Knights of Malta, 1523-1798 | Page 8

15 the Turks delivered a grand assault by sea and by land. The
attack by sea, under the command of the renegade Candellissa, proved
the more formidable. At the critical moment the defenders were thrown
into confusion by an explosion on the ramparts, during which the Turks
were able to make their way through the stockade and into the fortress,
being checked with difficulty by the desperate resistance of the garrison
and finally driven out by a timely reinforcement sent by La Valette.
Ten boatloads of troops sent by Mustapha incautiously exposed
themselves to the guns of St. Angelo and were almost all sunk, while
the attack on the land side, led by Hassan, Viceroy of Algiers and son
of Khaired-Din Barbarossa, proved an utter failure.
As at the siege of Rhodes, so at Malta, a distinct part of the
fortifications had been allotted to each langue to defend. The langue of
Castile held the north-east section of Il Borgo, which was destined to
be the scene of most desperate fighting.

On August 7 a joint attack was made on the land side of Senglea and on
the bastion of Castile. On that day the Turks came nearer success than
ever before or after. Mustapha's desperate attacks on Senglea were at
last successful: masters of the breach made by their guns, the assailants'
weight of numbers began to tell, and slowly the defenders were being
pushed back inside the fortress. At this moment, to everyone's
amazement, Mustapha sounded the retreat. The little garrison of the
Città Notabile, which had been left alone by the Turks, had been
raiding the enemy's lines as usual, and, hearing the grand assault was in
progress, had made a determined attack on the Turkish entrenchments
from behind, burning and slaying all they could find. The confusion
arising from this started the rumour that Sicilian reinforcements had
landed and were attacking the Turkish army. Mustapha, in fear of being
surrounded, drew off his troops in the moment of victory.
Meanwhile,[3] farther north, the Bastion of Castile had been almost
captured by Piali. The rock at that part of the fortification was
extremely hard, and the possibility of mines had occurred to none of
the garrison. Piali, however, with great labour, had dug a mine which
had been sprung that morning and had blown a huge gap in the
ramparts. This unexpected attack threw the whole of Il Borgo into
confusion, and, but for the Grand Master's promptitude and coolness of
mind, the enemy had been masters of the fortress. Seizing a pike, La
Valette rushed into the fight, and, inspired by his example, the Knights
succeeded in driving the enemy out of the breach. He ordered the
garrison to remain there all night, as he expected an attack under the
cover of darkness, and insisted on taking the command himself. His
subordinates protested against this reckless exposure of a valuable life,
but his precautions were justified when a Turkish attack made in the
darkness was defeated by his prompt resistance.
The bombardment continued unceasingly, and on August 18 another
desperate assault was made, which, like the other, failed. Yet the
position of the besieged was becoming desperate: dwindling daily in
numbers, they were becoming too feeble to hold the long line of
fortifications; but, when his council suggested the abandonment of Il
Borgo and Senglea and withdrawal to St. Angelo, La Valette remained

obdurate.
Why the Viceroy of Sicily had not brought help will always remain a
mystery. Possibly the orders of his master, Philip II. of Spain, were so
obscurely worded as to put on his own shoulders the burden of a
decision; a responsibility which he was unwilling to discharge because
the slightest defeat would mean exposing Sicily to the Turk. He had left
his own son with La Valette, so he could hardly be indifferent to the
fate of the fortress, and Malta in Turkish hands would soon have
proved a curse to Sicily and Naples. Whatever may have been the cause
of his delay, the Viceroy hesitated till the indignation of his own
officers forced him to move, and then the battle had almost been won
by the unaided efforts of the Knights. On August 23 came yet another
grand assault, the last serious effort, as it proved, of the besiegers; it
was thrown back with the greatest difficulty, even the wounded taking
part in the defence. The plight of the Turkish forces, however, was now
desperate. With the exception of St. Elmo, the fortifications were still
intact. By working night and day the garrison had repaired the breaches,
and the capture of Malta seemed more and more impossible. Those
terrible summer months with the burning sirocco had laid many of the
troops low with sickness in their crowded quarters; ammunition and
food were