Mark Bregu - Tribuna Shqiptare

NE KUADRIN E JUBILEUT TE MADH TE 100 VJETORIT TE SHPALLJES SE PAVARESISE
took place there. But our men survived the peril.
None of their ships - not even one caique - was
impeded or caught. This enraged the barbarians
all the more because they had already suffered
one defeat. Our forces were heading towards the
mouth of the Buna and they began attacking the
last trireme with rocks and other projectiles,
using in their fury whatever they could find. Now
the Turkish horsemen, having regrouped, rode
right into the river and attacked the oarsmen by
seizing the oars with their bare hands. They
would not let go of them for dear life except
when our men chopped off their hands or threw
some very heavy object at them.
Finally, without any of our men being taken
prisoner, the fleet sailed and reached a safer
location, though five hundred men had been
wounded and eighteen had been killed. The
Turks themselves had suffered a massacre. This
became clear the next day when, following the
barbarian withdrawal, our men returned to the
church of Saint Sergius so that those under siege
realized that they occupied a lofty position. They
wanted to make it known to the enemy that they
had withdrawn for tactical reasons and not out of
fear. There, along the riverbanks, they came
across great numbers of bodies of men and
horses, some of them floating in the water. Our
men, unable to endure the stench, returned to
the mouth of the Buna. In the meantime, the
enemy had built a bridge, connecting the two
banks. They then set up tents along the river and
left some ten thousand horsemen there to guard
them. Then they departed to plunder all those
prosperous reaches and loot the villages, setting
fire to homes and destroying fields of grain.
At the same time, the Venetians were
transporting wooden planks covered in pitch to
Acruvium. Acruvium is a town now known as
Kotor. From there, all the material was to be
transported by men and beasts of burden over
the rugged and pathless mountains and was to
be unloaded at the lakeside. There, carpenters
were to construct lake boats, more for the war
than for the needs of transportation. In
addition, over one thousand sailors were then
seconded to guard the lake in light boats and
dugouts. They were to pursue and harass the
enemy which had set up tents along the banks
of the river. Although they did their utmost to
come to the assistance of those under siege,
they did not succeed. This was, firstly, because
the barbarians held guard day and night at a
narrow gorge between the mountain and the
river, the site only five hundred paces wide. The
guards did not move from the site, even when
shot at from the mountain and from boats at
the same time. Secondly, a treacherous vojvode,
to save his possessions, took a bribe and did not
give our men the support they needed. Because
they no longer trusted this fellow and because
their tents along the lakeside were unprotected,
our men out on their boats abandoned their
strategy of direct attack and limited themselves to
small guerilla actions, yet never leaving enemy
forces a moment's peace. The latter could not
even go out to fetch drinking water without
placing themselves in mortal danger. Once, when
the barbarians were out looting like thieves and
searching for local villagers hiding in the dense
forests, some three hundred of them went down
to a spring to drink water. There, they were
attacked by the local inhabitants, assisted by our
soldiers. Our men surrounded them and
chopped them to pieces. Unaffected by the
fighting were several rocks and islands in the lake
where beautiful monasteries had been
constructed by Greek clergy. All these people
would otherwise have been heartlessly ravaged.
Meanwhile, the enemy made ready some
cannons of enormous proportion. They were of
such a calibre that, when shot at, the ramparts of
the fortress shuddered and most of them
collapsed. Nevertheless, those under siege had
stored enough material to defend themselves and
to repair the fortifications, which proved to be
necessary now that the town was without walls.
They took a pile of beams and nailed them
together, erecting them with earth and mud and
thus creating an improvised barrier, like strong
ramparts, to fend off the enemy attack. The
barbarians then began to launch cannonballs
with their bombards, indeed one thousand nine
hundred times, destroying both the ramparts and
the houses, and believing that their army would
now have no problem conquering the city.
Orders were given that all iron tools, wooden
instruments and other material used for repairing
Gravurë gjjermane sh. XV, në librin
„Rrethimi i Shkodrës” walls and homes be
Gravure gjermane sh. XV nga libri
“Rrethimi i Shodrës”
32
made ready for the attack, so that when their
forces took the city, they would at least be sure
to reap the benefits of the victory after so much
trial and tribulation.
The assault began with piercing shouting, the
beating of drums and the blowing of trumpets.
Bonfires were lit on all four sides of the fortress.
Then they stopped for prayer, adoring the new
moon as they lay on the ground, as is their
custom. One must know that the Ottomans
never engage in a full battle before the new
moon, which they greet with great devotion. As
such, on August 15th, the pasha promised great
reward to those who would could climb the
slopes to the fortress, mustered his army, and
with two shots from the cannons, gave signal for
the attack. The moment he gave the sign, they all
rushed out of the camp and ran forth. With great
din and clamour, taking with them movable
mantlets, beams and poles with hooked prongs,
they clambered swiftly up the mountain, rock by
rock, path by path.
According to a plan he had prepared before
the start of the siege, Loredano, who was second
to none in bravery and the martial arts, deployed
his forces in such a way that the townspeople,
together with the Italian garrison and the young
men from the countryside, would be in position,
but that they would keep silent and hidden. In
this manner, the enemy would not hesitate to
approach the base of the fortress. He then chose
three hundred men who were to wait at the open
square of the fortress, arms in hand, to fend
offne who attacked them.