Battle of Cremona (late October AD 69)

Vitellius’s army, whose commander Caecina sat in chains, clashed with the legions of Antonius Primus on the road from Bedriacum to Cremona. The battle lasted all night; the moon shone at the Flavians’ backs. At dawn the Third Legion saluted the rising sun, and the Vitellians took this for the arrival of Mucianus and fled. The camp under the walls was taken by storm, Cremona surrendered and was plundered for four days. Cassius Dio gives 50,000 killed, Josephus about 30,000 of Vitellius’s soldiers. The exact day is unknown; scholars generally put it at October 24–25.