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After having barraged the Fort for over four weeks, it finally fell to the Turks on June 23rd, the remaining defenders held out for an hour until they were over-run and butchered. Historians estimate 6000 of the Ottoman force and 1500 of the defenders were killed during the siege of Fort St Elmo. Mustafa ordered the dead and captured Knights decapitated, they were nailed to crosses and floated across the bay to Fort St Angelo. The immediate response of Jean de Valette was to have all the Turkish prisoners beheaded, and fired the heads with cannon, 'some with beards and hair aflame', at Mustafa's troops in the now Turkish occupied Fort St Elmo.
By the end of June the 10,000 Christian reinforcement troops of the Viceroy of Sicily failed to arrive. It is suggested that he wavered between the threat of losing his Mediterranean fleet to the Turkish, and the threat of having Malta in the hands of the Ottoman Empire and liable to invade. Under increasing pressure from the Pope and the rest of Europe he despatched a party of 600 reinforcements, a far cry from the 10,000 promised, but their arrival raised the moral of the garrison and the Maltese considerably.
On July 13th the Turkish forces mounted an attack on two fronts, one by sea towards the tip of the Grand Harbour peninsular, the other by land directly at Fort St Michael. The carnage continued, waves of Ottoman forces crashed against the fortified positions, to get mown down by Greek fire, musket shot and cannons, Maltese women and children repairing the garrisons amongst the dead and dying. The attack on the Fort of St Michael cost 3000 Ottoman lives and 250 of the garrison.
In the first week of August, for 5 days, the armies of the Sultan simultaneously battered the peninsular and Fort St Michael from 65 cannons, some 130,000 cannon balls being fired during the siege. The Turks finally succeeded in breaching the walls and entering the town, but just as victory was within grasp, an order to retreat sounded. A detachment of cavalry Knights, based at Mdina, had circled behind the Turkish lines and massacred the wounded, sick and medics at their Field Hospital. When the news reached Mustafa he assumed the reinforcements from Sicily had arrived and moved to intercept, calling off the assault.
By the end of August the combined effect of devastating losses of men, the raging heat, flies, stench, carnage, lack of food and water and increasing disease had led the moral of the Ottoman troops into serious decline. September 8th saw the Sultan's armies preparing to leave the island, whilst the previous day some 8000 reinforcements had finally arrived from the Viceroy of Sicily. The final engagements took place on the beach of St Paul's Bay, where as the retreating Turks fled to
their ships, they were massacred on the beach by the relief force. What was left of the Ottoman army left Malta on September 11th.
Of the 40,000 men of the armies of Suleiman the Magnificent, 15,000 returned to Constantinople. The Knights and the Maltese both lost a third of their number. After the relentless bombardment the city had to be rebuilt, and is now the capital of Malta, Valetta, after the Grand Master Knight who withstood the siege.
By the end of June the 10,000 Christian reinforcement troops of the Viceroy of Sicily failed to arrive. It is suggested that he wavered between the threat of losing his Mediterranean fleet to the Turkish, and the threat of having Malta in the hands of the Ottoman Empire and liable to invade. Under increasing pressure from the Pope and the rest of Europe he despatched a party of 600 reinforcements, a far cry from the 10,000 promised, but their arrival raised the moral of the garrison and the Maltese considerably.
On July 13th the Turkish forces mounted an attack on two fronts, one by sea towards the tip of the Grand Harbour peninsular, the other by land directly at Fort St Michael. The carnage continued, waves of Ottoman forces crashed against the fortified positions, to get mown down by Greek fire, musket shot and cannons, Maltese women and children repairing the garrisons amongst the dead and dying. The attack on the Fort of St Michael cost 3000 Ottoman lives and 250 of the garrison.
In the first week of August, for 5 days, the armies of the Sultan simultaneously battered the peninsular and Fort St Michael from 65 cannons, some 130,000 cannon balls being fired during the siege. The Turks finally succeeded in breaching the walls and entering the town, but just as victory was within grasp, an order to retreat sounded. A detachment of cavalry Knights, based at Mdina, had circled behind the Turkish lines and massacred the wounded, sick and medics at their Field Hospital. When the news reached Mustafa he assumed the reinforcements from Sicily had arrived and moved to intercept, calling off the assault.
By the end of August the combined effect of devastating losses of men, the raging heat, flies, stench, carnage, lack of food and water and increasing disease had led the moral of the Ottoman troops into serious decline. September 8th saw the Sultan's armies preparing to leave the island, whilst the previous day some 8000 reinforcements had finally arrived from the Viceroy of Sicily. The final engagements took place on the beach of St Paul's Bay, where as the retreating Turks fled to
their ships, they were massacred on the beach by the relief force. What was left of the Ottoman army left Malta on September 11th.
Of the 40,000 men of the armies of Suleiman the Magnificent, 15,000 returned to Constantinople. The Knights and the Maltese both lost a third of their number. After the relentless bombardment the city had to be rebuilt, and is now the capital of Malta, Valetta, after the Grand Master Knight who withstood the siege.