Destroying the Manta

by Ray Agius

Title

Destroying the Manta

Artist

Ray Agius

Medium

Painting - Watercolour On Cold-pressed 300 Gsm Watercolour Paper

Description

Destroying the Manta

By late August there were signs that the elite Turkish troops were exhausted and perhaps even refusing to fight. Mustapha was reduced to forcing camp followers to dress up in the uniforms of his elite soldiers and follow him into battle. He launched another major assault on August 20, but by late afternoon the momentum waned and the Turks were forced to withdraw. The assault resumed the following day, but this time there was noticeably less determination and the Turks retired after only a few hours of fighting.

Turkish engineers began constructing a movable wooden canopy, a siege engine known as a �manta� or �tortoise�. It was designed to provide overhead protection for attacking troops. Such devices had been in use in siege warfare since classical times. Unfortunately for the Turks, the construction of the device had not gone unnoticed by the Knights.

The Knights placed a hidden cannon at the base of a wall facing the path the manta would take. They did not have to wait long. A few days later, they allowed the manta to approach unmolested into the field of fire. When it was near enough that they could not miss, the Knights rolled the gun into position and fired straight into the target. The charge of chain, shot, and shrapnel ripped through the flimsy contraption with deadly devastation. The manta collapsed like a pack of cards and all who were inside it and some forty others huddled in its wake perished to a man.

Uploaded

April 30th, 2015

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