Clse Quarter Combat
by Ray Agius
Original - Sold
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Not Specified
Dimensions
30.000 x 22.000 inches
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Title
Clse Quarter Combat
Artist
Ray Agius
Medium
Painting - Watercolour On Cold-pressed 300 Gsm Watercolour Paper
Description
Close Quarter Combat
After days of bombardment, the Turks unleashed a major assault on Senglea at noon on Thursday, August 2. Wave after wave of Turkish troops came to the attack and soon the weight of their numbers began to tell on the defenders.
After five hours of heavy fighting, more than twenty Turks reached the top of the post of Colonel Robles. Reinforcements had to be called in to plug the exposed positions. In the end, a determined counterattack led by Colonel Robles himself managed to dislodge the Turks from the ramparts and forced them to retreat.
In the close-quarter combat that eventually decided the fate of many of the assaults and skirmishes, most men were dispatched by cold steel. Balbi�s account continually makes references to fighting with swords and shields, and to swords �stained with blood� up to their hilts.
The common side arm was the spada, an early type of rapier carried by both knights and soldiers alike. There were also many swordsmen who specialized in the use of the double-handed broadsword. These serious pieces of hardware could cut through the plate armour of the period and cleave a man in two. Their use was considered a special skill often meriting extra pay.
Although the armour worn by the knights provided great protection against the weapons used by the Turks, it is still one of the great mysteries of the Siege how the knights could have fought for hours on end under the scorching heat of the summer sun encumbered by their harnesses of steel.
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April 30th, 2015
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