On Saturday, July 24, the bombardment stopped when it began to rain. But after a tough battle, the attackers were repulsed and the position remained in the hands of the Austrians. On Friday, July 23, between 18:00 and 19:00, two galleries, opposite the two bastions, were blown up by Turkish sappers, and the Turks penetrated into the highest point of the fortification. Stärhemberg immediately ordered house owners to inspect their cellars and report any underground sounds because he thought that traitors in Vienna might be trying to open up a tunnel to the Turkish lines. On Thursday, July 22, the Turkish artillery began a furious bombardment. Thus, he initiated the next phase of the siege, which involved the construction of mines to undermine the bastion. The Grand Vizier estimated that the city guard would not stand for more than two weeks. In the third week of July, the Austrian cavalry was located along the Danube, from Krems to Pressburg, and their reinforcements were far away. Levy Spearman (Poborowi wlócznicy)įor the defense of the city, butchers, brewers, shoemakers, bakers, students, printers, booksellers, merchants, hunters and other craftsmen were organised. Useful but with limited combat capabilities were the militia, who manned some posts. The soldiery of the city consisted of 72 companies, equivalent to 16,600 men, but their actual strength was about 11,000. As the siege progressed, pharmacies, nurses and the hospital were unable to deal with the growing number of ill and injured people.
The Turks had cut off the water pipes that fed the city.
#SIEGE OF VIENNA OPENING BOMBARDMENT FREE#
In addition, the municipal authority inspected the properties in an attempt to estimate the amount of available straw (useful mostly as beds for the wounded), available fodder for draft horses, civilians not involved in the defence of the city, anyone whose allegiance was suspect and the number of cellars and empty homes for the sick.īut the difficulty of garbage collection and the lack of free land for burial of the dead created a sanitation problem. Small pieces were used as charcoal or soaked in pitch to illuminate the trench and the fortifications at night so that the enemy could not move unobserved under the cover of darkness. Also, timber was removed from the damaged buildings. The pavement stones were removed to be used in the fortifications and to minimise the damage of the Turkish shots, since they would fall into soft ground. The firefighters worked admirably when incendiary missiles began to fall. Neither the casualties nor the effect of disease within the garrison were yet so serious as to force Stärhemberg to use inadequately trained auxiliary units, except at some minor points. The regular garrison was large enough to man the defences. The initial excitement that had led the men even from the class of apprentices to join the defenders subsided when the siege began to evolve. Food stocks were still adequate and prices stable. The schools were closed and the churches reopened.
In the ring of fortifications there was intense activity, in Vienna the besieged citizens struggled to survive.
0 kommentar(er)
