The greatest disaster to befall Augustus' legions was the destruction of three in September AD 9. The commander, Publius Quinctilius Varus, led the three legions plus auxiliaries and cavalry into an ambush beyond the Rhine led by the erstwhile Roman ally, Arminius. Although contemporary epigraphy (the tombstone of Marcus Caelius, CIL 13.8648) calls the disaster the “war of Varus”, bellum Varianum, it soon became known as the disaster of Varus. The three legions involved, XVII, XVIII, and XIX were destroyed and their standards lost.
We have little information on the legions – for instance we do not know the cognomen for any of the three and their origins are unsure – all may have been raised to combat Sextus Pompey but were more widely deployed before being brought together for Varus'…
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Ancient Warfare (Digital) - 1 Issue, AW XVI.5