Siege of Užice
| Siege of Užice (1738) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Austro-Turkish War of 1737–1739 | |||||||
_-_btv1b530759818.jpg) Castle of Užice in 1737 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Habsburg monarchy |
 Ottoman Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Captain Schenk | Beylerbey Ibrahim Pasha | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
320 men 2 field guns |
6,000 men 2 heavy guns | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
The Siege of Užice was a military engagement between the Austrian garrison and the besieging Ottoman army. The Ottomans captured Užice after a 3-week siege.
Background
On October 2, 1737,[1] the Austrian army, with the help of Serbian troops, captured the city of Užice from a 200-strong Ottoman garrison. After the surrender of Niš to the Ottomans, only Uzice remained in the Imperial hands. The city could not hold out much longer due to a lack of Imperial reinforcements. At the end of 1737, the Imperials retreated behind the borders, and in early 1738, the Ottomans drove the remaining Imperial units in Transilvania. Following this, the Ottomans turned their eyes to Uzice.[2][3][4]
Siege
The Ottoman governor of Bosnia, Ali Pasha, gathered around 20,000 men. He assigned 6,000 men to recapture Uzice led by Beylerbey Ibrahim Pasha. On March 1st, the Ottomans appeared in front of Uzice which was defended by 320 Imperials led by Captain Schenk. With this small force, the Imperial defended the place successfully against the Ottomans for 3 weeks. The Ottomans then received two heavy guns from Zvornik on March 23, with these two guns, the Ottomans successfully destroyed the tower of the castle to rubble. The tower held the two field guns which were three pounds that the Imperials used to return fire against the Ottomans. Seeing this, the Imperials were forced to hand Uzice to the Ottomans in exchange for a safe departure to Belgrade. After the fall of Uzice, the Ottomans gradually expanded throughout the territory of Serbia unharmed.[5][6][7]
References
Sources
- K. und K. Kriegsarchiv (1891), Chronicle of the Austro-Hungarian War: The south-eastern theater of war in the lands of the Hungarian crown, Dalmatia and Bosnia (Germany).[1]
- Gyémánt Richárd, Charles's second war against the Turks (1737–1739) (Magyar).[2]
- József Bánlaky: Military history of the Hungarian nation (MEK-OSZK), 0014/1149. Minor operations preceding the action of the main armies. Fighting around Uzice, Orsova, Ada Kaleh, and Mehádia (Magyar).[3]