The reinforcements sent from Mers el Kébir…
May 1563 CE
The Ottoman troops, once inside the fort, surround the city, digging trenches around it and placing artillery to break down the walls. On a nearby hill are also installed several culverins to bombard the inner town.
Martín de Córdoba, who has less than five hundred men available to defend the city, prepares for the assault that takes place on May 20.
Hasan sends ahead twelve thousand special forces to break the resistance of the Spanish arquebusiers and facilitate the assault to two columns of regular troops, which will attack secondly.
Despite the heavy losses they suffered, the special forces manage to scale the walls and raise the Ottoman flag on the battlements.
However, the Spanish soon expel them.
In this attack nearly twenty-five hundred men die, mostly falling into the moat around the town.