SIXTH SIEGE, A.D. 1717.
On the 8th of June, Prince Eugene, who had become the terror of Europe and Asia by a series of triumphs, approached Belgrade with an army of a hundred and fifty thousand men. Several French princes accompanied him, solely for the purpose of learning the art of sieges under so great a captain. On the 16th the army encamped on the heights of Visnitza, and the next day all the baggage arrived, in spite of a cloud of Tartars who scoured the country. The count de Palfi was directed to invest the place.
Two days after, Eugene himself made a grand reconnaissance. When scarcely at a quarter of a league from the camp, twelve hundred Turks fell upon his escort. A Mussulman officer recognised him, drew near to him, and followed him, pistol in hand. He had already penetrated through two ranks, when he paid for his temerity with his life. The Turks proving too weak to take advantage of the occasion, were soon dispersed, and left the prince to continue his operations. Continual discharges of artillery from the Turkish galleys and saiks which covered the Danube, impeded the works of the besiegers, at the same time that this flotilla prevented the complete blockade of Belgrade. Eugene ordered it to be destroyed. A long and obstinate combat ensued on the river; but the Ottomans were conquered, and left the Germans masters of the navigation. The city now was completely invested. Lines of circumvallation and countervallation completed the system of attack and defence. To connect his operations, the prince threw bridges over the Save and the Danube; but they lasted only a short time; being carried away by a violent storm. The Turks endeavoured to profit by this accident to disturb the quarters which were momentarily separated from the main army, and attacked the redoubts of the Hessians, who defended themselves with great courage. The first assault upon the body of the place was not very successful; the prince had charged Colonel De Merci to carry the advanced works on the side of the river, where the approaches were tolerably easy and the fortifications not very redoubtable. At the moment of obeying his instructions, Colonel De Merci was struck with apoplexy, and was carried back to the camp. The prince was unwilling to trust this delicate mission to any other hands, and took it upon himself. He succeeded, but he incurred extreme danger: three balls passed between him and the prince of Dombes, who accompanied him: their hissing was so violent as to startle their horses. On the 22nd of July, all the batteries directed against the city were completed: they were unmasked all at once. The garrison, consisting of twenty thousand men, responded to the fire with much spirit; but their pieces were soon dismounted, and they were constrained to remain quiet spectators of the devastation caused by the enemy’s cannon. All at once, there appeared on the neighbouring heights more than a hundred thousand Turks, marching in good order: this was the army of the grand vizier. Prince Eugene was now in exactly the same situation as Cæsar at the siege of Aliso; he blockaded Belgrade, but he was himself blockaded by all the Ottoman forces, collected for the defence of that place. Surrounded by land on all sides, he would have been lost if his trenches had been forced. The Turks raised several batteries, which began to play upon the besiegers on the 2nd of August. In the night between the 14th and 15th, they opened a trench opposite to the centre of the Imperialists, and pushed their works to within a hundred paces of the lines of the Christian army. To prevent the attack upon his intrenchments by attacking the intrenchments of the Turks, was following the example of Cæsar. Prince Eugene decided upon doing so. In the centre of his army he placed the infantry, under the command of Prince Alexander of Wurtemberg; on the two wings he arrayed his cavalry; in two lines, behind these bodies, were regiments of infantry, to support them. The reserve remained in the trenches, under the orders of the count de Seckendorf, and the garde du camp was confided to the valour of General Vrard. To deceive the Ottoman army, Belgrade was bombarded vigorously during the whole evening of the 16th, the fire only ceasing at midnight. At one o’clock, the report of three bombs was heard: this was the signal for marching. The first line immediately moved forward in silence, and advanced towards the flèche[14] of the intrenchments by the light of the moon. Suddenly a thick fog arose, the right of this line missed its way, and fell into one of the enemy’s boyaux (branch of a trench). But confusion had seized the Turks, and they began to fly: the Janissaries, however, rallied them, and the fight commenced. The error of the Germans had separated them from the centre; and the Mussulmans threw themselves into the interval, in spite of the efforts of Prince Eugene, whose operations were defeated by the fog. During several hours they fought at hazard, in profound darkness. At length, however, the cloud dispersed, and, with the return of light, the general became aware of the danger his army was in. He flew to its aid, and charged the Mussulmans at the head of his volunteers; the Turks resisted bravely, and the battle was sanguinary; Eugene was slightly wounded by a sabre-stroke: but, fighting under the eyes of their general, his soldiers became heroes; they attacked, overthrew, and crushed every obstacle opposed to their valour. In an instant the Turks abandoned the centre. The Bavarian infantry now signalized their courage: led on by a French officer, named La Colonie, they cleared the ditches, ravines, and parapets, surmounted every obstacle, overtook the Turks, charged and broke their battalions, pursued them from trench to trench, and took possession of a battery of eighteen guns defended by twenty thousand Janissaries and four thousand Turks: their intrepidity secured the triumph of the Imperialists. By eleven o’clock in the morning, the Turks, broken and beaten on all sides, took to flight, leaving thirteen thousand dead upon the field of battle, five thousand wounded, and as many prisoners. This victory cost the Germans more than three thousand men, but it procured them an immense booty; a hundred and thirty guns, with all the munitions and provisions of the Ottomans, who lost fifty-two colours, nine horse-tails, and four trumpets. On the morrow, the governor of Belgrade hoisted the white flag: he was permitted to march out without arms or munitions. The conquerors found in the city two hundred cannons and sixty-eight mortars.