Great Siege 1565 - Tuesday 7 August

Tuesday 7 August

An hour before daybreak when we saw that the enemy from Corradino had begun to move down towards St. Michael. Men from the fleet embarked at Marsamxett and were transported to Mount Salvador, both of which were a clear sign that we were to expect a general assault during the day, as indeed happened. As soon as it was light, they attacked St. Michael and the Post of Castile en masse, with such an uproar and blare of military music, that we would have marvelled had we not become used to it on previous occasions.

8,000 Ottomans attacked St. Michael and 4,000 the Post of Castile. They all came in a rush, as we had anticipated. But as soon as they left the trenches, we were ready for them - incendiary hoops blazing, pitch boiling, and everything primed for our defence. Thus when they started to scale the battlements, they were received like men well-expected. The attacks on this day were violent and fought on both sides with much bloodshed and cruelty. The main attack was on the Posts of Marshal Robles and Bormla as expected, where Bernardo de Cabrera was in command. These were the weakest parts of the defences and thus seemed the easiest to capture. It was here that the main battle took place, the enemy pouring in the mass of their troops, and the incendiaries wrought the greatest havoc amongst them, together with the fire from two traverses, which being opposite each other, brought a cross-fire to bear on the attackers. The Ottoman artillery did not fire during the assault to avoid killing their own men, who were advancing in close formation on open ground. As usual, we fought from our positions behind cover, having learnt from past bitter experiences.

The attack on the Post of Castile was no less serious than on St. Michael. There was a moment when an important Knight of the Order ran up to the Grandmaster who was standing in the main square with the relief force, waiting to go wherever they were required, and cried “My Lord, come to the aid of Castile. The Turks are breaking in!” The Grandmaster replied with no trace of emotion

“Come my knights, let us all go and die there! This is the day!”

With this he took his helmet from one page, his pike from another, and with exemplary courage led the way to Castile, followed by all the reserves. As soon as he reached the gate that led to the place of danger, the Bailiff of the Eagle, La Motta, Romegas and other notables tried to prevent him from going to the post of danger. To their dismay, he insisted on going forward and even tried to climb on the spur of the cavalier of Castile where the enemy was already established. Here they managed to hold him back, for it was open to enemy fire from both Salvador and Kalkara, so he went instead to the battery of Claramonte, pike in hand as if he were no more than a common soldier. Then looking up and seeing the post of Buoninsegna thick with Ottomans, he seized an arquebus from a soldier, and aiming at the enemy, opened fire, calling out “This way boys, this way!” All our men in this battery immediately aimed up at the enemy and opened a rapid fire. At the same time, those above began hurling incendiaries and rocks with such good effect that the enemy was forced to retire with heavy losses.

When the principal knights saw that the danger was over, they convinced the Grandmaster to retire from where he stood, surrounded with at least 20 dead. As the great soldier that he was, on whom, after God depended our salvation, he consented to withdraw. He had no intention of resting however as he went no further than the gate of the inner defences, and there he stayed. Although it always grieved him to see our dead, he pointed out that none of them had died in vain, and praised the dead to give courage to the living. During this action De Valette was wounded in the leg yet he did not relax from doing his rounds although his leg was in bandages.

During this attack, the Royal Standard of Suleiman was seen above the walls of Castile at the post of Buoninsegna. It had a white horse’s tail and many tassels. We hurled hooked lines at it and finally we managed to get hold of it. With us pulling one way and the Ottomans pulling the other, the ball on top of the shaft fell off, which enabled them to keep the standard, but not before we had burned many of its silk and gold tassels with incendiaries.

The attacks lasted for nine hours, from daybreak till just after noon. The Ottomans were relieved more than a dozen times by fresh troops, while we refreshed ourselves with well-watered wine and a few mouthfuls of bread. The Grandmaster, releasing in his foresight that unlike the enemy we would have no relief as we were so few, saw that we always had some refreshment like this. He had given the order that whenever we were under attack, plenty of bottles of watered wine and bread should be made available at all the posts which were engaged. Barrels of salt water were kept in numbers at all the posts to provide relief to those who had been burned. This was another example of De Valette’s foresight, without which we could not have withstood the persistent onslaughts.

Victory was ours on this day, but more through Divine intervention than human endeavour. The enemy had intended this to be their last assault and so they did not leave a single man who could fight in their camp or in the fleet. As for us, despite the Grandmaster’s help and guidance, there was not a man who could keep upright from either fatigue or wounds. We lost a great many dead, yet the Lord came to our aid in the following way:

After the attacks had been ongoing for nine hours, it seems that the Lord inspired our cavalry who were in Mdina. They had been going about their usual way without meeting a single enemy anywhere on the island, and so they pressed on as far as Marsa. Here they realised the great danger to which the Order was exposed. Not knowing how else they could help us - as they were about 100 horse and about the same number of infantry - they decided to attack the sick and other noncombatants at the camp. They killed all those they found shouting “Victory and Relief!” Some Turks from the fleet who were stationed at St. Elmo were the first to see what was happening at Marsa, formed up into a squadron and set off in that direction. The Ottomans attacking St. Michael and Castile, noticing this squadron stopped fighting and gave up their atack before this squadron had moved 100 paces. Just then Mustapha Pasha was told that all those left in Marsa were dead and the tents destroyed.

When this news reached the trenches, the rumour got around that a strong relief had arrived to help us, and if they did not retreat speedily, they would be slaughtered. This story, false as it was, had such an effect that all the Ottomans withdrew from their trenches without waiting for orders. The trops facing the Post of Castile were the first to move. Coming out of the ditch, they were fired upon by the arquebusiers at the post of Auvergne, and many were killed. The enemy attacking St. Michael, seeing what was happening on the promontory of St. Elmo did not know what to do. Very soon their wounded came in saying our forces consisted of a 1,000 men, at which point the enemy fled from their trenches and none of their officers could stop them.

We were completely astounded by this retreat as we had no idea what had happened. We thought it was a disagreement between the two pashas or some other trouble, or even possibly that some renegades had made off with part of the fleet. It did occur to us that some form of relief had come to our aid, but it was not long before we learnt the truth from the Sicialms who from their post had seen the cavalry fighting sword in hand in Marsa. They informed the Grandmaster at once, who sent a scout to the top of the clock tower to check.

The Sicilians now began to shout “Victory, victory! Relief, relief!”The word was passed on from post to post, striking fear into the hearts of the enemy and putting fresh heart into us. Not understanding what had happened, Mustapha Pasha formed up his men and marched them in order on Santa Margerita, taking advantage of the artillery there. It was not long before the enemy realised that a handful of men had snatched victory from their grasp, putting them to shameful flight.

The Ottomans now began to advance,m banners unfurled towards our cavalry, however warned in advance by their sentries, every horseman took a foot soldier behind him, and without losing a single man while having inflicted many casualties, they retired back to Mdina. It is impossible to describe how humiliated all the enemy felt, when they saw the grievous harm such a small force had done to them. Mustapha turned on Piali and in his fury said “If you had marched on Marsa after you had formed up your men, this panic would never have occurred. Even if you had not advanced, you should never have retreated in such haste and disorder”.

Piali replied that he had been told that a great Christian relief force had landed, in which case it was his duty to save the fleet. “The Sultan” he replied “thinks much more of the fleet than he does of an army as this one.” and he walked off.

Over 2,000 men must have been killed on this day in the attack on St. Michael, while their wounded were double this. Over 200 of their most distinguished men were killed in the attack on Castile, among them Ochali Fartas, the notorious Greek pirates of the Aegean. Our total losses were 60 dead, but many more wounded.

Even the knights that were not engaged in fighting played an important part. On De Valette’s orders, the kept guard over the other positions, some of which were lightly defended, as most troops were sent to reinforce those most threatened. I cannot omit to mention the courage shown by the very young knights of the Order throughout the siege. They fought in the most dangerous positions, readily taking the place of the fallen, and showing as much courage and spirit as if they were veterans. THe innumerable and horrible deaths that they witnessed daily did not deter them.

No sooner had the Ottomans retired from St. Michael, than Marshal Robles fell on his knees giving thanks to God for the victory. He sent a message to the Grandmaster to have a Te Deum sung in the Church of St. Lawrence, for we had been blessed with one of the greatest victories Christians had ever gained. When the message bearer arrived, he found the Grandmaster already giving thanks - as he always did when the Ottomans were beaten off - and the Te Deum already being solemnly celebrated. A procession followed, and if it was not as formal as the Order normally makes, the tears of many men and women gave tribute to their devotion.

There were some advisers who, affecting great solicitude for the Grandmaster, recommended that he retire to St. Angelo, as they saw how wide the breaches in the walls were and believed that we could not resist any further. They also suggested he take the best part of the Order and wait there in greater security until relief arrived. This suggestion became known to the troops, and all of us spoke our minds as to what we thought of such advisers. But the Grandmaster, who was always the first to be ready to die for the Order, replied by ordering all the relics and everything of great value to be taken into St. Angelo and then had the bridge removed. This action clearly said that we would either die in Birgu or successfully defend it.

Before the last attack, the enemy had driven some well-covered trenches up to the mouth of the ditch of Castile. This point was defended by the casemate of Auvergne with eight gun positions, four above and four in the ditch itself. Because there was little room, this casemate could not mount large guns. Seeing that casualties they suffered when they attacked and indeed retired from Castile, and realising their guns could not give them covering fire or put the casemate out of action, the Ottomans, when they reached the entrance to this ditch, decided to dig a trench there. This would allow them to go in and out and would be strong enough to give them protection from the fire from the casemate. Keeping to the right of the guns of the spur of the cavalier, which was under fire from Kalkara, they managed to dig the trench right up to the outer defence of the counterfosse, and there was nothing we could do to stop them, although we continually hurled rocks and incendiaries from our parapet.

When they reached the wall, the Ottomans cut an opening in it and started to throw earth and brushwood into the ditch. Once they reached the level of the opening, they pushed the trench further out into the ditch. They managed to do this although they were under fire from a small cannon that Captain Romegas had mounted, and where he himself spent all day laying and firing it, causing great losses amongst the enemy. In order to absorb the recoil of this cannon as there was very little space, Romegas had placed a great heap of rope to act as a shock absorber. Once they completed three quarters of the trench, they were safe and so in a short time they were able to finish it. When De Valette was told how impossible it was to stop them and what a menace it would prove to be once completed, he had a tunnel dug from inside the walls to the right of this trench at the spur of the cavalier. The idea was that from this point, we could either attack the men who got into the ditch or we could use the tunnel to raid their trench. When our tunnel was finished however, we found that the two guns on Kalkara which had bombarded the traverses at the post of Don Rodrigo Maldonado commanded the exit. Accordingly we left it, and did not open it through the wall, thinking that it might serve on some other occasion. Meanwhile we constructed a number of other ingenious defences within the walls.