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The Germans had expected this and Arminius had earlier ordered that trenches be dug that would prevent the Romans from retreating. Varus and his men were trapped. The Germans attacked the Romans from an earthen wall that has also been pre-prepared<ref> Tacitus, Annals, 1. 57</ref>. After several assaults, the legion fell into disarray and the Germans were able to slaughter the Romans. Varus was later apprehended and killed by some German cavalrymen and many Roman officers committed suicide rather than be captured. Many ordinary soldiers seem to have become slaves <ref> Tacitus, Annals, 1. 59</ref>. In a moving account, Tacitus describes the aftermath of the scene of the battlefield some years later ‘near lay fragments of weapons and limbs of horses, and also human heads, prominently nailed to trunks of trees. In the adjacent groves were the barbarous altars, on which they had immolated tribunes and first-rank centurions’ <ref> Tacitus. 1.62</ref>.