutoburg'. Today a grim picture of deception, ambush and ritual slaughter is beginning to emerge. "In the autumn of A.D. 9 Varus marched his three legions from their summer camp to a winter camp further west. The army was huge, fifteen thousand men plus a train of ten thousand women, children, slaves and pack animals. The march was scheduled to take several days, over difficult terrain, and at times the column would be up to nine miles long as they wound through narro...